To Perytonia

by Cloudy Skies

First published 26th of August, 2017

Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Rarity are tasked with establishing ties between Equestria and the strange people of Perytonia. Understanding and connecting with your own friends may yet be the bigger challenge. Updates every Tuesday and Saturday!

By royal request, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Rarity travel to far-off Perytonia to establish ties between Equestria and a strange new people.

Plunged deep into an alien culture with its own history, understanding the native peryton is only part of the challenge. As Rainbow Dash discovers, navigating her own relationship with her oldest friend may be harder still.

A season two story.

Prologue

“Now, because the original journal is kept in Canterlot, I’ve written you each a copy of the most important points of Red Sun Runner’s report. If you don’t remember, or if you didn’t pay attention,” said Twilight, looking straight at Rainbow Dash for a moment, “she’s the explorer who met with the Perytonians.”

The unicorn hovered three identical sheafs of paper in front of her, and Dash noted that they were mercifully small. They couldn’t be more than a couple of pages each.

“To conserve space, I kept my writing as neat as possible, and I wrote on both sides,” Twilight added, beaming while Dash’s ears wilted. “It covers all she wrote about her royal task of meeting with one of the peryton, and how they together set up this meeting for us.”

“I don’t wish to discredit your work, or the importance of our task, but I still wish we could all go,” Rarity said. “Though, of course, I appreciate getting to bring my creations to a new audience,” she added with a small smile.

“We’re still in this together,” Twilight replied, though she didn’t sound perfectly content either. She put one copy of her notes in front of Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Rarity each. “The rest of us are doing the same thing as you three, even if we’re not going in the same direction.”

“Or at the exact same time!” Pinkie Pie piped. “Or to visit the same people! So, almost the same, if almost means ‘not at all, but kind of’?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged and looked past her friends. “We’ll be fine,” she said. Words in response to doubt, like wings would spread in the wind. Through the large windows of their shared hotel room, she could see Las Pegasus come alive in defiance of the setting sun. Bright, magically illuminated signs with infinite cheerful colours all vying for attention.

“Of course we will,” Pinkie said. She lay on her back at the foot of the bed, idly playing with Fluttershy’s mane. “But you know what’s better than being fine with friends? Being fine with more friends, that’s what!”

“I really think it would be a lot better if we could all go together too,” said Fluttershy, nodding her head and smiling as Pinkie Pie tied a huge, loose bow-tie with her mane, “especially when it’s so far.”

“I don’t disagree, but the Princesses wouldn’t ask us to split up and act as ambassadors if it wasn’t important,” Twilight retorted. Her eyes grew wide with wonder as she went on, “but as excited as I am about our own journey, I wish I could join you three in Perytonia too. It sounds like such a fascinating place!” She clopped her hooves together, her smile fading a touch. “Well, from what little we know of it, anyway. I’ve never even seen one of their kind, and I don’t think many others have, either—do you know how long it’s been since the last time a Perytonian delegation visited Equestria? Over a millennium! It predates our current calendar!”

Dash yawned, and unlike Applejack, she didn’t try to conceal it. She could hear Twilight’s brain spooling up for another lecture on some fascinating fact about their destination. She quickly stood up, bounced off the bed and flicked the mane out of her face.

“Hey, so, since we’re leaving town early tomorrow, I’m going to head out for a bit and have some fun. Who’s with me?”

Twilight frowned, forestalled. “Now? Shouldn’t you prepare? You three are the ones leaving early tomorrow. The rest of us don’t leave for another few days.”

“We’ve been ready forever,” Dash said. “You’ve had time to read books on Perytonia, and make us notes even though you’re not even going there. I’ve had plenty of time to pack.” Twilight didn’t need to know that most of her packing had been a two-minute rush job yesterday morning.

“While you both have excellent points, and we are very grateful for Twilight’s help—” Rarity said, shooting a sharp look at Rainbow Dash, as though she knew the pegasus toyed with the idea of ‘forgetting’ the report when they left tomorrow, “—I think I am going to go over my fabrics one last time, just in case I’ve forgotten anything, so I won’t be leaving the hotel.”

Applejack shook her head as well. She cast a look out the window and it was obvious she didn’t see the same things Dash had seen. “And I think I’ve about had my fill of Las Pegasus for the moment. Sorry R.D., but I’m sitting this one out.”

“No one wants to come along?” Dash asked, her eyes flitting from friend to friend. “Seriously?”

“Sorry! I promised Twilight I’d help make paper cranes out of some of her books,” Pinkie said.

“I asked you to help me with my packing logistics,” Twilight said in a voice that suggested disagreement.

“Yep!” Pinkie chimed in a tone that suggested the opposite, glancing around at the room that, thanks to Twilight’s presence, answered to ‘library’ as well as ‘hotel bedroom’.

“Oh, come on,” Dash said, puffing out her cheeks. As much fun as Las Pegasus was—and as boring as it was listening to Twilight read out loud from her history books—she had no desire to go by herself. She turned to Fluttershy on reflex. The quiet pegasus seemed content under Pinkie’s ministrations, but she looked back up at Rainbow Dash. She hadn’t said anything, but the fact that she met Dash’s eyes told her everything she needed to know. She wouldn’t have to leave the hotel alone.

“Fluttershy, let’s go!” said Dash, smiling at her. “You and me!”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Fluttershy said, ducking under her own mane. “There are ever so many ponies out there now. I just don’t think—”

“Sure you do,” Dash said, trotting over to the bed and prodding her upright with a snout to her flank. “Come on, it’ll be fun!”

“But—” Fluttershy tried as Dash marched her towards the door. She glanced back at all their other friends.

“See ya later!” said Dash, giving Fluttershy one final push through the door and stepping out into the hotel hallway herself. “If any of you want to join us, we’ll be down Proudmane Lane!”

“I, um, I guess we will. Bye, girls?” Fluttershy said, finally walking without Rainbow Dash’s insistence. Pinkie Pie waved enthusiastically, and the rest of them said their goodbyes. Twilight disappeared behind a book, and Pinkie Pie set to work on Applejack’s mane instead.

“Proudmane Lane? The lovers’ walk?” Rainbow Dash heard Rarity say, their friends’ voices fading as they set off towards the stair room at the end of the hall. Fluttershy gave her a questioning look, one brow arched.

“I saw someone setting up a bucking competition in a small market square just off Proudmane when we were heading to the hotel this morning,” Dash explained, hopping from each landing to glide to the next before waiting for her friend. She couldn’t keep the excitement out of her voice. “I’ve seen those before, it’s all about kicking the hardest you can. It’s gonna be awesome! Hey, d’you want to grab something to eat too?”

“Sure,” Fluttershy said, smiling back at her. “I know the Princesses are paying for the hotel and everything, but I feel a little bad for using the room service.”

“If they’re going to send us to the other side of the world, I’ll take the room service,” Dash replied, grinning, “but right now, I just really want hayfries. I guess that’s why you wanted to come along too?”

“I didn’t really—” Fluttershy began, pausing to wave at the porter as they passed through the luxurious hotel lobby, and interrupted again when the door closed on the tip of her tail. Dash gave the door a push. “I mean, hayfries would be nice,” Fluttershy finally said, yanking her tail away with a thank-you to Dash.

Rainbow Dash had already decided she would win. The two pegasi trotted down the bright avenue, and though her eyes stung from all the gaudy signs that tried to sell them on luxurious dinners, jewellery, trinkets, and whatever “magical experiences” were, her attention was glued to the bucking post poking up over the crowd of ponies.

The gathering around the wooden pole was probably small by Las Pegasus standards, but soon, they would all be cheering for her. Dash grinned with giddy anticipation, stretching her wings out.

“Eep, excuse me,” Fluttershy said when one of Dash’s wingtips got in her face. She nearly lost the hayfries she carried in the nook of a wing.

“Sorry,” Dash said, bursting out laughing. She kicked off, launching into a quick vertical loop, barely leaving the ground. “This is gonna be awesome!”

“Oh, I’m sure it will,” Fluttershy said, smiling back at her while shielding their snacks with her other wing.

Dash beckoned Fluttershy to follow, leading the way through the crowd as it changed from the fast flow of the streets to the syrup around the square ahead. A few excuse-mes and nudges later, the two pegasi stood at the front, given free view to the small plaza’s main attraction.

Attached to a padded pole on a metal base stood a mechanical contraption of some sort, half dials, half shiny steel. Inside the ring of spectators moved a unicorn mare and an earth pony stallion who were both dressed up in bright colours, hats and ties. Signs advertising some nearby casino or other were all over the place.

“Is anyone else thinking we’ll never see anyone beat the record set earlier today?” the mare asked, trotting along the edge of the crowd. Her horn glowed, no doubt with some spell to strengthen her voice.

“None here brave enough to risk complete humiliation for the chance at no prize at all?” the stallion yelled from over by the pole to a smattering of laughter. A moment later, a mare stumbled into the ring, pushed out of the crowd by her friends, but she hid amongst the others again before the prowling unicorn saw her.

“I can take a running start, right?”

A few heads turned at Dash’s question, and when the unicorn mare beckoned her forth, she had everyone’s attention. Dash grinned at Fluttershy and received a tentative smile in return.

“Of course, colourful little madam!” the unicorn said with a genial smile, stepping up to Dash with a torrent of words, “though in the spirit of fairness, and in trying to keep things safe, keep your legs on the ground, will you? One try per person! Now give it your best shot, don’t be shy, and when you don’t measure up, don’t mind the laughter!”

“Sure,” Rainbow Dash said, her voice lost in the giggles and chatter of the crowd. She couldn’t keep the smug smirk from her face. She was going to be the one laughing. She only had about ten strides of runway to work with, but that was enough.

All around her, the crowd murmured in anticipation. By and large, they were city ponies, and even though a few of the mares and stallions were well built, she didn’t see any Apple family ponies in the crowd.

“The record is twenty-four points on the buck-o-meter, girl,” the stallion said, pointing to the mechanical device at the base of the pole. “Think you can—?”

Dash didn’t think. She did. She went from a low crouch to a gallop before he finished his sentence, flapping her wings twice to add to her speed. Dash nearly overshot, flipping and turning on the spot to bring her hindlegs to bear at the pole. The pegasus didn’t have Applejack’s technique or strength, but she had speed on her side. A lot of it. Her hooves impacted against the padding with a solid thwack.

Rainbow Dash narrowly avoided falling, overbalanced, but she recovered in time to rear up for style points, keeping her back to the pole as it wobbled. Cool mares didn’t need to look at the results. At the edge of her vision she saw the stallion reach out to steady the target and peer at the little device as the crowd grew quiet.

“Twenty-six point eight! That’s a new record!” the stallion roared, and the ponies all around cheered, stomping their hooves in delight. “What is your name, miss?” he yelled over the noise.

“Name’s Rainbow Dash!” she said, puffing out her chest, but any hopes that the crowd would take her name up as a chant barely had time to form. Already the cheers faded, and the drum of hooves petered out. The stallion scrawled her name and score on a piece of paper and put it on a board Dash hadn’t noticed before. The unicorn trotted along the edge of the crowd once more, egging ponies on, daring them to take on Rainbow Dash’s new score. Any of you think you’ve got what it takes to beat this filly? No? Maybe you’ll have better luck at the Lucky Lasso Casino!

Dash made her way back towards Fluttershy, letting the disappointment slide right off her. Winning never got old, but it was no Equestria’s Best Young Fliers, nor had she saved the world. It had been a nice thrill, and little more. It felt good to see Fluttershy’s face when she found her friend again, though.

As nice as the cheer of the masses was, Fluttershy’s small but sincere smile was just as important, if not more. It was hard to tell if Fluttershy was happy for her win, or if she was glad Rainbow Dash was back to save her from being squished by the surrounding ponies. Probably both, and that was fine. Dash was glad she hadn’t come alone regardless.

“That was very impressive, I’m really happy for you,” Fluttershy said, her wings half spread—as much as the ponies around her allowed for it. Dash nudged one of her neighbours aside to make room for herself, grabbing a few hayfries from Fluttershy when proffered. “I almost thought you’d miss the pole,” Fluttershy added.

“Pff, as if,” Dash said. Sure, she could have missed, but she didn’t. She grabbed another mouthful of fries and watched as a large unicorn stallion ran up to the pole. He kicked out as hard as he could, but he barely hit it, misjudging the distance. Dash couldn’t hold back a snicker once she was sure the stallion hadn’t hurt himself. “I don’t think anyone’s gonna beat that record today,” she said.

“I’m sure you’re right,” said Fluttershy. “Applejack would’ve loved to try this too,” she mused, nibbling at the fries.

Rainbow Dash frowned. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, Applejack would probably beat her. That was part of why she hadn’t tried to get a rise out of her and get Applejack to come along. Butting heads with her was always fun, but she had to concede hind leg strength almost in the same way Applejack had to default on flying.

Another pegasus mare ran up and kicked the pole. A decent kick, but nothing to write home about. Applejack could likely kick the pole apart, really. She imagined the powerful earth pony mare running up to the thing, the horrified looks on the attendants’ faces. The image was good for a giggle or two. Fluttershy gave her a questioning look, but before she could explain herself, Dash imagined Fluttershy giving it a go instead.

She expected to laugh twice as hard at the notion. Fluttershy would run up and kick at it to no effect at all, but it just didn’t strike her as funny. Nor did the idea of the crowd chanting Fluttershy’s name if she did well. It was all some shade of crazy, maybe, but it didn’t make her laugh. She wanted to see it.

“Hey, you should give it a go!” Dash said. Sure, she wouldn’t beat Dash’s score, but maybe the crowd would appreciate her trying, at least. Her wing joints itched. They’d better. She would be peeved if they didn’t.

Fluttershy’s wings snapped to her side, and the hayfries spilled everywhere. She looked around frantically. “Me?” she asked, looking around as though she hadn’t noticed the crowd before now.

“Yeah!” Dash said, tapping Fluttershy on the rump with one of her wings, trying to prompt her forwards.

“No, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” said Fluttershy, unmoving.

“Come on, what’s the worst that could happen? Just give it a try!” Dash pushed lightly against her with her wing again.

“I’d really rather not, no,” Fluttershy said, taking a half-step back against Dash’s wing. She wore no expression at all, her eyes on the centre of the plaza.

Dash furled her wing in a second and without a word. That oddly pervasive image of Fluttershy trying her hoof at this silly competition nearly made Dash push harder, nearly had Rainbow Dash plant her head to Fluttershy’s flank and scoot her into the plaza—but she didn’t.

Though she didn’t protest further, Fluttershy’s jaw was set. There was no discussion to be had, and it took Rainbow Dash exactly zero time at all to drop her budding frown and shrug. She brushed at Fluttershy’s mane to shake loose some errant fries instead. “Alright, that’s cool,” said Dash. “Let’s go get some more fries. I don’t wanna head back just yet.”

“Okay,” Fluttershy said, her wings given a little more slack. “I guess we could do that.” Her chest heaved with a deep breath.

Rainbow Dash grinned and led the way through the throng, making a walkable path for Fluttershy too, and the other pegasus kept close. “We should go see if there are any other contests that need a touch of awesome too!”

“I don’t know,” Fluttershy said. “It’s getting a little late, and we’re leaving early tomorrow.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t even have time to insist. She looked back at Fluttershy with her most winning smile. The yellow mare shook out her wings one by one once they were through the crowd, letting out a little sigh of relief.

“But okay. I guess we could do that, too. It is our last day in Equestria for a while.” She smiled.

Dash whooped, hooking Fluttershy’s neck with the nook of one of her wings to up their speed a little. “Come on, I think I saw some games just down the street!”

Chapter 1

Find attached a path by air and a path by sea. The calculations are my own, using Cape Absolute as my point of reference, and any capable captain should be able to follow them with ease. I was told we may expect an exact map via an independent party. This is not as strange as it may sound: In my recent travels, I have met more than one such party of what I can only describe as cross-border mail service. Please see separate report.

Finally, I wish to add a personal note, and I ask that these words are omitted from my official report as these are simply the fanciful musings of a mare who would rather be working than waiting.

I have described these peryton as tending towards stern and unreadable. Combine this with the precision of their instructions for a proper meeting, and it is easy to think their severe demeanor contradicts their inviting words. I do not think this is the case. I firmly believe that the peryton are fundamentally amenable to the prospect of engaging in diplomatic relations with Equestria—these are all things I have stated in my report.

However, and with respect and deference to the Princesses’ discretions, I am an explorer, and no diplomat. I suspect your Royal Highnesses will wish to involve their most capable agents for this land. This place requires ponies with experience and ability, better equipped to understand what I can not.

I leave this letter in the care of the Royal Equestrian Mail and depart for the south-west, allowing for a week ashore in case there are countermanding orders. My next scheduled report may be as late as next spring, given the distances involved.

-Red Sun Runner, The Perytonia Report. Section 4, subsections c-d. (Not Published)

“And remember, for the duration of our travels, we’re officially Equestrian diplomats,” Twilight said. “That means we all need to be at our best!” She drew herself up to her full height, and Rainbow Dash imagined it would look and sound pretty impressive if she hadn’t said words similar to those all morning long.

From the moment they woke up—or, from Dash’s perspective, from the moment they dragged her out from under the blanket and forced her to eat breakfast—Twilight had gone on and on about responsibilities and all those other boring things. From the hotel to the skydock, she’d been unrelenting in telling all her friends about the importance of their respective journeys, as if they didn’t know that.

Dash shifted uncomfortably with a creak and a rustle from her saddlebags, her attention already drifting again. This far up, the wind tugged at her mane as though she were mid-flight.

The Las Pegasus skydock looked impressive enough as part of the skyline. They had seen the huge, skeletal structure on approach by train, but up close, it was something else entirely. The multiple station buildings and flat boarding platforms were the tallest buildings in all of Las Pegasus. It was no Cloudsdale, sure—her city of birth was the authority on all things winged—but what the platforms lacked in puffy, cloud-filled awesome, they made up for with airships.

The large wooden hulls tethered to the side of the platform were held aloft by great balloons or magical pontoons, all sporting one or more colourful sails. The only thing tempering her excitement was the fact that they were boarding the smallest one around, and that was an objection on principle alone.

The Vantage, as the green letters on white wood declared it, was barely as big as Sugarcube Corner, a squat ship with a balloon many times its size. She shook her head to clear it. Apparently, ponies were saying their goodbyes. Pinkie crossed necks with Fluttershy and hugged her close with a foreleg, grinning hugely.

“—don’t party if you don’t know where the balloons came from, be sure to eat lots of sugar, and you come back all safe and nice!” she said, pulling back to touch her snout to Fluttershy’s. The pegasus smiled back and gave a confused nod.

“Oh, I’m sure we’ll be fine. I hope.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Hey, that goes double for you guys. I bet we’ll get back to Ponyville first. Losers have to throw a welcome back party for the others!”

“Wouldn’t it make more sense if the ponies who got back first set up a reception, dear?” asked Rarity, adjusting the straps of her saddlebags with a glimmer of magic.

“There is no telling when either of us get back. It could be days or even weeks apart,” Twilight added, hugging Rarity, then Rainbow Dash. Dash was happy to return the hug, wrapping her forelegs around Applejack, too, parting hugs shared all around.

“We all know Pinkie’s going to be the one throwing the party anyway,” Dash said, laughing.

“Parties,” Pinkie Pie retorted, hugging Applejack tight. “Not one party, but a bunch of them. There’s going to be so many parties. Aw, I’m going to miss you, Applejack!”

“Pinkie? Neither of us are getting on that airship,” Applejack said with a roll of her eyes, but she resigned herself to the sideways hug regardless. Behind the six ponies, the airship crew carried the rest of their cargo on board, a mare struggling under the weight of a large chest. The platform was deserted aside from sailors and staff, and most of those had already boarded the Vantage. Evidently, none of the bigger airships were leaving anytime soon.

“I suppose that’s our cue,” Rarity said with a wan smile, casting a glance towards the uniformed pony who had just stepped up to the railing of their ship. Rainbow Dash felt a twinge of trepidation course through her body. She’d played it cool when the others talked about it, but now, they were leaving Equestria. It wasn’t nothing. From the way Fluttershy’s tail drooped as she turned to the airship, she could tell the other pegasus shared her thoughts.

“Y’all stay safe. Going to miss you an awful lot,” Applejack said, doffing her hat.

“Heh, yeah,” Dash said. She took a deep breath and gave her most confident grin. “Seriously though. Race you back. You guys have fun, too!”

Final goodbyes were shared, and in Pinkie’s case, a last round of lightning-speed hugs. Rainbow Dash led the departing trio up the gentle slope of the gangplank, all three with scarves for warmth and saddlebags to carry their personal effects—but mostly to make their wings uncomfortable, Dash figured.

If Rainbow Dash made a few backwards glances, it was only to make sure that Rarity and Fluttershy followed. Definitely. It had nothing to do with being a teensy bit nervous. Just excited. Yep. She hopped onto the deck of the ship and stretched her entire body.

“Cold hooves?”

“Hah! No way!” Dash replied, whirling around to come face to face with their captain. The older, gravel-voiced mare wore a decorated sailor’s hat, and didn’t look half as smug as the words suggested. Instead, the blue earth pony mare gave them a relaxed salute, and Dash had no idea if she was supposed to return it. Also, the sailor’s eyes were on Fluttershy, who leaned over the railing to wave at their friends still.

“Oh. You mean her,” Dash muttered, flicking her ears.

“Rarity.” The unicorn said, stepping past Rainbow Dash to give the captain a nod and a bright smile. “A pleasure.”

“Calm Seas is my name,” the captain replied, giving Dash’s mane a pointed look. “I’m going to go out on a limb and say you’re Rainbow Dash, which makes you Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy quailed a little under the stern look, but managed a nod. Perhaps she had come to the same conclusion that Dash had: it didn’t look like their captain was capable of anything but a stern look.

Calm Seas indicated the only door set in the front of the ship. “Forecastle door, down the stairs, first on the right. Those’re the only passenger quarters, and you’re the only passengers. I haven’t been told not to ask too many questions, but I’m still not gonna ask. Don’t like questions on principle. Don’t get in my crew’s way, and you have free run of the ship otherwise.” She broke into a grin somewhat hampered by a scar on her muzzle.

“If that sounds alright with you ladies, let’s be off. Sooner we leave, sooner I’m back doing my regular runs. Royal business isn’t my favourite business, and this makes for two more cross-sea flights than I bargained for.”

The ship creaked. Rainbow Dash added it to the long and growing list of why wings were better than wooden airships for travel. She also added “speed” between every other entry in her head.

“I hope Twilight is going to be okay,” Fluttershy said, peering out through the small window set in their quarters’ outer wall. There was barely enough space for the three ponies and their saddlebags. No room to fly around a little just for the sake of it, much to Dash’s dismay.

“Twilight? Why her?” Dash asked, hopping onto the bed to sit next to Fluttershy. Outside, Las Pegasus drifted away as the Vantage performed a large turn and set course south and west. If there was anypony she worried about, Twilight was near the bottom of the list. Twilight could handle anything.

“Oh, come now,” Rarity said, rummaging around in her saddlebags with hoof and magic both. “Fluttershy is absolutely right. The poor dear was practically out of her mind with worry, rambling on and on even more than usual. I suppose she’s afraid either we or they will disappoint the Princess. Or, Princesses, as it were.”

Dash leaned against the wall, scratching the back of her head against the coarse woodwork. “Yeah, okay, but if the Princesses cared so much, why didn’t they come say goodbye?”

Fluttershy looked like she wanted to protest. She got so far as opening her mouth before Rarity cut in.

“They did say that there was a lot to do right now, and that’s why we are going to Perytonia in their stead. We said our goodbyes at the midsummer banquet last week. Honestly, Rainbow, I didn’t think you would be sore about that.”

“Hey, I’m not sore! I’m just asking. They didn’t tell us a whole lot about this mission.”

“Mission,” Rarity repeated, arching a brow. “I think I prefer ‘diplomatic journey’, myself.”

Dash grinned. “Nope. When the captain gave us that package, this became a mission.” She gestured to the open box at Rarity’s side, next to which lay its contents: a thick sheet of paper had been identified by Fluttershy as a large-scale map showing the location and environs of a city, with a blue circle around a hill near the city outskirts. Next to the map lay three neatly folded multi-coloured strips of silk longer than Rarity’s biggest winter scarves. The gauzy things had been the source of some debate.

“I don’t think it really matters what we call it,” Fluttershy chimed. “They know we’re coming, and that’s the important thing. Red Sun Runner met with one of the peryton to make sure.” She cleared her throat, raising her voice a little more. “And Rarity, if you’re looking for the box from the Princesses, it’s in my saddlebags.”

“Oh. Thank you, dear,” Rarity said, putting hers down while she quested under her bed for the butterfly-embroidered pair instead. Once she opened them, she fished out a box no bigger than a hoof to each side, revealing what Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but think of as a Hearth’s Warming ornament. Rarity insisted the metal star was a “sigil”, though, whatever the difference.

“Besides,” Rarity continued, fixing Dash with a smile. “Perhaps if you’d paid a little more attention when the Princesses told us about all their efforts this year, or even to Twilight today, you’d have learned a little more.”

“I was all ears when Princess Celestia and Luna talked about this!” Dash protested, her eartips heating up. “I know what they said. Take that thing to who or whatever’s in charge over there now and invite them to come have cake or something. Tell me one new thing Twilight said that the Princesses didn’t tell us.”

Fluttershy brightened. “She told us she’d found some very old books in the Canterlot library that suggested the Perytonians are probably vegetarians, just like us, and I was ever so happy she did. That’s a very nice way to break the ice.” She let out a little gasp. “Oh! And she also said they have have tail-feathers rather than tails like ours, just like birds! And that it wasn’t just the people Red Sun Runner talked to who have wings—they’re all winged creatures, just like the two of us—or at least she thought so.”

“Okay, that was not one thing,” Dash said, her momentum crashed. She deflated a tad, pouting. After a small pause, Rarity gave a very un-ladylike chortle, and Fluttershy couldn’t keep from giggling. It was infectious, and Dash failed to muster indignancy. She laughed as well.

“Fine, I kinda zoned out a lot,” she admitted. “I don’t sweat the small stuff anyway. ‘Give them the thing’. Done. I guess if the Princesses knew exactly how we were supposed to do this, anypony could have done it.” She puffed out her chest and tossed her mane. “No wonder they wanted us for this!”

“We’ll certainly need that energy of yours,” Rarity said, smiling. “And I’m sure our friend in, ah…”

“Orto, I think it was called,” Fluttershy said. “That should be the place on the map, but I can’t read their letters. Someone there should know we’re coming.”

“Yes. Our friend in Orto is supposedly waiting to meet us, and I’m sure they will be more than happy to lend a hoof. Or... claw? Beak? Whatever they have.” She looked askance at Fluttershy, but received nothing but a tiny shrug in reply.

“Sure, can’t wait to meet them,” Dash said. Bit by bit, the mirth petered out into a pensive silence. Rarity turned the sigil-or-ornament thing around in the grip of her magic, and Fluttershy looked out the window again. Dash followed her gaze. Nothing but air now, but if she craned her neck, she could see the ground far below. There was nothing unusual about that to the seasoned pegasus, but Dash could see the seashore far off in the distance, too. That part was decidedly new.

“So… Did you, ah, have fun, yesterday?” Rarity asked with a sideways glance.

“Hay yeah!” Dash said, bouncing to stand on all fours. Fluttershy tumbled off the side of the bed with a muffled eep.

“It was nice,” Fluttershy offered, accepting Dash’s hoof to help her back up.

“Nice? It was awesome!” Dash corrected her, grinning at the memory of all the games they had played and won during their little trip up and down Las Pegasus’ main thoroughfares that evening. Well, strictly speaking, she herself had been doing all the winning, but that seemed like something of a detail. Maybe even a small annoyance, on afterthought. Maybe she should’ve tried again to ask Fluttershy to try some of those games.

“Well, I want you to know that I’m very glad,” Rarity said, smiling. She looked as though she wanted to say something else. Maybe she wanted to know what games they had played, but she didn’t ask, depositing the sigil back in the box in favour of inspecting the Perytonian silk.

“Do you think they are for us?” Fluttershy asked. She stepped off the bed to run her hoof along the length of the silk Rarity handled. “They are very soft, and very pretty.”

“Three of them, three of us,” Dash said with a shrug. “They don’t look like they’re very warm if they’re scarves. Can’t be half as good as Rarity’s scarves for altitude flying.”

Rarity glowed, giving Dash a wide smile and their other, thicker scarves a fond look where they lay in the corner of one of their beds. “That’s very nice of you to say, Rainbow Dash, but unless we’re going mountain climbing, Perytonia is supposedly very warm, especially now in summer. Still, it’s nice to be appreciated for—”

“Oh, hey, who has the bottle?” Dash asked.

Rarity sighed for some reason. “Never mind. The dragonfire? I believe I do.” She levitated a small bottle out of her saddlebags. Emerald-green fire swirled behind thick glass. “I have the parchment for use with it as well, but I don’t enjoy the thought of having to use this.”

“Yeah,” Dash agreed. “If we can get a ride back home without sending a letter, I wanna save it to see if I can prank Twilight with it when we get back.” She snickered and made for the door. “Anyway, I’m gonna get some air. I’ll be back in a minute.”

The Vantage’s corridor was cramped enough to make a pegasus cry. Dash squeezed past a stallion in the narrow hallway, mounting the stairs three steps at a time until she was out the door. She flared her wings and stretched her neck out, exulting in—the lack of wind against her feathers?

Rainbow Dash frowned. The forecastle was in the way. Kicking off, it took her all of two seconds to fly up to stand at the front of the ship, finally getting herself some wind. The air smelled different from what she was used to. What had been a whiff of salty sea air at the Las Pegasus train station was now almost overwhelming.

Dash popped an eye open, peering over the rim of the airship to find only an endless expanse of deep blue. To the right, behind and below, the green fields of Equestria were slowly fading from view. Dash let out a low whistle. Views from on high? Old news. Watching Equestria slide away? New news.

“First time at sea?”

Dash yelped. For a big old pony, their captain was deceptively stealthy. The earth mare stood right next to her, looking ahead, the few locks of her mane not constrained by her hat flapping in the wind.

“Uh, I guess. I mean, we’re not really at sea anyway,” Dash said, though she couldn’t help making it sound like a question.

“I’m no philosopher, but we got the sea below us. Counts plenty for me,” said Calm Seas. “If you’re gonna throw up, do it off the starboard.”

Rainbow Dash laughed. “Oh, come on, I’m a pegasus. If flying made me sea—uh, air sick, I’d know. In fact, I bet I could outrace your ship easy.”

“Miss, my grandmother could outrace this ship running backwards, and no, there’s no pegasus blood in my family,” the captain retorted with a half-grin that stole Dash’s thunder. “And besides, I’d like to see you fly across the Gorget Sea alone.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her jaw. She felt the urge to fight that statement, to take the challenge, but she had no idea how big it was. Looking ahead, it went on forever. She’d have to risk finding a wild cloud for resting every so often, and even then she might get blown off course. She flexed her wings mutely, but if she didn’t acknowledge what had been said, it didn’t technically count as a loss.

“Anyway, I’m gonna go for a flight.” Rainbow Dash hopped onto the railing, leaning forward to balance against the wind.

“Right, but a word to the wise? Don’t go too far. That’d be on my head. Also, I’d suggest you to keep needless flying to a minimum when we get close to Perytonia.”

“What? Why?” Dash asked, her voice cracking on that last word.

“Because I’ve been asked not to cause an incident, and flying over their land might make them nervous.” The captain shrugged, tugging at her hat. “Those are the rules I keep to once past the border. Past any border. Once you’re off my ship, you do what you want, but right now, no incidents means stay close, and stay shipbound after land is spotted, which should be in three or four days.”

Rainbow Dash stared at the captain’s back as she wended her way down the outer forecastle stairs. The idea of flying less hurt more than it would in practice, but she knew there was no way anypony could keep her on the ground if she felt like a flight. She kicked off the side of the airship and let herself fall for a second before she spread her wings, letting out a loud whoop.

Despite the captain’s words, the airship wasn’t half as slow as Dash expected. It moved at a good pace, though keeping up was foal’s play for her, of course. Dash let herself fall behind and trailed the ship for a few seconds, coasting in its drag before she flew up on the Vantage’s left side. She grinned wide, running a hoof along the chipped paint as she sped up, an idea seizing her.

It didn’t take her long to find what she was looking for. Soon she flew level with the front-most of the ship’s little windows. Inside their quarters, Rarity sorted through her bags and Fluttershy sat with her eyes closed. She knocked on the window, cackling with glee when Rarity stiffened in fright and glared at her. Rainbow Dash waved, then dipped a wing to veer away from the airship and pulled a simple loop as she plunged into the open air.

It was vast. A different kind of vast. Sailing away from Cloudsdale, springing off any cloud, or simply flying up for any amount of time could always buy Rainbow Dash as much space as she wanted, but with the flat and featureless sea below, and with few clouds about, everything was air—and everything was water.

She pulled an idle half-corkscrew, flying upside down for a second. The sky or the sea below, the sea or the sky above, she could fly forever in any direction she wanted. The airship drifted not far above—well, below, now—and she had half a mind to do exactly that, but she’d need to return at some point.

She’d simply have to make the most of it then. Make the most of a lot of air and a lot of energy, without the freedom to simply fly in a random direction and land wherever her wings took her. A flock of seagulls would be her only audience this time, flying together above or below her, outlined against sea or sky. She let herself fall into a sharp, short dive. Two, three, four neat little loops without a single flap of her wings. Another two loops, these with corkscrews—she exited the last one heading the other way.

Incidents. The word echoed in her mind. Twilight had used that word a lot too. Celestia may have mentioned it once in a rare sentence about caution and other snooze-worthy things. She whooped and laughed as she let herself drop again. Her wings protested when she broke her momentum, launching off in another direction. Any direction.

Dash gave her wings their all, flapping as fast and as hard she could before she curled herself into a ball and furled her wings. She spun around and around. Tears formed in her eyes and her tail blocked her view. She had no idea which direction she was going, already planning the next sets of spins and twirls when she spread her wings again and righted herself.

Except, she couldn’t. When she unfurled her wings, the world still spun. That wouldn’t be a problem by itself. A little dizziness was nothing, but when she looked ahead—what she thought was ahead—nothing made sense. For a fraction of a moment, all was an endless, identical blue. What she saw didn’t match the way she moved, and she tipped forward into a sharp dive.

All that signalled Rainbow Dash’s fall was a sharp yelp as the air rushed past her, but experience and training kicked in both at once. She shut her eyes tight, and in the darkness, orientated herself by gravity alone. Half a second. One second. Two seconds passed in free fall before she worked her wings to stop the spin. A moment later, she pulled up into a stable hover.

When she opened her eyes again, she focused on a wisp of a cloudstuff in the distance until she clearly saw the line separating the two shades of blue on the horizon. The airship was a fair distance ahead and above, while the sea below didn’t seem any closer than it had been a while ago. Equestria was still a broad strip of greens and browns far behind. Dash swallowed and gave chase to the airship.

The little mishap wasn’t all that scary. She was already over it, she told herself. The thought that the captain or anypony else on the ship might’ve seen it, however remote the chance, now that was embarrassing. Part of her brain was already trying to come up with some explanation that a non-pegasus wouldn’t know enough to call for the load of hay it was. That was her real concern, not the fright.

Probably. Definitely. Dash shook her head hard enough to fling all those pointless thoughts out through her ears. Steadying her breath, she upped her pace and made for the Vantage’s deck.

Rainbow Dash tapped a forehoof on the ground impatiently, but like her friends, she was unable to take her eyes off the spectacle above. All three of them watched The Vantage’s efforts to lower their stuff to the ground.

A swivelling arm with pulleys and ropes poked out over the side of the ship, gently lowering the small cargo elevator which swayed precariously in the breeze. Rainbow Dash pushed their small two-wheeled cart off the wooden platform, and only when the rickety elevator was on the ascent again did Rarity breathe. Dash slipped her saddlebags onto the cart.

“I swear, I think my heart may never recover,” Rarity muttered, one foreleg on the cart as she and Fluttershy put their saddlebags on top as well. The unicorn stared at the assorted bags and the chest that held her precious materials as though a little air-time could ruin them.

“I’m sure they’re fine. The captain said she’d done this before,” Fluttershy said, casting one last glance up at the airship. She waved, but Dash couldn’t see anypony from this angle. From below, The Vantage was a featureless wooden blob in the shadow of its balloon.

Being off the cramped airship after four full days of mind-numbing boringness felt great, but that joy shrank a little as the the airship began drifting away. The Vantage turned in a large arc to head back home, northeast, with three passengers less. Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Rarity stood alone on a small hill, twelve hooves making landfall in Perytonia.

Rather than the varying greens of the endless plains and forests of the Equestrian heartlands, here were drier, yellow grasses and patches of bare ground. The air itself was hot and dry, and though there were copses of trees and even a small forest in the distance, they were as unfamiliar to her as the fields of boulders that mirrored the untended clouds dotting the sky.

Rainbow Dash wanted to say it didn’t look that different. She opened her mouth to speak, perhaps only to agree with Fluttershy—whatever she’d said a moment ago—but her eyes always found something new to latch on to.

To their east, past jagged cliffs and a sheer drop, the ocean stretched on into infinity, and far to the west were mountains whose size and distance were impossible to judge. Behind them, to the south, the boulders, hills, dry grasses and strange trees all looked almost familiar, and somehow that made it feel all the more strange.

Finally, to their immediate north waited what was surely their destination, and in the end, all three of them faced due north. They stood on a small hill, their view just barely letting them see over the lip of a valley. Far below waited a huge and sprawling cityscape that dominated the valley floor, the distance rendering it a mass of mostly light greys. Sure, there were some coloured roofs here and there, but it provided a stark contrast to the colours of any given Equestrian street.

As Dash watched, a flock of distant shapes descended from the air to disappear amidst the buildings. Had they watched them leave the airship? For all she knew they were just birds. She didn’t have to look to know that Fluttershy had sidled up to stand at her side. The other pegasus stood close enough that she could feel her warmth, even in the dry heat of the wind. A moment ago, Dash had been stunned, her head too busy to be confident. Now, she found a grin.

“Alright, let’s do this!” she said, rearing up, and when she turned around on her hindlegs and hopped back, she saw Fluttershy wearing the beginnings of a smile. Rarity tore her gaze off the city and took a deep breath, nodding her assent.

“Yes, let’s,” she said, pointing to the cart. “Rainbow Dash, would you be so kind as to take the first turn moving our effects?”

“What? Why me?” Dash asked. She gave the offending vehicle a mighty frown.

“I’m sure I could try,” Fluttershy rushed to say, “but, um, I don’t see any roads on this side of the city. I’m sure the cart that Applejack made for us is strong enough to handle the terrain and all, but I’m not sure I am.”

Rainbow Dash sighed. As much as she didn’t like to admit it, they had a point. They’d been dropped off on gently rolling hills, and the bushes and rocks might present a challenge for a less athletic pony than her. With a shrug, she walked up to the cart and slipped in between the guiding bars. When she noticed that the simple harness didn’t obstruct her wings, she gave silent thanks to Applejack, wherever she was right now.

“I think we’re here,” Fluttershy said, leaning over the cart to point at the map Rarity had unfolded. “Which means that the hill circled on the map is right over that way. I guess they want to meet us—” Fluttershy yelped, startled into a hover as Rainbow Dash started moving, forcing her way through the dry grass.

“We’re in no rush, dear,” Rarity said, hurrying to catch up, folding the map with a glimmer from her horn.

“Breakfast at the ship was awful,” Dash protested. “I wanna see what these perytonians eat. Perytonilings? Perry-tons?” She upped her speed a tiny bit more, angling herself in the general direction Fluttershy indicated. The cart held up better than Rarity’s nerves, going by the unicorn’s continued worried glances at their cargo.

“Hopefully, they eat something that we can eat, too,” said Fluttershy, picking her way around a bush. “If not, we'll probably have to eat grass.”

Rarity scowled. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“S’gotta be some fruits or veggies around here.” Rainbow Dash pulled the cart straight through some scraggly growth, the thin branches tickling her legs. She grunted with effort, climbing a natural ditch.

“Careful,” said Rarity, her horn lighting up to steady the stuff on the cart.

“I am care—oh hey, look!” said Dash, finally getting the cart up top to a flat strip of cleared ground. “I guess we found the road? A road?”

“It’s not much of a road, really, but I guess it’s better than nothing.” Rarity eyed the path with obvious skepticism.

Fluttershy smiled. “It’s going in the right direction.”

“I’ll take it,” said Dash with a grin, setting the cart along the path that had just as many rocks and bumps as the rest of the hillscape. At least it was somewhat even, and there were no bushes growing in the middle of it. She briefly considered getting someone else to pull the cart, but they’d probably be even slower about it.

Rarity’s steady pace silently refused Dash’s attempts to really get them moving, the unicorn moving a diplomatic five steps behind her. Not that Dash minded terribly much. The heat had Dash sweating already, and now the city hid behind a long incline.

“Okay,” said Dash, taking a deep breath and wiping her forehead. “Just for the record, this better be a hot day for Perytonia.”

“We certainly won’t need the winter scarves,” Rarity muttered in agreement.

“We don’t know that,” said Fluttershy, frowning for a moment with sympathy. “Maybe we’ll find ourselves someplace colder, like a mountain, and we’ll be ever so glad you brought them.”

“The problem with that,” Rarity retorted with a bemused smile, “is that it requires me to hope we somehow end up on top of a mountain.”

Fluttershy giggled and shook her head, trotting alongside the cart opposite of Rarity. “Well, anyway, the place on the map should be outside the city, on top of this hill. I wonder what the Perytonians are like.” Her voice didn’t quite hold the same kind of wonder it did when she talked about the prospect of meeting some new kind of bird. Rather, she sounded concerned, like she did when she was trying to figure out what Pinkie had planned for her birthday.

“I’m sure they’re all reasonable if the Princesses expect we’ll manage,” Rarity said, smiling, but when Rainbow Dash glanced over her own shoulder, she saw that Fluttershy’s nod was one of those little nods that didn’t say “yes” at all.

“And besides,” Rarity added. “I am very glad you came with us, Fluttershy. If I am to try to show the best of Equestrian fashion to their prince or princess or whatever their leader’s title is, it’s a treat to have two wonderful winged models with me.”

“Uh-huh,” said Dash, snickering. “That’s definitely why they asked us to come to Perytonia. To model.”

“Of course not,” said Rarity with a huff, “but if they have wings and you have wings, that creates familiarity. That can only work to our advantage, even if it’s just a happy coincidence. None of us had to go, dear.”

Rainbow Dash held her tongue at that. She didn’t like the idea of any of them staying home. She didn’t like the thought of Fluttershy not coming along.

“Well, I’m very glad the Princesses approved your idea to show the peryton your fashion designs,” Fluttershy replied, “and I’m glad to help with that, too. I just… um, wish it wasn’t quite so far away. I hoped that they’d want us to visit somewhere closer to Ponyville. Do you really think they’re nice?”

“Come on, Fluttershy,” Dash said, grinning. “Stop worrying so much. We’ll do great.” She knew they would, and she knew Fluttershy would try to sell herself short every step of the way.

Fluttershy took a deep breath and nodded once more, smiling back at her two friends in earnest now. “If you say so.”

“I do say so. Just did,” Dash said, slowing down as she finally crested the height they had been mounting for a while now. On the other side of the lip of the valley, they were afforded a closer look of the nearby city. The far side of the valley landscape was dominated by farms, the gentle slope dotted with orchards Rainbow Dash couldn’t identify, and straight ahead, at the bottom of a long stretch downhill, the city of Orto awaited.

The buildings were definitely some kind of stone, Dash decided, and those that didn’t look like some variant of of upturned bowls were elaborate masses of open-aired arches and curves. There was probably a fancy word for it. Everything was very… architecture?

Orto’s streets were wide, and it looked every bit as busy as any Equestrian city, blobs of people and tiny shapes milling about. From their vantage point they could see more farms and other buildings stretching all the way east until the city hid behind the curvature of the valley, creeping towards the nearby sea. Maybe it wasn’t a valley after all. If there was a word for a valley that ran into the sea, Dash didn’t know it. The relative lack of tall towers and spires made the whole thing feel more like an outsize Ponyville than Canterlot, but it was a single drop of familiarity from a raincloud of strange.

“Oh my,” was all Fluttershy said.

“Indeed,” Rarity agreed.

“Yeah,” Dash said, scratching at her belly with a wing. “Okay, uh. Where do we begin? What do we do?”

“Well. Um. I think this is the hill on the map,” Fluttershy said, glancing back at the cart where the map lay packed away. “It didn’t show height the way maps usually do, but I think this is it. I could check again, if you want me to.”

“You might not have to. That may be our friend,” Rarity suggested, indicating an approaching figure with a nod ahead. A single creature was halfway between them and the outskirts of the city.

“We could go meet them,” Dash suggested. She squinted. It was hard to tell if the figure even got closer. For all she knew, they were moving away. Impossible to say.

“Maybe?” Fluttershy said, scuffing at the ground. “But also, maybe we should wait here like the map told us to? At least, I think it told us to.”

“I honestly could not tell you which is more polite,” Rarity admitted, clearing her throat. The figure was still too far away to identify beyond that they had four legs and a short mane, or no mane at all.

“Nah, forget it. Fluttershy’s probably right,” Dash said, to Fluttershy’s relief. Still, she wished she could just take to the air and fly over to greet this person, get it over with right away. She quelled that impulse, but the idea of flying brought up another memory from a few days back.

“Oh, hey, did you guys know that we’re not allowed to fly here?” The very memory annoyed her, and all of a sudden, the harness of the cart felt twice as restrictive.

“I had not heard that, no,” Rarity said, frowning. “You’re joking, right? That would be awful for you, darling!”

“Well, actually—” Fluttershy said.

“That’s what the captain said!” Dash said. “Or, something like that. Something about not causing an incident. Do I look like I’m about to cause an incident?” She flexed her wings and snorted loudly at the very idea.

“I think—” Fluttershy tried.

“Well, ah,” Rarity said, intensely studying one of her forehooves, “that is a very different question. But to your first point, I’m surprised that the Princesses hadn’t told us if the two of you would not be able to fly.”

“Exactly!” Dash said, turning to face Rarity. The cart’s wheels groaned and kicked up dust as they slid sideways around the rotating pegasus. “Who does the captain think she is, anyway? I—”

“I don’t think that’s true at all,” Fluttershy said, stepping in front of Rarity and Rainbow Dash. She’d raised her voice to something approaching what Dash would call a normal conversational tone. “The journal that Red Sun Runner wrote explained that the Perytonians she met with said they didn’t want us acting aggressively.”

“I hardly expect that the captain read the original journals,” said Rarity, tilting her head sideways, “but I do recall Twilight’s notes mentioning that. ‘Not acting aggressively’ is obvious, though. We’re hardly intending to cause a fracas.”

“Alright? I mean, sure?” said Dash. “We’re here to make friends.”

“So we should probably be very careful.” Fluttershy shook her head and smiled. “That’s all what Twilight said, anyway, but we don’t know what frightens them. Maybe they don’t like people moving quickly, or airships, or anyone at all flying high overhead if they don’t know who they—or, I mean, we—are or what we are doing,” Fluttershy said. “That could be very frightening and mysterious.”

Rarity poked her cheek with her tongue. “Well, that does make some sense. We are guests here after all, never mind that we don’t quite know where ‘here’ is. Our captain had directions, but we have no proper map, and as I recall, this isn’t even where Red Sun Runner met with the peryton to begin with.”

“Okay,” Dash said, nodding very slowly at her friends. “So… I don’t care about that. Like, at all. Flying, yes or no?”

“I don’t see why not,” a sharp voice suggested. “Unless your intention is to use your wings to scatter every unattended parchment in every home with the force of your wind.”

The three ponies gave a start, Fluttershy taking an involuntary step back from the stranger who just now stopped a respectful few strides away. Dash had forgotten all about the approaching creature, and it seemed that so had her friends.

The peryton stood taller than any pony Rainbow Dash had ever seen, except for maybe the Princesses. They—was it a he or a she?—had delicate, jagged antlers on their head, small eyes and a long muzzle, and for all that they weren’t completely unlike a large and powerfully built pegasus pony, they had small hooves on their forelegs, and large, splayed talons on their hindlegs, a little bit like Gilda’s.

“Forgiveness. I only heard your final few words. I did not eavesdrop. You are the Equestrians? We saw your coming.” The creature waited only long enough to let Rarity give a dumbfounded nod, her poise broken by the surprise. The peryton took one step sideways before spreading a huge wing up and back, as if unveiling the city beyond.

“I am Consul Khaird of the Swaying Stalks. Mine is the pleasure to welcome you to the greater demesne of Orto.”

Chapter 2

By raven for Orto, Vauhorn, Cotronna, Stagrum, and all kin,

On our shores were found visitors who answer to no known shapes. A small crimson creature without feathers or antlers, one called ‘Red Sun Runner’, sought audience with ‘all of Perytonia’, and their words did not meet ours as easily as they should. They asked us to promise and to do things we cannot, in hopes of forging friendship with their Equestria. At the moment, we did not have a flight to spare to escort them to Ephydoera proper, and they did not have the patience to wait for raven-borne words. Impatient, they asked for permission to deliver more of their kind to us, to guest, and asked where our decisions were made.

We send them to Orto, and deem the task of comprehension theirs while we wait for word from Cotronna (whose name and function was attempted communicated to the creature). We expect Cotronna to suggest the same as we did—and for Orto and its people to relish this task.

Forage looks promising this spring. We ask for no more the coming season than we did last year.

-The High Warden

“We are ever so grateful for you taking the time to meet us,” Rarity said, smiling brightly at their guide.

“Greeting visitors is one of my responsibilities, and one I relish,” he replied. At least, Rainbow Dash assumed for now it was a ‘he’. “Meeting you, and speaking anyway. Our written languages, I understand, are as different as our spoken languages are similar,” he continued, gaze straight ahead as the four made their way down towards the valley floor.

They passed an empty stone building with neither door nor windows. A road branched off to wind past it towards a small cluster of buildings on the western side of the valley, all surrounded by neat rows of plants in dry soil.

“Why is that? Why do we speak the same language? Or… I guess, why wouldn’t we?” Fluttershy asked, though when the peryton glanced over at her, however quickly and kindly, she looked like she wished she’d not spoken up.

“I do not know. That is for those who think on language from sunrise to sundown to answer. Perhaps a keeper of scrolls? It makes my job easier to be able to talk, so I am happy. There are enough hurdles as it is,” he said, throwing his head back and letting out a strange warbling sound unlike anything Dash had ever heard before. Dash blinked. Was that meant to be a laugh? He’d already stopped, eyes ahead again.

Rainbow Dash looked over at Fluttershy, confused, but the other pegasus’s eyes were on another herb farm by the roadside. Two peryton meandered around on the far side of a fence, their backs turned.

“Certainly, arranging for this little meeting has been a challenge,” Rarity said, dispelling the silence before it could fully settle.

“Yes. We received word from Ephydoera that you had been asked to come here, and clearly all has gone well,” said the peryton. “I wonder, if the map reached you, did you not receive the Myrtellan bands? Much effort was put into sending a package, and we were given the impression it had arrived.”

“The what? We got the scarves if that’s what you mean,” Dash said, though her mind was elsewhere. Were all peryton this large? Did they all have those huge wings? Were they fast or nimble fliers? These were the questions she wanted to ask of their strange new acquaintance. His coat was a reddish brown with grey in places, but what his coat lacked in colour, he made up for in his feathers. The tips were green, blue or both, as were the long feathers that made up his tail.

Rainbow Dash stiffened, looking up when Fluttershy cleared her throat, but at least Khaird hadn’t caught her staring. The peryton looked to the other side, apparently talking to Rarity. The unicorn levitated the scarves in the grip of her magic, unfolding one as they walked, and Fluttershy seemed to have found the courage to walk a little closer.

“You see,” Rarity said, “we figured them to be scarves as Rainbow Dash suggested, and I must say, they are wonderfully delicate.”

“Scarves, bands, one word is as good as another in this. Silk is precious and rare. Much of what we use comes from Cotilla. We do not make much ourselves.” He inclined his head ever so slightly. Was that a smile just now? Rainbow Dash could see large teeth, and they weren’t entirely flat. It was impossible to tell whether he was happy or sad: Peryton eyes were entirely too small.

“It was a gesture of friendship from the city of Orto. The colours, the greens, reds, blues and purples, they reference Myrtella, and they are dear to us,” said Khaird. “It would honour me if you would wear them. It will endear you to our city as well, this I promise.”

Rarity gasped. “Oh, that is an even lovelier gesture than I thought! What do you say, girls?”

Fluttershy dipped her head and smiled. “I think that would be very nice. I mean, I would be happy to, thank you,” she said, craning her neck to let Rarity hang one of the scarves about her neck as they walked. Rainbow Dash did the same, leaning down to bite down on one of the silken ends and toss it around her neck one more time to stop herself from stepping on it.

“Hey, it’s kinda comfy,” Dash admitted. She turned her head left and right, grinning as the thin silk touched against her coat. Putting on clothes in the baking heat was silly, but she barely noticed it at all.

“That, they are,” Khaird said with an odd little trilling sound from the back of his throat. “Most wear them for special occasions, some wear them always. A visit from another land is special, I think. And, to go back to what I said on challenges earlier, I see only one of you has an antler, and a small one—but it carries magic, I see just now.”

“All unicorns have their own special magic from their horns, yes,” replied Rarity, and Dash didn’t even try to hold back a chortle at the obvious pride in her voice.

“And these unicorns are your… females? You have two genders?” Khaird asked. He shook his head briskly. “Do forgive if this is rude, but though I see many visitors from afar, I cannot tell you apart aside from what is obvious to me.” He looked to Fluttershy, then to Rainbow Dash, eyeing their wings.

Rarity blinked once, then twice more, saying nothing. Dash repeated his words inside her head, trying her best to make sense of it as well, but it was Fluttershy who spoke up when the peryton cleared his throat, quailing in the silence. If his other mannerisms were difficult to understand, identifying an uncomfortable peryton was comparatively easy.

“Actually, we’re all mares, or ‘females’. Rainbow Dash and I are pegasi, and Rarity is a unicorn,” she said. “Oh, and, I’m sorry if I’m insensitive, but um, you’re a ‘he’, right?”

“I—yes, again, forgive,” the peryton said, the normally even rhythm of his speech momentarily broken. Finally, he launched into another brief throaty warble of quickly changing sounds that Dash was now sure was nervous laughter. “This is never easy when meeting someone new. Yes, I am a he—a stag rather than a doe or other—and that is not obvious to you, I should understand this.”

“Heh, that’s what I guessed too,” Dash said, exulting in her cleverness. Fifty-fifty was always good odds.

“It wasn’t a guess, actually,” Fluttershy said, her ears pinned back. “Sorry. I just assumed, because a lot of birds have colourful feathers on their, well… On their males.”

“Why’re you sorry for being right?” Dash asked, laughing. “That’s awesome!”

Fluttershy blushed faintly at that, and Rarity seemed to finally shake herself out of her stupor.

“Well, I’m, ah, glad we’ve cleared that up, at least,” Rarity said, puffing out her cheeks and letting out a little giggle. “I hope we did not give any offence, and none was taken.”

“Male, female, neither, both or other, it matters very little to us,” Khaird said, shaking his head. “This is not the case for everyone, and I care to the extent that I wish to understand. Regardless, I think you will find Orto both welcoming and understanding if you seek neither to offend nor to be offended.” He gestured to the growing city ahead of them as he continued.

“As for my kin, we all have antlers with some measure of magic, and we all have wings, but you are right.” He paused for breath, glancing over at the ponies. “The most colourful wing-feathers and the longest tail-feathers tend to belong to those born as males. If ‘pegasus’ is not a word for the males of your species, and you do not all have horn magic, then—”

“Equestria has lots of different ponies,” Dash said. “Unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies are all different, uh, ponies, but there are mares and colts of each of those. Oh, and then there’s the Princesses, but they don’t count.”

The peryton tilted his head at this, first one way, then the other, but Dash didn’t know what more to say, and neither Fluttershy nor Rarity filled the gap.

“This, I think, is why Orto needs to expand its libraries. I am embarrassed that this is new to me, and embarrassed again that I found so little in our archives.” He yawned, showing a long tongue as he did. It looked weird, but the peryton didn’t seem otherwise tired.

“When we received word of your plans to land here and visit, we knew something of your Equestria. Visitors of the travelling peoples always speak of a place on the continent called The Great Bridge by the Zebra, but as far as I know, Ilyra has carried no Ortosian hooves there.” He smiled, showing teeth again. “As little we know of your lands, we know even less about your people. Equestria wishes to learn of Orto, and Orto wishes to learn about you Equestrians, and in turn, we hope to teach our kin.”

“Well, supposedly, we used to be friends,” Rarity said. “We must have been since there is mention of you in our libraries, but I understand that was a long time ago. If we must start anew, then we will.”

“Twice as much reason for Equestria and Perytonia to become friends again,” Dash shot. “Everypony loves making friends!”

“As does Orto”, the peryton interjected, though he made it sound almost like a disagreement, like Dash hadn’t just said the same thing.

“Indeed, that is why we’re heading to... Cotronna, I think your capital is called?” Rarity added. “We hope to invite you to a moot of sorts. I assume your prince or princess sits in Cotronna?”

“Ah,” Khaird said, quiet for a moment. “No. I... do not suppose—I do not think I understand the question.”

“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna rule Equestria,” said Fluttershy, smiling at him. “They’re in Canterlot, the capital of Equestria.”

“Canterlot? Now I am confused. Are you not from Equestria?” Khaird asked.

“Eh, Fluttershy and I are really from Cloudsdale, and Rarity’s from Ponyville. That’s where we all live now, but it’s the same thing. It’s all Equestria,” said Dash.

“We carry an invitation for your leader,” Rarity added, getting them back on track. “An invitation asking them to join the Princesses in Equestria at a conference to discuss possible treaties. Surely you have a prince or a princess, even if you call them by another name,” said the unicorn, smiling a little wider at Khaird’s complete lack of reaction. “Rather, who is the most important person? Or if a decision was to be made that affected all of Perytonia, who ultimately decides? Who has the final word, so to say, in Cotronna?”

“I suppose,” said Khaird. “The answer to your question is the Head Consul of Cotronna.”

Rarity nodded her assent and smiled. “Wonderful. We carry a royal seal to mark the occasion, and we’re looking forward to delivering it.”

“And I have no doubt that Cotronna will be thrilled with your presence and your invitation both,” the peryton said, his voice a little more flat than before. “I am glad.”

He gave them another one of those odd, large peryton smiles, this time without his teeth showing but it was hard to tell if he sounded glad at all. Dash didn’t feel like nitpicking anyway, particularly when it could led to a lot of boring arguments. She was more interested in trying to keep track of their surroundings. Finally, they entered the city proper.

Rather than be greeted by gates, guards or other trappings of ceremony, the gaps between the scattered farms and gardens simply ceased to be, and then the bowl-shaped farmhouses were replaced by buildings that slowly grew in size and density.

Dash didn’t pay attention to the unmoving buildings at first, though. Not while there were living things to see. A peryton passed by, and then another. Dash craned her neck to look at the strange creatures, comparing them to Khaird. Now he was no longer unique, and for every stare she cast, Dash received an equal portion of curiosity in return.

Their slim antlers were complicated, with no two sets alike, but most of their bodies were built the same to Dash’s eyes. They all had thin muzzles, and their forelegs were dainty compared to the powerful hindlegs that ended in large grasping talons, the last long joint leathery and entirely hairless.

The biggest differences were in their tail-feathers—some short, some long enough to almost drag along the ground. The peryton would probably have looked weirder if she hadn’t known Gilda for so long, but where her childhood griffin friend was proud of being eagle and lion both, it was impossible to claim that these creatures were two halves. Soon there were too many to single out for inspection. Fluttershy slipped between Rarity and Rainbow Dash to try to avoid the worst of the attention returned by the locals.

“Let us find you a place to bed down for later, first,” Khaird said. He slipped in front to take the lead, and the three ponies followed.

They all had antlers. They all had large wings, and it wasn’t nearly as simple as to sort them into peryton with coloured wings and peryton whose feathers were the same colours as their body. In addition, their coats were all different shades of browns, whites and greys. Combined with the light grey stone that served as the building blocks for most everything around, roads included, it could easily have gotten very—what was the word? Dash stared at Rarity as if she could channel her fashion-conscious friend. Rarity, for her part, was looking every which way, eyes wide with wonder.

Samey. That was the technical term, probably. It could’ve looked very samey, but it simply didn’t. Especially when Dash took in all of it at once. Coloured feathers on wing and tail, the occasional scarf, painted wooden furniture and signs, and busy sidewalks teeming with life as though the idea of doing anything indoors was a crime all made the city almost too varied.

The winged natives worked on crafts in the open air, and huge groups walked together in animated discussion. To make distinguishing between the creatures even harder, many of them busied themselves decorating each other with even more colour. Here, a cluster of large, brightly coloured peryton added even brighter detail to their wing-feathers with some sort of dusts. There, three smaller peryton dipped their tail-feathers in some watery paint.

There was a buzz of excitement about the air, in doorways, in the streets, and all around what Rainbow Dash assumed were public buildings. Outside something that might have been a school, throngs of little peryton with awkwardly long legs and tiny bodies played with paints under the supervision of a larger member of their people.

“Why is nopon—uh, no one flying?” Dash asked. The question hadn’t fully formed in her mind before it was ejected as the only thing that made no sense to her. Even as she asked, she spotted a pair of peryton overhead, but they were only gliding, and she saw no others.

“Flying in summer tires the body quickly, even only in first-summer,” Khaird replied with a backwards glance. His brow furrowed for a moment, probably in thought. “Some enjoy it more than others and will go to great lengths to take wing when there is a chance, of course. We are all different.”

“Sure, I guess,” Dash said. The answer didn’t make perfect sense, but while she wasn’t convinced it was too hot for flying, it was definitely too hot to get into an argument about it. Besides, there was so much else going on; the three friends were getting more than curious looks now. When they rounded a corner and entered a wide, busy street, a small group of peryton dipped their heads in unison. A moment later, some debate or other outside a storefront ground to a halt as they passed by, the attendants staring unabashedly. Dash could swear she heard a cheer down the street, but it couldn’t possibly have been for them.

“You see more flying in Ponyville, though,” Dash said. She could barely hear her own voice over the din of the city now. On their right, they passed a large open-air theater full of peryton working on a stage set, several of them with muzzles painted bright red or blue. One held a bucket grasped in its powerful talons for whatever reason.

“They don’t build very tall buildings, either,” Fluttershy said. The more looks they got, the closer Fluttershy walked, and it was only thanks to this that Rainbow Dash heard her. Fluttershy’s head hung low enough that her mane dragged along the street.

“Yeah, what’s up with that? But hey, they seem really friendly. That’s cool.” Dash looked back at Rarity, who had been silent for a while, but it was easy to see why. Rainbow Dash snickered. The unicorn basked in the attention the ponies got. A perfect contrast to Fluttershy, she walked with her head high and smiled beatifically. Finally Khaird slowed down, and Rainbow Dash brought their cart to a full stop.

Their guide stood outside a large, single-storied structure with an open front-section made into a garden, supported only by graceful engraved columns. Further in under the roof waited proper walls, in front of which were more burgeoning plants crowding a small fountain.

“For all that we are honoured and thrilled every time we have visitors, we do not ever get as many as we wish,” Khaird said, smiling toothily at the building as though it was an old friend. “This is the Home of the Heavenly Song, one of our finest resting houses. Orchard owners from the northeastern edges of our demesne often stay here in spring, when they have business in the city proper. Most other resting houses guest traders at the moment, but I had this one reserved for your use. I have spoken to the hostess ahead of time, and gladly will she have you for as long as you wish to stay.”

“You have been ever so kind. Unfortunately, we don’t have any of your bits, or… coin? We did bring some gemstones, though, and we were told they were valuable to you,” said Rarity. Rainbow Dash looked about for a likely place to leave their cart, wondering who in their right minds would trade anything worth having for gems.

“They have been told not to accept payment. As council member, I have some pull, and this is a favour to me, one I will repay. This is a gift, and the simplest thing I can do for you,” Khaird retorted, shaking his head. “And, at any rate, I understand you will not be here for very long after all. If Cotronna is your goal, you have quite the journey ahead. Will you not stay for a while? Anything less than eight days is entirely too little to get anyone’s measure, surely.”

The three ponies exchanged glances. Dash waited for Rarity to say something, but now she hesitated. Fluttershy blew her mane out of her face.

“Um, that’s very nice of you,” Fluttershy said. “But we really don’t know how to get to Cotronna at all in the first place. We don’t have a map of Perytonia because… well, we’ve never been here before.”

“Yeah,” Dash said, offering her support. “We were hoping you could point us in the right direction and all.”

“You’re very kind to offer us a stay here,” said Rarity. “And we’d be delighted if we were free, as it were, but we really do need to get to the capital as soon as possible. When we get there, we will be sure to let them know how helpful you have been,” the unicorn added with a smile, but Khaird seemed less pleased by that than Dash expected. Then again, their expressions still didn’t make a lot of sense to her. To her, Khaird looked perpetually relaxed.

“Yes. Well, that is a harvest for me to be thankful for,” he said. He hesitated for a moment, tilting his head sideways. “But if you do wish to make this old stag happy—no. I cannot ask it. It is not fair.”

“You can always ask,” Rainbow Dash said. “Hey, if you have a hydra problem, we’re pretty good at those! I’m sure we can spare an hour.” Fluttershy shrank back further at that. Soon she’d be under the cart rather than pinned up against it.

“Nothing so perilous,” Khaird said, smiling. “Tomorrow begins the festival of Myrtella, and if you would attend even for one sun’s length, I would be very pleased.” He held up a foreleg and waggled it from side to side. “But, honest. I will help as much as I can regardless. I understand you will need a map for this task you have given yourself, and this I can find by tomorrow even if you are too hurried to say yes.”

Rainbow Dash gave an inward sigh. She really had her heart set on a real fight or challenge of some kind. Still, Fluttershy looked cautiously optimistic, and Rarity smiled wide.

“Why, I for one think that sounds lovely,” Rarity said. “It would be rude to refuse, and we can’t very well get moving without knowing where to go. Fluttershy, dear? Rainbow Dash?”

“I don’t mind,” Fluttershy said. She looked at Dash.

“Sure?” Dash said, shrugging. She was all for meeting new people, of course, but they had barely even started their journey to Cotronna before they were delayed.

“It is settled then!” Khaird said. “I will understand if you change your mind, but if you are sincere, I am happy to hear it. There is sunlight still, and I will try to find for you maps you might need. Meanwhile, the city is for you to explore if you wish. I will come find you here tomorrow after sunrise and help you to the festival field.”

“That is very nice of you,” Fluttershy said, dipping her head in thanks, and Dash added her voice to the sentiment. Khaird craned his neck in a curious thing that could have been a bow or a nod.

“It has been my pleasure. And now, I will go attend my office, with hopes to see you in the morning. Treat the hostess with the kindness you have treated me, I beg, and you will have made another friend.” With a parting smile, he turned on the spot, leaving the three ponies at the entrance to the large building that seemed half indoor garden.

“Well, he was absolutely delightful,” Rarity declared, fluffing her mane. “Let us see about shedding our burdens, shall we?”

“Yeah. I bet you’re really worn out, poor thing.” Dash rolled her eyes before pointedly staring at the cart that contained all their stuff, including saddlebags. Rarity’s burden amounted to exactly one silken scarf.

“I don’t see anywhere to put the cart. Maybe we should check the other side?” Fluttershy suggested.

Fluttershy’s guess was right. On the other side of the building, they found space to leave their cart next to two other wagons that dwarfed theirs. The little two-wheeler Applejack had put together was perfect for their purpose, but it was tiny compared to the local four-wheeled variants. Rarity stopped at the threshold to an open doorway in the back wall of the Home of the Heavenly Song.

“Let’s just leave the stuff out here,” Dash said. “I bet nobody’s going to take it.” She shrugged out from the harness. Though it was comfortable enough to wear, being tethered to the cart was not. She’d taken exactly two steps before the large wooden chest was surrounded in a faint glow. Rarity gave an unladylike grunt, her horn lit as she struggled to lift it over the rim of the cart.

“Oh, I’m sure they won’t,” Fluttershy said, looking askance at Rarity. “Rarity, I’m sure you can just leave it here.”

“Be that as it may,” said Rarity, gently lowering the chest to the ground and letting out a deep breath before she lifted it up again. “I just realised that I need my materials and my tools if we are to make an appearance—ack, Rainbow dear, help me!—tomorrow at the festival.”

Rainbow Dash shook her head mutely and slipped under the chest, balancing it with her wings. She was halfway to the door when a peryton slipped out past Rarity and over to the cart, levitating up one of the pairs of saddlebags. Her many horn-tips glittered with magic, and she smiled at them—a doe, Rainbow Dash assumed, judging by her simple whites and browns.

“Please, let me help,” she said. “And let me see if we cannot find for you a room.”

Ligilia, as the hostess was called, wasted no time in swiftly helping the ponies to what she insisted was ‘their room’ at the Home of the Heavenly Song. Rainbow Dash wasn’t quite sure about that, though she was happy to be out from under the baking sun.

“Silks, cottons and everything related yes,” Rarity said, rummaging around in her travel chest.

Sure, the chamber was large. Perhaps even too large, just like the tall and glassless windows set strangely high on the wall. Rather than a few beds intended for multiple ponies, the room had four beds, likely meant for a single peryton each. They would fit two ponies, if not three. In the center stood a low table, and all these were things that belonged to a room. Absolutely.

“Trimmers, shears, gauges,” Rarity continued while Fluttershy tested one of the beds, pushing down on the mattress with a hoof and smiling ever so faintly to herself.

Rainbow Dash didn’t have a lot of experience with inns and taverns. They were words that belonged in a Daring Do novel. On the other hoof, the moment they got off the airship, she’d decided this definitely counted as an adventure.

Still, the status of this place as an inn, a tavern, or whatever else didn’t really matter for purposes of determining whether or not this was a room.

“Measures, where’s the curved—oh, there it is!” Rarity sighed in relief.

“There’s no door,” Dash said, finally decided on what was wrong. Through the doorless portal, she had free view of the center chamber to which all the not-rooms were connected. Behind a stone counter in a hall covered in carpets, their peryton hostess arranged some items on a large platter, uninterested and uninteresting for the moment.

Rarity did not look up. Fluttershy tilted her head, glancing over at the open arch.

“I guess they don’t feel like they need doors?” she offered.

“Yeah, I mean—I guess?” Dash finished. “That’s a little creepy.”

“I don’t close my door very often when it’s warm outside, because then all the animals can’t come and go as they please,” Fluttershy countered with a small shrug. “They probably don’t get a lot of snow in winter.”

Rainbow Dash stared at Fluttershy. She was the very last pony she’d expected to come to the defense of a lack of doors and windows to hide behind.

“But, um, I suppose I would like to be able to close it if I wanted to be alone,” Fluttershy continued. “I don’t know if I think it’s ‘creepy’, but...”

“I hear that in Manehatten, they actually lock their doors unless they are expecting visitors,” Rarity said, rejoining the conversation while she regarded the myriad of tools and fabrics spread out on one of the beds. She had more kinds of scissors than there’d been salad forks at the summer sun banquet.

“Okay, I take it back. That is creepy.” Dash snorted. “Why’d you lock your doors all the time? Eh. Anyway, did you guys notice how Khaird kept saying Orto whenever we were talking about Perytonia? Like there was a big difference?”

“I guess they’re just very proud of their city,” Rarity suggested, unfurling a bolt of red silk halfway before freezing it mid-air. “Surely that’s all?”

“He didn’t seem very happy when we said we would tell the pon—um, well, the peryton in Cotronna how nice he had been, I think,” Fluttershy said with a tiny frown, she spread one of her wings open and furled it again. Her frown deepened, and she did it again. Dash winced in sympathy.

“Hang on, I’ll get it,” Dash said. She slipped off her own bed and hopped onto Fluttershy’s, sitting down next to her.

“It is probably nothing,” Rarity said, folding the silk and wrapping it around herself, craning her neck to get a better look as she spoke. “I know plenty of ponies in Canterlot who speak of their city as if it has nothing in common with Ponyville or the rest of Equestria at all.”

“But it does, and it’s still part of Equestria,” Dash protested, poking Fluttershy in the side to make her spread her wing. She nuzzled in between Fluttershy’s secondaries and nudged them apart, biting down on an offending feather to right it, ignoring the little ow of protest. “That better?” she asked, licking her lips. As little as Fluttershy used her wings, she at least kept them clean.

“I think so,” Fluttershy said, experimentally furling and unfurling her wing again. She smiled by way of thanking her and Rainbow Dash shrugged, sitting back against the wall.

“Well, if nothing else, we should remember to ask our host about it,” Rarity said. “He has been very forthcoming, I feel. Now—”

“I understood you were hungry?” The inn owner stood in the doorway, a large tray and a silver decanter in her magical grip. Without pausing to confirm, she put the tray of food on the center table, inclining her head. “Kelp cakes, sour-grass balls and okra pudding. Please enjoy.”

A large platter of food, three ornate bowls and three plates were worth three sets of thanks and smiles, and Ligilia returned the smile in earnest, tilting her head forward until her muzzle lay flat along her neck before she departed. The ponies gathered around the table, Dash calling dibs before she decided what she wanted.

“There’s enough for everyone, I am sure,” said Rarity, and she was probably right. The grass and the pudding portions were more than a mouthful, and by elimination, the coarse, disc-shaped things had to be the kelp cakes. Each of them were almost the size of a pie.”

“Um, so,” said Fluttershy, staring at the food, clearly having met the same challenge Dash did.

“So, I’ll just, uh,” said Dash. She leaned over to nab one of the kelp cakes in her mouth. She put it down on an empty, flat plate, staring at it while Rarity gave the pudding a taste using only the tip of a large spoon.

“Hm? What’s the matter?” asked Rarity, wiping her mouth with a napkin while she cut off a portion of one of the cakes.

“These aren’t really made for non-unicorns,” said Fluttershy, poking at one of the utensils with a hoof.

“Oh. Huh. I suppose you are right,” said Rarity, frowning ever so slightly. “The plates should be a little more curved, and the portions aren’t clear.”

Dash was too hungry to hesitate. She held down the kelp cake with a hoof—cake, pie, disc, whatever it was, she tore off a bite-sized chunk and chewed noisily while Rarity shielded herself and winced. “Eh, whatever. That just means it’s not my fault if this gets a bit messy,” she said between bites. “I think you’re the only pony in Ponyville who’s ever eaten a muffin with a fork.”

“I’ll have you know that the Canterlot style guide for fine dining insists that if a fork can be used, then it takes precedence over the spoon,” said Rarity, though she couldn’t keep her rigid, painted smile for more than a second before she giggled.

“Maybe we can ask if she has something we can use to clean up afterwards,” Fluttershy suggested, smiling. She pushed her plate up to the larger platter and scooped a hoof-ful of pudding for herself after wiping her hoof on her coat. “How’s the… kelp?” she asked.

“No idea,” said Dash, grabbing another bite. “Ask me later.”

Where Fluttershy paced herself and Rarity even said some words about their flavour or whatever, the first few kelp cakes disappeared before Dash even considered their taste. Right now, their primary function was being food for the famished pegasus. The water in the fancy carafe disappeared, and Ligilia happily refilled it not once, but twice. At least the water bowls made sense and were easy to drink from.

A little later, when Rarity called for one of the two pegasi to stand model for her, Rainbow Dash was on one of the beds, belly full and thoroughly out of commission. She tried and failed to cover up a small belch. While she hadn’t planned to be extra loud to make Rarity pick Fluttershy over her, it worked out great.

“Are you seriously going to work on your dresses all the time while we’re travelling?” Dash asked, covering her head with a wing. Now she regretted that last kelp cake. Her stomach throbbed and ached faintly.

“Not constantly, certainly not,” Rarity replied, “but if we are to attend this festival, I only have an evening’s worth of time.”

“Oh, Rarity,” Fluttershy said. “You’re not trying to make three dresses all by tomorrow morning, are you? You really don’t have to.” She pulled back a half-step, pausing Rarity’s efforts to match colours to her coat, travel-sized bolts levitating on standby for the moment.

“Darling, did you not notice? These peryton wear next to no clothes at all! I can create something both simple and elegant to show them the wonders of fashion with time to spare. It won’t be my best work, but I’ve been in a rush before.” Rarity pursed her lips. “And besides, I am making two dresses, not three. The entire point is to show them fashion that they’ll want to wear, and that means taking wings into consideration. I’ll make something for the two of you. Nothing to drag along the ground. Oh, I have an idea.”

“Yeah, you’ve been in a rush before,” Dash agreed, snickering. “That always works out.”

“It usually does, sort of,” Fluttershy said, raising a foreleg to let Rarity weave the fabric around her.

“It does, thanks in part to my experience,” Rarity said with a nod and a smile at them both. “And thanks in part to friends such as you. Now, Rainbow Dash, please come stand next to Fluttershy, and don’t move. This won’t take more than an hour or three.”

Rainbow Dash groaned and rolled off the bed.

“And you’re sure you don’t want to come along?” Fluttershy asked, not for the first time. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and leaned against the doorless doorway. The un-door? The open and un-doored… hole?

Rainbow Dash leaned against the opening that separated their possibly-a-room from the central chamber where Ligilia sat scribbling away at a piece of parchment with a large and dark short-haired dog snoozing against her side.

“No, thank you. I could really use some quiet, so this works out wonderfully, I think,” said Rarity, not so much as looking up. With the food cleared from the table, it had taken the function of workstation, Rarity’s fabrics and cuts and whatever else she worked with arrayed before her. “Once I finish the designs, I will still need to fit these dresses properly, though, so please be back in an hour or two at the most.”

“Sure,” said Dash. “I just want to walk around the block or something before I go crazy.” She leaned back to stretch out her forelegs.

“Okay, if you’re sure,” said Fluttershy, smiling at the unicorn. “We’ll be back soon,” and with that, Fluttershy turned to leave, taking all of two steps out of the room before she froze in place, her ears perked and her eyes fastened upon the dog at Ligilia’s side.

“Oh. Oh my, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dog like that before,” said Fluttershy. She covered her mouth with a hoof. “Sorry, I guess he’s sleeping,” she added in a whisper. Ligilia looked up and smiled toothily at the two before she went back to her writing.

“I’m sure you can pet the dog when we get back or something,” Dash suggested, pointing to the two identical doors leading out through the garden. “C’mon.”

“That’d be nice,” said Fluttershy, and even as they made their way across the carpeted floor of the large and empty chamber, the pegasus’s head turned to stare at the dark-furred dog until they were actually out the door and she could no longer see it.

“Where do you want to go?” Fluttershy asked a moment later, when they stood at the edge of the broad street. The walled garden was almost pleasantly cool, and the light a little less intense than earlier, but past the little patch of green, there was no telling what was what. Dome-shaped houses all around, some open spaces where peryton gathered, and others that stood silent.

“Right,” said Rainbow Dash, turning ninety degrees to the right and walking on along the roadside. “Right’s a great tie breaker. Only thing that beats it is going straight ahead, but that kinda ruins the point of walking around the block.”

“I guess that’s true,” said Fluttershy, smiling at her. She fell in step, keeping Rainbow Dash between her and the rest of the street—and in the way of all the stares and curious looks they got. There were less peryton out and about now, but the two ponies still received a good amount of attention.

That was fine anyway. Anything not a pony walking down Ponyville’s main street got a healthy helping of eyeballs, too. Most of them even smiled, and a few did that weird thing Ligilia had done, tilting their heads forward until their antlers pointed straight ahead. Nods? Bows? Dash still wasn’t sure, but it made Dash feel a little like a celebrity.

“I’m glad it’s a little less hot,” said Fluttershy, looking straight up. “There aren’t a lot of clouds here.”

“Yeah,” said Dash, frowning and the nearly perfectly bare sky. “It’s like the opposite of the Everfree. Instead of too many clouds for no reason at all, there’s nothing. I guess everyone has a bad cloud day once in awhile.” She shrugged. They passed another group of peryton who pointed and stared, talking amongst themselves in hushed tones.

“Goodness, they’re really excited about us, aren’t they?” asked Fluttershy, glancing nervously at them.

“I guess?” said Dash. She eyed the little group and waved at them. One of them raised a foreleg and waved back, awkward, unpracticed, and very energetic. Fluttershy both joined in Rainbow Dash’s laughter and hid behind her as they moved on.

Finally they could take another right turn. Peryton city blocks were apparently huge. Something reminiscent of the House of the Heavenly Song passed them by on their left, more garden, less building. Maybe there wasn’t even a house in there at all. Up ahead, another building loomed large, an elaborate facade with columns and arches set deep in a wide stone courtyard. Even across the road, Dash heard harsh bird calls from within.

“I think those are ravens,” said Fluttershy, her eyes lighting up. “They sound just like the ones who live in Equestria.”

“Huh. That’s weird. Why’d you keep ravens in a… whatever that is?” asked Rainbow Dash. Further in the courtyard, past some decorative fountains, stood huge stone billboards with scrolls pinned to them.

“Ravens are wonderful messenger birds,” said Fluttershy, smiling.

“I thought that was pigeons,” said Dash.

Fluttershy shook her head. “Not only pigeons. Plenty of birds are more than smart enough to carry a message. Or, well, all birds are, but ravens have great memories, and just about anypony can train them. Well. Um, any peryton, too, but I’m just guessing, really.”

“Right. Could be anything,” said Dash with a grin. “Maybe they just have a huge bird feeder in there and really like ravens or something.”

“That would be very nice of them,” Fluttershy replied, giggling. She perked an ear. “I don’t know if that would be very practical, but I can tell they’re happy in there from all the noise they’re making.”

Already the strange raven-place fell away, replaced by other buildings, and on this stretch of road, no two things looked alike. Rainbow Dash had no idea what to make of the other buildings. One she pegged a library or school of some kind, a small group of peryton leaving all together. Closing hour, probably. After their next turn right, they passed some closed, silent and dark buildings that might’ve been shops.

Somewhere beyond the city, behind the lip of the valley barely visible over the roofs of the buildings, the sun crept towards the horizon, and it got a little colder still. Keep going, Dash thought. It’s almost comfortable. The sunlight gained a tint of red which coloured all the stonework with the same feather-light touch of pink.

“So, this Red Sun Runner pony, she never came here?” Dash asked on a whim. “Because if she’d written about this place, I’d like to read it. Like, some notes on where their hayfries stands are or whatever.”

Fluttershy laughed and shook her head. “I don’t think there are any hayfries stands, but I guess we never know. Maybe… kelp fries?”

“Uh, pass?” Dash stuck out her tongue. “Okay, games, then. Hoofball, skating, I don’t know, anything cool. We don’t know what any of this stuff is. What if we just walked past a night-open indoor skating rink?”

“Red Sun Runner never visited a city,” said Fluttershy. “She just met with some… I think she used the word ‘patrol’, and they together decided that we’d come meet them here.”

“Right,” said Dash. “Not us, but someone.”

Fluttershy nodded. “Mm, I don’t think the Princesses meant for us to visit, specifically. Just that someone from Equestria would. I think we’re the first ponies to visit in a very, very long time, so if anyone should write a guide, I guess that’s actually us. That’s why Rarity’s keeping her journal. Not just as an official report, but—”

“Yeah, I know. Twilight asked us to take down notes,” said Dash. “That’s cool as long as I don’t have to write it.”

Walking the almost completely abandoned shopping street—if that’s what this was—made her feel a little bit like an explorer. Down the smaller by-streets they still saw flocks of peryton painting each other and laughing as they did, but there were fewer people around now. If there was some sort of festival in the morning, that made sense. Early to bed to get ready for a party? Maybe they weren’t so different after all. Dash thought she could feel it. A charge building in the air.

“Did you ever think I wasn’t going to come with you?” Fluttershy asked.

The question came out of nowhere. Rainbow Dash looked around as if she would find someone else for whom the words were meant, but she remembered Rarity and Fluttershy had talked about this earlier that day.

“You mean to Perytonia, not just for the walk,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Mhm,” said Fluttershy.

“I don’t know, probably not,” said Dash, shrugging and stretching her wings out. “Would be weird if five of us went off to help the Princesses out, and you stayed back home. I know they said it was up to us, but c’mon, that’d be—well, weird,” she repeated. Weird, and she didn’t know if she’d want to go herself, if it came to that.

Dash turned them right again. Yet more houses. At least, she assumed that the smaller ones were houses. Upturned bowls with windows placed too far off the ground. A peryton stuck its head out one of the windows, shutters glowing with faint magic as they pulled shut.

“Were you ever thinking about staying home?” asked Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy’s brow knit, silent for a second. “Maybe?” she said. She tilted her head, and reached up to push her mane out of her face. “When they told us how far away all the places they wanted to send ponies were, and that it could take weeks, I was a little worried.” Fluttershy shook her head. “But no, I didn’t really think I would ever stay home. At least not after you asked.”

Rainbow Dash scratched her head. She tried to remember what she herself had said, but she couldn’t recall. All Dash knew was that she’d flown over to Fluttershy’s cottage the day after they got back from their visit to Canterlot earlier in the summer. Whatever. She was glad Fluttershy had come along. The city was quiet and boring right now, and it’d be twice as bad without her.

“Anyway, the peryton aren’t much for night-life right now,” Dash said, stretching her wings out. “Wanna head back?”

Fluttershy glanced left, then right, all with a hesitant smile that could barely be called such a thing. She looked over at Rainbow Dash when they drew near an intersection across the street. “We could, but I don’t mind if you want to walk a little longer.”

“Sure,” said Dash, who didn’t, really. But why not? She smiled and set them moving across the street.

Rainbow Dash snarled. The giant changeling had employed some sort of wing-binding magic. She tried to spread her wings, but they simply wouldn’t unfurl. Her foe grinned with unrestrained malice, charging its horn with another spell. Dash strained against the magical restraints with all her might, growling with effort.

The spell grew in strength. The changeling horn brightened, and with its mounting glare came a sickening heat. Finally one of Dash’s wings were free, then the other. She took to the air, swift and powerful wingbeats carrying her away from the dreadful heat-spell.

A sharp pain. She crashed to the ground and found she couldn’t move at all. The spell intensified, hotter and hotter. She tried to yell out for help, but she made no sound at all. Rainbow Dash awoke with a sharp intake of breath.

She was upside down in a tangle of sheets on the stone floor of their bedroom, and her head hurt like she’d been kicked. She must’ve flown off the bed and smacked it against the floor.

Even worse than the dull and throbbing pain was the heat. Her lower body was cocooned in bedsheets, and the room was oppressively hot, making her feel decidedly clammy and sweaty as a result of the sun’s glare through the window rather than a long flight or run. Judging by the lump of cloth and ponies next to her, she’d pulled her friends to the floor along with her. A purple tail stuck out from under the mess, and Fluttershy stood next to her trying to extract the complaining unicorn.

“—completely unnecessary,” came Rarity’s muffled voice, and Rainbow Dash idly wondered how this had all happened. Vague memories of yesterday played through her mind, but their order seemed random in the morning haze. Rarity had finished the dresses, and they were all getting tired. She said she’d finish up in a moment, letting Rainbow Dash go to bed, and Fluttershy to go hang out with the resident dog. At some point Dash had woken to Rarity sneaking up to huddle next to her under bedsheets from three beds. It got cold during nights, then.

“How are they not melting in the sun or freezing during the night?” Dash asked. She tried to kick away the blankets, but she couldn’t. Fluttershy helped Rarity up, then said her good-mornings to Rainbow Dash and helped her as well. Rarity huffed and trotted over to their room’s center table. Someone had put up a steaming washbasin and folded cloth.

“Do you know, Rainbow Dash, you kick like a mule in your sleep,” Rarity said, rubbing at the side of her barrel. She pinned Dash with a frown that rapidly softened. “Troubled dreams, dear?”

“Huh? Of course not.” Dash blinked in confusion and tossed the blankets onto the bed with a flick of her head. She nodded her thanks to Fluttershy, too. “What’s that?”

“Supplies for cleaning ourselves, what else?” Rarity asked.

“Could just use a raincloud,” Dash retorted with a shrug, rubbing at her eyes with a leg.

“There doesn’t seem to be a lot of those here,” Fluttershy said, grabbing one of the washcloths in her mouth. Rainbow Dash did the same, quickly cleaning what parts of herself she could reach, taking extra care with the wings. Satisfied, she trotted over to the window and stuck her head outside, craning her neck to look up.

“I really wish we had more water,” Fluttershy said behind her.

Rarity hummed in question. “What do you mean?”

Not many clouds today, either, Dash noted. Only on the horizon, far far away, could she see any cloudstuff at all, and it was a huge, unruly bank. It trailed off near the edges, wispy and uncontrolled, even more indistinct than the clouds over the Everfree.

“Well, without magic, it’s a little hard to wash your own face without soaking it, and I don’t want to ruin the water for you,” Fluttershy said.

“Oh. Of course, dear. Here, let me help you.”

Dash scratched the side of her head against the windowsill. Even pegasi would struggle to make rain-clouds here if the only water they had was salty seawater. She hadn’t seen any freshwater lakes coming in, at least. Rainbow Dash turned around to find Rarity levitating a washcloth, scrubbing at Fluttershy’s face. The other pegasus’s eyes were tightly closed, her legs braced against the hygienic assault.

“Don’t they have cloud magic?” Dash asked.

Fluttershy turned towards her and popped an eye open. Rarity went to work on her ears, and Dash had to hold back a giggle. It looked like Fluttershy had second thoughts about asking Rarity’s help.

“I don’t know,” Fluttershy said, “but they did say that they got tired flying in the heat, so maybe not?”

Rainbow Dash blinked at the non-answer.

Fluttershy turned the other side of her head to Rarity. She gave Dash a helpless look. ”They have unicorn magic. Or, well, something like it. Maybe that means they don’t have what Twilight calls pegasus magic?”

“Be that as it may,” Rarity said, leaning back and nodding in satisfaction before she put the washcloth down. “It’d be very rude to ask in case they don’t, in fact, have ‘pegasus magic’.”

Dash dipped her face in the washbasin and shook her head quickly, spraying water all over her friends. Clean and wet as a rainstorm. She grinned at the look Rarity gave her. “All ready for the party!”

Rarity sighed and grabbed the remaining clean washcloth, drying herself off. Satisfied, she levitated over two outfits from the far beds. Fluttershy gave a little gasp, and Dash whistled low under her breath.

“I’m afraid it’s the best I could do on such short notice, but I made some alterations after you went to bed,” Rarity said, though she did a terrible job at concealing her pleasure as she hovered them in front of the pegasi.

“For Fluttershy, a vest and a dress saddle. I changed my mind on the colours. Green and white matches you better,” said the unicorn with a firm nod. “Rainbow Dash, I shortened the flared royal purple dress I made for you. I thought you might both appreciate the simplicity, and I did not have time to play around with sequins like I had planned.”

“Hey, I see wing-holes that weren’t there yesterday, I’m happy,” Dash said, grinning.

“They’re beautiful,” Fluttershy said, running a hoof along the fabric of the vest Rarity had made for her.

Rarity smiled bright, three long and colourful scarves flying across the air from one of the beds. At first she thought they were the Perytonian scarves, but though they were the same green, red, blue and purple, the colours were more vivid and wound around each other, like a rainbow given a twist.

“I had a little time to spare,” Rarity explained. “I made some scarves of my own design using their colours. In all honesty, they clash with the dresses, but they are a concession to their own style.”

Fluttershy smiled. “That’s a very nice thought. I’m sorry you didn’t have time to make a dress for yourself.”

“Alas,” Rarity said with a theatrical sigh. “Some sacrifices had to be made. Besides, this isn’t really about me, is it? It is not even about you two, it is about showing the peryton the wonders of Equestrian fashion, of good design.” She unbuttoned Fluttershy’s vest and waved the yellow pegasus closer, helping her into it. A minute later, Rainbow Dash experimentally swished her tail, watching the hock-length dress flow left and right. Rarity busied herself cleaning up and organising her supplies in silence.

A silence that was off, somehow, and Rainbow Dash knew why.

Fluttershy was quiet. That was her nature, part of who she was, but Dash had long since clued in to the immense variety of silences her friend could produce. She looked over to find Fluttershy looking at her own outfit, then out the window, next out the door—her eyes flitted about the place, and her jaw was the tiniest bit more taut than it should be.

“What’s up? You okay?” The words were spoken before Dash had thought them. They’d come out very quiet, but it was still enough to startle Fluttershy stiff.

“Oh. Um, sure,” Fluttershy said, but she deflated a second later, giving Dash an appreciative smile. “I don’t know. I thought the idea of going to the festival sounded great, and I am sure it will be ever so nice—and it would disappoint Khaird if we didn’t go.”

“But?” Dash asked, tilting her head.

Fluttershy opened her mouth, then closed it again, hesitating. Dash was just about to repeat herself when the other pegasus found her words. “I’m not sure I like the idea of sticking out like this.”

“Stage fright, darling?” Rarity asked, joining them by the table again. She shook her head a tiny bit and smiled, reaching out to lay a hoof on Fluttershy’s withers. “We both knew that you weren’t very comfortable modelling, and if you don’t want to wear the outfit I made, I understand. I’ll be a little disappointed, but it’s not important compared—”

“Oh, no no,” Fluttershy rushed to say. “It’s not that, or, um, well, not just that. The outfit is fine. It’s wonderful, but we’re the only ponies here, that’s all.”

“Well, that is certainly true,” Rarity said, chewing her cheek for a second. “Khaird himself seemed delightful, though, and our hostess here, Ligilia, she’s given us no trouble either. There is no reason to believe that the others here are any different—and I’ve changed my mind,” she added, unwinding the scarves about all of their necks in no time at all, fetching the Ortosian scarves instead. “It would be rude not to wear the scarves that they’ve made for us, I feel.”

Fluttershy nodded once, slowly. Rainbow Dash stretched her hindlegs, then her forelegs, and finally gave a stifled yawn.

“You’ll be fine,” Dash said, bumping her flank into Fluttershy. She stuck her head inside the tangled mess of her scarf and tried to make it look intentionally unintentionally cool. “Besides, we’ll all be there.”

That had an effect, at least. Fluttershy looked at Rainbow Dash and the tension in her body lessened, if only a tiny bit. It’d be enough for now, Dash knew. She gave her friend a lopsided smile that said it’d be alright, and Fluttershy nodded once more, smiling back.

Chapter 3

Day 5

Day 1

Bringing no erasers for my charcoals was a mistake

I think I must always do my best work when under pressure. I have outdone myself again, of that, there is no doubt. Quick notes for the future: Using multiple makes of silk around the stitch of a hole allowing for a wing is surprisingly unproblematic, and I think I may give sequins a rest this season.

I’ve made these two particular dresses for a purpose, of course, but after that long airship ride, simply creating them has been a delight. While I naturally hope they are well received, I regret not a single hour of time spent on them.

Also, the peryton have been lovely so far. I’ll have to write on that later, but we’re waiting for our host right now and I do not wish to commit to a longer journal entry.

In case I forget: Write more about their architecture. Orto is proof that Canterlotian elegance and curvature (dare I say it is even more stunning?) can in fact be married to staggering openness without sacrificing a sense of the urbane.

-R

The sun rose at the same time as it did anywhere, Dash figured, but “at sunrise” apparently didn’t mean the same thing in Perytonia as it did in Equestria. If Applejack asked Dash’s help with something at sunrise, that meant “when the sun rose.”

Not that Dash would show up, of course. To Rainbow Dash, the sunrise was mostly just something she assumed happened, happily sleeping through this mythical event on principle.

Whatever the case, when Khaird did not show up within the next half-hour, the three ponies asked their hostess if breakfast was an option, and Ligilia swiftly found some more of the kelp cakes and fresh water for them. They were halfway through their meal—and Dash halfway through destroying Rarity’s sanity by refusing to take the dress off while she ate—when Khaird appeared in the doorway, wearing a single strange saddlebag wrapped around the base of his neck, and a scarf to match theirs.

“Come!” he said. “There is much to do, and much for you to see.”

The peryton smiled as genially as ever and said little until they reached the street. The city was far busier now than it had been yesterday; a din of chatter, trills, caws and other strange sounds filled the air, and if the packed streets resembled anything Dash knew, it had to be Canterlot during the lunch rush. The way Twilight had once described it to Dash, anyway, except as a sea of large winged and antlered creatures rather than ponies of all kinds.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were the only ones who wore anything that answered to the description of “clothes”, and Dash wouldn’t have given it a second thought if she hadn’t been in a dress herself. Many of the peryton wore identical scarves, and some wore woven lime green bands on one of their forelegs, all adding to the riot of colours. Khaird’s explanation of stags and does became useless with every single peryton dyed in bright reds, yellows, greens and more. Some of the smallest children looked like they’d rolled around in a rainbow condenser, and the stones of the streets were discoloured with dye powder.

“I hope you have slept well?” Khaird asked, “Or does travel to a far-away place make sleep hard to come by? I have a lamentable lack of experience with it.”

Dash could barely tear her eyes off all the people. She affected a weak shrug, barely looking up, and Fluttershy said nothing. Rarity cleared her throat. “We slept. The one thing I think we can agree is that the climate here is not the kindest to us. It gets rather cold at night, does it not?”

“I understand the heat and cold are both greater than in your Equestria,” Khaird said, pointing one of his forehooves down the street to set them moving in the same direction as the majority of the peryton. “I did some reading before bed, you see, and found an account gifted to us by a traveller who spoke of the demesne of your Equestria. You may find the hours around sunrise and sunset are the kindest to all,”

“It is a little more pleasant right now,” Fluttershy said. “And, um, a lot more people.”

“Well, duh. It’s a party,” Dash said with a grin.

“It is not a party, it is a festival,” Rarity corrected her. She sounded like she thought she was correcting Dash, at least, but Rainbow Dash wasn’t quite so sure. She looked up at their guide.

“Hey, what’s this party or festival or whatever actually about anyway?” Dash asked. “You said it was Myrrelli or something? What is that?” For a second, she wished Twilight was here. She’d have flipped open a book and told her so Dash didn’t have to sound like she didn’t have a clue.

“Myrtella is one of the forty-nine Aspects,” Khaird said.

“And?” Dash asked when he had been silent for a few seconds, but Khaird simply smiled, glancing down at the smaller pony as they walked.

“One moment. Your question is nearly perfectly timed,” the peryton said. “Hold on to that thought, and you will be shown. You will see.”

What they saw, Dash wasn’t sure of right away. The city of Orto was more orderly than any Equestrian city Dash had ever seen. However far they walked, the roads were always straight and broad. The occasional cart passed through the crowds without trouble, and their city blocks weren’t really blocks, owing to the lack of tall buildings. Even central Ponyville felt cramped by comparison.

Recognising this order was hard with the chaos of the crowds, though. A huge line of peryton danced past them in a snake formation, each of them biting onto the tail-feathers of the person in front. Rainbow Dash swished her tail against her skirt in tune to their movement and the faint drums she couldn’t see.

“Where are we going?” Rarity asked, her voice raised against the noise. “Is there somewhere to sit? A café at the edge of this festival while we get our bearings, perhaps?”

“This is not the festival,” Khaird replied, cawing. “This is an attempt to get to the festival. Have only a little patience, I beg.”

There was entirely too much going on for Dash to be bored for even one second. Everything stood out, and thus, nothing stood out—except for one building-less city block. The busy street became busier by the second, soon a press of feathers and flanks, and then they were through, dumped right onto a massive empty square.

Well, empty of buildings, anyway. From all the corners of the huge open space, more and more peryton flocked to the place, and there was space to spare for all of them. If not for the gentle slope and the subtly tiered steps, Dash wouldn’t see a thing for all the people.

In the very center, at the lowest tier, stood grey-white stones that described an area easily the size of Ponyville’s village square, and the stone slabs themselves were large enough not to disappear in the vastness of the surrounding plaza. From the monoliths hung flower wreaths, colourful cloth and… grain? Dash couldn’t tell for sure. A group of peryton passed in front of them, blocking her view, and more filed in past them.

“Wow. Pinkie would’ve loved to see this,” said Dash. Rarity stared blankly for a second, and Fluttershy muttered the tiniest little oh my goodness under her breath, almost entirely drowned out by a dozen different kinds of music from around the square. Five peryton dancing in a circle passed them by, wingtips touching as they spun and cawed in concert like ponies would laugh.

Khaird’s eyes were on the center square within the plaza, but though he faced away from her, Dash could hear the smile in his voice.

“The forty-nine Aspects each have their own stele—stones—in Orto and elsewhere, their own carvings and depictions, their own stories. Forty-nine exalted expressions of life as lived under the sky and on soil, of thought and of ways of being. This week, we celebrate Myrtella, whose stories are told most often in Orto. She is the favoured Aspect of Orto, if such can be said.” Khaird nodded towards the center square again.

One particular stone stood out, more peryton gathered around it than any other. Some danced by hopping from forehoof to hind-claw, others simply walked past the stone, reaching out to touch it with a wing. This one monolith almost disappeared beneath silken scarves and other decorations.

“She is the Aspect of fertility, of birth and all forms of love, or growth and harvest,” Khaird continued. “In her stories, we come together, no matter who we are.”

“Okay, cool,” Dash said, though she hadn’t quite decided on that. It depended on how mushy the ‘love’ part was. “That’s a stone, though.”

“That is a stone dedicated to her, yes,” said Khaird, nodding.

“I think she sounds lovely,” said Fluttershy, smiling back at him.

“I don’t suppose there is a chance we’ll get to meet her?” Rarity asked.

“Ah, she is not here,” Khaird said, furrowing his brow. “She is… a metaphor, of sorts.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “So she’s not real?”

“Oh, she’s very real,” Khaird clucked, but his laughter petered out when none of the ponies laughed along. Or maybe it was the fact that Dash kept staring at him, waiting for a proper explanation.

“Metaphor might be the wrong word,” Khaird said, clearing his throat. “I do not know how to adequately explain. I am neither story-teller nor claw-priest. I apologise if this does not answer your question.” He tilted his head. “A compromise, then. If you still find yourself frustrated later under this sun, I will try again, but for now, perhaps you should ask others if you are curious. It would be a sad sun’s journey if you travelled all this way to listen to a single voice. Twice the tragedy if that single voice was my own inelegant croaking.”

Rarity took a step in front of Rainbow Dash and nodded her agreement. “I think that sounds wonderful. Now, what does one do at your festivals? What would we do if we wished to join in the—” she cast a broad glance at the movement around them “—festivities?”

“Games!” Khaird said, his smile returning in an instant, and Dash grinned at the word. “Games, dances, songs, and a chance to speak to and meet new people. Friendships and love! These are the best eight suns of the season. I will leave you for now to let you make new friends, unless you protest, and see you back at the Home this evening after sundown. We will have stories to share!”

With farewells exchanged, Khaird dipped his head and turned, walking towards the circle of stones in the centre with a spring in his step.

“Okay, I’m down with that,” Dash declared. “Most of that.” She craned her neck, and now that she knew what she was looking for, less overwhelmed by the size of the place, she could better see what was going on at the plaza. Rather than a disorganised mess of infinite peryton aimlessly chatting and dancing, there were groups near the edges of the festival field who were definitely engaged in games of some sort, and a middle ring halfway to the inner square was dedicated to large tables laden with a variety of foods. Or at least, so she assumed. It was hard to tell at this distance.

Dancing happened all over the place, but nowhere quite so crazy as in the very center, inside the stone square. There must be over a hundred peryton hopping about the place, and for a moment, Rainbow Dash was certain she caught a glimpse of a zebra, quickly lost in the madness of the dance, and some other creature with a long neck disappeared around one of the stele-stones. On the far side, she could barely make out stalls that looked like a farmer’s market to her.

Dash was just about to suggest that they head to one of the corners when she realised Fluttershy and Rarity were mid-conversation.

“—attention,” Rarity said. Dash stepped a little closer to be able to actually hear them amidst the ruckus.

“Well, no one else is wearing any clothes, but no one else is a pony, either,” Fluttershy replied.

“What’s up?” Dash asked.

“I was just saying that I do hope some of them notice your wonderful dresses,” Rarity said, turning away for a second to smile at a curious peryton who stood a few paces away, looking straight at them. “I did not expect such a, ah, complete vacuum of fashion. Khaird didn’t even comment upon what you wear.”

“Huh, I guess not,” said Dash, shrugging. “Whatever. I’m sure they’ll love it, but what do you wanna do?”

“Perhaps we could find something to eat?” Rarity suggested.

“Uh, we just had breakfast,” Dash said.

“You had breakfast,” said Rarity with a huff. “I was not very fond of those kelp cakes.”

“I’m sure they were very good kelp cakes,” Fluttershy said, though the tiny frown she wore was grave condemnation. “But I would like to see what else they have, if that’s okay—oh, uh, hello.” She smiled at another one of the peryton, this one stepping up to do the weird neck-bow in greeting to them. The colourful peryton turned his head sideways and smiled back showing all his teeth, whilst briefly spreading his wings dyed in a variety of colours.

“I am pleased to greet you. You must have travelled far. Would you tell me, what manner of creatures are you?” he asked, while another one stepped up to stand at his side. Rarity nodded her greetings in return.

“We’re ponies from Equestria, a pleasure to meet you, I’m sure.”

“Yeah, hi,” said Dash, offering the newcomers a quick wave before she turned back to her friends. “Actually, let’s just split up. You get your food or whatever, I’m gonna go see what they do for sport.”

“Excuse me a moment,” said Rarity, flashing a smile at the peryton while she turned her attention to her friends. “If that’s alright with you, Fluttershy, I don’t mind.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “No, that’s fine.”

“Alright. Catch you later,” Dash called, turning on the spot and breaking into a trot. She could find her friends easily enough if she needed to. For all the mess, there was a distinct lack of solid white-and-purple or yellow-and-pink peryton around. Besides, all the attention was weirding her out a little. Normally she’d be all for it, and hay, it was nice in a way, but it’d be better if she felt like she had earned that attention by winning at something other than being a pony-shaped cloud in an all peryton sky.

“So you run as fast as you can around the track, then throw the… ‘disc’,” Rainbow Dash repeated. “And you try to land it on the other disc-thingy? That’s it?” She could barely hear herself over the beating of the nearby drums, her ears bent in defence.

“Yes,” Aroris affirmed. The grey-brown doe stood a bit taller than Rainbow Dash, but she was small for a peryton. It didn’t stop her from getting the high score while Dash watched. The other games she’d seen either needed magic or favoured physical strength, and in that respect, Dash knew she was outmatched.

Here, a dozen painted peryton were gathered around a small circular arena made up by grass-bales, taking turns to try to throw a disc into the center of the arena. They threw the disc with their magic, but Dash knew she could win this without any fancy spells. It was almost like playing horseshoes, when you thought of it, and Aroris with her fancy red wingtips and blue-powdered muzzle ran the game. Because she was the top scorer? Dash didn’t get that part.

“Now, your score is the amount of circles you run in twenty beats, multiplied by the amount of circle-marks you cover on the center disc. More circles run, more points, but being dizzy makes it harder to throw. More circles covered by your disc? Also more points.” Aroris hovered the small wooden disc in front of Dash, and the pegasus grabbed it in her mouth. She got a few odd looks. Or, well. A lot of tilted heads and one yawn with a freakishly-long tongue.

“Mhf, got it. Fh’why it’ph called phircles,” Dash said. She gave her legs a good stretch and crouched low.

“Okay, twenty beats of the drums. Go!” Aroris called, her hoof making a clack against the stone, the drums picking up at her signal. Dash shot away like a bolt of greased—well, no. She shot away like only Rainbow Dash could, grinning madly as she ran right circles around the inner ring. With her right wing extended, she could tighten her turns and run as fast as she wanted to, a trick she’d learned long ago. She was vaguely aware of gasps, some thrills of laughter, and a lot of cheers around her as she went. The beating of the drum distorted slightly as she ran away from them, then towards them, then away again.

When they took their turns, the other peryton ran slowly around the circle at barely a jog. Most only made five laps, and they seemed to be holding back, pacing themselves. Dash was sure she could do fifteen laps. Maybe more. Maybe she’d already done fifteen laps. She lost count, banking herself into the endless turn around the circle.

It took effort not to drop the disc on reflex. It slowed her down, and holding on to it against the rushing wind hurt her teeth. Around and around she went until she swore she could see her own tail just ahead of her. Now she became keenly aware of how her dress and scarf were slowing her down, too. The scarf tugged at her neck.

“Four, three,” came Aroris’ voice, each count in tune with her hoof-steps and the drums. One more lap. Dash upped her speed, passing Aroris one last time.

“Two.”

Dash screeched to a halt. She flipped the disc from her mouth and onto her hindleg with expert precision. She was back at Sweet Apple Acres and she was tied four to four with Applejack. The loser had to do a chore of the winner’s choosing, and Applejack needed space in her winter cellar. The Disc landed on her left hindleg, wobbling, but Dash steadied it.

“One!”

The disc was still, but now the world wobbled instead. Dash knew she overbalanced, knew that she’d fall. She kicked out just as Aroris called “stop!”. A split second later she was on her side, and the entire world spun around her, Rainbow Dash the only fixed point in existence, a ton of cheers and raucous laughter echoing in her ears. Dash would have cheered herself, but it was a fifty-fifty on that or being sick if she tried to speak. Instead, she covered her head with a leg and groaned. The laughter abated and someone stood over her.

“Are you okay?” Aroris asked. The game master span lazy circles around her head. Dash took a deep breath and nodded weakly, struggling to stand with the help of a slender leg.

“I’m fine,” she said, closing her eyes for a second. Assured that their visitor wouldn’t die, the small crowd redoubled their noise, and more peryton wandered over from nearby games to see what the fuss was about. Already Dash felt better; she had a lot of corkscrews in her aerial repertoire, and this was nothing compared. She grinned triumphantly as she peered into the center of the arena where her disc had hit the edge of the scoring target. She brushed off Aroris’ steadying hoof and smirked.

“New record, I bet.”

“Let’s see,” Aroris said, arching a brow. “The standing record is mine, one of six laps and a perfect hit, meaning six times the eight circles. That makes for forty-eight points.”

“Alright,” Dash said, nodding. “What’d I get?”

“You, crazy creature of wind and sound, ran seventeen laps,” the peryton said with a burst of cawing laughter. “And you hit the outermost circle alone, which is one, for seventeen points total. No, that is not a win.”

More laughter, dozens of trills and caws, strange sounds filling Dash’s ears. Her ear-tips heated up, and she lay them flat, swishing her tail in annoyance. “That’s a stupid game,” she announced, but she doubted anyone but Aroris heard her over the din.

“It is a new lap record. That, I will give you,” Aroris said, leaning down to nudge Dash in the side with her antlers.

“Yeah, well, I guess that’s something.” Dash gave her a tentative smile, and it only grew when the crowd stomped their hooves and claws by way of applause, a few bouncing up and down on the spot. She did a little bow and laughed. “What else do you do for fun?” she asked.

Aroris tilted her head at the question, then quirked a brow. If her smaller eyes made the gesture understated, the excitement plain in her voice made up the difference. “At festival? Everything. Come!”

The doe appointed one of the other peryton to lead their game and led Dash away to goodbyes, waves, and a few whistles, whatever those meant here. Once away from the edge of the plaza and their games, the press of peryton abated. Dash stopped and brushed at her dress with her wings. It was hardly ruined, but the fall had gotten it a bit dusty.

“Here in Orto, dances are a favourite pass-time,” Aroris said. “But I doubt you have missed that. How long have you been here, and where are you from?”

“We just got here yesterday from Equestria. Khaird’s been showing us around,” Dash replied, patting the dress. She’d gotten most of the dust away. Aroris didn’t even seem to acknowledge it anyway; maybe Rarity was the only one who’d notice. Or maybe the way the peryton doe flicked her ears when Dash looked at her was the way they showed annoyance?

“I think perhaps I heard that we were to expect visitors from such a place earlier in spring,” said Aroris. “If that is you, then this makes sense, though I have not heard of your city. What do you think of Orto so far?”

Dash followed Aroris centre-ward, thinking as they moved towards the great ring of food tables.

“It’s cool. I don’t get the whole thing about Myrtella and the other rocks, but I don’t care about that,” she admitted. “Weirdest thing for me is that you don’t fly.”

“We can fly,” Aroris said, glancing over her back.

“Yeah, yeah,” Dash said, waving a hoof. “But I mean, more. I fly all the time! Well, not right now,” she said, kicking off. Only when her hooves were in the air did she realise how long she’d been ground-bound. Captain Calm Seas’ words had stuck around far longer than they should have. She pulled a quick vertical loop on the spot, narrowly avoiding getting her clothes tangled in her wings, flying right up to hover in front of Aroris afterwards. “Like this! Just, you know, flying. For fun.”

Aroris stood stock-still and wide-eyed. “Glandros’ glory, wow.”

“What?” Dash asked, touching down again. “Was it the loop? Come on, I can do way better than that.” Idly, she ran a few routines through her head, wondering which one would work in a dress. She envied Fluttershy her vest.

“No. Yes,” Aroris said with something like a frown. She took a few steps back and glanced behind her, left then right. She shooed Dash back a few steps with a foreleg, and when Dash complied, Aroris spread her own wings.

Rainbow Dash immediately took another step back. She’d forgotten how big Khaird’s wings had been, and even the comparatively small peryton doe’s wings were easily twice the length of her own.

When Aroris took off, she kicked up dust with the blast of her first wingbeat. It took the doe many more strokes before she managed to lift off, scouring some of the green dye-powder from her short tail feathers, and once off the ground, she worked hard to keep moving. Aroris hung in the air for only a split-second before she forced herself forward, and Dash stared, speechless.

The peryton’s flaps were massive and slow compared to Rainbow Dash’s, and the pegasus rotated slowly on the spot as the peryton flew in a small circle around where they stood. Was that the tightest turn she could make? When she finally landed, she was breathing faster, clearly laboured.

“See? I knew you could fly!” Dash said. She tried to sound impressed, and she was glad that the peryton had at least one doe who had the same instinct as she did—of rising to a challenge. Aroris’ toothy smile was short-lived, though.

“Yes, and I know you knew that, but what you did, I can’t do,” she said. “Well, I could try if I gained some height first, and not in this heat, but… forgive me, but please, could you spread your wings?”

Dash flared her wings so fast she nearly sprained a muscle, stretching her neck out too for good measure.

“Are all of your kind, ‘ponies’, like you?” Aroris asked, leaning in closer. Her snout was nearly close enough to touch her wings, and the wonder in her voice made Dash’s grin painfully wide.

“Most ponies aren’t half as cool as I am, no. Almost all pegasi can fly though.” Dash folded her wings and tried to swallow the tail-eating smile she knew she wore. “Even the less confident fliers are far better than—” she stopped herself. “Than they give themselves credit for,” she finished, lamely. She’d nearly said “better than you”. The train of thought soured quickly.

“I have never seen anything quite like it!” Aroris said, beaming. Apparently she was a very close talker. “I hope that more of you will come visit Orto.”

The admiration she was heaping on Dash felt less amazing than she’d thought. Dash simply nodded along, distracted by that last word. She began moving towards the food tables again—if that was where Aroris had them moving—ignoring the curious looks their little flying escapades had gotten. “Yeah, thanks. What’s so special about Orto? You keep talking about it. Don’t you like Cotronna?”

Aroris blinked. “That… is a curious question. What is special about Orto? Look around you! The Festival of Myrtella is a good place to start, no? And why would I—we—not ‘like’ Cotronna?”

Dash shrugged, wending her way around and between small groups of peryton. Some bowed or smiled politely at her. “I don’t know. Khaird kept talking about Orto, too, but I don’t think I’ve heard anyone say anything about what Perytonia is like. It’s all about this city with you guys.”

“Perytonia itself is not like anything. I know what Orto is like,” Aroris said without skipping a beat. She angled herself to walk a little closer to Dash, flicking her tail-feathers.

Rainbow Dash tried to make sense of that, imagining what it would be like if someone said they didn’t live in Equestria, they lived in Ponyville. Ponyville was in Equestria. If you talked about holidays or the Princesses, telling someone what Ponyville was like, was telling someone what Equestria was like.

“So, you all have this festival? There are other cities, right? They celebrate this too, just like Summer Sun Celebration and Hearth’s warming? ‘Cause we all have those.” Dash asked, a little distracted now. She honestly grew bored of her own questions, and was that Rarity up ahead? She thought she saw a familiar curl of tail made from hairs rather than feathers.

Aroris smiled still. “I do not know who celebrates the Myrtellan festival. I doubt it. Not Stagrum. Perhaps Vauhorn? As I say, I know Orto, and I have never visited another city.”

“You don’t know?” Dash asked, cocking a brow. The question came out a little sharper than she’d intended. Maybe this was like somepony asking Rainbow Dash about crazy customs in some tiny village in the far southeast of Equestria.

“I do not know,” came the repeated answer. “If you want to discuss more of… what it is we are discussing, I would be happy to do so, of course,” Aroris continued, sounding a little unsure. “But, my home is not very far away. We could move this there. It is a little more private.”

Yep, that was definitely Rarity over by the food tables—but no Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash’s ears wilted and her wings tensed the tiniest bit. She knew first-hoof that all these peryton were friendly, and she knew that Fluttershy could handle herself. She’d always known that.

“Very, very private, if you take my meaning,” Aroris said, clearing her throat. She leaned closer, her flank brushing against Dash’s.

Well. That was a lie. She hadn’t always. Rainbow Dash shoved away the stupid memories of a time when she hadn’t thought Fluttershy capable. She stuffed them away and gave them a kick for good measure. No, she wasn’t worried about Fluttershy now, she knew that was true, but still she wondered where she’d gone off to.

“One would expect it to be just you and I...” Aroris said, voice trailing off as she leaned around to stare at Rainbow Dash’s forelegs for some reason. “Have I misread you? Did you lose your—”

“Hey, listen, I gotta go, it was super cool to meet you, Aroris,” Dash said, reaching out to give Aroris a quick hug around the neck, which startled the peryton stiff. “But uh, yeah. I’ll see you around. Come by Ponyville any time or something, I gotta scoot!”

“I see,” Aroris said. “Alright, yes, ‘cool’. Nice meeting you! Tell your home city I said ‘hi’!” she called after Dash, but Dash was already in the air, covering the distance over to Rarity in three quick wingbeats, landing next to a unicorn engaged in a deep discussion with a gaggle of peryton of assorted colours and sizes.

“You see, I was under the impression it was primarily a harvest festival,” said Rarity. She hovered a glass bowl of some drink or other at her side.

Dash trotted up to her and prodded her flank. Rarity made a small noise and gave Rainbow Dash an indignant look, but did not turn.

“That, it is, too,” one of the short-tailed ones said, nodding. “And the ‘fertility’ part of Myrtella has been deprecated lately. For most, it is an excuse to socialise and meet with others who may take an interest in your person.”

“Ah,” Rarity said, chuckling. “Well. That is fascinating. And you wear these bands to show that you are taken, so to say? That’s very—”

“Yeah, fascinating,” Dash said. “Hey, Rarity—”

“Oh, yes!” Rarity said, finally turning to Rainbow Dash. Or, rather, she turned to Rainbow Dash’s dress, levitating up the back-part to show off the fabric. Rainbow Dash dropped her tail and her ears both.

“Your silken scarves are very lovely, I must say, as is your choice of colours,” Rarity said, gesturing at the assembled peryton. Nearly all of them wore the four-coloured silken wraps. “And for that reason, I chose to use a similar, deep purple silk for this dress I designed. I understand you are not familiar with Equestrian fashion?”

The does and stags shook their heads. A few raised a brow or tilted a head in query, but none did more than give Dash a politely curious look—which they were doing anyways, dress or no.

“Rarity! Where’s Fluttershy?” Dash asked, her voice bordering on a growl.

“And—wait, she’s not with you?” Rarity took a step to the side as though she expected to find Fluttershy hiding behind Dash’s tail. “She said she was going to find you. I suppose she must’ve found something else to preoccupy her.” Rarity frowned. “Well, I’ll help—”

“Nah, I got it,” Dash said. She was off the ground again in half an instant, hovering above the crowd. Now they really paid attention to her, but Dash didn’t really see the peryton. She looked through them, looked for gaps and everything not one of the local stags and does. It took her less than a minute to spot familiar colours a short distance away, a soft pink and yellow further towards the edge of the festival area.

Fluttershy stood in the company of a group of peryton. The tension that’d started started building in Dash’s body was gone in an instant. She let out a deep breath and sailed towards them, landing nearby to shake out her wings and legs while she closed in.

Even a few short bursts of flight had her panting in the heat. She’d have to ask if Fluttershy had tried flying here, but she seemed plenty busy, the taller pegasus mare smiling at the peryton, speaking too softly for Dash to hear. The peryton gave a round of chaotic warbles and sharp caws in response.

“What a delight, this is. And this mane of yours, it looks wonderful,” one of the peryton said. With coloured wings and tail both, Dash couldn’t tell if it was a stag or a doe, but they leaned a little closer to Fluttershy. “Such a luxurious thing, and so gentle in colour.”

“Um, thank you, really,” Fluttershy replied. Another one stepped forward, this one with a shorter tail. A stag, maybe? He bowed deeply and stepped his body in front of the speaker, saying something Dash didn’t quite catch, and Fluttershy giggled.

Dash couldn’t hold back a private little grin. Fluttershy hadn’t seen her yet, but Dash gave her a hoof-pump all the same. If what she’d just heard was right, and this festival was all about hooking up, Fluttershy was having great success in that department. These weren’t bad looking peryton, either.

“It is curious and wonderful to meet one of a different kind,” said another. “I would be delighted to make your acquaintance.”

Well. At least Dash didn’t think they were bad looking, but she didn’t really know what to look for in a peryton. Fluttershy might know something she didn’t. She’d been the one to go on about feather colours and all that. Maybe she thought these does and stags were perfect for her. Go Fluttershy. She was still smiling and laughing, drawing back a half-step to give the peryton a little more space as she did so.

Still smiling. In an instant, the tension Dash had shed returned with a vengeance. Her wings were half-spread of their own accord, and her ears painfully stiff.

Rainbow Dash sped up, walking straight between two members of the little half-circle formed around Fluttershy. She ignored the soft squawks of protest as she squeezed her way through a gap that didn’t exist, brushing past them while Fluttershy nodded along with whatever some other peryton said.

“‘Scuse me, coming through!” Dash said. She strode straight up to stand in front of Fluttershy, drawing herself up to her full height for what little good that did. She was the shortest thing around. “Oh, hey, there you are!” she said, feigning complete surprise. “Rarity said you were looking for me?”

She drew a few curious looks, and one of the stags gave her the stink-eye, but that might’ve been because she stepped on his claw or hoof or whatever.

“Rainbow Dash, oh, hello,” Fluttershy said. They were simple enough words, but in their wake came a long, noiseless exhale. Even from the front, Dash could tell Fluttershy’s wings were no longer jammed to her sides quite as hard.

“Another! You are… friends?” one of the peryton asked. Rainbow Dash had been in Canterlot enough—meaning more than once—to tell when someone feigned polite disinterest. She’d also known Fluttershy long enough to spot a split-second imploring look from her friend.

Without thinking, Rainbow Dash whirled around to stand side to side with Fluttershy. As an afterthought, she lay a wing over Fluttershy’s back as well, pulling her a little closer. The other mare gave a startled squeak.

“Friends? Nah, I’m with her. We’re an item, a thing. Girlfriends and everything. Why?” she asked, tossing her mane back.

“Ah,” the speaking peryton said, but two others smiled and dipped their heads in greetings, obviously not taking the hint.

“So, she’s mine, and I’m hers and all that stuff, however it goes. All mine, and you should probably move along or something,” Dash added, tapping a hoof on the ground.

“You will forgive my mistake, I am sure,” said the same peryton, nodding and taking a step back.

“Yeah, sure,” Dash said, smiling wide as she gave Fluttershy another tug with her wing. Fluttershy said nothing, seeking refuge behind her mane. One by one, in the resulting silence, the assembled peryton started drifting away, excepting a few stragglers who stayed behind to try to strike up a conversation with the two pegasi.

Where were they from? What did they think of Orto? Did they enjoy the festival? It took Dash a minute of monosyllabics and a painted smile to lose them, and when the last of the peryton had left with a farewell and one of those curious bows that lay his muzzle along his neck, Fluttershy gave a shuddering sigh that Rainbow Dash felt against the side of her body. Dash let go of her and stepped in front again, looking her friend in the eye.

“You good?” she asked.

“Mhm,” Fluttershy hummed, but she took another few breaths with her eyes closed before she seemed right again. Her smile was no longer wooden, and her wings no longer threatened to crush her sides. She probably had a bunch of feathers out of alignment again. Rainbow Dash sighed inwardly at that.

“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy said at length. “I was going to come see you, but, um, well. They’re all very nice, they didn’t do anything wrong, and I wasn’t really scared, but—”

“I know,” said Dash, cutting her off because she did.

Fluttershy, for her part, glanced about and shrank back the tiniest bit from the general attention they still got from every passer-by. There was always some peryton at the edge of vision who stopped nearby and looked like they wanted to strike up a conversation. Dash didn’t mind, of course, but she knew Fluttershy did.

“Apparently,” Fluttershy said, glancing back at her own flank, then down at her forehooves. “Butterflies are a symbol of love here in Orto, and they really like meeting new people. They’ve been very, um… They’ve been very glad to talk to me since we got here.”

“Yeah, I saw,” Dash said. She didn’t know what else to say.

“You did not show you were taken,” a vaguely familiar voice said. Fluttershy disappeared behind her bangs again, but Dash perked up when Aroris walked up to them, carrying a bowl of drink in the grip of her magic. At her side walked a riotously colourful peryton with excessively dyed wings.

“Oh, hey again Aroris. Sorry I had to run,” Dash said. “What’s up?”

“We were on our way away from the festival grounds when we spotted a visitor flying overhead, and that warranted investigation, that is all,” said Aroris with a grin. “But, truly, you did not show you were taken.” She held up a foreleg, around which she wore a thin band of crude green cloth. The stag at her side did the same, nodding his greetings at the same time.

“Okay, I don’t know what that even means,” Dash admitted with a helpless shrug.

“It means that if you already have someone—forever or for the this sun only—and are not looking for more, you wear one of these bands, as Thylis and I now do,” Aroris said. She cocked her head sideways. “And it was my mistake for assuming visitors would understand this without being told. I apologise.”

“Oh,” Dash said while thinking, then “Oh!” again when she actually realised what Aroris had said. Suddenly, the memory of Aroris brushing up against her and the doe’s breath on her wing feathers took on a very different tone. Dash’s cheeks heated up. “Right. Uh, hey, no harm no foul, right? Yeah, I totally didn’t realise, sorry. You two have a great time!”

“No harm,” Aroris repeated with a smile, both her and her companion tilting their heads forward before they turned and walked away close together. Only when they had left did Fluttershy clear her throat and speak up.

“Friends of yours? They seemed nice.”

“Something like that,” Dash said, sure she still blushed. “Uh, you know, now that I know what this festival is actually about, it’s kinda weird.”

Fluttershy giggled. “Oh, I think it’s wonderful. So many pon—um, well. So many people in love, and looking for love.” She looked around, and clearly meant it, but in the end she looked to Rainbow Dash, and that smile faded a little bit. “I just wish they didn’t look at me quite as much.”

“Oh no,” Dash said, rolling her eyes and laughing. “They really like you. That’s terrible, Fluttershy.” Fluttershy didn’t look very happy with that. Rainbow Dash was trying to decide whether to laugh it off or apologise when something more important struck her. “Wait. Why don’t you, anyway?”

“Why don’t I what?” Fluttershy asked.

“I’m sure you could find some nice and quiet stag or doe or whatever to chat with, someone who could tell the others to back off, y’know?” Dash tilted her head. “Why don’t you?”

“Well… Because I don’t really want to,” Fluttershy said, adjusting her dress saddle with a push.

“Yeah, but why?” Dash asked. The thought was oddly pervasive. The idea of Fluttershy chatting up someone, and someone thinking Fluttershy was really cool, understanding how awesome she was. That last bit in particular was hard to shake.

“Um, because I don’t want to,” Fluttershy repeated. Dash opened her mouth to protest, but she’d heard the sliver of iron in Fluttershy’s voice, the no that she wondered why others often couldn’t hear.

“Okay,” Dash said. She started moving in some random direction, any direction at all, pausing only to make sure that Fluttershy followed. “But hey, does that mean you wouldn’t date even one of the Wonderbolts? Not even Soarin’? Or Spitfire?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Fluttershy said. She gave a soft giggle as she began moving, but it was short-lived. “Um, Rainbow Dash? Do you think we could get a pair of those bracelets?”

“What, the we’re-dating-and-I’m-taken things? Why?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Maybe if they see that we’re taken, and if we’re together, they’ll stop… looking at me as much? And maybe stop talking at me all at once?” Fluttershy hung her head. “I never even got to the other side of the festival to see the farmers market, but I think I’ve had enough festival for one day, now. It’s barely mid-day, and Khaird wasn’t going to meet us until later.” Fluttershy came to a stop, and Rainbow Dash sighed, puffing out her cheeks.

“But that means they’re just going to ignore me,” Dash said, painfully aware of the whine that crept into her voice. “That’s no fun at all! And I kinda want to go see what other games they have, too.”

Fluttershy didn’t protest, nor did she complain, or even give Rainbow Dash a sad look. She simply nodded. “That’s okay. I’m sure I can just get one of the bracelets, and they’ll probably respect that.”

She’d even given Rainbow Dash an easy way out. A free pass to talk to any of the thousands of peryton here. Sure, she didn’t know what exactly she’d do or say, but it’d be awesome to see if they could really fly. Maybe she’d find some like-minded fliers to hang out with. If they were all as easily impressed by a few loops as Aroris had been, she could have the plaza cheering her on within the hour. They’d probably leave Fluttershy alone anyway, and a few friendly peryton wouldn’t hurt anyone.

But it was still up to Dash whether or not to leave Fluttershy hanging, and that made it a complete non-decision. She closed her eyes for a second, entertained the image of the biggest crowd she had ever drawn, a roar of weird peryton noises as she threw off her dress and launched into the craziest stunt routine of her life.

“Let’s go get some bracelets,” Dash said. “I think I saw some freaky birds in a pen on the other side. Let’s check those out, I just need some food first.” She only had to force the smile for long enough to Fluttershy to light up, and at that point, it stuck around by itself. Maybe she could still persuade Fluttershy to chat up one of the peryton? Probably not. That idea wasn’t quite as appealing as it had been five minutes ago.

“Thank you for staying with me. It was a very nice thing to do,” Fluttershy said.

Dash didn’t bother replying. She just waved a foreleg to acknowledge it and flashed her friend a lopsided grin. Fluttershy had already thanked her twice. Besides, as much as she didn’t want to admit it, the weird geese were way cooler—and less hostile—than Equestrian geese. It wasn’t a complete waste of time. She finished off her fruit treat, chewing noisily.

“Hey, there’s Rarity,” Dash said, and she was glad of it. When the sun crept close to the horizon, Dash had flown over to tell her that they were leaving, and the two pegasi had waited at the entrance forever since then. Or for five minutes. Peryton trickled out of the plaza at a slow and steady rate, but just as many flocked to the festival. Torches were being lit, more lights springing up every second.

“Hey, Rarity!” Dash called, waving. “Over here!”

“Oh, there you are!” Rarity upped her pace a bit, still waving and smiling at peryton as she passed them by, clearly enjoying the attention, but when she got close to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, her focus was on them and them alone. She grabbed the two ponies in a tight hug and bumped snouts with Fluttershy.

“Darling, please do forgive me, I did not mean to abandon you!”

“Oh, it is no problem at all. You didn’t abandon me, I was the one who left,” Fluttershy said, but Rarity let go of Dash, hugging Fluttershy tighter around the neck with a foreleg.

“Nonsense. I will apologise, and you must accept, please do,” Rarity insisted. Dash shook her head and looked away. Rarity looked truly distressed, and Fluttershy was fine. She’d be fine even if Rainbow Dash hadn’t gone after her.

“That’s okay, apology accepted, then,” Fluttershy said, nodding in earnest. “If it really means that much to you.”

“Yes it does, and good, thank you very much, dear,” said Rarity, sighing in relief. She pointedly looked left, then right. “Shall we be away, then? I don’t suppose either of you remember the way back? Ah, never mind, I remember. This is where we came in.”

Dash shrugged and followed in Rarity’s wake. If the unicorn didn’t ask, Rainbow Dash could pretend she knew where they were. The darkness settled around them as they walked along the unfamiliar streets and lanes, and by the time they returned to the Home of the Heavenly Song, braziers were lit along the streets. They didn’t do much to light up the city.

Then again, there wasn’t much need for it in a place where everyone knew magic, Dash supposed, and most of them did as Rarity, the unicorn lighting the way for her friends while happily regaling them with her doings at the festival. Apparently she’d ended up dancing in the very center of the plaza at one point, but mostly, she expressed frustration at how little the peryton seemed to care about the idea of fashion.

“Now, I understand that clothes would need to be fit for purpose here, due to this heat—” Rarity said as they passed through the darkened garden that made up the front half of the House. Now Dash recognised the stone sculptures that dominated a full quarter of the garden as a miniature version of the stele field at the plaza.

“And cold,” Dash interjected. A tiny gust of wind carried with it a chill, and it wasn’t much warmer inside the Home.

“—but there are fabrics for warmth and there are fabrics to keep cool, it is not a complicated concept. Their scarves and other little ritual knick-knacks are gorgeous, but I am starting to think that they look good merely by accident.” Rarity sighed as they stepped into the common room of the Home. Ligilia wandered in from one of the adjacent rooms and gave a small start when she saw them, their hostess disappearing back from whence she came.

“Maybe it’s our fault,” Fluttershy said, her head low to the ground. “Should we have stayed close to you and modelled? Um, maybe they had something like a catwalk somewhere?” She lay her ears flat, and Dash couldn’t help think that she treated the word “catwalk” like Dash treated the word “early”.

“I, ah, no,” Rarity said, leading the three back into their bedroom. The beds had been freshly made, and the table was clean, but Dash was barely past the threshold when Ligilia entered with that odd clop-click, clop-click of peryton hooves and claws. She placed a platter with assorted foods on their table, then a bundle of heavy cloth.

“Oh, hey, thanks,” Dash said, squinting at whatever the cloth thing was.

“I understand you must be cold,” their hostess explained. “I saw that you had used nearly all of the blankets, and I feel the fool for not having asked.” The multiple tips of her antlers glowed, and she unfolded a large, deep crimson blanket, more than two full pony lengths across. “Please, accept this as a gift from the House.”

Fluttershy reached out to touch the fabric, spreading her wings a tad. When she turned to face the peryton doe, she more than matched her smile. Dash let out a breath she’d been holding for hours when the last vestiges of Fluttershy’s apprehension at the festival left her.

“It’s lovely,” Fluttershy said. She almost looked sad at that. “You’re being so very nice to us, is there anything we can do for you? I don’t think we can accept this, but maybe we can borrow it, at least?”

Ligilia shook her head resolutely. “You must keep it, please. Giving a gift exalts the one who gives, and this is from me to you. It is selfish, and you must forgive my indiscretion.”

“We can do better than accept,” Rarity said. She ducked past Fluttershy and Ligilia both, flipping open her travel chest. “Now, I understand that silk is something of a rarity here?”

“It is precious enough that all of it is spent in memory of the stories of Myrtella,” Ligilia replied, her brow furrowed. “Please, you are guests—”

“Here,” Rarity said. In her magic grip, she held a small dark blue bolt of silk. The peryton took a step back, as though the item frightened her.

“I cannot.”

“So you would insult us, then, by refusing a gift? It is a grave offence in Equestria, you must know,” Rarity said giving her an arch look. Clearly, Ligilia didn’t see the humour lurking beneath the unicorn’s demeanour. Instead, the doe’s mouth moved soundlessly, a doe become goldfish.

“Please. Take it,” Rarity said, and as an afterthought, she hovered up what purple silk she had that wasn’t part of Dash’s dress, as well as the three scarves she’d made that they didn’t wear. “These as well. We were gifted three wonderful scarves by your city, and it is only right that we return the gesture. As for the silks, well. Clearly silks aren’t doing it for me right now, and I have plenty left.”

Ligilia’s antlers lit up before her face did, but eventually, she levitated the silks and the scarves close to her chest and tilted her head forward until her muzzle lay flat against her neck, pointed to the floor.

“Orto honours its guests, and its guests honour Orto in return. My home is your home, and I hope I will see you again,” the doe finally said, walking backwards out the door, her eyes on the three ponies until she disappeared from view.

“Anyway,” said Rarity, closing the chest with a bang.

“Uh, how much more stuff do you have in there?” Dash asked. Sure, the chest was larger than she’d have liked when she was the one pulling the cart, but it wasn’t that large.

“My point was,” Rarity said, starting anew. She looked at Fluttershy. “To your suggestion, specifically, dear. Modelling may indeed have helped, because I was stuck trying to describe something they could not see, but if I had foreseen those difficulties, I would have asked. I am sure we will get other opportunities. Forget modelling and catwalks; what did they think of the dresses as worn, in a more natural setting? Did anything stand out to them?”

Dash poked the inside of her cheek with her tongue. Fluttershy looked about to say something, so Dash instead elected to trot over to the table and inspect the food-stuff. She grabbed one of the grass-balls she’d found she liked, chewing noisily and humming in appreciation. This one had some kind of sauce inside of it.

“Um,” said Fluttershy.

“Oh. Oh dear.” Rarity deflated and sat down on the floor. “That dire? Well, what is the matter, then? Did I make some sort of mistake in making silken couture? Were the colours offensive? Surely it wasn’t the saddle ornaments.”

“Well, no,” Fluttershy said, rubbing at one foreleg with the other.

“They didn’t dislike them,” Dash said, swallowing another grass-ball before sipping from one of the small water bowls. The water was icy cold, just the way she liked it. Her appreciation for their hostess grew by the moment.

“In fact,” Fluttershy added, “they didn’t seem to notice at all.”

“I don’t think any of them said anything about mine,” Dash said, but she wished she hadn’t. Rarity had gone very quiet, and Dash’s heart sank. “Hey, listen, I really liked it—it rides a little low, but I think it’s one of your better ones!”

“Did, ah,” Rarity took a deep breath and let it out again. She walked up to sit on a pillow next to the table, poking at one of the food items Dash didn’t quite recognise. Something paste-y with herbs on top. “I don’t suppose you… asked for opinions on them?”

Dash paused her attack on the food. This obviously meant a lot to Rarity. She’d not really thought to ask for any of the locals’ opinions, but if she was under any illusions that that was the problem, Fluttershy crushed that fear—and hope.

“I asked a few of them about clothes, but they really didn’t seem all that, well, interested.” Fluttershy splayed her ears and sat down next to Rarity. “It wasn’t that they weren’t impressed, they just didn’t seem to care at all. Rarity, I’m sorry. I know you worked hard on these dresses, and I agree with Rainbow Dash. They really are lovely.”

“Hey, if they don’t care about your dresses, they don’t care about any dresses,” Dash said, pointing a hoof straight at Rarity. Either the grass-ball sauce was really hot, or she was getting really annoyed, her face flushed. “You’re great at this, and if they don’t like it, they can stick with their stupid scarves.”

Rarity’s attention flitted between the two pegasi, from Fluttershy’s sympathetic smile to Dash’s, well, whatever Dash wore at the moment, but she felt angry anyway. At length, Rarity drew herself up and lifted a bowl of water to her lips, drinking deeply before she replied.

“Well now, that’s quite enough. Let us not speak ill of our hosts,” she said with a cautious smile. “I still maintain that these were good by any pony’s standards, especially given the short notice, but I’m certain I can do better. I can always do better. There is room for fashion in the hearts of all creatures, and I will find it. You are both absolute darlings regardless.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged and smiled at that, and Fluttershy did the same, the two pegasi looking at each other while Rarity grabbed a dainty bite of one of the herb-laden mushy things. Rainbow Dash grabbed a second helping of the grass balls while Fluttershy made an attempt at eating a thick collection of leaves speared on a sharp wooden stick.

Whoever designed this food clearly had not met a pony without unicorn magic. Fluttershy made a brave attempt at pinning the thin stick against the edge of the table with a hoof to let herself eat them properly, and Rainbow Dash didn’t know whether to laugh or applaud, so she did both.

“Oh,” said Rarity. “Oh my word.”

“What?” asked Dash. Rarity stared at Fluttershy’s hoof where it rested against the table. Specifically, at the green band around her lower foreleg.

“Ah yeah,” said Dash, holding up her own left foreleg. She bit onto her own band and slipped it off, tossing it away. “Guess we won’t need those any more.”

Fluttershy, finally realising what Rarity had meant, did the same, with a warm smile of thanks to Dash. This time, Rainbow Dash didn’t even bother acknowledging it. It hadn’t been any trouble at all.

Rarity blinked once. “I see. Well, would one of you pass me those… whatever those fruit things are?”

When Khaird arrived at the entrance to their room, the three ponies lay together, flank to flank under their new woolen blanket. Though Dash was getting a tad sleepy already, it was mostly for warmth. They had even enlisted Ligilia’s aid in moving two of the beds together to make for a more comfortable bedding area.

To Rainbow Dash’s left, Rarity sketched away with merry abandon, working on some designs that Dash couldn’t make heads or tails of, occasionally pausing to write in a tiny notebook. To her right, Fluttershy had dug out a book of her own from her saddlebags.

Fluttershy’s book was supposedly a very precious volume on rare animals, some of which might be found in Perytonia. How Fluttershy persuaded Twilight to let her check it out of the library for more than a week, Dash didn’t know. She stole a peek every once in a while. Some of the “animals” were monsters with huge claws, fangs, or other cool stuff.

Most of the time, however, Fluttershy simply read about some bird that looked just like any other bird, and Rainbow Dash stared out the window willing time to pass so she could sleep. The second a familiar peryton stuck his head through their doorway, Dash beamed at her saviour. Talk, then sleep.

“I believe you are owed a map,” Khaird said, stepping inside. “And in turn, I am owed some thoughts.” He looked tired, but he smiled, and there was a sparkle in his small and dark eyes. The stag’s flanks were covered in coloured powders, and he had reams of silk in his antlers that Dash suspected he didn’t know were there.

“Hello again, dear,” Rarity said, folding her glasses and neatly depositing both her sketches and her journal at her side. Dash and Fluttershy said their greetings, and Khaird sat down by the table a small distance away. While Fluttershy put away her book, he levitated out a large scroll that poked out from the strange saddlebag he kept around his neck.

“My hope is that though your stay has been brief so far, we have shown you a little, at least, of what makes Orto unique,” he said. “It is later than I would have liked, so I will not will not ask you to recount all your experiences at the festival, but I must ask, did you have a good time?”

“It was pretty cool,” Dash admitted with a lazy grin.

“I agree,” Rarity said. “I don’t think even the largest outdoor events in Equestria can compete with the scale, at least, and your… is it proper to say ‘your people’? Well, everyone was quite friendly, at any rate.”

“The harvest market was just wonderful,” Fluttershy said, though her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Um, and yes, everyone was nice. Almost too nice.”

Rainbow Dash remembered her comment about the attention her cutie mark had gotten her. Dash snorted, and almost started laughing when she saw the bright blush on Fluttershy’s face, but the look the other pegasus gave her killed the joke dead in the water. Maybe it hadn’t been that funny.

Khaird was apparently better at reading ponies than Dash was at reading peryton. He raised a brow and made a small humming noise, presumably in question, but Fluttershy didn’t seem inclined to elaborate. So Dash did.

“People were really interested in her, I guess? Like, they were paying a little too much attention to Fluttershy. Her flank, really,” Dash said, shaking her head at the weirdness. “Apparently butterflies are really great to peryton, I don’t know.”

Khaird’s confusion fell away, replaced with wide eyes and an open mouth. “Oh. No—that… is unfortunate. I apologise if anyone have given you trouble—”

“Oh, no, not at all,” Fluttershy rushed to say.

“—and if I need to reprimand anyone for untoward advances—”

“Hey, it’s fine!” Dash said, holding up a hoof. She gestured in the vague direction of where the cloth bands lay on the floor. “We just had to grab a few of those and tell people to back off, that’s all. It’s fine,” she said, glancing over at Fluttershy to ensure that it was, in fact, fine. Fluttershy nodded quickly, and Rarity beamed at the two pegasi as though this all made her really happy, too. Probably, she was just glad it had all worked out.

“Well. If there was no harm done, that is good,” said Khaird with a sigh of relief. “I never thought anyone here would make you uncomfortable. You of course would not know of the bonding bands, I should have realised, but more than that, I should also have understood that your symbols are not created with the same meaning that they carry here.”

“Symbols? Whatever do you mean?” asked Rarity.

“The markings on your flanks,” said Khaird. “I do not know what meaning butterflies have in your home city, but here, they are commonly associated with Myrtella, and specifically with her love. When you painted that on your flank, you, ah—let us say that it likely gave some young stags and does the wrong impression. Please, forgive that I did not think of this.”

“Uh, they’re not paint—” tried Dash.

“They’re not decorations,” said Rarity. She pulled aside the blanket to reveal her flank and the three blue diamonds that adorned it. “They’re our cutie marks. They are related to our special purpose, our talent, what is unique about us as an individual. They are not chosen, but appear as we come of age.”

“Then,” said Khaird. “They are… magic wrought upon your body? How do you create them, if not with paint?”

“Um, they’re not created at all, actually,” Fluttershy said. “They… just appear. It happens to all ponies. It is a special kind of magic, but I don’t think there is any kind of magic that can change them, or make them appear.”

“Wait, wait, if hers is some symbol of love or whatever, what does mine mean?” asked Dash. She rose to stand on the bed and turned her side to Khaird. “Do rainbow-lightning-clouds mean ‘awesome’ here too?”

Khaird looked thoroughly nonplussed. “I am sorry, this is much for me to understand, but I will hear your words as you speak them. It is only… here, our feather-paints speaks of decisions, not of … destiny.”

The final word had been spoken not with contempt, but some shade of distaste. “Hey, it’s not that, whatever you mean,” said Dash. “It’s just, uh,” she scrambled for words.

“A reflection,” said Rarity, pulling the covers over her back again.

“Yeah, that,” said Dash.

Khaird tilted his head down and closed his eyes for a second. “I understand. And then, I hope you understand our mistake if you were given undue attention, Fluttershy,” he said. The name sounded odd coming from him, but the other pegasus mare herself nodded and smiled.

“It’s okay, it was just a misunderstanding, and like Rainbow Dash said, we figured it out. Everyone really was very nice, honestly,” said Fluttershy.

“Uh-huh. But seriously, what does mine mean?” asked Dash, leaning forward.

Khaird grinned, showing his teeth. “Most symbols carry meaning, but yours do not speak to me, not together. Clouds and lightning say storm, and storms are a divisor, an end and a beginning, but if any of my kin thought you had painted it on yourself? Likely only decoration. I cannot tell.”

“Lame,” muttered Dash.

“Regardless, I am glad if you enjoyed yourself, but this moon is not getting any younger,” Khaird said. “I will ask you one question that I have asked you before, though not as direct.”

Dash glanced at her friends, trying to keep the frown off her face. When neither Rarity nor Fluttershy spoke up, she did. “Okay. That sounds bad? Good?”

“What do you intend? I wonder, what is your plan, leaving our city?” Khaird asked. He sat still with infinite patience, and it was only his calm, tired smile that kept Dash from feeling like she was sitting her Flight Theory exams again. The question left the room deafeningly silent for a second.

“Uh, let’s see. We know we’re heading to Cotronna, but the airship couldn’t take us all the way there,” Dash said, the words coming out painfully slow. She half expected to be told she was wrong.

“Yes,” Khaird said with a small nod. “Since Ephydoera asked you to land here, it was wise to listen and not surprise them. They can be zealous in their vigil, but they must be. It is best to accept that their city has earned that right.”

“Right,” Dash said, though she didn’t know what to make of that at all.

“And since Red Sun Runner’s little chat with this ‘Ephydoera’ taught us that Cotronna is as Canterlot is to us, we’re travelling there,” said Rarity with a winning smile. “Hopefully aided by the map you so graciously offered to provide. I’m sorry, is there a problem?”

Khaird leaned back a tad, shaking his head. “Not at all. I must apologise. I did not mean to sound apprehensive, or to cause apprehension. I ask, because I have a suggestion and advice, but I am very, ah—I am loath to try to influence diplomats who are on a mission. You must understand, it would be in poor taste, and I truly hope that in the future, Orto has a chance to foster a relationship with your Equestria.” There was a note of pleading in his voice, Dash thought.

“That’s what we hope, too,” Fluttershy said, nodding enthusiastically.

“Yes. Well, to that end, I truly hope that you will consider my words, without undue pressure,” said Khaird.

The consul lit up his antlers, adding to the light provided by Rarity’s horn. Finally, he unfurled the large scroll he’d brought, smoothing it out with a touch of magic. With the large scroll flat against the ground, he summoned forth a tiny mote of light and hovered it over the thick paper, just where a large swath of blue met faded yellow.

“Here we are. Orto, in the center of the city’s demesne. Here, three honoured guests listen to an old claw prattle when they would rather be sleeping, no doubt.” He glanced up at them, flashing a smile. Fluttershy made a wordless noise of protest, but the stag went on.

“This area, we call Perytonia.” The glowing light swirled around the greater part of the scroll, a yellow boomerang bent around a clump of grey.

“Here, Cotronna.” The light pulsed on the opposite side of the yellow area.

“Oh goodness. Um, that’s quite far,” Fluttershy said.

“Eh, it’s a big map. That means it’s shorter, right?” Dash said, earning a raised brow from Fluttershy that suggested… no?

“It is quite far, but not that far,” Khaird said in agreement, or not. “A question with many answers, no doubt. Now, a confession, and what is normal to me, but perhaps not to you. You will find our roads are rougher than our city streets. Travel between the cities is undertaken by trade caravans with the resources and the wagon-craft to handle such journeys. Those few who go from one city to another will join with them. Else, and mostly, travel is the realm of Ilyra, and thus happens by trade ship by sea.”

“Then why don’t we just hire a boat?” Dash asked. “If gems are worth a lot here, we could probably buy one with all the gems we’ve got.”

“Don’t be so gauche, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said with a huff.

“It is not a question of buying power, it is a question of services offered,” Khaird replied. “Orto’s trade ships are all across Perytonia. All left is a small amount of pleasure craft and the occasional kelper. The Joyous, our council ship, is in drydock, and trade ships are arriving in Orto these days, not leaving. Summer flash-storms are a threat, and the seven suns of the storm are near. Ships will be less happy to leave shore for each passing day until they are past.”

“So… you use boats a lot, but you have no boats,” Dash asked, tilting her head.

The stag inclined his head. “Not now. We will be of no help soon, and I regret that. You could conceivably find a ship from Stagrum to Cotronna. I doubt it, but there is always a chance. They will be traders from Cotronna seeking to make a mad dash for home to obey their schedules, or risk-taking Stagrumites with heads full of Daros’ stories. For a fair trade given, a Stagrumite will never say no, but they will not be happy to accept passengers. Bad luck on this side of the storms, they will say, and I suspect you will waste your time.”

“Then, um, what do we do?” Fluttershy asked. “If we can’t find a ship, and if the roads are bad, I mean.”

“The roads are not smooth, but they can be walked, and they will not lead you astray. I will suggest to you a route. It may be the fastest, or it may not. I travel to Cotronna only once every eight years for such things as cannot be covered by carrier raven, and I have not gone by land for thrice that time. I wish to impress upon you that this road I suggest has an advantage, but I must not be duplicitous. I will be honest and say that I have an agenda.”

The mote of light moved along the map. Dash didn’t look at the map so much as she did the light itself.

“Go by land to Stagrum. It is not very far, and these coastal roads are good. We trade much with them all year.” The mote wandered. “Follow the river Meronna up through the Khosta. The forest will take you inland, and you will reach Ephydoera—or, Ephydoera will find you.

“From there, the roads back to the coast will get much worse. Ask the Ephydoerans how the gap to the north is. I have heard mutterings of trouble in the highlands, but you must cross them to Vauhorn by the coast of the northwestern Spokes, here,” another pulse of light. “and from there your journey to Cotronna should be simple. Vauhorn and Cotronna are both by the northern coast, as close as any two cities.”

The light winked out over the black dot marking their final destination on the far edge of the map. Khaird turned the map around and moved it a little closer to the three ponies.

“It might seem simpler to follow the coast all the way, but travel will be very tough past Meronna, especially if you carry more supplies than can be fit in your bags. There are cliffs that force you inland, and you will have to double back without the aid of any feathers who know the land. The Spokes in particular are unnavigable by ground, I have been told. I asked one who knows such things.” The consul stretched his neck side to side before resting his eyes on the map again, looking lost to thought.

“And you say you have a motive of your own for suggesting this?” Rarity asked, her horn brightening a little. She whisked her glasses over, squinting at the map. “This seems like good advice to me, and we have no reason not to trust you.”

“Yeah, what’s this about an agenda?” Dash said, wrinkling her snout. The word tasted foul.

“Only this,” said Khaird. “I would be happy if you took my advice and visited all of the major cities of the demesnes that make up Perytonia. I cannot free myself from that desire, though I am glad for your trust. You have seen under this sun part of the soul of Orto. In a single sun’s journey, you have sampled our love for each other and for all those who choose to grace us with their presence, and indeed, I wish you could reconsider and stay longer.”

“We kinda have a thing we’re supposed to do,” said Dash, shrugging. She looked to her friends, but all she got was a small nod from Rarity.

“I understand you are committed,” said Khaird.

“Don’t the other cities like visitors like you do?” Fluttershy shifted uncomfortably under the blanket.

Khaird frowned at that. “I expect Ephydoera sent word to all cities of their meeting with your envoy, and they will have conferred with Cotronna by raven. Do not misunderstand, even where you are unexpected, you will not be unwelcome.” He rolled up the map and tied a small piece of string around it, levitating it over to Rarity.

“I simply desire that you should grace all with the opportunity to greet you, and greet them in turn,” the stag added. He rolled his jaw in a very pony-like fashion, looking like he tried on a dozen different answers before he finally sighed, speaking slow, every word painfully deliberate. “I will not insult you by telling you what to do. You are emissaries, and you have been given, or made for yourself a task. What I will say, and you must remember this, is that I do not presume to speak for any others.”

“And if you were less afraid to insult us,” Rarity said, arching a brow. “What would you say, theoretically?”

Khaird blinked. Rainbow Dash hadn’t thought peryton capable of subdued smiles, but there it was.

“Well. I would suggest that our visitors, that those I would like to name friends, should at the very least stay one or two nights in every city, for that was the courtesy afforded Orto,” he said. “The route I suggested is sound, at least up until Ephydoera. Talk to the peryton of every demesne, meet the old claws and the small-feathers. Learn about them, and let them learn about you. I have only my own voice with which to speak of them.”

The consul rose to stand, scratching his muzzle against the side of his neck. “I would ask a lot, perhaps too much. Your road goes to Stagrum first at any rate. I can not be one to tell you what an Equestrian diplomat is to do. That would be vastly overreaching my authority as consul and ambassador. You leave tomorrow?”

“I think so,” Fluttershy said, and Dash did not protest.

“Then, if you have not yet stocked up for the journey, I shall have some supplies delivered to you by tomorrow morning. You will find that stalls and shops open with the sunrise, and that is the best time to trade for anything else you may want. If we do not speak again, it has been my pleasure to have met you, and my future stories are richer for it.” He craned his neck and closed his eyes, smiling. “I hope the rest of your journey is enlightening.”

Chapter 4

The Equestrian delegation departed Orto this morning. One more prone to insult or fear would be concerned with visitors who leave as though their tail feathers caught fire, suspecting that we have given offence or cause for enmity.

I do not believe this is the issue, and will say no such thing to the council. I would stick my head in the shade rather than spend all day under Helesseia’s glare, cursing the sunlight in vain. If an issue exists, it is one of understanding. If the Equestrians must move or wither, and if I cannot perform the task given to me, then I have hopefully shown them the path to a common goal for us all.

Perhaps one day I will visit the home city of these ponies in return. Should the Bent Feathers ever want for more claws, they would convince many more to wander by telling stories of wondrous meetings in preference to those of open sky and empty road.

I will need a quicker way to certain answers, however. It must be words and letters. If I read the calendars right, Siban is to visit town soon.

Regardless, and for this journal’s satisfaction: I have provided the Equestrians with food and water for their journey to Stagrum. In return, they have given me much to think about.

-The Journal of Consul Khaird of the Swaying Stalks, Visitor Liaison

“I tried to lower my expectations, but somehow, I’m still disappointed,” Rarity said, sidestepping a rock stuck in the packed dirt. She indicated it with a hoof in passing, and Fluttershy gave it wide berth, leading the cart around.

“Duh. Khaird said the roads would be bad,” Dash said, flying backwards at a sedate pace. The sun still had a ways to go before it completed its journey from the mountains in the far west. For the moment, the morning still lingered and had not given way to noon, and it was merely hot. Behind them, Orto still shrank away.

Just as the road stopped branching off to the final, outlying orchards and clustered houses, they began their climb out of the valley in earnest. If she squinted, Dash could see the huge plaza that dominated the centre of the city, all the colours and movement blending together. She imagined she could still hear distant music from the second day of the festival.

“Yes, we were amply warned,” Rarity said at length. “I just didn’t expect their largest roads to be decayed to this point, and in their own front yard, no less. Fluttershy, dear, do you need help?”

Fluttershy shook her head mutely, not slowing down in the least. Now the path turned left, then right, and left again, snaking its way up the steeper climb.

“Decay?” Dash asked, touching down to walk next to the cart. She pushed it along with the edge of a wing, but it didn’t help much. “Like, let the road get ruined? D’you think it was ever any better than this? He said that the only ones really using these roads were the traders who didn’t use boats, so maybe they don’t even care.”

“Mm, he did say that,” Rarity agreed with a backwards glance. “Not a single person working on their farms this morning. I suppose they’re all in the city.”

Rainbow Dash followed Rarity’s gaze to the farms they had passed—or were they orchards? What was the difference anyway? “Yeah. I know I’d be at the party if it was between that or making, uh, I don’t know what half of this stuff is. Grasses and herbs and beans? The only things I recognised were some pumpkins down by the city.”

“I believe I saw tomatoes,” said Rarity, frowning slightly, as though she wish she hadn’t.

“Pumpkins with ketchup. Yum,” said Rainbow Dash, chuckling. “I wish we could have stayed.” A low bugle sounded from the city, the sound carrying all the way up the valley.

“I myself wouldn’t have minded another few days of socialising, myself,” said Rarity. Just like Rainbow Dash, she kept glancing back at the city every step.

“We got stuff to do, though,” said Dash, shrugging. “Hey, Fluttershy, you sure you don’t need a hoof with that?”

Again Fluttershy shook her head. “No, it’s—it’s okay,” she said. Her voice was strained and her muzzle nearly scraped the ground. “And I guess staying another day or two would’ve been okay,” she said between breaths. “Maybe I could have borrowed your dress to cover up my flank?”

“I understand the farmer’s market was quite a bit larger than any pony could see in a day,” Rarity said, smiling at her, and Fluttershy nodded at that.

Rainbow Dash took off, hovering over their cart as she inspected the supplies they’d picked up before they left the city. The compass Rarity had insisted on was useless: Any pegasus worth their salt could tell which way was south. Still, it didn’t weigh a lot, nor did the food they’d bought. Beyond that, Dash didn’t have a lot in her own saddlebags, and Rarity’s chest had less stuff in it now. All pointed to one thing as the source of Fluttershy’s present struggle.

“So, these clay jugs of water are pretty heavy, huh?” Dash asked.

“Yes,” Fluttershy said, a drop of sweat working its way down her forehead as she put one hoof in front of another. “A little bit, at least going uphill.”

Not for the first time, Dash looked up and snorted privately at the clouds of Perytonia. Or rather, at the lack of clouds. Far, far to the west, she could see a huge bank of white drifting over the mountains, shielding them from the worst of the sunlight, but judging by the distance, it would take even her hours or days to reach it.

“I’m not gonna get used to not being able to just fly up and squeeze a cloud for rain-water,” Dash grumped.

“Carrying water is still better than risking dried up rivers or brooks,” said Rarity repeating Ligilia’s parting advice. She waited for Fluttershy to pass by her before she took up position behind the cart and helped push it along with a hoof.

“It would have been easier if they had their big boat ready to go and just let us borrow it,” Dash said. She spread her wings and tasted the wind. “I don’t know about these summer storms they’re talking about anyway. I get nothing. Worst we’ll get is a tiny bit of rain, and that’s a maybe.”

“You think a boat would have been easier? It would have been easier to wait a hundred years for them to build proper roads,” Rarity replied, huffing as one of the cartwheels snagged on something. “Or for us to use the bottle of dragonfire to send the Princesses a letter, asking them to collect us at once so we can go around. Did you see? Cotronna is on the coast as well! Now that we know, we could have taken a ship all the way there.”

“That wouldn’t—” Fluttershy said, pausing for breath. “Wouldn’t be very nice to Khaird.”

“Nah, and I think this is just a liiittle bit faster than waiting around,” Dash giggled. “And what do you think Princess Celestia and Princess Luna would have said to that?”

“Well, I was hardly serious,” Rarity retorted, though Dash honestly wasn’t quite sure about that.

At their rear, Orto had barely moved since last she checked, so she tried to stop staring at the city, keeping her eyes on the road until they finally came to the top of the slope. Dash flapped her wings and launched herself ahead of her friends, planting her legs like a flagpole on top of the hill finally conquered.

Well. It was the top of a hill, at least. Dash winced and glanced back at Fluttershy who still looked ahead with a hopeful smile. The northern side of Orto was very much like the opposite side where they had landed. Large, gentle and dry hills. Slopes up and slopes down everywhere, and the winding road’s efforts to sneak around and between the hills could only do so much to keep the going flat. Not that she could see far from down here. Rainbow Dash kicked off again and pulled a tight corkscrew as she gained height.

Once up a little higher, past where the clouds would be were this Equestria, she could see more green further north-west, but otherwise, it was all hills, some steeper than others, and one nearby hilltop crowned with a ring of large stones. More of those weird stele, possibly. She thought she could see a river far in the distance, too, but whatever the line was, the road didn’t cross it, unless it was way down by whatever that smudge of colour was.

Dash squinted. It was impossible to make out detail. She let herself glide back down, joining her friends just as they crested the lip of the valley. Fluttershy stared ahead with wilted ears, taking in the bumpy terrain.

“I think the road goes around a bunch of hills, and then it gets, uh, better, I guess?” Dash suggested, leaning over to loosen Fluttershy’s harness. The other pegasus made a noise of protest, which Dash ignored. “But unless there’s more than one road, this one heads over to the sea up ahead by some cliffs—hey!” She frowned as Rarity slipped past her and ducked into the harness in a single motion made smoother by the unicorn’s grace, and more awkward by lack of practice.

“My turn, I believe,” Rarity declared.

“Fine,” Dash said. Fluttershy hovered unsteadily nearby while she stretched and shook her legs. She didn’t stay airborne for more than a few seconds, landing quickly with a backwards glance at her own left wing. Dash groaned.

“It’s because you keep doing that thing,” Dash said when Rarity started moving. “You keep pressing your feathers together when you squeeze your wings, it gets them all out of alignment.”

“It’s fine,” Fluttershy said, nosing in under her wing as they moved along, but after a few steps of awkwardly trying to get at her wings while walking, she caught a foreleg on a rock and nearly tripped. She spread and re-furled her wing, letting it be.

“I’ll fix it later if you don’t,” Dash said with a huff. “Okay, I still gotta know. Their roads are awful, so they use boats, but Khaird only talked about traders. Don’t they travel between their cities at all? Besides that?”

“That is a good question,” Rarity said. “I wish we’d thought to ask.”

“It’s probably a very strange question to get,” Fluttershy suggested. “Maybe they just don’t think they travel little. Maybe they think they travel just enough. After all, we travel a lot more than most ponies.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “That doesn’t make sense. We don’t travel that much.”

“Darling, of course we do,” Rarity said. “Just in the past years, we’ve been to Las Pegasus, Canterlot, Appaloosa—why, you in particular fly between Ponyville and Cloudsdale at the drop of a hat. You just don’t feel it’s a lot because it’s normal to you.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “If they kept an official speed record for the Ponyville-Cloudsdale route, I’d have the top five spots. Okay, so we travel a bit. These people are still weird.”

“Their land is a little strange, at least,” said Fluttershy, her eyes to their left. The hill that’d followed the road to their north-west finally dropped away, bringing into view a small valley of dry, sand-like soil dotted with innumerable little yellow-green bushes. It looked to Dash like somepony had used a salt shaker with shrubs.

“Okay, new game: Name something that isn’t weird,” Dash countered.

Whenever Rainbow Dash travelled with friends, she would keep to the others’ pace. Running forwards meant running back afterwards, and flying ahead didn’t make them go faster in the end. Dash had made her peace with that long ago, but travelling along the Perytonian roads was a completely different brand of slow.

Every time they crested a hilltop, it felt like forever ago since they had mounted the last one, and the previous hill would usually be in view behind them as if to say you’ve barely moved at all. Around the next hill they went, and then another. The ocean came into view for a short while around the northern face of a plateau, and a moment later disappeared when the road dropped down and away to run along a small ravine.

They ended up moving at a gentle trot without even discussing it. Dash didn’t notice the shift in their gait until there was a lull in Fluttershy’s rapturous little rant about some birds she’d spotted overhead. Every time the cart bounced off a rock, Rarity cast a worried backwards glance, wincing, and when the sun had passed its zenith, the unicorn gave up her turn with the cart, declaring that she had to take a break, or else she would faint.

Rainbow Dash didn’t mind too much. She felt tired despite having done nothing at all, the sun overhead mercilessly bearing down on them.

“I thought you said this would be a coastal road,” Rarity said, pouring water into one of the simple wooden bowls they had been given to go with their jugs. She drank deeply before she passed it over to Fluttershy.

“Yeah, the sea’s right over the next hill,” Dash said. “We’re heading in the right direction.”

“That’s what you said an hour ago,” Rarity retorted. She leaned forward and rubbed her forehead against the nook of a leg. “Ew, I’m still sweating! This is awful!”

“I can check again, but seriously, it’s right over there,” Dash said, waving a hoof somewhere north-eastish. She didn’t really want to fly up and check. The heat sapped her desire to do just about anything that wasn’t nap on a cloud, really. The clouds in the distance were closer now, so that was something. She grabbed the bowl from Fluttershy with a muttered thanks and placed it on the ground, drinking her fill.

“No, no,” Rarity sighed. “It’s fine. Are either of you two hungry? I don’t think I could eat with this headache.”

“I’m fine,” Fluttershy said, shaking her head. She glanced at the yellowed grass by the side of the road, a look Dash didn’t miss.

“Speaking of food, you said that this should be fine to eat?” Dash asked.

“Um, well, it’s just grass. I asked a peryton at the festival, and she said that they don’t graze much, but they can.” Fluttershy didn’t sound very sure of herself, which was about as sure as she ever got.

“Good enough,” Dash said, stepping onto the hillside and leaning down for a munch. It didn’t smell all that different—or anything at all. It smelled of dry dirt. She pulled up some of the grasses. Rarity gave her a blank look.

“You’ll excuse me if I stick with our proper food,” said Rarity.

Rainbow Dash chewed.

“Did it taste alright?” Fluttershy asked, tilting her head. Rainbow Dash leaned down for some more.

“And the verdict?” Rarity asked. Complaints about the heat were forgotten, two sets of eyes peering with open curiosity as Dash swallowed and stood back up.

“It’s grass. Except it tastes dry.”

“Of course,” Rarity replied, just as dryly.

The second half of the day’s journey passed at a slow walk again. Rainbow Dash elected to take a turn at pulling the cart, but her intent to keep them moving at a brisk trot only lasted until she had to climb the first hill. More than a few passing comments were made about the cruelty of of the sun, their pace down to a crawl despite Dash’s best efforts. The thought stuck around even after the clouds pulled overhead and the sun began its descent, dissipating the sweltering heat. Soon the sun would set, and the day come to an end. Never soon enough, Dash thought.

“Why can’t she just make the sun shine a little less,” Dash muttered. Her eyes were on the path ahead and the cart’s wheels ground endlessly against the dirt. Rarity had trotted atop the next hill ahead, and hadn’t moved since, the unicorn a beacon one annoying climb away.

Fluttershy looked up at the throw-away question, but Dash waved a hoof in dismissal. “Nothing. I said nothing. You find anything?”

Fluttershy shook her head, moving away from the side of the road to walk a little closer to Rainbow Dash. “No,” she said. “I don’t think it’s all that surprising. If there aren’t a lot of travellers on these roads, the sounds of our cart is probably enough to scare away all the animals.”

“Right. That’s not cool,” Dash offered. Fluttershy shrugged and smiled, leading into a brief silence.

“I’m just starting to wonder if Celestia knows that there are places this hot,” Dash added, a final complaint to go with the last of the sunlight. “You’d think she could just… not.”

Fluttershy looked hesitant, but she said nothing, and Rainbow Dash was afraid she’d said something very philosophical that warranted some long discussion. Her brain was fried and she had no desire for that. When they caught up to Rarity, she was glad to see the unicorn smiling and happy to pierce the pensive silence for them.

“Absolutely worth the wait, don’t you think?” Rarity asked.

They had all seen the sea from the train’s approach to Las Pegasus and again from the skydock and the Vantage. Since landfall, the vast blue expanse had always lurked over the next hill, but the unblemished coastline that greeted them was something else. The sun set on the Perytonian shoreline, the orb a deep orange droplet sinking into the sea, bleeding colour wide across the horizon.

Their path made a turn to follow the coast, balancing on the edge between the inland hills and the cliffs that dropped sharply into a sandy beach bordering the water. The three ponies stood shoulder to shoulder for a moment. Dash had no idea what went through the others’ minds, but for her, seeing the sun set from the shores of a foreign land was weird. Probably a lot of other things too, but “weird” was all she had room for right now, through the exhaustion and the heat.

“I guess it was worth the wait, sure,” Rainbow Dash finally said.

“You guess,” Rarity repeated, deadpan. “Aren’t you a romantic.”

“Uh-huh,” Dash said, casting a glance up at the sky. The clouds drifting in from the west were nearly overhead. “It’s gonna rain.”

Fluttershy followed Dash’s gaze, backing Dash up with a nod.

“They don’t look very dark, those clouds,” Rarity commented. “Are you sure? Those are rain clouds?”

“Yeah. Trust me.” Dash began moving, the sound of the cart breaking whatever spell bound Fluttershy to silence.

“It’s really hot, so I guess it won’t rain much,” Fluttershy offered. “Most of it’s going to evaporate before it hits the ground, but maybe we should find a nice place to stop for the evening?”

“Yeah, about that,” Dash said. They stood upon a vantage point on the coast, afforded a good view, and the road promised straight going for a long while. With nothing blocking their sight of the cliffside path, what they saw matched Dash’s expectations from her last scouting flight. “Still no villages or anything.”

“Not even a cottage,” Fluttershy added, staring ahead.

The sprawl of farms and houses in the valley of Orto had been immense, but the moment they left Orto behind, it well and truly stayed behind. The only sign of life they’d seen since was an abandoned house on a hill far in the distance, and that was hours ago. The few by-roads that branched off the one they followed were barely dirt paths.

“It’s a missed opportunity, if you ask me,” said Rarity. “This place would be wonderful for beach houses. If not that, it’s not unreasonable to expect some sort of roadside establishment, surely.”

“What, like a hotel?” Dash asked. “Here?”

“Like a hotel, yes, dear,” Rarity replied. “I wouldn’t look for the Canterlot Royal, along a dirt road, but why wouldn’t they take advantage of the merchants’ need for a comfortable place to sleep?”

Fluttershy hummed. “If we haven’t met anyone on the road yet, that means they probably wouldn’t get many guests. That sounds very lonely.”

Rainbow Dash made a noncommittal noise. For her, it wasn’t so much the need for cover as it was wanting to see evidence that they weren’t completely alone out here. A little rain never bothered her much, but then, she hadn’t really dealt with needing to sleep outside during a downpour either.

“We can just head up when the clouds let loose. Sleep atop—” Dash began. “Oh. Right. Sorry, Rarity.”

“Yes, that’s not really an option,” the flightless unicorn retorted. “But the peryton must do something for shelter. Do you suppose they sleep atop the clouds, too?”

“Maybe?” said Fluttershy, frowning slightly. “We could try walking for a little longer to see if we find anything else.”

“Let us,” said Rarity, nodding at that.

It wasn’t long before the sun disappeared from view entirely. Though they were all getting tired, Dash felt a little more eager to move when the first chilly gust of wind ruffled her mane, and she could tell Fluttershy felt a little better. The other pegasus’ ears perked up, while Rarity put on one of her winter scarves and lit her horn to add to the moonlight.

They made good speed again. The stretch of road disappeared beneath their hooves, and just as Rarity warned that she wouldn’t be able to keep up the light for much longer, they crested another hill. One last hill, one final climb, Dash promised her aching hooves, the harness chafing on the pull—and then they were up top and found out exactly what the peryton travellers used for shelter—or so Dash assumed.

“How did they even make this? Magic?” Rainbow Dash asked. She reached out to touch the huge sculpture. It was solid alright.

“It’s… nice?” Fluttershy lied from a safe distance.

“I quite honestly can’t decide if this is grotesque or sublime,” said Rarity. “But I am fairly sure there’s nothing magical about it.”

How the peryton—or whoever made it—had moved a rock of this size, Rainbow Dash had no idea. The thing was bigger than any boulder they had seen in the hills and the fields so far, and though Dash knew as much about sculptures as she did about bookbinding, the statue would’ve impressed her even if it was made of clay, or butter, much less stone.

What might have started its life as a single enormous rock, had been carved into four huge stone wings spreading out from a thick central pillar not unlike the stele in Orto. The wings spread out at an arc towards the ground, creating a vaguely dome-shaped stone hut.

Where Dash stared at the immensely detailed featherwork, Fluttershy’s eyes fastened upon the monstrous beaked face springing from the top of the pillar, emerging from where the wing-joints met. Dash shook her head. It didn’t make sense to her, but she could appreciate having a slightly comfier place to sleep. The creepy shelter stood empty, and would easily fit a dozen ponies or more. The firepit outside looked well used, and everything rested in a small dell, protected from the windy seaside.

Rainbow Dash walked through one of the corner entrances, between where the stone feathers plunged into the ground, but she had to back up. The cart barely wouldn’t fit through. The first raindrop hit her snout.

“Okay, so, uh. Do we take our stuff inside?” she asked.

“We probably should,” Fluttershy said, stepping up to the cart without taking her eyes off the face carved into the top of the pillar. “Either that, or we need to put something waterproof over the cart.”

“I’ll need my supplies, at least. I have a—ugh, a tarp somewhere in my chest,” said Rarity, grimacing. “Applejack forced me to pack one, and it looks positively ghastly. But yes, we may as well move everything inside.”

Rarity strained her horn to move the chest, and Rainbow Dash rushed to steady the rest of the cart’s contents. It was the work of minutes to move everything inside the cover, but there was already a light drizzle outside by the time they finished, tiny little drops that barely lived to hit the ground.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash both shook the moisture from their wings when they were all seated, and Rarity lowered the light from her horn to a dim glow. Under the unicorn’s light, Dash saw that the inner pillar of the statue held rows upon rows of weird little marks, but they meant nothing to her. Rarity’s magic reminded her of something, though.

“Okay, idea: Maybe we should light a fire outside?” Dash suggested. “Some of the food might taste better roasted.”

“That would be nice,” Fluttershy said, smiling. “It would be nice to let others know we’re here if they’re following the same road. There’s room for more.” She looked to Rarity, who nodded absent-mindedly and muttered her agreement. Nopony spoke for a few seconds, and the unicorn blinked.

“Oh. You mean for me to do it?” Rarity asked, touching a hoof to her chest. “I don’t see why, but alright. Which one of you brought firewood and… matches, I suppose? I don’t know if one can start a fire in the rain.”

“No, with your magic, duh,” Dash said, giggling. “You’re the one with a horn.”

“Darling, my magic doesn’t do that,” Rarity scoffed. “I assume there’s a spell for that—in fact, I know there is one, but unlike certain younger members of my family, my magical talent does not run to setting things afire!”

“Oh. Um, sorry,” Fluttershy said, rubbing one foreleg against the other.

“Twilight can do it,” Dash said. She reached over and bit onto her saddlebags, dragging them closer, but she gave up before she even opened them. She probably had nothing that could help. “Couldn’t you just learn the spell?”

“Twilight Sparkle,” Rarity said, her voice a tad crisp, “is to magic what I am to all things fabulous, or Fluttershy to animal friendship.” She took a breath and sighed. “Doubtless, she would have taught me had I asked, but it was hardly at the top of my list of things to do for this journey, and we have a blanket for warmth. Unicorn magic is personal, unique—”

“Whoa, hey,” Dash said, holding up a hoof. “I was just asking. I didn’t mean anything by it. Didn’t ask for a speech, jeez, I’m sorry.”

“Yes. Well. Apology accepted,” Rarity said, returning to her efforts unpacking her travel chest with a huff. She must’ve had all that remained of her silks out by now.

“Anyway. I didn’t bring anything, uh, fire-y, anyway,” Dash said.

“I think I have some flint and tinder or matches in my little traveler’s kit, but no firewood,” Fluttershy said. “If there’s any firewood outside, it would be getting wet by now.”

Resigning herself to a cold meal, Dash opened one of the simple canvas wraps containing their food. The first one was full of the kelp cakes Rarity didn’t like. She rummaged around until she found the grass-balls instead.

“What are you making, Rarity?” Fluttershy asked.

“The first dresses were obviously not eye-catching enough, so I’m going to have to try something else,” Rarity said, the light in the shelter disappearing for a second as she ducked into her chest. She surfaced with a pair of thin scissors in her magical grip. “If I make dresses in the full range of colours they use for their scarves, that might cause a splash.”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” said Fluttershy smiling at her. “Maybe you could add some ruffles this time, too?”

“I think I might just have to,” said Rarity, nodding and returning the smile. “I’ll make your dress a little longer, and try for something lighter for Rainbow Dash. If you don’t mind me saying, I think a multi-coloured dress for you may just be too much.”

“Too much colour? Is that a thing?” Dash asked, tilting her head, but Rarity didn’t reply, her sketching papers already out.

“Fluttershy, when do you think we’ll reach the next city?” Rarity asked, fixing her glasses on her snout. “I believe ‘five days’ was mentioned, but surely it can’t be that far.”

“Oh, goodness, that’s very hard to say,” Fluttershy replied, nudging her saddlebags aside and unrolling the map. “Could you give me some more light, please? The road is—or, I think this is the road, because we haven’t seen any others. Anyway, I don’t know, but Khaird did say that it took their traders five days, yes. We don’t know if that’s how long it’ll take us. Some animals can migrate across Equestria in days, and others can take months.”

“Even if it’s five days, I’m bored already,” Dash said, rolling onto her back while her friends peered at the map.

Rarity shook her head slowly, dividing some of her fabric into reams. “Didn’t you bring anything to keep yourself busy, dear? Nothing in your luggage? Fluttershy brought a book, and I have my dressmaking supplies—and I need to remember to write in the journal, as well.”

“No,” said Dash with a snort. Now she wished she’d taken Twilight up on the offer of a new book series to tide her over until Daring Do and the Moonless Night released. She had no plans on admitting that, though. Dash lay still on her back, legs pointed straight up and wings splayed along the floor for balance.

In the upside-down world, Fluttershy moved to the far side of the hut, and Rainbow Dash could see a small shape poking its head inside their refuge. Something with a pointed snout. She smiled despite herself. It took Fluttershy five minutes of sitting still before she found the local animals—or rather, before they found her. Rarity didn’t seem to notice.

If Rainbow Dash had wanted to take a flight in the rain before, she now decided against it. She’d just scare off whatever critters Fluttershy talked to, and it wasn’t worth it. Fluttershy made some soft noises and stuck her head outside. Dash blinked, slowly, and when she opened her eyes, it got cold enough to be a little annoying. Rarity’s light had dimmed a little more, and the unicorn shivered, pulling the scarf tighter around her neck. Dash rolled over and lay down more comfortably on her belly, legs tucked underneath her. She blinked again.

Everything was dark. Fluttershy sat just outside, her mane slick with rain. Through the nearest opening, Rainbow Dash could see that the clouds were really high up. It was still barely worth being called a rain-shower. Somepony had meticulously tucked Dash in. Probably Rarity. She lay next a little bit away from Rainbow Dash, with space for Fluttershy in the middle. Far off in the distance, some creature gave an ululating cry. Dash yawned and closed her eyes again.

Thwack. Another direct hit, and an earth-shaking roar in reply as she narrowly dodged the sweeping tail. Rainbow Dash hovered out of the manticore’s reach, crossing her forelegs and taunting it. “What’s the matter, huh? Too slow?”

The manticore unfolded its wings.

“Oh. Yeah. You can fly,” Dash said. The beast took off and lunged after her, but she zipped above it, hovering lazily out of reach again before it had even lost the momentum of its swipe.

“Come on, you’re not even trying,” Rainbow Dash giggled. A chorus of roars echoed in the distance, as if in reply to her disdain. From the formless terrain with no concept of distance, three more manticores were on fast approach, barrelling through the air with claws stretched out towards her.

Rainbow Dash laughed loud and clear and kicked the air with glee. “Alright, that’s more … more like it?”

The three approaching manticores slowed down, as did the one she’d been fighting. Their movements stretched, slowed, and finally halted until they were all frozen mid-air. Only now did Rainbow Dash realise she had been fighting above some kind of forest. Details were still hard to make out, but with her focus on the monsters broken, there was nothing to do but look around.

A mass of large, dark trees carpeted the world below, hiding the ground from view. Hadn’t she been in the forest? It reminded her of somewhere—and it was night. Had that always been the case? Rainbow Dash shrugged. These things happened. Stranger by far was the spectacle above: There were so many stars, impossibly many, and the moon hung freakishly huge in a night sky that felt close enough to touch, yet heavy as stone.

Rainbow Dash flew up to the closest manticore and poked it. Nothing happened. An absurd amount of nothing, in fact: She couldn’t feel the touch of her hoof.

“Okay, what the hay is going on?” Dash asked nopony in particular.

“I did not mean to interrupt,” came the answer from somepony in particular.

Rainbow Dash glanced around, twisting her body every which way to see who had spoken. She had looked everywhere twice when she found her. Princess Luna stood close by, as if she’d always been there. For a moment, the larger princess pony had all four legs planted in the air like one would stand on the ground. Rainbow Dash had barely caught on to the wrongness of this when Luna spread her wings as if on an afterthought. She flapped her wings lazily to hover, as was only proper when she was in the air.

“Uh,” said Dash. She hurried to dip her head low, the best she could do by way of bowing while flying. “Princess Luna. What are you doing here? Uh, wait. Are you here?”

“You are dreaming,” said Luna.

Rainbow Dash blinked. “Well, duh.” Was that a trick question? It wasn’t even a question to begin with. She knew she was dreaming. This particular dream didn’t behave like most of her dreams, that was all.

Luna scanned the ground below them, then cast her eyes to the sky, finally sparing a moment to stare at the manticores arrested mid-flight. Rainbow Dash didn’t know what she saw that amused her, because when she went on, she smiled. “Most appreciate being told, because they do not know. I am here because I am curious, and I can be here because there are no nightmares that require my attention. May I stay a moment?”

“Don’t you have your own dreams?” Dash asked.

The smile waned just a tad. “In a sense, but I would be a poor guardian if I became so absorbed with my own visions I neglected to aid others, would I not?”

That was a question, at least. Luna raised an eyebrow as if she expected Rainbow Dash to say something to that, but she had nothing. Aid who with what? The forest below shifted again. Hadn’t Twilight told her about this before? Luna spending her nights helping ponies who had bad dreams? What was the question?

“Maybe?” Dash asked. In every multiple choice test she’d ever taken, B tended to be the right answer, or whatever else was in the middle. Luna didn’t look very annoyed with her. Success.

Luna flew lazy circles around Rainbow Dash, but her wings and the way she moved didn’t make sense. It would almost add up if there was an updraft, if the wind was different, but the air didn’t move. You couldn’t fly like that, and yet she did.

“Tell me, how goes your journey?” asked Luna.

Rainbow Dash frowned and tried to understand what she had asked. It was hard to focus on the the words Luna had spoken. If she concentrated, she could just barely pin them down, and finding an answer was harder still.

“Good, I think,” Dash managed. Memories of the past days didn’t flood in so much as they trickled. It was like trying to drink water from a rainstorm. Rain. It rained, didn’t it? “Uh, they’re weird, the peryton,” she said with relative certainty. “But they’re nice, too. It’s not at all like Equestria.”

“This surprises you?” Luna asked. She pulled a loop. No, she drifted in a vertical circle, impossibly slow.

“I guess?” Dash hazarded. “Maybe not.”

“But you are safe,” Luna said. She looked at Rainbow Dash, and only now did Dash realise that Luna hadn’t truly looked at her before. Her gaze pierced Dash for a tiny instant, blue-green eyes brighter with reflected moonlight than they should have been.

That hadn’t been a question, either. Luna looked satisfied without an answer. “As I said, I did not mean to interrupt, and it can be hard to find a clear path to the waking world in your dreams. I will ask no more, and you will not remember this when you wake up. Have a wonderful dream, Rainbow Dash, and thank you.”

The manticore thundered into Rainbow Dash, and she fell halfway to the ground with her breath knocked out of her before she recovered. Dash swished her tail and grinned. She put Luna and the night sky out of mind. In the corner of her eye, she could see the other three monsters spreading out to surround her. This was going to be good.

She remembered everything, of course. Rainbow Dash had no idea why Princess Luna said she wouldn’t—not that it mattered. Fact was, she remembered the dream better than she remembered what she did yesterday. Besides, what was the real difference between Luna really being in her dream, and her dreaming of Luna being in her dream? Princess Luna was weird.

What Rainbow Dash didn’t remember was going to bed with Rarity’s supply chest half-way on top of her, pinning her down.

“Good morning, dear. You were kicking. Again,” Rarity said somewhere behind her.

“Of course I was. How am I gonna beat four manticores without my legs?” Dash asked, freeing her hooves and rubbing them together. The sun shone in through the gaps in the stone wings, and clearly she was the last one to wake up. Rarity dragged the chest outside while Dash got up.

“Good morning,” said Fluttershy, smiling at her from over by the cart. An awkwardly large kelp cake and some brown vegetable mush waited for her next to a water bowl, but other than that, they were all packed.

“Yeah. Morning,” said Dash with a half-hearted hoof pump, squinting against the sharp light and stretching. Her sides still hurt a little from the harness yesterday. It was a good harness. A great one, probably, but nothing could make pulling a cart uphill comfortable. While she downed the water and food, she caught Fluttershy rubbing her sides as well, the pegasus having pulled the cart for more than her share of time the day before.

“We let you sleep in,” said Fluttershy, accepting the empty bowl from Rainbow Dash and putting it on top of the cart. “We finished breakfast a little while ago. Are you ready to move?”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Dash, yawning. “Give me a second. Getting out of bed and into action is—uh, okay, so that’s normal I guess, but usually the first thing I do when I wake up is nap.”

“Trust me when I say I sympathise,” said Rarity from the other side of the cart, rearranging some of their stuff.

The rain must have stopped during the night. Judging by the barely-moist soil around the camp, it could’ve never amounted to more than a feather-light drizzle. Dash yawned and stretched again, stepping onto the road. She let Rarity take the first shift with the cart, and Rarity didn’t protest, setting them moving along the road while Fluttershy trotted over to say goodbye to some weird mottled badgers or whatever, a group of critters lurking by the edge of the little dell.

For a while, they moved along the coastal cliffs in silence. Rarity set a slow pace, and Dash walked behind the cart, happy for it. She was sore all over, and it would take a while to walk it off. Moving all day was one thing, and sleeping on hard dirt another. Combining the two with the second day of physical activity—the second day was always the worst—made for a painful combo.

At least the morning was still cool enough, and the wind still blew in from the sea. Cold at night, it’d be an unpleasantly warm wind by mid-day.

“We forgot to ask about the ‘Aspects’ or whatever,” Dash said on a whim. They weren’t the words she’d meant to say. She was just thinking about asking Fluttershy what the animals here were like, but the memory of the winged statue they had left behind was pervasive. Princess Luna had asked her if Dash hadn’t expected things to be different here, and the strange stones and their names stuck out more than bland kelp-cakes and fancy feather-dye.

“I’m sorry?” asked Fluttershy, walking over by the other side of the road, her eyes on the sea.

“Khaird said he’d explain what all those stones they care so much about meant,” Dash said. She cast a look over her back as though she could still see the strange head at the top of the stone they had rested under, and Fluttershy followed her gaze as though she could see it too. The top of the hill hid the dell in which the statue stood.

“Oh. I guess we did forget. We can always ask the peryton in Stagrum instead, once we get there. I’m sure they’ll know,” Fluttershy said.

“Probably. I just don’t get it,” Dash admitted. “He said they were stories, but they’re stones, and he also talked about them like they were, I don’t know, people. Except they’re not real, apparently?”

“One of the stags I talked to at the festival talked about them like they were friends,” Fluttershy said. “It sounded real to him. Maybe that’s what matters the most?”

Rainbow Dash nodded without thinking and grinned. “Okay, but that sounds like the worst pickup line ever. Were all the people who hit on you that smooth? ‘Hi, wanna meet my friends? They’re a bunch of rocks, by the way’.” Rainbow Dash giggled, breaking into a hover and laughing twice as hard when Fluttershy blushed. Even Fluttershy couldn’t keep from giggling, even as she reprimanded her.

“Rainbow Dash! They were all very nice, and no, they didn’t all talk about that,” she said, shaking her head, cheeks burning still. “He just told me a story about something Myrtella had done, I don’t remember exactly.”

Dash waved a hoof in dismissal and landed again, wincing at the impact. She couldn’t help but notice Fluttershy’s gait was even stiffer than her own. Her eyes were a tiny bit bloodshot, too. “Fine, I’m just goofing around, but hey, did you get any sleep last night?”

Fluttershy puffed out her cheeks. “I should probably have gone to bed sooner, but there were ever so many animals to meet, and no matter how much I pleaded, they just wouldn’t come in and take shelter from the rain. I feel just awful that we took their home away.”

“Uh, we… took their home away?” Dash asked. “Did we steal their den or something?”

“Well, um, probably not,” Fluttershy said with a sigh. “They just use it to hide from the weather on the coast, but they said that it’s not always free, so it’s probably okay. I just wish we could have all shared it, but they were very skittish.”

“Hey, you’ll figure it out. Those animals will come around,” Dash said, bumping against her, earning a small smile. “Hey, Rarity! Do you have another blanket or something we can sleep on tonight? It wasn’t exactly cloud-level soft, if you get what I mean,” Dash asked. The unicorn moved even slower now, and slowed down further when Dash and Fluttershy moved to walk abreast of her.

“I’m certain we’ll figure something out, dear,” Rarity said, but her smile was strained. She finally came to a complete stop.

“Rarity, are you alright?” Fluttershy asked, voice full of concern.

“Do I not look my best?” Rarity asked, looking about as though she could will a mirror into existence. Dash cocked a brow.

“You look fine,” Dash said, but sure, she looked a little messier than usual. Dishevelled. That’s the word Rarity would’ve used. Said dishevelled unicorn shook her head slowly.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to say anything because we all knew we would be, well, travelling today, but I feel just awful, all my legs hurt, and I quite frankly just want to go to bed, in my own bed.”

Rainbow Dash re-settled her wings on her back while Fluttershy leaned in close to hug Rarity. She could tell Rarity had it worse than Fluttershy did, and far worse than herself. Rarity looked twice as miserable as she’d sounded, but even so, she didn’t get out from the harness.

“You’re doing fine, Rarity,” Rainbow Dash said, and she meant it.

“Yes, well, as to that, I don’t know that I agree.” Rarity closed her eyes and leaned back into Fluttershy’s embrace. Dash imagined she saw the misery weaken its grip on her muzzle a tiny bit, but it wasn’t enough.

“Oh, come on, you’re not an athlete.” Rainbow Dash moved a little closer to give Rarity a poke in the side. That garnered a frown instead. Progress. “Anypony who’s worked out knows that it’s really bad at first. You just gotta keep going. You don’t start working out and give up when the second day’s hard.”

“Maybe we could take a little break?” Fluttershy suggested, leaning past Rarity to lock eyes with Dash.

“We’ve barely moved,” Dash said with a groan, but she could tell she was outnumbered. Fluttershy offered a hopeful smile, still holding Rarity, and Rarity herself nodded as swiftly as her no doubt stiff neck allowed.

“Ugh, fine,” Dash said, rolling her eyes. She glanced at the cart and briefly considered a snack to speed time along, but she wasn’t really hungry. Not for cold food, anyway. “Hey, we should have a campfire tonight if it doesn’t rain,” she added.

“Darling, we still lack firewood,” said Rarity, leaving the cart behind. She moved over to the relative softness of the grass by the roadside, sitting down with exaggerated care at the edge of the seaside cliffs.

“Oh. Yeah,” Dash said. With a minor effort, she launched herself into the air. Her wings were fine, at least. Those were used to some serious effort. “I think there’s a forest north of us,” she called down to her friends. “More north-west, really.”

“Inland?” asked Rarity.

“Yeah. Nevermind,” Dash replied, touching down again. “It’s probably not worth it. It’s far away. Can you burn bushes? Is that a thing?”

“We could always use driftwood,” Fluttershy said. She trotted past Rarity, leaning over the cliff’s edge.

Rainbow Dash followed, squinting. “Uh, I don’t see anything but sand and rock,” she said.

“There should be some wood that’s come in with the tide,” Fluttershy said. “I read it in a book. I’ll go look to see if any of it is dry enough.”

It was rare that Fluttershy beat Dash to the punch, but there it was. In the space of a few seconds, she had grabbed an empty bag, spread her wings, and sailed down from the cliff edge. Dash had half expected her to glide in slow circles all the way down, but she soon let herself drop a bit faster, landing at the beach in no time at all.

“I could’ve done it,” Dash said under her breath.

“Of course you could have,” said Rarity. “But she was the one who so kindly let me have this little break, so I suppose she feels responsible.” She slowly rose up to all fours, walking over to stand next to Dash. “I appreciate your little pep-talk, too, just to be clear. You and Fluttershy make a marvellous team for cheering one up, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“Sure, no problem,” said Dash, who had in fact not really thought about that much. She flashed Rarity a grin and went back to watching Fluttershy.

“Or maybe I’m reading too much into Fluttershy’s motivations,” Rarity continued. “I appreciate it regardless. It’s not like it’s what you would call a big deal.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t say much to that. It really wasn’t a big deal. It was cool to see Fluttershy take the initiative though. That thought stuck around, pervasive and, well, sticky. She noticed Rarity staring at her for a moment, following Dash’s gaze to Fluttershy below.

“Fluttershy, dear, take your time! We’ll keep watch!” Rarity called. Keep watch for what exactly, Rainbow Dash had no idea. Fluttershy waved and continued picking her way around the beach, pausing every now and then to retrieve something from the sand.

“So, Rainbow Dash.”

“That’s my name,” Dash said. When she squinted and really looked, she could see that Fluttershy had been right. She wasn’t just picking up sand. There were definitely branches and other bits down there, they were just hard to pick out from a distance due to the bright sand and brighter sunlight.

“You and Fluttershy have been very close. I, ah, well. That is hardly news, I suppose. Let me try again,” Rarity said.

“Since we were fillies, yep,” Dash said. Fluttershy quested towards where the rocks went all the way out to sea, the cliffs forming an imperfect wall that sectioned off the beach that Fluttershy searched. When had Fluttershy read about “driftwood”, anyway?

“I understand you had a good time at Proudmane Lane before we left, just the two of you.” Rarity squinted. Or stared. Whatever she was doing, Dash noticed Rarity looking at her in the corner of her eyes, anyway, and it annoyed her a little. If they were supposed to look out for Fluttershy, why wasn’t she doing it too?

“Yeah, we had a great time,” Dash affirmed. She didn’t know if she should be annoyed that she herself hadn’t prepared better. If Fluttershy found the time to read a book about strange wood that grew on beaches, it made Dash look bad by comparison. She had just figured she’d wing it herself, thinking she was clever for packing light.

“And I couldn’t help but notice you, how to put it,” Rarity said, her voice soft as down. “You spent a lot of time together at the festival in Orto, and you wore those wonderful little cloth bands they use to signify... exclusive dedication.”

“Sure did,” Dash said. At least, she should feel bad about Fluttershy preparing so much better. Probably? It didn’t really feel like that, though. It was super cool that Fluttershy knew these things, and it wasn’t like Twilight knowing a bunch of stuff Rainbow Dash didn’t know made Dash feel bad, either.

“I am of course, um, how—I, ah,” Rarity said, her voice speeding up, bit by bit. “I am not blind to the fact that you’ve been showing quite a lot of physical affection for Fluttershy, either. You taking care of her wings and all that. I suppose that’s some form of affectionate cuddling—and yes, that’s hardly news now, I understand, but if the two of you are getting romantically invested, I must admit it comes a little bit out of nowhere, at least to me. Oh, but happy, too! Of course! I am thrilled on your behalf!”

“Sure,” said Dash. Of course, Twilight knowing stuff didn’t make Dash feel good, either. Or, if it did, it made Rainbow Dash feel good for Twilight, but not for herself, not like she felt now. Rainbow Dash snorted hot air, already bored of all this thinking. If there was a difference, it didn’t matter. Down below, Fluttershy took wing and disappeared around the seaward rocks. Rainbow Dash’s wings spread halfway of their own accord with pointless tension.

“Now, knowing you’re such good friends—but we are all good friends, are we not?—I just wanted to make sure you are aware that you can be, hm, a tiny bit domineering at times, particularly with regards to Fluttershy—”

Yep. Definitely bored with thinking. Fluttershy flew back into view, and a moment later, some sea creature or other surfaced from the waves not far away from Fluttershy. The thing looked like a smooth dog without hindlegs and made straight for Fluttershy, who sat down and folded her wings. Now Dash managed to furl her own wings, as well. Fluttershy had made a new friend. Rainbow Dash shook her head slowly from side to side and let out a soundless laugh that shook her body. That was Fluttershy alright. Awesome.

“—well, yes, you’re right, that may be a little unfair of me to say. Like I said, you have known each other for longer than I, and I won’t poke my muzzle where it does not belong, and Rainbow, we all love you both for who you are. I just want to make sure you are both happy! I know as well as anypony that Fluttershy does not strictly need me looking out for her. I’ve always held that letting somepony come out of their shell should be done at their own pace, and Fluttershy has certainly made strides—”

“Wait,” said Rainbow Dash, blinking. “Hold up.”

“Hm?” asked Rarity. “I’m sorry if—”

“What do you mean ‘romantic’?” Dash asked, raising a brow. “We played games all evening in Las Pegasus. I set like, five new records, it was awesome! Fluttershy just came along because she’s awesome like that. And the festival? She just wanted to not have to worry about peryton giving her attention all the time, so I helped her out. What, you think—you thought we were like, getting all… oh, oh jeez, no.” Dash tried for a laugh, she really did, but all she could squeeze forth was a full-body snort from snout to tail.

“Oh. Oh I see,” came Rarity’s reply, her mouth hanging open. They stared at each other. Dash didn’t have much to add. Her mind was blank and she’d said her piece. Rarity popped like a balloon three seconds later anyway.

“I—I’m dreadfully sorry, dear!” Rarity blurted. “I didn’t—I never meant to, I, ah, but—” she stammered, near hyperventilating in her histrionics. “Please, you must forgive me, it’s just—I thought—”

“Rarity? It’s fine,” said Dash. “Why would that be a big deal?”

The unicorn paused and steadied her breath with noticeable effort, swallowing loudly. “I just hope you understand how I got the wrong idea, dear, but please don’t hold it against me. This is all very embarrassing.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it, it hap—wait. What do you mean ‘domineering’? What the hay is that supposed to mean?” She turned to face Rarity, frowning deeply.

Rarity did not so much as blink. “What I mean is that you try to bring out the best in everypony, but your methods can be a little crass. Surely you’re aware of that, just like I can admit that at times, I can paint the reality with... particularly vivid colours.”

“Be dramatic,” Dash said. “You mean that you can be dramatic. But what the hay do you mean by ‘domineering’?”

“We both may exaggerate at times,” Rarity said with a huff. “All I meant to say is that you can be a little pushy with your friends, and that is not an insult to you, Rainbow Dash.”

Dash let the words bounce around in her head for a second. She gave the beach a quick glance. Fluttershy petted the sea-dog thing and spread her wings, starting her ascent back towards them.

“Yeah, sure,” said Dash. “So, what about it?”

Rarity sighed and leaned close, resting her forehead against Rainbow Dash’s, smiling all the while. “Nothing ‘about it’, darling. I misunderstood, and I was rambling in my excitement. Now would you be a dear and pull the cart, please? And while you’re at it, please forget I said a thing, because I am embarrassed enough as it is.”

Chapter 5

A quick note for myself before bed: Tomorrow, or whenever a moment of opportunity arises, I think I might have a word with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy each in private.

I’m of course thrilled that two of my very best friends are taking an interest in each other, and I think it’s important to tell them that I support them one hundred percent. At times, I worry that Rainbow Dash comes on a little strong at times, but then, that is quintessentially... Rainbow.

Perhaps I shouldn’t say anything about that in particular. Then again, I am sure Rainbow Dash will take my meaning well, even if she does not enjoy hearing it. She is hardly the type of pony to fly off the handle at or obsess over simple advice.

-R

Well, that chat went about as well as expected. Maybe I should strike this out? No. Even if I do feel very silly right now, crossed-out text is so very unsightly.

Though the day came to a close, light still lingered when they entered what Dash refused to call a forest. The thin, ash-like trees and the darker, top-heavy ones both failed to provide anything like the Whitetail Woods’ canopy. What was the point of trees at all if they didn’t block out the sun?

Even if she hadn’t held a grudge against the little patch of woods for refusing to provide proper shade, it was a ‘forest’ in the same way apple bobbing was a sport, a half-league’s stretch worth of trees providing a footnote to the vast expanse of green to their northwest. Every time she took to the air, the forest in the distance seemed as vast and solid as the mountains further west.

If she still had her turn with the cart, Dash could’ve moved straight ahead off the road and closed her eyes, knowing she probably wouldn’t hit any trees for a good minute or two. No, it wasn’t a forest. Just like Fluttershy hadn’t stopped their cart in front of a brook.

“Rivers are big, brooks are small. This is not a brook,” Dash said. “It’s not complicated.”

“This might be a brook to the peryton,” Fluttershy suggested, dipping a hoof in the flowing water. It had to be at least eighty paces across, Dash guessed. Or three solid flaps of the wings and a good glide. “I thought brooks were supposed to be streams you can cross on hoof without trouble,” Fluttershy said. “Maybe their wagons can make it across, or they make rafts? Either way, I don’t think our cart will make it.”

Rarity shrugged. “This was beneath their notice regardless, and it is here now. If the map is supposed to show all major rivers, this is not one of them.” As happy as Rarity was to discuss the water ahead, she hadn’t moved a single hoof. The unicorn lay down in the softer grass by the bank the moment Fluttershy stopped, now resting her hooves in the water with her eyes closed.

“Yeah. Doesn’t matter anyway,” Dash said, flexing her wings. “It’s not a problem for us. We can just fly across, even if they can’t.”

“And what makes you say they can’t?” asked Rarity, popping an eye open.

“Because if they could fly their wagons, why would they use roads?” Dash countered.

“Indeed, why are we using the roads, then?” asked Rarity, raising a brow, turning around to look at their cart for a half-second before she answered her own question. “Well, I don’t suppose there is anywhere to sit.”

“Yeah, duh,” said Dash, snorting. “That was like… the first thing I thought about when we left the city.”

“And besides,” said Fluttershy. “I think flying in this heat would be very hard. A lot harder than walking.” She wandered all the way up to the water, leaning down close. A fish popped its head up and stared back at her.

“And that,” said Dash, frowning.

“Are chariots pegasus magic, then?” asked Rarity. “I never thought about it.”

“Uh, I don’t really know what’s ‘magic’, I think it’s really just, eh.” Dash paused, scrabbling for words.

“Technique?” Fluttershy suggested, though she didn’t sound entirely sure either. “I guess the peryton don’t know how to do it. Their wagons didn’t look like they were made for flying.”

“Yeah. Maybe they have pegasus magic, maybe they don’t, maybe they all have some magic that lets them walk on water, I don’t know, but I don’t think they fly their carts anywhere. They’re terrible fliers—”

“Rainbow Dash, that’s rude!” Rarity chided.

“—but as I said, it doesn’t matter,” Dash finished. “We can get this baby across in no-time.” She gave the cart a tap. Fluttershy began loosening the harness, presumably to let Rainbow Dash take the cart over as the strongest flier present. It made a lot of sense.

“Hey, hang on,” Dash said. Fluttershy paused with her teeth on one of the straps and one brow raised in question. “Why don’t you take it across?” Dash asked. “You’ve flown your own cart around before, haven’t you?”

Fluttershy loosened the final strap and stepped out of the harness even as she nodded. “Well, yes, but never with more than a few small animals in it. I usually just pull it if it’s fully loaded. This cart is a lot heavier than anything I’ve ever flown with before.” She looked at the cart with the chest, their supplies, the saddlebags, the heavy water jugs and all.

Dash tilted her head. “So you don’t even do any funneling, you just hold it up on the weight of the harness?”

“Um, yes?” Fluttershy asked more than she answered.

Rainbow Dash scratched at her own snout. Sure, she could do it herself. It would be the simplest thing in the world. Fly the cart across, pick up Rarity and ferry her over as well. Done in a minute.

“New plan. I’m not doing it. You’re doing it,” Dash declared.

Fluttershy lay her ears flat and shrank back a little. “Oh. I, um, I really don’t think I should.”

“Why not?” Dash asked.

Fluttershy scuffed the ground with a hoof. “The cart is really heavy. What if I drop it?”

Rarity let out a sigh. “Rainbow, dear, would you please just fly the cart across?”

“You won’t drop it! You can do it, and come on, you seriously haven’t lifted a cart by funneling before? It’s awesome, and you need to try it!” said Dash. And because I’d really like to see you do it, she thought.

Fluttershy shook her head, glancing nervously back at Rarity. “No, really, I think it’s a bad idea. I’m probably going to land too hard. It’s okay.”

“Fluttershy, just stop worrying so much and try,” Dash said, laughing. “I know you know how, you just haven’t tried it.” She stepped up to the cart and nudged the straps of the harness apart a little, grinning at Fluttershy.

Again Fluttershy shook her head, but she looked at the harness, at least, even if she took a step back and hid behind her mane. “No, I don’t think—”

“You do think! That’s the problem,” Dash said, pulling the cart a little closer to Fluttershy. “You need to not think for a second. You can totally do this! Just funnel the draft from your wings under the cart, stronger on the downbeat than usual, but don’t overdo it. Come on!”

Fluttershy sighed, one eye on the ground and a hoof poking at the dirt. Rarity shook her head in the corner of Dash’s vision, and Rainbow Dash didn’t care. Fluttershy needed to know she could do this. She would love it.

“I’ll be right behind you,” Dash said, smiling at her, and now she knew for sure Fluttershy would say yes. The other pegasus nibbled her lower lip, wavering. “Give it a try. You got this. I’ll take the cart over the next hundred rivers or whatever, just try it once.”

It took a minute to get Fluttershy fastened securely. It took another two to convince her that she didn’t need that much runway, and that no, there were no rocks on the path leading up to the edge of the brook, river, whatever it is. Rainbow Dash heard Fluttershy swallow nervously, watched her spread her wings, furl them, then spread them again. All her feathers were in order, and she looked great—ready to go.

“And you’re sure—”

“I got your back,” Dash said with mock exasperation, smiling at her. She nodded towards the opposite bank.

Fluttershy started off right into a gallop. The contents of the cart shifted precariously with the sudden jolt, but she bolted off, and Dash grinned as she bolted up as well. When Fluttershy went, she really went. The yellow pegasus’ wings worked hard, her beats powerful yet somehow still imbued with grace that Rainbow Dash had never seen in another pegasus.

She soared across the water in a perfect arc, and Rainbow Dash felt her heart surge. No backwards glances, Fluttershy simply did it, with only one small hiccup. Halfway across the water, a too-strong stroke of Fluttershy’s wings gave the cart a little jump and something fell over the rim. Dash followed the glimmer of glass with her eyes as it fell, remembering that she was supposed to be right behind Fluttershy, not stare like an idiot. Right.

Rainbow Dash outraced Rarity’s startled exclamation. In truth, it all happened at the same time, and Dash didn’t know if Rarity reacted to the explosion of dust from Rainbow Dash’s take-off, or if she’d also seen the bottle fall. Dash’s wings went from rest to ache as she shot away, sketching a rainbow trail from one side of the water to the other, skidding across the opposite bank and kicking up dirt a split-second later, the precious cargo clutched between a foreleg and her chest.

Fluttershy touched down next to her half a moment later and brought the cart to an abrupt stop, the cargo rattling with the impact.

“Did I—oh no, I dropped something?” Fluttershy asked. She let out a gasp and turned to look over her own back, then over at Rainbow Dash.

“Nah. I said I got you covered,” Dash said. She brushed some dust from her coat and shook out her mane, but Fluttershy’s eyes were fastened upon the bottle she held.

“That’s the dragonfire. That could have been terrible!” Fluttershy said, her voice thin. “If I had dropped it—I could have ruined everything! What if I crashed the entire cart into the river? I was so scared! That was terrifying!” she said, her chest heaving with rapid breath.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and walked over to the cart, tucking the bottle into Rarity’s saddlebags. “Oh, come on,” she said. “That could have happened to anypony. Relax!”

Fluttershy did anything but relax, but Rainbow Dash held her gaze for a moment, smiling confidently until the panicked breaths subsided, at least. When Fluttershy finally looked away, it was to stare at her own fully spread wings like she didn’t believe in their existence, her eyes big and her muzzle parted in an incredulous smile.

“I did it,” she said. “I, oh—oh my goodness, I did it!” she added, a little louder.

Now Rainbow Dash let herself grin in earnest, laughing out loud. She held out a hoof for a bump. “Hay yeah you did,” Dash said. “I told you you’ve got it. That was awesome!”

Fluttershy ignored the hoof and leaned over to lay her neck against Rainbow Dash’s, hugging her close with a foreleg, squeezing with more strength than Dash had expected.

Rainbow Dash hugged back. Fluttershy’s heart still hammered in her chest, and Dash could feel it. She also knew her own heart beat just as fast, and not from the near-accident. Far cooler than any little save-the-day stunt of her own, Fluttershy proving just how awesome she was—even if just by a little cart-flying—that made her hooves tingle just like she’d won any number of prizes.

“Are you quite done? Is this ‘moment’ going to go on much longer?” asked Rarity, her voice carrying across from the far bank. “Because it’s a little exclusionary with me all the way over here, I feel!”

“Sorry!” Dash called, laughing, and she let go of the still-giggling Fluttershy.

“I’m sorry I nearly dropped the dragonfire,” Fluttershy said.

“It all worked out, darling, I don’t see the issue,” Rarity replied. “And congratulations on… a very good-looking flight? Could one of you come pick me up?” she asked, tilting her head.

Fluttershy shook her head, though the smile still lingered. “It was no big deal. I’m sure any pegasus can do it, really, but thank you.”

“Pft, yeah, sure,” said Dash, a little lower so just Fluttershy would hear. “Flying a cart loaded with a bunch of junk without wind is one thing, but the takeoff and the land isn’t easy, and you did it.” She flashed Fluttershy a private little smile, and from the look on Fluttershy’s face, the other pegasus didn’t need convincing. She still glowed.

Ferrying Rarity across took no time at all. As awkward as it was to carry someone on her back, it was a short enough flight—barely a jump for Rainbow Dash, all told, and she took Rarity’s turn with the cart just to get them moving again. Though the little break and a drink from the brook helped a little, Rarity had enough trouble keeping up today even without pulling the cart.

Dash said nothing. When the sun faded from view, they badly needed the light from Rarity’s horn. None of them wanted to trip on a rock in the dark, and there were plenty of small pits in the road that could badly hurt a leg.

“Careful,” said Rarity, pulling the scarf tighter around her neck. “There’s a hole there.”

“I see it,” said Fluttershy. “There are some very sharp rocks, too. Maybe try the left side of the road?”

“Got it,” Dash replied, yawning. She closed her eyes for a second, the cart rattling when it bumped against something.

“If the next hole in the road is a little larger, I may just lie down and have a nap in it,” Rarity muttered. “I swear, every step I’ve taken may just be my last.”

They all wanted to stop. Fluttershy had taken to flying to rest her legs and worried for Rarity’s sake about the cold, and Rainbow Dash had had enough of pulling the cart. She was tired, too. What drove the trio on was Fluttershy’s theory that the peryton had more of these rest stops. Sleeping under the open sky with all this wind would make even a pegasus cold, at least in winter. If the peryton had made a statue as a natural rest stop about a day’s journey from Orto, they might have made more.

Rainbow Dash was just about to suggest that they give up on that idea when they mounted a hill and spotted the glow of a campfire just down the road. She poked Rarity in the side and sped up a little, and her friends followed suit, trotting towards the promise of warmth and rest.

The campsite rested near a small wooden bridge that spanned a gap in the seaside cliffs. It looked like a giant pony had dragged a hoof from the beach and so far inland that Dash couldn’t see its end in the darkness, a tear from sea into land. The bridge was in good repair, but the shelter was not. Even before they got close, Rainbow Dash could see that the shelter-statue, otherwise identical to the last one, missed one of its four wings. A broken-off section of stone wing lay nearby, and a large wagon stood parked by the road.

“It’s broken,” Dash said, frowning. “What’s up with that?”

“It is still quite a bit better than nothing,” Rarity said as they slowed down on approach, though the unicorn looked like she’d settle for a ditch. Her eyes were half closed, and she winced with every step. They were down to a slow walk now, peering curiously ahead. Obviously, they weren’t alone.

“Um, maybe we should say hello, first, and ask if they don’t mind sharing?” Fluttershy whispered.

Dash stepped into the campsite proper. No one minded the fire outside, but an antlered head poked out from the cover of the damaged statue.

“Hey!” Dash called.

“Hello,” said the shadow in a low and clear voice. Dash could see more shapes inside, two of them moving about.

“Do you mind if we borrow your fire?” Dash asked.

“Unless to run away with it, you are free. If you would put some wood on, twice better.” The head disappeared.

“Cool. Thanks,” Dash said. She waited for a reply, but the person inside said no more. Clearly they were less chatty than the other peryton they’d met. She glanced at her friends. Rarity stood with her eyes closed, shivering. Fluttershy poked Dash in the side with the tip of one of her wings, giving her a little nudge.

“Oh yeah. Is there room for us in there, too?” Dash asked.

“Selyria judges none who desire rest,” came the reply, the speaker hidden from view now. “But please, lower your voice. Some of us sleep.”

“Alright,” Dash said. She looked at Fluttershy again, but she was no help, busy gently easing Rarity to lie down by the fire. Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. “That’s… a yes?” she tried, a little more quiet.

“It is a ‘yes’.”

“Cool.”

Dash let their cart rest where it stood, and grabbed a bag off the top. She tossed it to the ground next to Rarity.

“Eat,” Dash said.

“Darling, eating is the last thing on my mind right now,” Rarity murmured.

“Yeah, well, you didn’t eat last time we stopped either. You’ve got to be hungry.” Dash stepped back over to the cart and filled a bowl of water as best as she could, trying not to spill. The jugs were awkwardly large and clearly not made for ponies without magic.

“Eating hurts,” Rarity said with a soul-wracking sigh. “Everything hurts.”

“Tough. Eat,” Dash repeated, taking a sip from the water bowl before she placed it in front of her friends.

Rarity looked about to protest, but before she got a word out, Fluttershy scooted a little closer and nuzzled the unicorn to divert her attention. She held up a herb-laden cake-like thing, and Rarity levitated it over for a bite with a sour look of resignation.

Rainbow Dash let out a sigh of relief, glad for Fluttershy’s help. Maybe Rarity was right. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash made a good team in moments like these. Dash doubted she’d win a shouting match with Rarity, and didn’t have a follow-up if she refused to eat. For all the unicorn’s expertise with all the talky stuff, she didn’t seem to understand that she needed to eat if she was going to keep on the move.

Rainbow Dash tossed some wood onto the fire, some of it driftwood, some of it what few dead branches they found in the little patch of forest. Satisfied, she stretched and lay down next to Fluttershy.

Rarity was all kinds of smart as long as it didn’t come to athletics, really. Unless something had prompted her to be dramatic, unless she was crying or had that manic gleam in her eye that bespoke an excess of inspiration, the stuff Rarity said was usually right. She wasn’t wrong in saying that Rainbow Dash could be pushy earlier today either. Probably.

Pushy. Whatever. It was a dumb word, but Dash knew what she meant. Saying that Twilight was an egghead—and she totally was—just meant that Twilight read a lot of books. Rainbow Dash didn’t mind the assertion that she could be a little forceful, but the idea that Dash acted unfairly towards Fluttershy? That annoyed her.

It wasn’t even the fact that Rarity had said it. It had nothing to do with Rarity, and it wasn’t Rarity’s fault, Dash had just never really thought about it like that. Sure, she’d seen that Fluttershy was uncomfortable with the idea of trying to fly their cart over the river earlier today, but it didn’t matter so long as Dash knew Fluttershy would be happy in the end—and she had been!

Even now, Rainbow Dash couldn’t forget the way Fluttershy lit up when she landed and stopped worrying. Dash also remembered how good she herself had felt when Fluttershy pulled it off on the first try. She grinned and looked over at Fluttershy. She imagined she could feel the pride still radiating off her, even if it didn’t show. Fluttershy leaned down for another sip of water, then looked up at Dash in question.

“A bit for your thoughts?” Fluttershy asked, smiling. On the other side of her, Rarity rested her head atop Fluttershy’s back, already fast asleep.

“Just thinking about the most awesome cart flight Perytonia has seen,” Dash replied, shrugging. Fluttershy blushed ever so slightly and shook her head.

“If they don’t fly their wagons, it’s probably the only cart flight Perytonia has ever seen.”

“That doesn’t make what I said wrong,” Dash retorted, her grin widening, and Fluttershy giggled in reply. There was no trace of the panic that Fluttershy had shown right after landing, only cheeks tinted pink and a laughter she desperately tried to quell so as to not wake their friend or the sleeping peryton.

It took Rainbow Dash forever to fall asleep between the sharp snoring from two of the peryton and all the other strange new noises. Insects and animals sung, chittered and made all sorts of noise that the rain must’ve masked or stopped the day before. The only familiar sounds were her friends’ steady breathing, occasionally drowned out by random gusts of wind that cut through the missing stone wing of the statue. Dash leaned over to give Rarity a little more blanket. The cold wasn’t half as big a deal for a pegasus, at least.

She had no idea exactly what she dreamed, but that was mostly because nothing new happened. She’d had a blast fighting hordes of changelings again, so there was nothing important to remember. No visit from Princess Luna, and no manticores frozen in time. The only detail that stuck around was that part of the sky was open. Of course, the sky was always open, but one section had simply been more open than the rest. It didn’t scare her or worry her—it didn’t even make her curious. It just was.

Rainbow Dash woke first, and that was a new experience all right. Their little nook of the stone shelter hadn’t changed at all since she closed her eyes: Fluttershy and Rarity lay tucked in under the blanket sleeping soundly just like they had done when Dash finished packing up their food last night. The three lay opposite the missing wing of the statue, a respectful distance away from where four peryton had slept in two pairs. They were gone now, but Dash heard voices outside. Yawning, Dash snuck out from underneath the blanket and trotted out into the open.

“Good morning,” she said, waving at the peryton.

“Good sun to you,” one of them replied, nodding matter-of-factly to her. The grey peryton—a doe, judging by her mono-coloured wings and short tail-feathers—shook out and folded a blanket while her companions rearranged some weirdly shaped jugs on the back of their cart.

“Where are you guys headed?” Dash asked, smiling at her. “Are you going north to Stagrum, too? Maybe we’re heading the same way?”

The doe gave her a long, scrutinising look, and then turned her eyes on their cart. For a moment, Dash thought she wasn’t going to reply at all.

“You do not look like competition, I don’t think,” said the doe. “You are not traders?”

“What? No,” Dash said, frowning. “We’re, well, uh, ‘diplomats’, I guess.” The word felt odd and ungainly. Decidedly uncool. She wished she’d said they were on a secret mission instead. Too late.

“Ah,” the peryton said. “Well. Then, no. We are from Stagrum, and we make for Orto. We are in trade, but I will not give you details beyond this.”

“O-kayy?” Dash said, raising a brow. “You look different from them.”

And they did. It wasn’t just the fact that the doe’s tail-feathers were muted compared to the painted and exaggerated spectrums of the festival-ready peryton in Orto. Where the peryton they had seen so far walked naked save for their paints and scarves, this doe and her companions were clad not in clothes, but in a myriad of trinkets. She had gold, silver and jade hoops through her small ears, delicate chains like a spiderweb between the prongs of her antlers, and curious bangles around the base of her tail and wings.

“Yes. As I said, we are from Stagrum,” the peryton said. Dash waited for her to elaborate, but she turned and continued packing. Dash snorted and shuffled her wings, trotting over to a stag who stomped at the embers of the campfire with his powerful hind-claws.

“Hey, name’s Rainbow Dash! What’s yours?”

“Anhast,” said the stag. This one gave Dash a smile in return, at least. “Though I will keep my house to myself, with pardons to you. You are no peryton. Diplomats, you said?”

“Yep!” Dash said. “We’re ponies from Equestria. We’re on our way to Cotronna. You ever been there?”

Anhast shook his head with a rustle of silver from his antler-decor. “No, I travel this road and a few others. I am sorry, I should not answer too many questions.”

“Why?” Dash asked, drawing back. “Do you think we’re spies or something?”

The stag laughed a harsh, cawing laugh, cleaning the soot off his claws in the dirt. “No, not at all, unless this is a very unusual and unsubtle act of espionage, but all words on trade are secret-bound. All know this. It aids in keeping trade fair. There is no malice in this.”

“Right,” said Dash. “I don’t know that, but okay.”

“Discussing most anything else is fine, Rainbow Dash,” said Anhast, smiling toothily. “And I can tell you favour Daros’ stories, but we must be moving soon.”

“Alright, cool,” Dash said, nodding. She was sure she had a thousand things she should ask, but nothing really sprung to mind. She looked about, and her eyes fell upon the broken statue behind them. “Hey, so, these statues, are they everywhere?”

“Selyria? Her story echoes throughout the land.” He followed Dash’s gaze. “You will find her shelter a sun’s travel apart along the main roads. She will accept diplomat and trader, peryton and pony, if that is your kind. Please do not quarrel under her gaze.”

Rainbow Dash scratched at her own snout. “So, uh. That’s a yes? There’s one statue every day?”

“That is ‘yes’,” Anhast said, nodding. “And most of them are whole, unlike this one.”

“What happened to this statue, anyway?” Dash asked, staring at the broken-off wing on the ground. She received no reply right away. Anhast stared at the large stone shell with obvious concern.

“Oh come on, is that some ‘trade’ secret, too?” Dash asked, tapping her hoof impatiently.

“No, not at all,” Anhast said, shaking his head. “I simply do not know. This is the second defaced stele I have seen this year. They have stood for a long time. It is not weather, and I do not know what would drive anyone to do this.”

Dash snorted. “Well, that’s stupid. Kinda ruins the point of keeping the wind out, if that’s what they are for.”

Anhast nodded vacantly, looking over his shoulder to meet the gaze of the doe Dash had tried to talk to earlier. The two remaining stags were fastening themselves to the wagon, tightening their harnesses with a glimmer of magic while they chatted. “Are we ready to go?” Anhast asked.

“Waiting for the last one of us,” the doe returned.

“Well, then I must go,” the stag said. When his three companions started moving he craned his neck in a peryton bow to Dash, his muzzle flat against his neck. “Tell the tales of Phostos, Daros and Khylari with your steps.”

“I don’t know what any of that is,” Dash said, trying not to let her annoyance show. “Seeya!”

Anhast gave a warbling laugh as he went. “Fair trade, daring ventures and lines drawn in the sand, Rainbow Dash. Farewell!”

Rainbow Dash had to fight her urge to wake Rarity and Fluttershy. Every instinct she had, every fiber of her body wanted to move. A quick dive to explore the narrow gulch below the bridge was good for a few minutes of almost-excitement, but hardly a challenge. There was nothing to do. Rainbow Dash was trying to decide whether to trip over her friends or crash into the statue by “accident” when Fluttershy stuck her head outside, rubbing at her eyes.

“Good morning,” said Fluttershy, blinking heavily. “Did the peryton leave already?”

“Yep,” said Dash. “I guess they’re early birds or something. You know, just like me.” She chuckled at her own lame joke, glancing over at Fluttershy when she sat down next to her. “I think the last time I woke up before you was before the final flight exam at juniors level.”

Fluttershy’s muzzle curved in a trace of a smile. “I don’t really think that counts. You didn’t sleep at all. And Twilight said you were there at library opening hour when the last Daring Do novel came out.”

“Heh, yeah, okay, but I bet you were up before then anyway. Library opening hour isn’t exactly at sunrise, you know—”

“And every cider season,” Fluttershy added.

“And—uh. Yeah, okay, that doesn’t count, either,” Dash said, flicking her ears.

Fluttershy made a noncommittal hum, looking over at the statue. She re-settled her wings on her back and got up, stretching her legs out, and Dash sighed internally. She had meant to say something about getting going, but she could see that Fluttershy’s movements were still stiff, and that meant Rarity would probably be aching even worse.

“I’m sure she’ll feel better soon,” Fluttershy said, echoing Rainbow Dash’s thoughts. Maybe she’d seen Rainbow Dash looking in the direction of the sleeping unicorn, a snippet of tail visible through the closest opening of the statue.

“Yeah,” said Dash. “You’re okay, though?”

“I’m okay,” Fluttershy repeated with a faint smile. “Probably not a lot more than okay, if I have to be honest, but it’ll get better. For all of us. We just need to get used to it if we’re gonna travel for a while.”

Dash nodded emptily at that. She was used to being tired, she was used to working hard, but she definitely wasn’t used to travelling all day like this. Only now did she notice that she had a faint outline around her body where the girth of the harness went. She touched a hoof to it, and winced at how sore she felt.

“If you look at the map, we’ll be travelling for more than a while, actually,” Fluttershy went on, the pegasus’s eyes pointed north, past the gulch and to the coastal road that stretched on and on. “The road to Stagrum is the shortest one.”

Fluttershy had the same faint ring around the front of her barrel, right behind her forelegs. Rainbow Dash shuffled a little closer.

“Well, except maybe the road between… Vauhorn and Cotronna, I think it is,” Fluttershy said, glancing towards their cart. “I could check—eep!” Fluttershy jerked away when Dash touched her side.

Rainbow Dash pulled her hoof back, frowning. “Is it that painful?” she asked.

“Oh, no,” said Fluttershy, shaking her head and letting out a soft laugh. “You just startled me.”

“Right, right,” said Dash. “That harness is really a pain, huh?”

Fluttershy puffed out her cheeks. “I’m sure it’s a very good harness, but… I think it’s the same thing. I’m just not used to it—oh goodness, yours looks a lot worse. Lie still for a second, please.”

Before Dash could ask what Fluttershy meant, the other pegasus turned around and lay a hoof to her side, brushing against the grain of her coat in short little strokes. Dash sucked in a hissing breath through clenched teeth, and Fluttershy pulled back.

“Oh, I’m sorry—”

“No, keep going,” Dash said, grimacing. “That’s good.”

Fluttershy nodded and reapplied herself, now with a tentative smile. “Applejack told me that they rub down at the farm all the time, massaging the sore parts after a hard day’s work.”

“Hey, I’m not new to being sore,” Dash said, grinning. “Just… not like this. I’ll do you afterwards, and then we’ll wake up Rarity, okay?”

Fluttershy nodded and smiled. “That sounds like a good plan. I’m sure she’ll feel better soon.”

Rarity showed an impressive variety of complaints, at least, and that meant she was in better spirits. They made a little better speed than the previous day, and though they were still slowed down to a crawl around mid-day when the sun was at its highest, the unicorn took her turn without comment, the three ponies trudging on with steps that slowed as their mouths went dry until they were forced to take a break.

“Do remind me of this moment if I ever suggest the steam room at the spa again,” said Rarity, wiping her forehead as one slope gave way to another.

Fluttershy let out a weak giggle, pushing at the cart from behind. “I’ll try to remember. I know I feel a little tempted to borrow a few rain clouds for myself when we get back home.”

“More like try to kick off winter early,” Dash suggested. No clouds in sight, and to their right, the sea held infinite golden sparkles too bright to look at.

The next few days passed in something of a blur. As comfortable as Rainbow Dash was with the sweet pain of aching muscles, the sheer sameyness was twice as bad. They found the next Selyrian statue not long after sundown, having spent the entire day at a slow walk under the baking sun. The shelter-stele stood unharmed, identical to the first, and this time, they had the energy to eat together and take care of the worst of the soreness from all the chafing. Fluttershy lent her hooves to soothe Rarity’s aching muscles while the unicorn scribbled away in her journal.

The day after, they passed another wagon on the road shortly before midday. Rainbow Dash stopped the cart and waved, but the peryton simply inclined their heads and kept moving.

“Wow, that’s a little rude,” Dash said, her eyes still following the large peryton wagon as it trundled away in the opposite direction, two peryton pulling the wagon, and the other two walking at their side.

“Mm, it wouldn’t hurt to stop for a little chat, surely,” Rarity agreed, arching a brow.

Fluttershy nodded. “Not only that, I think it’s strange, really. I don’t think any of the peryton we met so far would ever want to not talk.”

“Exactly,” said Dash, giving the cart a tug to set it rolling again. “They looked like they think it’s normal to see ponies walking along their roads.”

“I suppose they take their trading very seriously,” said Rarity, taking a deep breath and following in Rainbow Dash’s wake. “Or perhaps,” she added. “Perhaps they think it’s too hot to talk, and I may agree.”

They found the next statue with daylight to spare, though only just. Clearly, Rarity made an effort to keep up with the pegasi, and after she’d nibbled on some slightly stale jelly-treats, the unicorn fell asleep over her notes. The insect noises and the occasional bird calls were no less strange to Dash that night. Each day some creature made a new noise she hadn’t heard before.

Every night, Fluttershy leafed through her book before she fell asleep, but her luck in actually finding the animals didn’t improve much after that first rainy night. Some squat creatures disappeared over a hill when they spotted them, and outside of the occasional birds picking around the beach below, the only other life on the Perytonian coast was a third wagon-team, asleep when the ponies arrived at the fourth stele, gone when they awoke late that morning.

Presently, they made their way down a long and gentle slope. The height of the cliffside road gradually and reluctantly released its tension, declining to where the rocky wall against the sea ceased, ending in a large plain below. Thus, it was well past mid-day on the fifth day when they finally spotted Stagrum. What Rainbow Dash figured had to be Stagrum, that was, because it didn’t look much like Orto at all.

Where Orto was an unbroken, sprawling mess that covered an entire valley, Stagrum was smaller, straddling the many arms of a massive river delta. Even from a distance, Dash could tell that the buildings were larger, taller, and more tightly packed. On the far side of the delta lay a forest with a host of colours ranging from light greens to bright yellows, and all around the plains were small clusters of buildings.

Some were obviously farms, others seemed to be groups of houses, too small to be a village, too many to be a single large farmstead. Few were very far away from Stagrum, and ever since they began their descent, the roads had been in good repair. Every so often, there was a roadside stele, a stone embedded in the ground carrying unintelligible scrawl.

“—and then he just said goodbye, with a bunch of weird words. Probably more of their Aspects,” Dash said. She’d told Fluttershy and Rarity of her conversation with Anhast and the peryton traders right after they woke, days ago, but Fluttershy had wanted to hear it again. “Seriously. The next time I see one of these guys, I’m not giving up until they explain those stones.”

“Do you think they’re all like that?” Fluttershy asked with an odd mixture of hope and worry.

“The peryton? I didn’t say that. Or, uh, I mean, I don’t think so? I don’t know,” Dash said, shrugging. “All I said was that they didn’t seem like the Orto peryton. Ortoians? Ortovillians?”

“Ortosians, I think,” came Rarity’s voice from behind the cart. “Careful, dear.”

“I got it,” Dash said, easing the cart down a slightly steeper part of the slope.

“You did say they didn’t seem as nice,” Fluttershy suggested.

“One of them was a little grumpy, but they just didn’t ask as many questions. They weren’t all ‘hi, how are you, can I taste your mane and buy you dinner?’ like the other peryton, that’s all. Jeez, stop worrying about the peryton and start worrying about how we’re gonna get to the city before it’s dark!”

“Oh,” said Fluttershy, taking her eyes off Dash and looking to the distant city. “It is still far away, isn’t it?” She cast a worried look backwards, too, to where Rarity fell further behind their cart, her walk slowing a little.

“Well, we all have to share the blame for oversleeping,” Rarity said with a sigh. “I woke up when the peryton were leaving, but I thought I could close my eyes for just five... more minutes.” Her voice trailed off into nothing.

Dash smirked and leaned closer to Fluttershy with a conspiratorial whisper. “Yeah, see, the trick is, you just need to plan to get up a little earlier, then you can nap right afterwards instead of sleeping right through nap time. Way better.”

“Um, we were the ones who had to wake you up by splashing you with water today, but sleeping a little longer was nice,” Fluttershy admitted. Her ears were splayed, and Rainbow Dash said nothing exactly because she agreed. She wasn’t half as tired as Rarity, though. The unicorn practically sleepwalked at this point, and the last rays of sunlight revealed no new statues along the road. There would probably be no more statues before Stagrum.

“Maybe we should just stop,” Fluttershy said. “I don’t think Rarity can go on for much longer, and it’s dangerous to walk in the dark.”

“I’m still awake,” Rarity muttered.

“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing,” Rainbow Dash said, breathing out through her nose. She ignored Rarity, pulling them to a stop outside the first of the many houses that dotted the road. This particular house stood alone, one of the few buildings on the slope itself. The dome-shaped house looked similar enough to any of the smaller Ortosian abodes, but it had a proper door, albeit an odd one with no handle or doorknob. It was obviously not a farm, but whoever lived here kept something in the back yard, evidenced by the fence.

“Do you think they’ll let us sleep in there? Maybe they’re not as friendly as the peryton in Orto,” Fluttershy said. “Maybe they’re even more friendly?” She swallowed hard, shrinking back.

“Well, let’s at the very least make ourselves somewhat presentable,” said Rarity. She recovered a smidgen of her usual vim and vigour, but not much more than that. With eyes half-closed and under the light of her magic, she had the Myrtellan scarves out and the ponies decorated inside of a minute. “There we are. Go on, dear.”

“What? You’re the one who’s good at talking,” Dash said. “Why do I have to go?”

“Because if my eyes were any puffier, I could use a mirror to cure myself of the hiccups forever, and any efforts to restore my mane to its rightful state with only a brush are wasted. I am simply not presentable. Go!”

Dash rolled her eyes. “Right. Fine,” she said. She undid the harness, wrapped a wing around Fluttershy’s neck, and made for the door. Fluttershy followed her past the low, mismatched stone fence, but stayed a few steps behind when Dash mounted the stepping stone in front of the door and knocked. Moments later, the sliding door opened in full to reveal the tall shape of a peryton with its head tilted at an angle. The peryton’s antlers glowed, and magic sheathed the handle-less door.

“Hey, I’m Rainbow Dash,” Dash said. “Can we come in?”

The peryton stared for a second, unmoving. Past the doe—Dash guessed it was a she—Rainbow Dash could see a stag with coloured wingtips and another doe seated around a low table set for a meal in a relatively small, cluttered chamber. All attention was on Rainbow Dash, and the pegasus cleared her throat under three sets of staring eyes.

“Like, come in for the night. Please? It’s getting really late and stuff, and we need a place to sleep. Do you have room? Or, uh, maybe you know of somewhere else to sleep and okay this silence is starting to creep me out, we’ll just try the next door maybe?”

The doe who had opened the door shook her head briskly and stepped aside so quickly she nearly lost her footing, hooves and claws scrabbling against the stone floor. “Of course! Yes, enter. Leave your belongings outside, perhaps, but do enter. It would not do to offend when Selyria carries gifts.”

“Or portents,” spoke the stag, receiving a poke in the side from the other, seated doe. All three peryton were otherwise silent, saying nothing more while the ponies nodded their thanks, threw Rarity’s tarp over the cart, and guided the tired unicorn through the messy, busy room. The tall and lanky doe held the door open into an adjoining chamber, and Dash winced as Rarity bumped against the doorframe coming in. The unicorn was asleep the moment she lay down, before Fluttershy could tuck her in.

While Fluttershy took off Rarity’s scarf and made sure Rarity was well covered in blanket, Dash glanced about the room. There wasn’t much to see. Carpets and another door leading to who knew what. At least the window had shutters. It’d keep the wind out. She wasn’t all that tired, though, and Fluttershy made no move to lie down and sleep either. Their hostess lingered by the door.

“Um, thank you very much for letting us sleep here,” Fluttershy whispered, smiling at the peryton.

“Yeah, seriously. Thanks,” Dash added, nodding along. “I’m just gonna pop outside and get some of our food. I could go for a bite. I’ll be right back.”

The doe nodded in return and led them back into the main chamber, sitting down at the table with the other peryton, whispering to the others. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were halfway through the front door when the other doe spoke up.

“Do go on, do not miss an opportunity,” she said in a loud, rusty drawl. “You would have them eat travel fare when we have food on our table?”

The first doe looked down at the table, her face tinted with the slightest of red. Was she younger? She sounded younger. “I, ah, she is right. Would you like to dine with us? Please?”

Thus Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy found themselves seated around a crowded table in a small room that acted as a curious combination of kitchen area, living room and bedroom. A number of odd steel and wood tools hung next to the front door, the beds were collections of blankets and stuffing, and the rest of the room was a mess of … pottery? Dash had initially thought it was kitchenware, but no one, pony or otherwise, could possibly need this many urns, pots, bowls and vases. All of it was elaborate stuff with pictures or patterns on display.

The room smelled of kelp and metal, the former scent owing to the kelp soup on offer, but neither the bowls they offered the ponies nor the ones they used themselves were half as fancy as the stuff stacked and hung around the room.

“Thank you, again,” Fluttershy said, ducking so low she nearly disappeared behind the table when the stag ladled up kelp soup for her.

“She’s Fluttershy, I’m Rainbow Dash,” Dash said, mostly to say something that wasn’t thank you for the kelp soup, since that would be a little dishonest even according to her standards. Still, food was food, and they had eaten all the good stuff from Orto anyway. All that remained were kelp cakes. Always with the kelp.

“Neretar of the House of Two Claws,” said the stag, the smallest of the tree.

“Alaesta,” said the more soft-spoken of the two does.

“And you eat at the table of Phydra, being my name,” finished the sharp-voiced one without looking at them, a doe with a mottled grey coat to Alaesta’s brighter white and brown. She took one final sip of her soup before pushing it to the center of the table. “Tonight, Selyria has given us a gift. Please, tell me, where has your path gone, and what have you added to her stories?”

Dash blinked.

“I, um, I guess you’re asking where we come from?” Fluttershy guessed. She looked askance at Rainbow Dash. “We’re from Equestria. I’m sure we could tell you all about it.”

Dash stared at her soup. She was two sips in and had already decided that even talking to confusing peryton was better than eating kelp soup.

“Listen,” said Dash. “I’ll trade you. If you tell me what these ‘Aspects’ you have here are, and why you have names for stones, I’ll tell you the entire story of my life if you want.”

Phydra laughed. It was a full-bodied laughter that came out a crow-like chattering cackle, and Rainbow Dash thought it would never end. Alaesta flashed a smile and kept eating uninterrupted, while Neretar’s face was blank. If Dash had to guess, he looked bored. When she finally stopped, Phydra grinned broadly.

“I am not blind to what it is like to bumble into the unknown, traveller. I am full of sympathy. Now, I am told you wear the colours of Myrtella around your necks, so it is a small wing’s guess to tell which end of this road you come from. I wonder only what brought you from Orto to my doorstep, or from your doorstep to Orto. Leave out as much as you like. Good stories are made up of the choicest bits, after all. Here in Stagrum, the story of Phostos is told again and again.” She held up a cracked forehoof as if she had known Dash was about to interrupt her and ask what the hay Phostos was.

“I can hear you are creatures strange and from afar. I will try to explain the Aspects as I would to a new-born, if only you will tell me how you came to sail through here on Selyria’s wings. This I promise.”

Phydra’s eyes were glossed over. She was blind, and only now did Dash realise. The reason she never looked at them was because she didn’t have to, or because she couldn’t. Regardless, when Fluttershy began explaining that they were here as diplomats on their way to Cotronna, Phydra listened without interrupting. Had her unseeing eyes not been open, Dash would’ve thought her asleep, which was more than could be said for the other two peryton.

In the short time it took the two ponies to give a brief recount of their travels, Alaesta did fall asleep, the doe struggling to keep her eyes open until finally she excused herself and retreated to the next room. Neretar’s particular brand of silence was different. From the moment the ponies explained that they had been sent by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, right up until they finished with admitting they had overslept and planned today’s journey poorly, the stag remained stone-faced.

“So, I guess tomorrow we’re going to see if anyone in Stagrum were told that we would be coming,” Fluttershy concluded. “Khaird said that someone had told everyone, so maybe we’ll find some help in getting to Cotronna, but we need some more food and water at least. Does that answer your questions?”

Phydra nodded once. The only time she had reacted in any way at all was when Dash mentioned that one of the statues had been damaged. She’d frowned, but said nothing, and Neretar seemed uncomfortable at the mention of a broken shelter statue as well. Now, Phydra sat up straight.

“My turn?” Dash asked.

“I don’t like your story,” Neretar said. Dash rolled her eyes and stared at him through half-lidded eyes. If he didn’t like it, that was his problem. He didn’t look particularly upset, though. If anything, he looked bored still, or like a peryton variant of Rarity when she tried to look bored and uninterested.

“Why?” asked Phydra. “Do you expect travellers from a faraway land to come telling the same stories as us?”

Neretar rose to stand, shaking his head. He barely stood taller than Fluttershy at his full height. “No, of course not, but I will not add this story to my own. It is too outlandish.”

Phydra made a shooing motion with one of her wings. “Go to bed, then, young one.” She sipped from a small bowl of water and said nothing until Neretar had left the room in a huff, leaving Dash and Fluttershy alone with the ageing peryton.

It had taken Rainbow Dash a while to see the signs, but after some time spent up close, she could tell that Phydra was ancient, or at least older than any other peryton they had seen. Her colours were faded, her un-adorned antlers were cracked and chipped, and her muzzle flecked with dull spots. Neretar and Alaesta showed none of these signs, but Alaesta was not only larger than the stag, Neretar’s antlers were simpler and his coat-fur longer, like a young pegasus.

“You will forgive him and Alaesta both, I hope,” said Phydra. “In a short time, you have given me stories and thoughts to think on for long days to come.”

“It’s okay,” Fluttershy said, smiling. She looked a lot more comfortable with just the three of them in the room. “If you don’t mind me asking, are you, um, family?”

Phydra cackled. “No, I should be cursed to have such impudent children! Alaesta is my first apprentice. Neretar is my second, of one of the large houses, a gesture of respect from Two-Claws, but that will mean little to you.”

“Apprentice?” Dash echoed. “Is that like a... helper? Because you’re, well—”

“Sightless? No. Apprentices who are here to learn my craft. Convenience and skill called profession by Stagrum, not family. Alaesta does not have the discipline for this, but she has passion. Neretar, hm… He is far too serious for his own good. He has no laughter in him.” She took another sip of water and stared blindly at the door to the other room, sighing.

“You must forgive. Though your accents and words are strange to me, it is quick to forget you are foreign when I cannot see you. It has been decades since last I spoke to one not of my kind. You have given me what I wanted, and now you may ask your questions.”

Dash breathed a sigh of relief. Finally. “I just wanna know what the ‘Aspects’ really are. Are they the stones with all the weird signs on them? You keep saying all these weird names, like, ‘travelling with Selyria’. What does that mean? And what is your ‘craft’. Do you mean a special talent? No, wait, actually, scratch that, what the hay got that stag’s wings all crossed? Did he say we were a ‘portent’? What does that mean?”

She counted her questions off on her primaries, her tongue sticking out of her mouth as she did. A moment later she felt an icy stab of terror. Was she becoming Twilight? That was a lot of questions, and her only defense was that she didn’t care about these things as much as she was annoyed that it was hard to find someone who would explain it to them. Now she wished they had stayed in Orto a little longer, pinning Khaird down, but she doubted it would’ve made a difference. The consul seemed happy to answer, but reluctant to give clear answers.

At least Fluttershy didn’t seem embarrassed by Dash’s little rant. Rather than hide behind mane or wing, Fluttershy eagerly waited on the peryton, just like Dash did.

“I will answer the last question first,” said Phydra. “I ask again that you forgive Neretar. Insulting a traveller is bad luck, and his claim is… too easy, I think. Anyone can declare bad omens when they spot something out of place. To predict change, to be afeared when something odd happens, or someone new appears, it is the simplest thing one can do. I have lived through stranger things than you, and I say that without having seen you with my eyes.”

The peryton doe clicked her tongue. “No sky-creature descended from the mountains to drink the seas dry when twenty heron descended upon Stagrum to seek those who wished their wares, and had Neretar been born then, he would have declared Stagrum’s end. You are the first to visit since his apprenticeship began who are not peryton. As to the other questions—can you read?” Phydra asked.

“Of course,” Dash said, frowning.

“Actually, um, no,” Fluttershy said, giving Dash an apologetic smile. “Your letters don’t make sense to us. Sorry.”

“Oh,” Dash said, sighing. “Yeah, those. No, they’re not the same letters we use. I don’t know why you don’t use the real alphabet.”

“A pity,” Phydra said, stretching her neck to each side. “Then all I have are my words. My profession, the stories, it all comes together. I used to be a claw-priest. One who told the oldest stories.” She lit her antlers, and even without sight, she sheathed a small nearby urn in her magic, placing it in front of her. She faced the urn as though she could see it. “Were you peryton, I would now tell you the First Stories. I remember them as well as ever, but you do not know their place. To explain the Aspects to those who do not know them—answer me, then, do you believe in gods?”

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy exchanged glances.

“People mean different things when they say that, I think,” Fluttershy said. “I don’t think so?”

“I don’t even know what you’re asking, so probably not?” Dash said with a shrug. She hadn’t really thought about that word a lot.

“Just as well. It is not something most peryton consider, but a claw-priest will brush up against this truth in her training. There used to be gods, but there are no longer any left,” Phydra said. She lowered her voice, taking on a softer, song-like cadence, sounding like a different person entirely. “Once, gods walked the land. However rarely the greatest of them touched upon the fates of peryton kin, their graces were felt forever, and their immeasurable power flared in singular acts of kindness. It was all lost. Godhood faded, lost to time and calamity.

“But the gods left something behind. The gods had taught us. When their disappearance was made plain, we understood that they had showed us there was room in the hearts of kin for something to inspire. Stories of their acts remained, and in place of gods rose the Aspects.

“Where first were few, many more soon followed. From the First Stories woven on ancient memories, our people found more wisdom, treasures and insight. We discovered more Aspects, and we still do. We discover stories nested within stories, and today, forty-nine aspects are they who guide us. The youngest of these, Anhori, was discovered within my lifetime.”

Phydra closed her eyes as though it made a difference, smiling. “The Aspects aid in all things. If one invokes Khylari, Aspect of the forthright speech and lines drawn in the sand, all will know that what is spoken next is only a lie if the speaker is the vilest sort. Myrtella’s stories give hope to the mother who expects young, and if your stories are true, you have witnessed for yourselves that she helps peryton find love.

“We call them stories, because wherever peryton meet, they together negotiate the truth of the Aspects, and they add to them. Only the First Stories are unchanging. They belong to the claw-priests, are entrusted to them—to us to tell, because the words from which all other spring must be exact. But when you travelled to my doorstep tonight, yours was a story that added to Selyria’s own. When tomorrow you venture into Stagrum, your barter will join the songs sung and stories told of Phostos, aspect of fair trades and promises given. My job as a claw-priest was to tell the First Stories that all must remember, and in time, my apprentices will carry those stories on. Now, as a story-teller, I am as all the rest. I gather stories and I etch them into stone and clay. I make new stories from what I hear and experience, and so do all peryton. So do you, with your lives.”

“But who is Phostos?” Dash asked, frowning deeply. “How did you ‘find’ these Aspects?”

“Come,” said Phydra. With visible effort, she rose to stand and made for the front door. Though her steps were slow and pained, she made her way around the furniture and pottery more gracefully than the ponies did. Clearly she was used to this route, and her life was not confined to a single room. Once outside, Phydra turned and walked the three around to the back of the house without a step missed.

Rather than a vegetable patch, Phydra nurtured a stone garden behind her house. A small, flat area contained a number of stele as tall as she was. Most were filled with unintelligible peryton letters or simple symbols and pictures, and some were bare. By a simple bench next to a back door were a variety of tools, and a few bowls that smelled strongly of metal.

Phydra kept walking until she stood by a stele at the edge of the back yard. Far beyond and below, Stagrum glittered with innumerable pinpricks of white lights. The moon shone clear through a hole in clouds blowing in from the sea, but the stars hid. The wind picked up and rustled Dash’s feathers.

“To you, they may not ‘exist’, and many peryton will struggle not to feel insulted by that. You, the brash, loud one, you sound like you seek a truth I cannot give you. What is truth? Our truth is that everything is a story, one way or another.” Phydra reached out to lay a hoof on the nearest stone, tracing the writing with a hoof. “The Aspects themselves cannot be touched, but the stone upon which their stories are etched can. In the same way, though you will never meet Selyria, she can aid and guide. All peryton know this in their hearts.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. She glanced over at Fluttershy, who looked back at her. At length, she spread her wings and settled them on her back again. “So they’re not actual people.”

Phydra gave a warbling laugh, a mess of sounds Dash thought she would never get used to. “If I say yes, you will think I lie because you do not understand. If I say no, then I lie to my own ears. They are real, but this is the limit of what I can explain. If it helps order it in your mind, think of them as peryton who never lived, or as people who live far away about whom we learn new things every day, but it is not a perfect understanding. I know only to make that comparison because I have had this conversation with a particularly stubborn traveller decades ago, and I do not think even she understood.”

The doe turned her head to look towards the moon, staring in silence for a few seconds.

“Tell me,” she added. “Is the moon clouded?”

“There are a few clouds, yes,” said Fluttershy, tilting her head. “The moon is clear right now. Why do you ask?”

“For no reason other than that she loved the moon,” said Phydra, motioning to the house. “Come. Let us go inside. I am an old doe and need my sleep.”

Chapter 6

Siban has arrived, and she has agreed as a favor to me that when she leaves, she will take with her a letter to where the ponies come from, and return with word as soon as she can. She claims she has a friend there, and that she can handle translation if Siban does not trust herself to remember the words exact. “A zebra always has a friend,” were her words, and I am glad she counts me among them.

Now the challenge is mine to create a letter for this city of many names that will not offend. I must not be Khaird of the Swaying Stalks, but Khaird, citizen of Orto, all without resorting to duplicity.

I must write in an unofficial capacity and ask the council of their city, currently named “Ponyville”, why they are reluctant to speak with Orto. Mine is not the anger of the wounded, but my every breath speaks stories of Chorossa as I try to discover why.

-The Journal of Consul Khaird of the Swaying Stalks, Visitor Liaison

“I don’t think it’s hard to grasp at all,” Rarity said. “I know that Ruby Light’s books about Coral Crown the Unicorn have helped me through many a difficult time in my life.”

“Sure.” Dash shrugged and paused for a step to push the harness back on her body a tad. “They just talk about the Aspects like they’re so much more than that.”

“Well, Phydra sounded like she wanted to say that they were more than that,” Fluttershy said. “Or, they were something like that, but they mean a lot more to them than storybook characters do to us.”

“Spoken like someone who hasn’t read any of Ruby Light’s novels,” Rarity said with an arch look. Fluttershy lay her ears flat and ducked her head.

“You’re right. I still have the first book in my shelf, and I don’t think I’ll ever get around to it. I’ll give it back to you when we get home, I’m sorry. I just think Rainbow Dash has a point, that’s all. If they all know of these Aspects, it’s not the same as any book.”

Rarity nodded. “Coral Crown and I accept your apology. And, well, I suppose it isn’t a perfect match, no. Phydra said that they discovered these Aspects? Who makes these ‘stories’, anyway? Are they the ones written on the stones?”

“She said that they all make the stories,” Fluttershy replied. “And I don’t know where they really are. I think she had some of the stories written on the pottery.”

“Huh. Well, that’s strange,” said Rarity. “I do wish Twilight was here to give us her perspective. Applejack and Pinkie Pie too, really. Perhaps this requires some… lateral thinking.”

“What’s there to explain?” Dash asked, but she agreed anyway. At this point, she’d take anything, even if it was just Applejack siding with her, dispensing some nugget of wisdom about how this didn’t even matter in the grand scheme of things.

“I don’t know, dear,” said Rarity. “But I appreciate you bringing me up to speed, as it were. I feel a little better today. I even managed to write in my journal before you woke up.”

“Hey, no problem,” said Dash. She shrugged, more than happy to leave the topic behind. Phydra had said some words on the Aspects, and it didn’t make sense to Dash. Now she could move on—and move they did. In the morning hours, they passed by a great many clusters of buildings. The road branched out, snaking its way across the plains to a few farms and other groups of bowl-shaped buildings too few in number to be called a village.

Whether they walked through a half-dozen houses by the roadside or spotted a farm down a side path, here they found the life that had been missing for all these days of desolate travel. Peryton wandered about, watering, hammering or planting at a sedate pace, and in other places, they tended to smaller gardens and chatted by their doorways, glancing at the ponies as they passed, but rarely doing much more than that.

“There’re an awful lot of farms that don’t seem to be growing anything,” said Rarity when they drew near the river delta. She pointed ahead with a flick of her head, and Dash saw her point. The closer they got to the river, the more farms were just a bunch of open space with dark soil. Unless they grew invisible apple trees, they didn’t do anything.

“Oh, they’re probably grain farms. There are a lot of them in Orto too, but they’ve done their first harvest, and they have other crops right now,” said Fluttershy. “If they grow anything at all. They plant all their remaining grains later in summer.”

Dash tilted her head. “Uh, if you’re talking about those two stags you talked to at farmer’s market, they didn’t say later in summer, they said second summer. I thought they meant next year or something.”

“Maybe? I don’t think they have two summers,” Fluttershy replied, smiling at that, though she looked about as unsure as Dash herself felt. “I just thought they meant later in the summer because they say a lot of other things differently, like how they sometimes call a day a ‘sun’.”

“Applejack would know what to make of this, I imagine,” said Rarity, her head turning to watch a pair of peryton by a nearby farmhouse talking and gesturing to an empty field. “At any rate, I simply wondered. We know they have some form of grains here. I saw bread at the festival. I’m just hoping they aren’t quite as enamoured with kelp here too.” The four-letter word came out with a grimace that made Dash snicker.

Beyond the barren fields, Stagrum grew taller than any stalk of wheat ever would. The city spread out over all of the river’s branches that Dash could see from ground level, and now they approached the first of the little riverlets. Past a bridge just down the road, multi-storied buildings crowded together, large and broad. Rather than the uniform grey-white stone of Orto, stone and wood together shaped the boxy buildings of the city proper.

“It almost looks like a normal city,” said Dash with an appreciative snort. “Except their towers look weird.”

“I believe those would be called cupolas,” said Rarity, training her eyes on the weird little structures that topped most the buildings.

Almost normal. The entire place looked a lot more chaotic to Dash’s eyes than Orto had, and not just for its lack of open space. Even before they got to the bridge, the din of a busy city met them halfway. Out on the water floated dozens of boats of varying shapes and sizes, all keeping close to docks that hid behind the city as they drew closer. The sea glittered with reflected sunlight, like someone had sprinkled gems in the water.

What the city lacked was a welcoming committee. Dash didn’t realise she’d been expecting one until they stepped onto the wooden bridge. No one came to meet them, and the hesitant looks on her friends’ faces betrayed that maybe they had hoped for the same. No longer were they approaching Stagrum, they were in it. The three ponies stood at a crossroads, and a stone’s throw further into the city, the structures were taller than the streets were wide.

Narrow streets and a wall of sound against the ponies. Hundreds of peryton walked to and fro with purpose wearing metal and gems in leg-guards, bracelets and wreaths around their necks, but nothing half as shiny as what adorned their antlers. Dash imagined that if she hovered right off the ground, she would see a forest of precious metals. Fluttershy had gone very, very quiet.

On every street corner stood peryton engaged in discussion. A cacophony of strange screeches, caws and indescribable noises mingled with innumerable hoof- and claw-steps. Never before had the creatures seemed as foreign to Dash as they did just then. She felt Fluttershy touch a wingtip to her side for support, and even Rarity drew closer, the urbanite fashionista as dead quiet as the pegasi. The peryton who passed the street in front of them looked at them, but not a single one stopped or gave comment. Three steps ahead, off the bridge and onto the street, a fast-flowing river of peryton mirrored the waters below.

“Okay,” Dash breathed more than said. “So. Plan?”

“I don’t know that we have one,” Rarity admitted. She stared straight ahead, eyes on nothing at all. Though she was a little taller, Dash didn’t imagine she could see much more than herself. From the foot of the bridge, the bodies of the closest peryton and the nearby buildings blocked out all else.

“If I am going to be honest, I had hoped to be on a train or a boat or some such, heading for the capital in style by now,” Rarity continued. “I… What is our plan?” She looked at Rainbow Dash, but if Dash had any clue, she wouldn’t have asked her friends ten seconds ago. She could barely think. There was too much going on ahead. Too many sounds, too much movement. It was time to go, but she had forgotten her entire flight routine. What had Rarity said, again?

“I suppose we should go find out who knows we’re coming,” came Fluttershy’s voice, soft but singular in the din. She took a steadying breath. “Khaird said that word had been sent, so maybe the mayor knows about us? Maybe they can tell us what to expect if we’re going to follow the road, and if there’s anything we should know. We’ll need food and water for later, but first, we should probably make sure we have someplace to sleep tonight. Let’s begin with that.”

Rarity gave Fluttershy a look, as if she was checking to make sure it was indeed Fluttershy who had spoken. For her part, Rainbow Dash grinned. She loved when this happened. When the world pushed, sometimes Fluttershy pushed back, even if it didn’t involve dragons, and Dash thought it might just be the coolest thing ever.

Next to Rainbow Dash stood Fluttershy, still every bit as nervous as Dash expected her to be. Her ears were pinned to her head, one wing awkwardly tried to both pin itself to her side and reach out to touch Rainbow Dash, but fear hadn’t stopped her. Suddenly Rainbow Dash didn’t know why she herself had stopped moving. The tight press of people and the narrow, flightless streets ahead didn’t exactly appeal to her, but she could deal with it. Easy.

“That sounds like a good idea. When we have a moment, let’s see if hiring a boat is a possibility as well,” Rarity said. She sounded breezy, her eyes narrowed as she scanned the crowd. “I am loath to disappoint Khaird, but we will want to know what our options are.”

“And?” Dash took a step forward, then another. After a muttered protest from someone who nearly walked into her, they joined the stream of peryton heading deeper into the city. The three ponies walked side by side, shoulder to shoulder in formation barely wider than their cart.

“And what?” asked Rarity.

“You looked like you were about to say something else, like you really don’t like what you see,” Dash said, pinning the unicorn with a frown. Rarity shouldn’t be put off by a crowd.

“Yes, that,” said Rarity with a huff. “I just happen to notice that these peryton don’t even wear the scarves that they wore in Orto. Far be it from me to expect a pony from Clopenhagen to wear the same fashion as a Canterlotian, but…” she shook her head. “No, I don’t quite know. Perhaps this is good, and they’ll be more receptive to my dresses.”

“Maybe we should ask them?” Fluttershy suggested, her head tilted up to look at the buildings surrounding them.

“Ask whom, and about what?” Rarity asked.

“Some of the peryton,” said Fluttershy. “We could ask what they do for fashion, but it’s not hard to guess. Their jewellery is very nice.”

“Mm, I do adore their jewellery as well, don’t get me wrong,” Rarity said, chewing on her cheek as she thought. “I’m not a jewelsmith, however, and trying to create something they already wear is not the point. What I really need is a venue to showcase—well, I have nothing to offer them just yet, that is the issue. Oh, but I am rambling. Don’t worry about it, dear. Let’s just see if we can find… anything, really.”

Dash was equally eager to do just that. Find anything. They walked down a narrow street without purpose, and when a large peryton wagon came down the opposite direction, they had to step onto the sidewalk to let it pass.

Half the time, peryton moved past them, and Dash felt like she was walking too slow. The other half, some bejeweled peryton ahead slowed them down. However many peryton milled about to and fro, even more of them stood still. They talked, levitated all kinds of stuff or gestured to boxes and stacks of items.

Were they bartering? They must’ve hit a shopping street of some kind, but down every by-street they passed, Rainbow Dash saw more of the same. Strange signs that no doubt advertised services and plaques set in walls, all in strange peryton letters. Where doors were open, Dash got a peek at a parchment shop and two jewelers’ shops. When they hit the next crossroads, three more directions of streets, signs and peryton opened up to them. Rarity stopped on the spot, and Fluttershy bumped into her with a muttered apology lost in the buzz of the crowds.

“This is entirely pointless,” Rarity declared. She craned her neck as if she could look over the crowd.

“I can try to fly up,” Dash said. Clotheslines with carpets and drapes hung to dry and the occasional banner stretching across the street would make it awkward going, but the bigger problem was that she didn’t even know what to look for.

“No,” said Rarity. She whirled around on the spot and grabbed her saddlebags from the cart, grabbing a small mirror and a comb which she drug through her mane with a scowl.

“Seriously?” Dash asked. “What—”

“A moment, dear,” Rarity said, tilting her head left, then right, letting go of her brush and lowering her voice to a murmur. “Well, it’s about as good as it’s going to get before I have a proper bath. One has to believe that beauty is universal—excuse me! Hello, there!”

Rarity hailed one of the passing peryton, her frown disappearing so fast it quite frankly scared Dash. When the first peryton passed her by without a backwards look, the unicorn didn’t drop a beat. She simply waved and locked eyes with the next one.

“Excuse me, you, the handsome or beautiful one, do you have a moment?” Rarity batted her eyelashes. This one stopped with a bemused grin.

“Yes? I have a moment, but little more,” said the stag, tilting his head sideways, his many metal necklaces clinking against each other.

“Marvellous, thank you,” said Rarity, smiling at him. “You see, we are new to your lovely little city, and we are quite lost. I don’t suppose you have some sort of visitor information point here in Stagrum?”

“I don’t think that we do, no,” the stag replied, blank-faced. “Visitors are not common. I have never seen your kind before. Are you zebra?”

“No, dear. We’re ponies, from Equestria,” Rarity said, fluffing her mane. “We just need some directions, that is all. I’m sure you can help us.”

The peryton raised a brow at that and nodded once. “If it will get you moving, it may be considered a public service, so yes, I will help for an even trade.” When Dash followed his eyes, she saw that stopping in the middle of the street had interrupted the flow of people. Fluttershy apologised again and again to the peryton who squeezed by with sour looks.

“For an even trade? What does that mean?” Dash asked. “Wait, you want us to pay you to tell us where to go?” She felt her snout crinkling at the thought.

The stag shook his head. “Of course not, but a trade nevertheless. Currency for directions is not an even trade. I will help you find what you need, in exchange for your names and a gift of words on your home city.”

Rarity let out a sigh of relief and flashed a tired smile. “Wonderful. I am Rarity. Now, where does one go to find a bed and a proper warm bath?”

The Autumn Hymn had exactly one room not taken by traders from other cities. Their room was cramped in comparison to their Ortosian accommodations, but a two-peryton room fit three ponies with space to spare, and the “resting house” had a precious slot for their cart. A few minutes after their hijacked guide had shown them to the only “inn” he knew of, they had all their personal belongings squared away in the third and topmost floor. Theirs were two beds, a vanity with a mirror, and some form of misplaced chair or sofa in the corner that was too big to be the former and too small to be the latter.

Fluttershy sat down next to one of the beds as heavily as if she’d been running all day long, wings sagging and ears drooping. It was easy to guess why. Dash closed the shutters to the windows of their corner room, muting the constant hum of the streets below.

“And again, just a single washbasin—and look at the handles on the drawers on this cupboard, hmf,” Rarity said, frowning at the furniture as she leaned in closer to the mirror. “Any hotel without proper accommodation for those without magic would get a scathing review in Equestria.”

“Literally every single one of them has magic,” Dash said. “Of course they’re not gonna think about ponies. Isn’t it the same as how their portions are all too big? Gilda always complained about our portions being too small. I… uh, I guess Pinkie does, too, but I don’t know if she counts.” Rainbow Dash frowned at the shutters. Now that she had pushed them closed, she had no idea how she’d get them open. It was just like the sliding door to their room. If she wanted to leave without Rarity, she’d be a while.

“The stag who showed us here clearly knew what a zebra was, and zebra don’t have unicorn magic—though I suppose if he didn’t know that I wasn’t a zebra, they can’t get a great deal of zebra visitors here. I don’t really know what to think any more, but I certainly feel for you,” Rarity replied. She levitated some of the contents of her saddlebags onto one of the beds before she slipped the lighter saddlebags back on. “Let’s head downstairs and ask where the baths are, shall we?”

Dash nodded and tapped Fluttershy’s back with a wing, rousing the other pegasus. She grabbed her own partially-unpacked saddlebags and the two of them followed Rarity down hallways that were cramped by peryton standards. Cramped, and richly adorned.

Small shelves displayed elaborate wooden carvings and metal statues, some of peryton or other creatures, some simple slabs with inscriptions. There were no pictures or paintings hung upon the walls, but as they had seen coming in, someone had painted directly on the wooden walls in places, making their descent to the entrance room very colourful. A snake-like creature had its head on the top floor, and the tail at the very bottom. Dash traced its body all the way down with a wing.

“The room is to your liking?” asked the peryton doe in the front room, perking up at their arrival. She wore silver bands in her ears and around some of her antler-tips, and as neat as Dash thought that looked, the grey-white doe’s simple appearance stood at odds with the chaos of a single room that apparently acted both as storefront and a small bar? Eatery? Dash couldn’t tell for sure, but the smell of something tasty wafted in from a back room. What little space wasn’t covered in small statues and sculptures for sale was dominated by a wooden bar desk stained with a variety of spills.

“Oh, it’s quite lovely, yes,” Rarity said. “And the decor is very, ah, vivid. Do you have baths here?”

“I am sorry, but there is a bath-house across the street. If you can afford it, it is to be recommended, but they are open in the evenings only.” The doe inclined her head. “If that does not serve, there are other bath-houses away from the central flakes.”

Rarity nodded. “I suppose that will have to do. A nice bath later, and then straight to bed, thank you. How much do we owe you for the night?”

“Eight bronze slivers,” said the doe. “If you feel that is cheap, it is because food is not included, and if it sounds much, then yes, I ask more during these last weeks of first-summer trade. Hopefully you find this acceptable.”

“Right,” said Dash. She nudged open her saddlebags and rooted around until she found the small bag she’d grabbed from their cart. She tossed it onto the counter with a clink and a clatter. “We don’t have any bronze bits, but we got some gems if you want’em.”

The peryton didn’t seem put off by this, barely reacting at all until she’d opened the bag and peered inside. Her eyes widened and she drew back. “Ah, no. No I cannot.”

“Oh dear. Is it not enough? We can go get more from our cart, it’s no trouble,” Fluttershy said.

“Khaird said that we were right, didn’t he?” Dash asked. “That they would take gems?”

“He did,” Rarity agreed, turning to the doe. “Perhaps you can tell us where we can get some of these bronze items?”

“It is too much,” the doe said, shaking her head firmly. She leaned forward to peer inside the bag again, opening the bag so cautiously she looked like she expected a wild animal to leap forth. “I—no, any one of these gems will be far more than what I can offer. Perhaps… perhaps this one, if you will stay a week?” Her antlers glowed as she levitated out a small, imperfect purple gem. “An amethyst. Translucent.”

“They’re just gems,” Dash said, shrugging. “Is there a difference? Just take a bunch. We don’t care.”

Again the doe shook her head. “I can not. It is not an even trade. I will take this one, here, but the room will be yours for a full week of eight days, and you will let me know what you wish to eat. I will make it.”

“Your weeks are eight days?” Dash asked. “Okay, that’s not what a ‘week’ means, but whatever, seriously, we have a huge bag of these, it’s like… Rarity’s leftovers after making a dress or whatever—”

“Maybe we could just say yes?” Fluttershy suggested.

“Excuse me,” said Rarity, glaring half-heartedly at Rainbow Dash. “I spent hours finding these. Spike and I did, at any rate, but regardless, I agree. If we can give a gift that means little to us, but much to someone else, I don’t quite see the problem.” She widened the bag a little more, levitating out a large and brilliant ruby as well as a huge green emerald.

“Yeah, just take’em,” said Dash, but the doe said no more. Her eyes were on the counter in front of her, her face blank and her jaw rigid as she avoided looking at the gems that hovered in front of her.

Fluttershy cleared her throat. “Um, Rainbow Dash? Rarity? I think we’re being a little rude. Phydra mentioned the peryton in Stagrum liking fair trades a lot, and she obviously doesn’t think this is fair. We should probably respect that.”

Rarity frowned, letting the gems fall back into the bag. “The stag who so kindly showed us here did mention ‘even trade’ as well. I guess that’s significant, then.”

“Right, the whole thing with ‘Phostos’?” Dash asked. “Is it like the deal with Myrtella? How am I supposed to keep track of all these Aspects?” She stifled a groan, looking up at the silent doe behind the counter. “And how are we gonna get anything done if we keep jamming our hooves in our mouths all the time?” She lay her ears flat and grimaced. “Listen, we’re sorry if—”

The doe closed the gem pouch and hovered it in front of Dash, cutting her off with actions before words. She kept the small purple gem on the counter.

“I will keep this, and in trade, a room for a week, such food as you may wish, and finally, an apology.”

Rarity cocked a brow. “An apology for what, dear? We’re the ones who are sorry. If we’ve caused offence by trying to give you a gift you don’t want, well, that’s our mistake. Fluttershy is quite right.”

The peryton shook her head. “No. The fault is mine. I did not think that there were those who had not heard Phostos’ stories, but then, those I let guest are kin.” She held up the gem and looked askance at the three ponies. Dash shrugged and waved a hoof, and the gemstone disappeared into a drawer behind the bar. The doe nodded at Fluttershy.

“This one is correct. To take a trade that is not even, is cruel. No story can be told of Phostos that does not acknowledge this, and so I will offer you one more thing to balance this trade. Wait here a moment.”

With those words and nary a backwards glance, the peryton disappeared through the back door, leaving three very confused ponies. At least Rainbow Dash imagined that Rarity and Fluttershy were, as well. It didn’t matter. Dash was plenty confused for all three of them.

“I still don’t see the problem,” Rarity said with a sigh. “If these gems are so precious to them, it costs us nothing to give her a few extra. We lose nothing, and, if gems are in such short supply here, she could expand this little inn of hers after a simple act of generosity.”

“That might be right,” said Fluttershy. “But maybe they think that getting something you don’t deserve or need is almost like getting something you don’t want. Maybe getting something you shouldn’t have makes it something you don’t want.”

Rainbow Dash looked over at Fluttershy. The other pegasus’s eyes were on a spot on the wooden floor. Dash shrugged.

“If that’s how they want to do things, then whatever, I guess? That’s their call. Hey, if gems mean so much to them, maybe we can buy that boat.” She grinned, but before anyone could reply, the back door opened again, admitting two peryton.

The doe who owned the place led another, smaller peryton out. The younger doe stood no taller than Rainbow Dash, and wore only a few simple silver caps on her antler-tips, and a single bangle around her foreleg. Her coat was a white-speckled light brown like that of she who Dash presumed was her mother, and her tail-feathers ended in bright white tips.

“You will stay here, and you have not seen Stagrum before?” asked the adult doe.

“I… yes, that is correct,” said Rarity.

“And you will leave to walk the streets now?” she continued.

“We have some errands, yes,” said Rarity, blinking. When Rarity looked to Dash for answers, Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Then,” said the older doe, turning to the smaller one who had said nothing so far. “These three are unfamiliar with our city. You will help them go where they wish to go, and answer their questions as best you can if there are things they do not know.”

“Yes, mama,” said the smaller doe.

“And you will leave them alone if they ask you to.”

“Yes, mama.”

“And you will leave them alone when they ask you to.”

“Yes, mama.”

“Good,” said the older doe, stepping aside. “Now, say hello and introduce yourself, Mirossa.”

“Hello and introduce yourself, Mirossa,” said Mirossa.

“Why is that your name?” asked Mirossa.

“Because it’s what my parents named me, like with everypony else,” Fluttershy replied, smiling at her. “I guess I could have changed it if I didn’t like it, but I don’t know anypony who ever has.”

“I know a couple who should,” Rainbow Dash snarked.

“And what of yours?” Mirossa tilted her head backwards with uncanny flexibility, looking at Rainbow Dash upside-down while leading from the front.

“Same, duh. What, did you pick your own name?” Dash asked.

“No, but Rainbow Dash is a strange name. They are words.”

“And, Mirossa isn’t a word?” Dash replied, cocking a brow.

“Mirossa is a name. ‘Rainbow’ and ‘Dash’ are words,” Mirossa said, her voice rising in pitch just a tad. Rainbow Dash grinned.

“Yeah? Words that are a name. My name. I’m Rainbow Dash. Hi.” She tried to keep from laughing, but it wasn’t easy when the young doe did nothing to hide her annoyance. This was too easy.

“So!” said Rarity, cutting into the discussion. “I can’t help but notice we’re moving, but we haven’t told you where we wanted to go.”

True enough, Mirossa had wasted no time once they had left The Autumn Hymn, leading them down the crowded street in the baking mid-day heat. Following, Dash felt like she glided in the slipstream of a dragon a thousand times her size, and it was impossible to tell if the doe was good at picking her way through a crowd, or if there were less peryton about. Just like before, all Dash saw were flanks and peryton necks.

“Yes, because you didn’t tell me where you wanted to go,” said Mirossa. “We’re going to market.”

“Uh, newsflash, kid: Your entire city is a market,” Dash said. It sure felt like it. From the moment they crossed the bridge into the city proper, and ever since they left the inn again, every single step they had taken had felt like wading through market day in Ponyville—except with the size and energy of a city easily the size of Canterlot.

“No it’s not. Market is market.”

“Then what do you call all this?” Dash asked, gesturing to the peryton lining the street, talking, trading, gesturing and moving wares about.

“Stagrum?” Mirossa said, rolling her eyes.

“Regardless, while it is very kind of you, we’re not really heading to market,” Rarity said.

“Yes we are, it’s right up ahead,” the little doe said.

“I think what she means is, we don’t need to go to the market,” Fluttershy said.

“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash. “We got a place to stay, so you guys wanna go see if we can find the mayor?” she asked.

Rarity nodded. “We may as well get it out of the way, I think. It is the middle of the day, after all.”

Mirossa tilted her head sideways. “Find what? You can find anything at the market. I am sure you can find two of those there, at least.”

“The mayor, dear,” said Rarity. “Whoever’s in charge of administering the local affairs of this particular city.”

“Like Mayor Mare,” Dash added, nodding. “Wait. Hang on,” she said, glancing over at Fluttershy. “Okay, she definitely changed her name. Do you think she was born with that name?”

With a sharp turn and no warning at all, Mirossa turned left in between two groups of peryton, leading the ponies towards the narrow sidewalk at the side of the street. They found a free spot near what Dash assumed was some sort of candy store. Or a café. Hard to tell, really. The young doe looked at Rarity with unconcealed confusion.

“I don’t understand you. I have never heard of such a person. Administering what?” Mirossa said. “Who are you looking for?”

Rarity poked her cheek with her tongue. “I understand you don’t have a relations manager, but surely someone here must be in charge of receiving visitors? We don’t really have a tourism board in Ponyville, so visitors usually talk to our Mayor if they need help. Do you not have someone like that?”

“Visitors?” Mirossa repeated, frowning. “Those who come here are here for a reason. If you visit, you are here to visit someone, and if you need help, mama has already promised food and bed.” She shrugged. “Maybe you ask for the Heads of the Houses? Ortosians, Vauhornites and Cotronnans here will see them to arrange deals to trade for kelp, bronze, wood or whatever else. You must know this.”

“We don’t know, actually,” Fluttershy said. “We don’t really have anything to trade. Is there any, um, ‘house’ that deals with visitors from other lands, maybe?”

Mirossa’s face was an exquisitely blank canvas.

“Who’s in charge?” Dash asked. “Who calls the shots?”

“Or rather, if someone sent a message—a raven, I understand it would be—and told your city that there would be visitors from afar,” Rarity said. “Who would receive such a message? Or, who would read it?”

The doe squinted at nothing at all for a split-second, then jumped back into the stream of peryton. All Dash and her friends could do was follow, and it took them a second of frantic trotting before they found their place in Mirossa’s wake again. Now she led them down smaller roads and the occasional street so narrow it couldn’t be called by any other name than an alley.

“Dockmistress,” said Mirossa when the ponies followed close enough to hear. “She is no trader, and she is not a Head of House, but she is probably the most important person who is not. She is also raven mistress of Stagrum.”

“Wonderful,” said Rarity, smiling. “I assume that means she will be expecting us, perhaps?”

Mirossa let out a high-pitched trill of laughter. “Chorossa! How would I know? Come!”

“What does that mean, anyway? ‘Dockmistress’?” Dash asked, but she only half paid attention. Finally their trek through the middle of the city came to an end. With every crowded bridge they passed, the press of peryton lessened until it came close to what she’d call ‘calm’. The street ended, both sea and sky opening up to them as they entered the Stagrum docks.

It was huge. Stone and wood mixed along the entire length of the shore-facing city, the docks spreading across the mouth of the delta to cover the lips of four large islands barely distinct in the sprawling mess of sails and piers.

Along the largest of the piers rested multi-masted ships with great curved hulls, unlike any picture of Equestrian ships Dash had ever seen. The smaller, lower piers bustled with activity around small two-hulled sailboats coming and going. Most of them unloaded masses of green and yellow goop from nets. The peryton passing them by didn’t wear nearly as fancy jewellery as the inner city peryton. Dash saw a lot of sturdy rings and torques.

“Rainbow Dash does that at times,” Fluttershy said. “She doesn’t mean anything by it.”

“Who?” Dash asked. Fluttershy smiled at her and shook her head.

“You,” said Rarity. “Asking questions and not listening to the answers.”

“Oh. Yeah, the Dockmistress thing,” Dash said. “Sorry.”

Mirossa shook her head. “I only said that the Dockmistress is paid to ensure that the docks run efficiently, but mama says that when the fleet is out, she often takes time to settle disputes between Houses, and that makes her important. She also receives all ravens. If there is one person who has read every scroll, it is her. All the ravens roost with her, and all word of their scrolls begins at her place.”

“We really just wanted to ask about the roads, and maybe introduce ourselves, so I’m sure this will be fine,” Fluttershy said, smiling at the doe. “If there’s someone else we should talk to before we leave, maybe she knows.”

“And hey, if anyone knows if there’s a boat for sale, it’s gotta be her,” Dash added.

“A ship sale? Maybe,” Mirossa said. “Or maybe that would be the Head of the House of Unbroken Wood. I do not know if they sell to those who are not a house. I have no thoughts on it. I do not spend a lot of time at the docks. I hear the scrolls as told by the criers—but this is it, here,” she said, gesturing to a large, sky-blue building smack dab in the middle of the waterfront.

The wooden structure ran all the way from the water to the join with the nearest city block, spanning the distance at a full four stories high. The top floor didn’t have walls, the roof jutting out far over the docks and streets to provide shade for an open section echoing with the chatter of ravens. Similarly, the ground floor missed an entire section, letting traffic pass underneath it. The greater part of the lower half of the building comprised of platforms for carts to load or off-load into what was clearly a warehouse of some sort.

“And this is all her office?” Dash asked. She let out a low whistle, following Mirossa towards a double set of doors set far apart from all the cargo work at the other end of the building.

“That is what the sign says,” said Mirossa, shrugging and gesturing to an unintelligible gilded sign above the open doors as though it explained everything, leading the ponies inside.

The large room contained a different energy from the hustle and bustle of the docks. Just as they entered, a few peryton left, offering them only the briefest of glances in passing. The other peryton didn’t even look up when the ponies stepped inside, most of them stood in twos and threes busily writing with quill and ink on reams of paper by the far wall—a wall entirely covered in a mess of scrolls of different sizes and abused by a chaos of nails and tacks that hadn’t been cleaned up in a long time.

“Are we certain this is the right place?” whispered Rarity, barely louder than the scratch of quills from the other side of the room. “I don’t know what function this room serves, but I don’t see any offices, meeting chambers or reception rooms.”

“It is where the scrolls go,” said Mirossa said, giving Rarity an odd look. “Word flies in, scrolls go on the wall, and the criers collect the stories and the questions to spread them.” Even as she spoke, a stag exited one of the room’s many side doors, carrying a scroll over to the wall and spearing it on a free nail. “This is the Dockmistress’s work. If she is not here, I don’t know where, but I have never met her.”

Rarity pursed her lips and nodded. When Mirossa made no further move, leaning against the wall by the door, Rarity cleared her throat, tugged at her mane with a touch of magic, and made for the stag, intercepting his exit from the room.

“Excuse me, do you have a moment? We’re here to see the Dockmistress, and I think she may be expecting us.”

She was probably the largest peryton they had seen so far. It was also—probably—the smallest room in all of Perytonia, though Dash had to admit that the first fact may have led to her concluding with the second. The Dockmistress’s coat was an even, dark grey, the only other colours on her body a white splash on her muzzle and belly. Consequently, the entire back wall of the room was dark grey with her presence. The huge raven didn’t help matters, its jet black feathers drinking the light of the lantern dangling from the ceiling.

Privately, Rainbow Dash suspected this doe did not spend a lot of time in her “office”, which really seemed more like a supply closet. She also noted that the doe—who had been scowling before the raven-tender even flagged her down and introduced the ponies—scowled a little less after the raven took an interest in Fluttershy. Presently, Fluttershy sat in one corner of the room exchanging quiet noises with the raven, a bird almost as big as she herself.

“Alright. You have cornered me,” said the doe, and Dash very much felt the opposite was true. “I am Dockmistress Ouressia. You say you are diplomats, and that is not a common word. What will you add to Phostos’ song today?”

“Well, first of all, we thought we would introduce ourselves,” Rarity said, smiling. “My name is Rarity, and this is Rainbow Dash, and the pony… charming your pet in the corner there is Fluttershy—Fluttershy, dear?”

Fluttershy nuzzled the raven’s beak and whispered. The raven responded with a wark, making Fluttershy giggle.

“Ahem, yes, well,” Rarity continued. “We have travelled all the way from Equestria to extend a hoof in friendship, as it were. I understand you received word that we would be travelling through here?”

Ouressia frowned for a second, returning the tiniest nod possible. “I remember receiving word from Cotronna and Ephydoera both. Ponies and Equestria, Equestrians in our lands, these are words I remember, so I have heard it. Friendship is good, and I believe Cotilla and other independent traders have mentioned the opulence of such a place. Equestria.”

“Opulence?” Dash asked, her snout frumpled. She looked to Rarity for an explanation, but the large peryton went on, tapping a hoof on the wooden floorboards as she spoke.

“For Stagrum to trade with a city not of Perytonia, but all this complexity of diplomacy—yes. I can rouse the Houses who may be interested in trade and call a meeting to everyone’s benefit.” Her lips curved up in the closest approximation of a smile she’d shown yet. “It is strange and new, and no such accords have been struck during my office, but it may work. We will add to Phostos’s story with honest trade. What terms do you offer, and what does your city stand to give?”

Now Rarity stared back at Rainbow Dash, blinking with her mouth hanging half-open.

“Terms?” Dash asked, tilting her head. “Whoa, hold on a minute, we don’t know anything about that.” She glanced over at Fluttershy for support, the other pegasus meeting her eyes for a brief, confused moment. The raven stared as well.

“We’re here to invite Perytonia to a meeting,” Dash added. “The Princesses can probably fix all the ‘trade’ or whatever, we don’t know anything about that. I know less than nothing—I don’t even pay Pinkie Pie for muffins, I get them for free!”

The great doe nodded again, craning her neck down in what Dash assumed was agreement. “Unfortunate, but we will have to wait for second summer before ships are ready regardless, and with treaties, this will not be until next first-summer. We will work what is provided right now. Do you have maps? When is this, and which of the Houses do you wish to invite? Am I required to attend as well? You may wish me to. Certain Houses do not get along without someone to put them in their place.”

“I’m afraid I—well, we can’t really answer that,” said Rarity, balking. “I… think we are having two very different conversations right now. We have directions to bring this sigil to Cotronna, and I am sure the details will be worked out in time by your leader—”

“Then why are you here,” asked Ouressia, her head tilted a smidge. She swept a foreleg in front of her. “Why do you visit my office if you are not to invite Stagrum?”

“Uh, I mean, you’re invited, too,” Dash said. “We’re inviting Perytonia to this meeting thing.”

Ouressia frowned at them for a long moment. “You wish our presence, but you do not. Your words are not clear to me. Would this ‘sigil’ item not better be placed in my care, if it is the invitation?”

Rarity smiled a tight smile. “Well, that would be a little backwards, no? Miss, we are very pleased to make your acquaintance, but the reason we sought you out is because your city doesn’t seem to have any form of mayor, and we were told that you might be able to assist us.”

“Yeah, are you in charge of the roads, too? Because your roads are terrible,” Dash said.

“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity snapped. Fluttershy looked up from her …conversation with the raven? She quickly turned back to her other feathered friend, though.

“What? It’s true!” Dash said with a shrug. “We really just wanna know if you know anything about the road heading to Effy-whatever. Khaird said something about trouble in the north. What’s up with that? Oh, and yeah, if the roads are out, do you have any boats we can borrow? Three tickets to a ship going to Cotronna or something? Just asking.”

Ouressia shifted where she sat, repositioning one of her large hind-claws. The talons dug into the rough woodwork, and if Dash had earlier thought she had nailed peryton expressions, she was now proven wrong. The peryton flicked her ears and cracked her neck one way, then the other, but Dash couldn’t tell what went on inside her head just from looking at her.

“I am one to ask for ships, to give advice on passage,” Ouressia said, her voice flat and her words slower. “But I have nothing for you, and you will find little luck elsewhere, this I can say. Any ship worthy enough to brave the threat of first-summer storms are at sea already, and none will return for weeks. Ships from other cities are here, but will not leave until the seven suns have passed, and that will be weeks.

“As for the roads, you would better ask the carters, but which Stagrumite would know such things? Who would travel by road from Stagrum to the northern cities when they can go by sea? It is obvious that none would.”

“Yeah, obvious,” said Dash, giving Rarity her best and most sarcastic, flat look. Rarity shook her head and poked Dash in the side.

“If there are concerns,” the doe went on. “Ask Vauhorn or ask Ephydoera. Better yet, ask the Bent Feathers. They stick their snouts in all manner of business, and are better asked than I or any one trader House.”

“Okay, fine,” said Rainbow Dash. “Where can we find them?”

Ouressia blinked. “Where? They are peryton who do not roost. You may as well ask where to find the wind.”

“Wind? Cloudsdale. Easy,” said Dash, shrugging. “Hey, Rarity, do you think Mirossa knows where we can find these Bent Feathers?”

Rarity held up a foreleg. “Honestly, we’re making a bigger issue out of this than we should,” she said. “Miss, we’re simply trying to be prudent, and if you know anyone who can tell us a little about these roads and any potential problems, we’d appreciate it any assistance you might lend us in that respect.”

The peryton nodded slowly. “I could have one of my more inquisitive, talented protegés find them and ask for a report on the roads. There will always be some around the docks or resting houses, but if you ask time of me, I must ask something in return.”

Rainbow Dash grinned, her wings itching. “Sure. What do you need? Do you have a hydra problem? Please tell me you have a hydra problem.”

Ouressia bent forward and made a clicking sound with her tongue. The raven turned to face her, offered Fluttershy a parting caw to which Fluttershy waved and smiled, and let the bird fly over to perch on her antlers.

“No,” said the peryton. “I have a problem of wishing to get paid for my service. Preferably in bronze slivers.”

Mirossa got up and stretched when the ponies filed out of building, the smaller doe waiting by one of the piers stretching out to sea. “Where to next? Bronzeworks? Market?” she asked, falling in step with the ponies.

“Khaird didn’t ask to get paid for helping us,” Rainbow Dash said, ignoring Mirossa for the moment. She took off and flew at her friends’ side just to give her wings something to do. Mirossa stared at her, though she was much less obvious about it than Aroris had been at the festival.

“It was entirely reasonable of her to ask to get paid for her efforts,” Rarity retorted. “If these Bent Feathers are hard to find, doubly so. Do you think she was unfair? Or that she lied?”

“I don’t think she’d lie,” Fluttershy protested. “She didn’t seem like the type of person to do that at all.”

“Uh, yeah, you’d know from talking to her so much,” said Dash, rolling her eyes and laughing. “You didn’t say a word to her the entire time, you just talked to that raven.”

Fluttershy nodded and smiled, heedless of another, even stranger look from Mirossa. “Exactly,” said Fluttershy. “And the Dockmistress and the others there all take great care of the ravens, and Duskbeak only had good things to say about them. That’s how I know she’s a good person. She’s probably just a little grumpy around people.”

“That—uh. ‘Kay, that’s fair,” Dash admitted with a shrug. “I think Phydra mentioned something about these peryton being big on not being dishonest, anyway. Or maybe it was the stag I talked to at camp before you guys woke up, Anhast or whatever, I don’t remember.”

Rarity nodded at that. “We might also have said something wrong, or she could be having a bad day. Surely peryton have bad days, too, just like ponies do.”

Fluttershy glanced up at the sun, shielding her eyes with a hoof. “If the weather was always like this, I think I’d have more bad days, even.”

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Dash agreed with a snort. It took her a moment to remember what they were talking about. Or rather, what part of what they were talking about she took interest in. “Hey, Mirossa. Have you ever heard of the Bent Feathers?”

“Heard of? Yes, I have,” Mirossa replied immediately, as though she had been waiting for that exact question.

“D’you know where to find them?” Dash asked.

Mirossa shook her head. “Not always? They are not a House, so they do not keep a house-front, and the only times I see any of them is when they guest at the Autumn Hymn.” She sounded excited to Dash’s ears, suddenly brimming with energy. “They are strange, very unlike any others. Why do you ask of them? Do you know them? Are you meeting with them? May I follow?”

“Nah,” said Dash. “To all of those, I guess. If you knew where we could find them, we’d just have thrown away a bunch of gems for nothing at all.”

“I see,” said the doe, deflating a little.

“Gems we’ve already concluded mean very little to us,” Rarity added, holding up a hoof to forestall Dash’s protest. “And before you say anything, I agree Khaird was far more helpful and of a brighter disposition.”

“Let’s not try to say who’s been nicer, or less nice,” suggested Fluttershy, shaking her head to get some errant black feather-fluff out of her mane.

“Yeah. Fine, okay,” said Dash, shrugging. “Shame they don’t have any boats we can hop on, anyway. I guess we’ll have to hit the road again, ugh.”

“Mm, we knew that was a very real possibility,” Rarity said, but for a moment, just saying those words made the unicorn look as tired as she had when they walked the road between Orto and Stagrum.

“And we did promise we’d try to visit all the cities along the way,” Fluttershy said. “Or, I don’t remember if we promised, exactly, but Khaird said he’d be happy if we did.”

“Yeah yeah,” Dash said, again forced to agree. She sighed and landed in front of her friends, stopping them. “Okay, I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be a total grump here, I just don’t like having to wait around. Walking is fine, waiting isn’t.”

“Ouressia said she’d have a report to us as soon as she was able,” Rarity replied. “We may as well make the best of it and enjoy ourselves. You’ve mentioned a market. What else is there?” Rarity asked Mirossa, taking a few steps citywards.

Fluttershy didn’t follow. The pegasus turned the opposite way at the exact same moment, trotting up to the edge of the main pier of this section of the docks.

Well past mid-day, the only thing that had changed at the waterfront was the light. Sparkling blue waters, weird two-bodied ships out close to shore, peryton milling about, and not a single—no, scratch that, one peryton out flying. Dash gave a silent cheer for the peryton who flew high above the water.

Fluttershy’s eyes weren’t on the sky, however. She looked out over the water, her wings half-spread. Curious despite herself, Rainbow Dash trotted up to her side, stopping right at the edge of the railing-less wooden platform jutting out over the water. Just past the furthest piers, some sea-creatures swam about. Rainbow Dash could just barely see what she guessed was the tops of their heads, and as they watched, the shapes swam in circles around a small peryton craft. The peryton either didn’t notice, or didn’t care.

“What are those?” Dash asked, squinting.

“I think they’re green snickersnouts,” said Fluttershy. “The book mentioned them. They’re very rare on the western coast of Equestria. I’ve never seen one before.” She leaned forward as though she could lean all the way past the nearby jutting piers to nuzzle one of them. Rainbow Dash automatically stuck out a foreleg to stop her from falling into the water.

“Are you coming?” called Rarity. The unicorn and their young guide stood a few paces away, looking their way. “Is something wrong?”

“Oh, Rainbow Dash, do you think it would be alright if I went and said hello?” Fluttershy asked. She hovered off the ground, rubbing her hooves together and casting a longing look out to sea.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Why wouldn’t it be?” I mean, they’re like… wild animals, right? I don’t see any pens or stuff.”

“Well, um, I don’t, either,” Fluttershy admitted, casting a sweeping look across the docks.

“Besides, it’s not like they own them, is it? And you didn’t hesitate in grabbing the Dockmistress’s raven, and that was her pet.” Dash laughed.

“Oh, I guess you’re right, but I don’t know,” Fluttershy bit her lip. “I haven’t met many sea creatures at all, before. I said hi to a seal at the beach, but we’ve been in such a hurry travelling so far.”

“What’s the matter?” asked Rarity. She walked over to the water’s edge with Mirossa in tow.

“Hey, does anyone own those creatures out there?” asked Rainbow Dash. She waved a hoof in the vague direction of the things in the water.

Mirossa squinted, then shrugged. “No? Why and how would anyone? I have a cousin who said they upended his kelper, but I think he overloaded his boat. I have told you already, I do not love the sea, but I know they are wild.”

“See? Go for it, all yours,” Dash said, smiling.

Fluttershy didn’t go for anything at all. She stood very still, her wings wilting bit by bit. For every longing look she gave the snickersnouts, she cast two glances lengthwise along the port, no doubt counting all the peryton milling about. Peryton who’d probably mind their own business just fine, but Rainbow Dash already knew this would go nowhere if she didn’t do something.

“I, um, no, that’s okay,” Fluttershy said. She took a single step back, beginning to turn as though she meant to join Rarity, heading for the city—confirming Dash’s suspicions.

“Well, I’m going, at least,” said Rainbow Dash. She shed her saddlebags in one smooth motion, stepping off the platform to hover mid-air. “Hey, Rarity? If you and Mirossa are gonna go check out the market or whatever, can you take my saddlebags? They’re almost empty. I’ll meet you at the inn later and we can all go to the bathhouse if that’s cool.”

“Of course, dear,” said Rarity, quirking a brow. “But since when have you taken an interest in sea creatures?”

“I’ll see you later if you don’t wanna come along. Your call,” said Dash, flashing Fluttershy a grin.

Rainbow Dash didn’t bother looking back. She soared over the piers, pulling a few loops as she went along. Though they were only simple tricks she could—and sometimes did—pull off in her sleep, she couldn’t help but notice that the peryton didn’t pay her all that much attention. Casting little covert looks below to see what her audience was like was pretty much part of Dash’s every routine, but the peryton here didn’t see half as impressed as the citizens of Orto.

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings as hard as she could, flying straight up before she folded them, letting herself fall nearly all the way to the pier before she broke the fall. Another loop and she levelled out to fly alongside Fluttershy, slowing down to match her speed low along the water.

Nothing. A few kelp fishers looked up, barely more than a passing glance, and that was it. Already Stagrum was different from Orto in far more ways than Dash had expected: the buildings, the trading, the way they wore all manner of jewellery and their manners—for all that it was so different in a myriad ways, nothing struck Dash as stranger than the way the ponies were suddenly no longer the center of the attention. Rainbow Dash flipped to fly upside-down alongside Fluttershy. Even Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash probably had more in common than the two groups of peryton.

“Thank you,” said Fluttershy as they approached the shapes bobbing in the water up ahead. She offered Rainbow Dash one of those small smiles where she didn’t even look Dash in the eye, but Dash knew it was for her.

Rainbow Dash would’ve shrugged, but flying upside down, that’d probably land her in the water. She also could’ve played dumb and asked what she was being thanked for, but she knew that Fluttershy knew, so she didn’t bother.

No big loss anyway. She didn’t much feel like squeezing through the crowds to go look at the market, and seeing what kind of creatures lived in the ocean didn’t sound all that bad. If anything, she was annoyed that Fluttershy hadn’t just asked her to come along for support.

Then again, she kind of had, she just hadn’t used words.

Fluttershy eased herself into a hover right above the water, and Rainbow Dash did the same. Right below them, a half-dozen large furless heads poked out from the gentle waves, black eyes regarding them silently as the creatures bobbed up and down. Their muzzles were long and toothy, and their scales shone grey-green in the sunlight. Below the water, Dash could see their bodies were long and smooth—nearly three pony lengths in the case of the largest one—with flippers at the end of their tails, and two more sets of flippers on their sides. Flippers? Paddles? Side-tails?

“Ocean creatures are weird,” Dash declared.

“They’re beautiful,” Fluttershy said, squeezing her forelegs to her chest with joy, either ignoring or not hearing Dash. She lowered herself a little more until her hooves almost touched the water, proving she could be a precision flier when animal friendship was at stake. “Hello little snickersnouts,” she said, leaning as close as she could get to the largest, toothiest one. “I’m Fluttershy, and I’m ever so pleased to meet you!”

“Little?” Dash mouthed soundlessly.

Two of the larger ones whistled. Or clicked. Or quacked. The strange sounds nearly made Dash fall straight out of the sky, first out of surprise, then again when she burst into laughter.

“What was that?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I think it sounds lovely,” Fluttershy said. “They’re saying hello!”

“That’s the stupidest sound I’ve ever—augh!” Dash flapped madly to keep her balance when a spray of seawater blasted her in the face. She shook her head and wiped her eyes with the nook of a leg, glaring at a snickersnout right below her who tried to look innocent. Fluttershy giggled, and the other sea creatures whistled, chattered and clicked noisily.

“Okay, who did that?” Dash asked, glowering. “And how?”

Fluttershy looked down at the calm waters below. She stifled her laughter and eased herself into the sea, folding her wings. Once she was afloat in an easy paddle, one of the smaller creatures swam up to her side and blew water out of the top of its head.

“They breathe through little blowholes on top of their heads, see?” Fluttershy said. “I guess they can spray water through them as well. You were a little rude.”

Dash rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I still think they’re strange. They can’t do anything about that.”

This time, she got to finish her sentence before a smaller spray of water hit her belly. She yelped and flew a little higher.

“Stop that!” Dash yelled.

“They just want to play,” Fluttershy said, though her smile faded a bit. “Um, you’re not mad, are you?”

Dash snorted hot air. “Of course not,” she said, glaring at the snickersnout she thought was responsible. It stared back at her. Though its eyes were entirely black, and she couldn’t really tell, she knew it stared at her.

“The water’s fine if you want to go for a swim, too,” Fluttershy said. “It’s a lot warmer than the rivers in Ponyville, even in summer.” She ducked her head under. When she surfaced, she was drenched, and her mane and tail floated lazily around her, dying the ocean pink. One of the snickersnouts nipped at her tail, and another popped up right in front of her, chattering. She smiled.

“Eh, I don’t know,” Dash said. Fluttershy seemed to be okay now. She didn’t pay any attention to the peryton working at the docks, and the other pegasus didn’t even seem to notice the small boat that sailed right past Fluttershy. “I think I’m just gonna go fly for a bit, actually. I’ll be around.”

“Okay,” said Fluttershy. She hesitated for a moment, tilting her head, and then traded a few whispered words with one of the snickersnouts. Rainbow Dash looked about for clouds, flying peryton or anything else interesting just when she became aware of something moving quickly below her. Dash dodged on instinct, thinking one of the creatures set up to spray her again.

A smaller snickersnout breached the surface, shooting out of the ocean to hang airborne right next to her, mid-air for a second before it crashed back down into the sea with a huge splash. Even as Dash watched, another one dove deep and came back up again as fast as it could, launching itself into the air. Fluttershy clopped her hooves together and gave a little cheer.

“Okay. Change of plans,” Dash declared. She stared at one of the green-snouted creatures below. “Fluttershy, you gotta tell them to teach me how to do that.”

Fluttershy smiled wide and nodded.

Rainbow Dash chased the snickersnout, kicking her legs with all her might. The slippery little thing did a twist and a loop in the water, as if to say I could beat you without a running start, taunting her. Dash paid him no mind. She was right behind him, now, using her wings as flippers. Awkward? Yes, but it worked. The snickersnout pushed away with his tail and all his flippers at once, breaching the surface at the exact same time as Rainbow Dash, two perfectly timed explosions of water, two shapes launching into the air.

The snickersnout had better speed leaving the water. He wasn’t weighed down by soggy feathers, he’d done this a million times, and he had more flippers. While Dash felt herself losing momentum, he kept flying up. The snickersnout twisted his body mid-air when it reached the apex of its ascent, and one of its eyes faced Dash. He probably smirked, in his own way.

Dash didn’t have four flippers. Dash had wings. She gave the wet and bedraggled things a solid flap. From any other pegasus, it might’ve been a futile gesture. A desperate gambit, trying to squeeze air-time out of soaked feathers.

Rainbow Dash shook the wet from her wings in a single move so forceful she left a few feathers behind. A halo of water formed around her, and as heavy as they were, the finest wings the world would ever know launched her up past the height the snickersnout had reached—and then some. Dash let out a loud whoop and furled her wings again, letting herself fall back into the sea in a headfirst dive.

When she surfaced again a moment later, her competitor rested in the water right next to her. A dozen chattering calls echoed around them, and the snickersnout, the loser let out a short burst of chatter. Fluttershy giggled, the other pegasus floating over by the main group of the creatures, a short distance away.

“Paddles says that you cheated,” she said, shaking her head. She made a poor effort of curbing her laughter and looking solemn.

“Hey, I’m just evening the odds,” Dash said, laughing. “I flapped once, and my wings are wet. It’s not my fault someone didn’t take the contest seriously. You know you could do better than that.” She eyed Paddles, and she already knew what was coming. She ducked the water-spray and nudged her mane out of her face. Paddles made a series of clicks and moved over to poke Dash in the belly with his snout, surfacing right next to her.

“He says it’s okay, you can have this one,” Fluttershy said, smiling. “He’s being very nice. You should say thank-you.”

“Uh-huh,” Dash said, awkwardly patting the smooth sea-creature on the top of the head, receiving another burst of clicks in return. “That’s what, twelve to one for him? Ten?”

Fluttershy swam a little closer. “Fifteen, actually.”

“Right,” Dash said with a grunt. A shadow passed over the sea, and she turned to see the sun closing on the horizon, the light slowly fading even as she watched. At some point, the sea had taken on a darker blue, no longer matching her coat. The water was still warm enough, though.

“I guess we should start heading back,” Fluttershy said. She looked at Rainbow Dash, rather than the city behind her.

“Yeah, probably,” said Dash with a sigh, but she didn’t feel like swimming back to the city just yet. Or at least, she didn’t feel like swimming. Dash drew breath and dove beneath the surface again.

Kicking away like she’d done just a minute ago, Rainbow Dash picked up speed. When she breached, she flapped her wings as quickly as she could, shaking off as much water as possible. She only barely managed to keep herself above water and in flight, and her wing-muscles strained with the effort at first, but with every wingbeat it got easier. She tossed her mane and shook her tail, grinning at Fluttershy who still floated in the water, staring at her.

“What?” she asked, laughing.

Fluttershy shook her head, swimming slowly backwards, her eyes still on Rainbow Dash. “I don’t think I could do that,” Fluttershy said, chewing on her bottom lip. “I didn’t know you could do that. That’s very impressive.”

Rainbow Dash felt her chest tingle pleasantly, smiling wider still. “Yeah? Hey, I didn’t know I could do that,” she admitted, running a hoof through her mane. “That was actually pretty cool. Uh, thanks.” She flew a little closer to Fluttershy, offering a hoof. “Need a lift? Wanna see if I can drag you out of the water, too? Or d’you wanna try yourself?”

“Oh, no,” said Fluttershy, shaking her head. “No, I’ll just swim—oh. Oh my,” she squeaked, and Dash flew a little higher, staring in confusion as Fluttershy rose out of the water.

“What the—” was as far as Dash got before she saw the shiny grey-and-green head underneath her. One of the snickersnouts lifted her up, and then another one joined it. Fluttershy nearly rolled off, but Dash reached down to steady her, and soon Fluttershy lay atop two snickersnouts who swam towards the shore. It looked for all the world like she skimmed atop the waves without effort, at rest like she lay on a sofa.

“For the record,” said Dash, “That is awesome.” She flew as close to the waves as she could, right at Fluttershy’s side, and Fluttershy only laughed in return, thanking the two large sea-creatures who carried her.

If the only thing the peryton afforded them before were the occasional glance from passing boats laden with kelp, now they had their attention. The Stagrumites still working at the docks lined up and pointed at the strange yellow creature who rode the waves to the shore, backlit by the sun and trailed by breaching snickersnouts with their chattering, clicking song.

Fluttershy hardly seemed to notice. Perhaps she didn’t know they were there. Perhaps the peryton were simply less interesting to the mare than the chaos of the snickersnouts playing around them. Whatever the case, Fluttershy’s eyes rested on Rainbow Dash, smiling at her, and it was all Dash could do to smile back.

A minute later, Fluttershy stepped off onto the lower docks and leaned down to nuzzle the sea-creatures, saying her goodbyes, and one by one, the peryton went about their own business again. Rainbow Dash couldn’t even pretend that any of them had looked at her. With that entrance, not a single set of eyes would be upon Rainbow Dash, and in that moment, for once she found that she didn’t mind.

Rainbow Dash landed at Fluttershy’s side, leading the way up the stairs to the docks proper.

“We probably have to ask someone for directions back to the Autumn Hymn,” said Fluttershy. “Unless you remember where it is?”

“I didn’t even remember the name,” Dash admitted, chuckling. “Let’s head into the city and ask someone!”

The two ponies pointed their snouts towards the city and its darkening streets, dripping wet and with tails dragging along the dusty streets. Fluttershy had missed her chance to quail under the spotlight, and Dash couldn’t stop smiling.

Chapter 7

Fluttershy,

I got your letter, and if you don’t mind me saying, it’s mighty strange to send letters to your neighbours. I’m not complaining, mind. The most I’ve seen of you so far was when me and the family came by to welcome you to town, and that was a good long while ago. We hadn’t even expanded the northern fields when you took up in that old cottage. How many years ago is that, now?

Anyway, I reckon’ this is about last night. If that feather-brain’s still bothering you, don’t hesitate to let me know. I’ll always stand up for anypony, and while I might not know you as well as I should (again on account of being neighbours), you’re no exception to that.

If you want to talk, you should just come by the farm. Don’t mind if I’m out working. You just holler at me. I’m never too busy to chat so long as you don’t mind I keep up the farmwork.

-AJ

Getting back to the inn took longer than Rainbow Dash would have liked, but at the very least the streets were less packed in the evening. Presumably, the peryton of Stagrum went about their business indoors after dark, and the magical globes they had seen only indoors in Orto were plentiful here, clusters of them crowning lamp-posts down every major street. They had to ask for directions more than once, but owing in part to good help finding their way back quickly, and in part to the fading sunlight, their manes were still wet when Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash returned to the Autumn Hymn.

“There you are!” exclaimed Rarity. The unicorn stood by the too-tall bar bench with Mirossa and her mother, sipping on a bowl of some sweet-smelling liquid. “I was starting to wonder if we had to go looking for you two.”

“Oh no, we’re sorry, Rarity,” Fluttershy said. “I guess we lost track of time. We didn’t mean to make you worry.” She lay her ears flat and tried to duck behind her mane, but the unruly wet hairs clung to her neck.

“Don’t you worry about me dear,” said Rarity, pushing her drink away. “Look at the two of you! You’re an absolute mess!”

“It’s just water,” Dash said with a shrug, pushing a lock of hair away from her face. “What’ve you been up to?”

Rarity trotted up to Fluttershy and sheathed some of the pegasus’s mane in a soft blue glow, working her magic along as a crude comb. She frowned deeply as she spoke, while Fluttershy resigned herself to Rarity’s ministrations with a muttered thank-you and a smile.

“Mirossa and I visited their market, and it was quite the thing, just as she suggested,” Rarity said, working through a tangle of pink hair. “I picked up some knick-knacks and a few little trinkets I would love to show you, as well as some fabrics I haven’t quite decided how I feel about. I’ve spent some time with my dress plans—but I’m getting ahead of myself. We walked by their bronzeworks on the way back here, since I had a hunch we didn’t need to hurry.”

“Sorry, again,” Fluttershy muttered.

“Oh come on, it’s fine,” said Dash, poking her in the side with a moist wing. Her feathers were a mess. Both of their wings were, really. She spread one of her own wings fully, critically inspecting her primaries while Rarity went on.

“Their mint, bronzeworks, call it what you wish, well, it was—ah, let us say industrious. Impressive in some ways.”

“It’s messy work, not beautiful work,” Mirossa added, putting away her own empty drink bowl. “All bronze slivers come from Stagrum.”

“After that, we headed back here. I’ve been having a little chat with Mirossa and Naressa, though quite honestly, we haven’t been back for very long.” Rarity shook her head and let Fluttershy’s mane fall back to her side with a desultory, sodden flop. “I hope you’ve had a good time? Shall we see about that bath?”

“A bath? We’ve spent hours in the sea, that’s as bath-y as it gets,” Dash said, laughing, but some proper hot water wasn’t the worst idea she’d heard. Walking through the growing cold all wet hadn’t been very pleasant. Plus, salt. She licked one of her forelegs experimentally, but it wasn’t as tasty as she’d hoped. Her coat was crusty.

“I think a hot bath would be nice,” suggested Fluttershy. She looked down at the small but growing pool of seawater below the two pegasi and rubbed at her snout, sniffling.

Rarity already had her saddlebags on. “I brought some gems. It should be right across the street, and they opened at sundown. Come on girls, let’s go.”

“Somepony’s rearing to go,” said Dash, grinning. She hadn’t seen Rarity this excited in a long time.

“Darling, we’ve been on the road for nearly a week,” Rarity retorted, apparently feeling like that was a full answer. She paused at the door, looking back over her shoulder, past Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. “Are you coming?”

Mirossa looked left, right, at her mother, and finally at Rarity. “Me?” she asked.

“You, dear. My treat. Or, rather, our treat. If you have a bathhouse, clearly you peryton bathe.” Rarity waved her over with a flick of her head.

“Is it okay, mama? May I?” asked Mirossa with a big-eyed look at her mother.

“Of course you may go,” Naressa said, smiling at her daughter. She gave her a gentle push with one of her wings, scooting the doe along, and Mirossa happily let that momentum carry her all the way out the door. Dash shrugged and smiled, as did Fluttershy, and the group of four crossed the street without a word, making for a large and well-lit stone building with wide open doors. Mirossa named it the Pearl Road Bath-House. Apparently not all of their stuff had weird names.

“I really could go for some food, too,” Dash said, her stomach gurgling as they mounted the low stairs. A pair of does passed by them on their way out. The two grey and brown does stared at them as they went, rustling and tinkling with silver and gems from antler, ear, tail and wing-feather.

“Did you eat while you waited for us?” asked Fluttershy.

“No, I thought I would wait for you. Surely this city has restaurants,” Rarity suggested. “Cafés? Eating places of some description? We saw something of the sort while we wandered.”

“Didn’t Naressa or whatever her name is say they had food at the inn?” asked Dash before Mirossa could answer. “Uh, ‘house’, whatever. Let’s ask her. It smelled great in there.” She’d walked plenty enough for one day.

“Mama will be happy to hear that, and if you take her up on her offer of food, she will be even happier… happier still,” Mirossa said, trailing off and sounding as sincere as she sounded distracted as they stepped inside the large entrance chamber of the bath-house.

To Dash’s eyes, there wasn’t much to see. The square room was almost featureless: In the middle of every wall was an identical door, and in every corner a stone basin or a tiny fountain—whatever one wanted to call them. In the middle of the room waited a bored-looking peryton attendant with jewels hanging from every antler-tip and gleaming bands around the bases of her wings.

Apparently this was all very impressive. Rarity nodded appreciatively as she approached the attendant, and Fluttershy looked up and above, alerting Dash to the presence of some green lichen, moss or other form of greenery hanging from a balcony circling the chamber one floor up. Dash hung back with Mirossa and Fluttershy while Rarity sorted stuff out, more interested in Mirossa’s reaction than inedible plant decorations.

“Why’re you acting like you haven’t been here before?” Dash asked. “I thought your mom said you didn’t have baths at your place, so isn’t this where you bathe?”

The young doe frowned. “Do I look like one who carries the bronze for the Pearl Road? We visit the wavefront baths when we wish to treat ourselves—this place is expensive, for those with more than they can trade away. I think the does who just left were heiresses to the House of Harvest.”

“Alright, cool,” said Dash with a shrug. She didn’t know what else she could say without asking a bunch more stupid questions, but clearly this was a classy place in the eyes of others. She should’ve realised the moment she stepped inside and felt a vague sense of boredom wash over her.

“I… think maybe there’s a problem?” Fluttershy said, tilting her head.

Sure enough, Rarity and the attendant were clearly disagreeing on something. The peryton gestured to the left door, then the right one, talking too low for Dash to hear.

“—you can ask her for yourself, then!” Rarity snapped at the stone faced peryton. “Rainbow Dash! Would you be a dear and come here a moment? There seems to be a bit of confusion.”

“Uh, okay?” Dash asked. Rarity’s voice was entirely too sweet, the kind of angry that Rainbow Dash really did not like being around. She strode to the center of the room, Fluttershy and Mirossa following close by. The peryton attendant raised her snout a smidge and gave her an arch look. She gestured to the door to her left.

“There is no confusion. Stags to your left, does to the right, that is all we ask,” the attendant said. “If our rules are not well-liked in your sight, you may go elsewhere.”

Rarity huffed. “I assure you, dear, that is fine. Even if I wished to quarrel with the way you conduct your business—and I do not—it doesn’t matter. We are not peryton, surely you can see that—”

“Yes, this I see,” the peryton said, her voice flat.

“—and while we don’t use the words ‘stag’ and ‘doe’ as ponies, our stallions and mares correspond perfectly well, which also matters exactly nothing at all, because Rainbow Dash here is not a he!”

“Wait. What?” Dash asked, blinking.

“What?” said Mirossa.

“Oh,” said Fluttershy.

The attendant gestured to Rainbow Dash with a hoof, opened her mouth, then closed it again without a word. She exhaled through her snout, shaking her head before turned her attention to Rarity again. “You expect me to believe that this is not a—well, whatever you call the males of your kind?”

“You think I’m a guy?” Dash asked, her voice cracking on that final word. Her mouth hung open and she tried to poke her brain into action, she truly did.

“You are not?” Mirossa asked, her eyes wide.

“You thought she was a stallion too?” Fluttershy blurted.

“Augh!” groaned Rarity, throwing her head back. She rounded on the attendant with gritted teeth, brandishing a green gem from her pouch like a weapon. “I have not had a proper bath in a week. I have walked more since I arrived in this dried-out, sun-scorched land of yours than I have ever before in my life, and I will not be denied soap and hot water, not by you, not by anyone! If you don’t believe that Rainbow Dash is a mare, you can check for yourself, but I. Will. Bathe.”

“That was, um… awkward,” said Fluttershy, finally breaking the silence. She dipped a hoof in the water and drew little circles.

“Uh-huh,” said Dash. She let her wings float freely, still struggling to work out what had really happened, but at least Rarity got her bath in the end, so the world had not ended. The unicorn, Rainbow Dash and Mirossa all soaked in what couldn’t rightly be called a hot tub so much as an indoor pool full of near-scalding water. Though the majority of the stone pool ran a little deep for the group—probably intended for adult peryton—there was a shallow end near the copper pipes that served perfectly. The excess water poured away next to Rainbow Dash, creating a pleasant flow.

The rest of the room was all bright white stone or wood-panelled walls, completed by a few long benches, some deep-green plants, and a corner stele full of gibberish letters. From the other side of a high wall, past where Fluttershy tested the waters, they could hear faint voices from stags perusing the other baths.

The other baths, in this case meaning the half of the bathhouse distinct from their half. The half Rarity hadn’t been forced to rent to prevent ‘potential damages to the reputation of the establishment’ for letting such ‘diverse’ people into the baths together in a public room of high repute. Diverse.

“Seriously, though. You too? What the hay?” asked Dash. “You thought I was a stallion, a stag or whatever?” She didn’t even have to look at Mirossa. She could feel the embarrassment radiating from the doe all the way from the other side of the shallows.

“None of you have coloured feathers, and your friends’ colours are simpler—” Mirossa said, earning a tiny huff from Rarity for that word, “—but you have all this hair, yours more colourful than theirs! Doe wing feathers are plain—tail-feathers too, in comparison to stags. Your hair screams stag to me, I’m sorry!”

Rainbow Dash shook her head. She wanted to be insulted and laugh all at the same time, but she just couldn’t be bothered in either case. She sent waves over to the other side of the pool with lazy sweeps of her wings, breathing slowly. The water was so hot, it bled away all her concerns.

Most of them, anyway, until she took a moment to think back.

“Wait, wait, hang on, hold the cart,” Dash said, suddenly wide awake again. “So you mean that your mom, and all the peryton we’ve met all along probably think I’m a stallion? Everyone?”

“I don’t know!” Mirossa shot, flicking at the water with her tail-feathers. “Maybe? How the feint would I know? It is not an insult!”

“We did have to explain it to Khaird, remember?” Fluttershy asked, smiling at Rainbow Dash.

“I know,” Dash grunted, any leftover annoyance fading as she watched Fluttershy finally slip into the water, her breaths shallow and quick while she got used to the temperature. Dash grinned.

“Oh, oh my, this is really hot. Oh goodness,” said Fluttershy.

“Mm, well, if peryton are used to the weather here, they would want their baths hot enough to feel it,” Rarity offered, though she seemed perfectly at ease, leaning back against the rim of the pool with her eyes closed. “Rainbow Dash, you’re not upset about this little mix-up, are you?” asked Rarity.

“Who, me?” Dash asked. “No, probably not? I don’t know, really, it’s just really, really weird. I’m a mare, okay? Like one of your does.” That earned a rapid few nods from a dejected Mirossa.

“I’m sure that some of the peryton probably guessed you are a she,” said Fluttershy. She sunk down in the water to soak her mane, her eyes and her muzzle barely above the water when she surfaced. “If they thought it really mattered, I’m sure they would’ve asked.” She paused with a lopsided smile. “I’m still having a hard time with it myself. It was especially difficult in Orto with all their dye powders and everything, but I hope it’s okay to want to ask.”

“Why would it not be fine to ask? I would have, if I thought it mattered, as you said,” Mirossa said, nodding at Fluttershy.

“I’m way past it, whatever. I don’t know if I care that much,” Dash muttered. “Heh, I wonder if Aroris thought she was hitting on a ‘stag’, though.” She snorted with laughter and glanced over at Fluttershy, but the other pegasus didn’t say much to that, her smile fading a little as she spread her wings, letting the feathers surface.

Idly, Dash noted that Fluttershy’s wings were an even bigger mess than she’d suspected. It took effort not to wade over there and sort her feathers out right now, but it’d be futile while they were in the water. Besides, there was something else that’d bothered her.

“Don’t you guys paint your feathers? Ever?” Dash asked. Fluttershy mentioning the colourful chaos in Orto reminded her that unless the Stagrumites took a lot greater care with their dyes than they had in the other city, she hadn’t seen a single painted feather so far.

“No. Why would we?” asked Mirossa. “I think a guest at the Hymn told me that it is custom in Orto, but to me it sounds confusing and strange. Did we not see minutes ago how much confusion can come from colour?”

“That’s not my fault,” Dash grumped, but the contrast between Orto and Stagrum wouldn’t go away. ”Anyway, you don’t have any of those scarves they wear, either. Really thin, colourful scarves?”

“No?” Mirossa said, her head at a precarious sideways tilt. “Why?”

“Dunno. It’s just weird,” said Dash, shifting a tiny bit closer to the warmer end of the shallows. “The Ortosians did a bunch of stuff that you don’t do at all.”

“We did visit during the middle of a huge festival, remember,” said Fluttershy, and though that was true enough, she sounded less than perfectly convinced herself.

“It’s still weird that there’s nothing of that here,” said Dash. She squinted. “Wait, that festival was gonna go on for a week. Isn’t the last day today or tomorrow? No wait, more! Your weeks are extra long, so it should definitely still be on!” She fixed Mirossa with a look, searching for any signs of recognition. “The festival of Myrtella, the love and harvest thing, you don’t celebrate it at all?”

“No,” said Mirossa yet again, frowning this time. “A weeklong festival dedicated to Myrtella? Maybe that sounds like a thing that Orto would do, but no, we don’t do anything like that.”

Fluttershy blinked. “‘Sounds like’? You didn’t know they had a festival at all? A city-wide festival?”

“I will wear out the word ‘no’, I think,” said Mirossa, her frown deepening still. “Why all these questions? I try to answer, but there is always two more!”

“Fine!” said Dash holding up a hoof. “I’m just asking! I think it’s weird that you don’t know what’s up in Orto, that’s all. They’re your neighbour city, like Trotheim is to Ponyville, right?”

“We hardly keep abreast of every little local festival in the neighbouring towns,” murmured Rarity, proving that the unicorn had not, in fact, fallen asleep. “Do give her some peace, won’t you? Her, and myself.”

“Little festival?” Dash echoed. “This isn’t like not knowing about whatever Trotheim does when we have our Apple Family Hoofenanny. It’s like… like not knowing about the Grand Galloping Gala, except bigger—or the Wonderbolts Circuit. Bigger than even that! The circuit’s just three days!”

Rarity sighed and smiled at Mirossa. Rainbow Dash recognised the smile. She’d seen it many times before. I’m sorry about my friend, it said, but at least the unicorn stirred, one half-lidded eye upon the peryton.

“Speaking of something, of anything else, I do like your antler-wear,” said Rarity.

“It’s lovely,” Fluttershy chimed, nodding her agreement. “They’re like mane clasps for horns—or antlers, in your case.”

Mirossa tilted her head up as though she could see the metal in her antlers, clearly seizing upon the topic change with hunger. “What, my caps and my rings?”

“Mhm. Are they purely decorative?” Rarity asked. “They’re just jewellery?”

The young doe stared at Rarity for a moment, blinking. “They are that and more. They tell others about yourself, of course.”

“We don’t really know anything about them,” said Fluttershy, shaking her head. “Maybe you’d like to tell us a little about them? I’d love to hear.”

Rainbow Dash expected Mirossa to smile at that. If she’d been a little annoyed before, surely being asked about herself would bring out one of those slightly creepy, toothy peryton smiles, but Mirossa didn’t look all that excited at all. She simply nodded.

“Mine say that I am looking for a House or a trade, or for Daros’ stories to aid in finding a path upon which I can walk—a seeker’s constellation,” the doe said. She moved her mouth as though she yawned, to no sound, idly poking at the water. After a second’s hesitation, her antler-tips glowed, and she popped one of the caps off. She levitated the silver thing in front of the three ponies, a shiny dome-shaped object with a spiral pattern engraved on its tip.

“This one in particular cost much. I ran errands for the House of the Falling Sky for a long time to afford it. Anyone who looks close can tell that I am dedicated to my pursuit of finding a place that can appreciate what I offer. I am… still looking.”

“That’s cool,” said Dash, smiling at the doe. If she’d worked hard for the stuff she wore, good for her. Dash could appreciate that.

“That’s lovely, dear,” said Rarity, leaning a little closer for a better look. “Exquisite detail, in fact, but you say there is a language to it, as well?”

“A language? That may be too much to say,” Mirossa replied. She tried to put the cap back on, but missed her antler-tip over and over until Rarity waded a little closer and sheathed the cap in the glow of her own magic.

“Please, let me.”

“Thank you. And yes, it is to look pretty, and to speak. The two does who left when we entered the bathhouse, I think they mostly wanted to say that they can afford to trade for that which they wore, but mama’s antler-rings are a dedication to Phostos, to the even trade. She keeps her bangles for holidays and for when she visits someone special.”

“Trust me, if there ever was a mare who could understand that, I am she,” said the unicorn, fully alert now. “But if at least part of their function is decorative, are there any venues where peryton go to simply… display them, as it were?”

Mirossa blew hot air, the steam swirling about. “To display? I am not sure I understand.”

Rarity chewed the inside of one of her cheeks, hesitating, but Rainbow Dash already knew what the unicorn was after.

“Catwalks. Fashion show… uh, places,” Dash suggested. “If you got a fancy new dress—some really cool caps and shiny bits you want to show off, where’d you usually go?”

Rarity scoffed. “Rainbow, you make this sound so crude, like I’m looking to flaunt my dresses!” She shook her head quickly and turned back to Mirossa. “We ponies have our own type of wear—well, I say ‘we’, but I like to think I have a style of my own.” She touched a hoof to her chest and sniffed. “Creating fashion is one of our forms of self-expression, both through creating something wonderfully unique, and through wearing it. If I have something new to show, where might I do this?”

“I still don’t think I understand,” said Mirossa, her face completely blank. “Or perhaps it is you who do not. If you have something to offer, then you take it to market. We only visited the outer markets, but the far markets are better for this. I can take you back tomorrow if you wish?”

“I—hm. Well, if that is our only option,” said Rarity, sighing. “A city of this size without a single catwalk? I don’t know if I quite believe it. Now I know we’ve travelled far abroad.”

Neither Rainbow Dash nor Fluttershy commented on that, and Mirossa paddled over to the deep end, swimming about for a little while. On the other side of the dividing wall, the voices got a little louder and a door slammed twice, then all went silent. Rarity closed her eyes again, leaning her head back against the rim, and Fluttershy ducked beneath the water, surfacing with her mane freshly wet.

“So no feather paints here at all,” Dash asked. The previous conversation still stuck around in her head, like an itch just under a wing. “D’you know if they have antler-stuff or jewellery or whatever in Orto?”

“I don’t know. Some gems travel south along the road,” Mirossa replied, swimming in circles. “Many things do, but if I wished to study trade, I would study trade. I think most of what we get from the cliffside mines stays here. Ask mama.”

“But they know about ‘Phostos’” Dash asked, the names of these Aspect things still ungainly in her mouth. “And you said you know about Myrtella.”

“Of course. All do,” said Mirossa, swimming over to the very far end, holding on to the edge of the pool with a foreleg to keep herself afloat.

Dash squinted. “So do you have like… a Phostos festival instead, then?” That’d make sense. Maybe it was like a travelling circus, except without the travelling. Or the circus. But if they all celebrated different things, like the Wonderbolts held different shows in different cities each year, then—

The doe let out a short caw of laughter. “Festival to Phostos? No. Why would we? Every day we trade. Festivals do not relate to the Aspects. A festival is what happens when the fleet returns, and the fleet’s return creates stories in Selyria and Helesseia’s names, stories of Ilyra and Phostos, but the festival is for the fleet and its sailors!”

Or not.

Mirossa swam back to the shallow end, fixing Dash with a look. “You ask but you don’t like the answers. Or, do you smile now? I cannot tell.”

“I did suggest we give the questions a rest a while back, if you do recall,” Rarity said with a weary sigh. “This is why I take Fluttershy to the spa and not you, dear.”

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with making conversation, really,” said Fluttershy, shrugging.

“I’m not not smiling,” Dash retorted, though she felt her snout frumple even as she said it. “I’m not angry anyway, I just don’t get you guys.” She shook her head and looked to Fluttershy for support, for anything, but the other pegasus looked as helpless as Dash felt that moment. Something annoyed Dash still, and she didn’t know what.

Or maybe that was a lie, and she did know why. Maybe she’d already figured it out, and it had nothing to do with all the little differences she kept poking at. It wasn’t about how different the buildings here were, it wasn’t about feather paint or jewellery. She’d had a thought earlier today when she flew over the docks, and now it returned.

“It’s just like you guys have nothing in common,” said Dash. “The peryton in Orto were way different.”

She waited for Rarity to protest that, not so much because she thought the unicorn would disagree, but because Rarity clearly wanted silence. If Rarity tried to suggest that maybe this was like fashion—that it was ‘just like Canterlot and Manehatten differing in fashion styles’—Rainbow Dash had her answer ready: To her it was more like snickersnouts and geese than it was one dress and, well, another dress.

Rarity didn’t protest at all. The unicorn simply watched, waited with interest now.

“I wish we could’ve stayed in Orto longer,” said Fluttershy at length. “The feather painting looked fun, really, and they all seemed like one big, happy family, in a way. Um, well. I mean, maybe we could’ve stayed together, or not been at the middle of the festival, but I’d—”

“Exactly!” said Dash. “They were all happy and nice, not at all grumpy like the Dockmistress, or the doe who made us pay extra for this place! I don’t know, it just feels like the peryton here don’t care about people as much as they did in Orto.”

“Mm, or maybe you’re disappointed with the peryton here because they don’t hang at your every move, and that they don’t fawn over us simply because we walk down the street,” said Rarity.

“Yeah yeah,” Dash muttered, waving the comment off with a wing, spraying water in Rarity’s general direction. “Like you didn’t like being the centre of attention in Orto.”

“Why would you think that?” Mirossa asked.

“What?” Dash asked, and one look at Mirossa taught her what went for indignant in peryton body language, her neck pulled back and her eyes in a squint.

“I don’t know too much about Orto. It is not my city, but why would you think we of Stagrum do not care about each other?” She scowled. “That is simply not true!”

“I didn’t say you don’t care, jeez—” Dash said.

“Actually, you did,” Fluttershy said, her ears splayed.

“—and how can you say you don’t know about Orto?” Dash continued. “That’s exactly what I don’t understand! Just before we left, you were puffing your chest out over how you’re making the bronze bits for all of Perytonia! Aren’t they part of Perytonia?”

“Of course they are, and of course I know of Orto!”

“Yeah, duh,” said Dash. “You’re neighbours, how can you not? But if you know them, why aren’t you more like them? Why aren’t you guys friends?” Dash asked.

“Friends? We are different cities!”

“So what’s wrong with the other cities?”

“Nothing! Just like there is nothing wrong with how we care about one another here in Stagrum! We have our families, and we love them. We have our House, and we love them too—though I don’t have one yet,” she said, gesturing at the silver adorning her antlers. “When I find those who will have me, I will bond with those I work with, like wagon-teams who bond in love, like those who find each other under Ilyra at sea. I don’t understand why this is difficult, clearly you love your own House or whatever you call it, if you are travelling this far for them!”

“Fine!” Dash snapped. “I get it, I didn’t mean it like that!” She rolled her eyes and sank down into the water until just her ears and eyes poked out.

“We don’t actually have Houses,” said Rarity, gracing the doe with a smile. “We are on a diplomatic mission for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in Canterlot. I don’t think it’s quite the same.”

“So, the markings on your flanks, they are not House identifiers?” Mirossa asked, blinking.

Dash’s sigh blew bubbles. She poked the tip of her muzzle out of the water, her voice distorted. “No, they’re cutie marks.”

“A reflection of our special talents,” Rarity added, raising one of her forelegs out from the water. “We can give you the short version on our way back to our rooms. We’re expecting that letter from the Dockmistress, and hopefully one with good news about the road to this Ephydoera place.”

Another slam of the door from the other side of the wall. Dash looked at the wall as though she could see through it, but a moment later, it was all quiet again. Perhaps the bath-house’s opening hours were almost over. Rarity must have reached the same conclusion.

“I think I am about as clean as I am likely to get. Shall we dry up, girls?”

Fluttershy had even managed to get some of her winglets tangled with her coverts, and the less said about her secondaries the better. She lay on one of the beds with her mane and tail wrapped in towels for a second round of drying, and Rainbow Dash sat at her side, nudging at feathers with her muzzle. She hadn’t even done anything yet, not sure where to start. Dash sighed, receiving a blush and an apologetic glance from the wings’ owner, who managed both to guess the source of Dash’s exasperation, and to listen to Rarity rather more attentively than Dash herself.

Dash grabbed another bite of the yellow paste-balls on the plate they shared between them. Mirossa’s mom could really cook. Whatever this spiced vegetable mush was, it tasted delicious. She wiped her muzzle thoroughly on the bed sheets when Rarity wasn’t looking, and got to work.

“—so since Mirossa so kindly offered to take me back to market, I was hoping we could all go together tomorrow,” Rarity said, levitating up one of the new dresses-in-making, giving it a critical look before she went to work with her needle again. “That is, if you’re willing to model again, and if you both agree. We’d be delaying our departure from Stagrum for a day, too.”

“I think that’d be… nice,” said Fluttershy. “Another day to rest would be good for all of us. And of course I’ll help, especially if we could do it when there aren’t quite as many people.” She spread her wing a little more when Dash poked her in the side. They’d long since stopped needing to talk while doing this.

“People are rather the point of this,” Rarity said. “Though… I suppose we can try to avoid the worst of it,” she continued in a softer tone. “If only because I’m thinking of heavier fabrics this time. It’d be cruel to ask you to model in the midday sun if I’m using anything more than a single layer of cotton.”

Rarity sighed and folded the dress again, rooting around in the supply chest at her side. “This would be a lot easier if Naressa or Mirossa could tell me what sort of reception to expect.”

“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy said. “They don’t really seem to understand what dresses or even clothes are about, so I guess we’ll just have to see. Maybe we could show Naressa the dresses as they are and ask her what she thinks?”

“Perhaps before we leave tomorrow,” Rarity replied around a few pins between her lips. “Even if she thought they were awful, she’s just one peryton, but anything is better than no reaction at all, as I gather you received in Orto. Don’t get me wrong, darling, I hardly expect to spark a fashion revolution, but...” She sighed again, louder this time, lapsing into silence having offered no alternative, and it was all Dash could think that Rarity hoped for exactly that.

Rainbow Dash ran her muzzle between Fluttershy’s primaries all in turn, giving the obstinate ones a little tug. Fluttershy did a good job of holding her wing straight, as she always did. What was it Rarity had said, days ago? While they waited for the other pegasus at the cliffs, she’d said something about it being weird for Rainbow Dash to help Fluttershy out with her preening.

Well, what did Rarity expect? Fluttershy was terrible at it. Probably. Besides, other pegasi helped each other out all the time. Also probably. Dash grabbed another mouthful of food and cleaned her muzzle again.

Granted, she didn’t actually know of any other grown pegasi who preened each other, but she couldn’t remember asking anyone either, and what she didn’t know might as well be true as it was untrue, so, whatever.

“Clearly they have the capacity to communicate through fashion already,” Rarity mused. “And a well-made outfit can say just as much, if not more than any jewel-headdress. It makes me wonder if the feather-paints in Orto were a language of their own.”

When Dash went for another snack, she could see below Fluttershy’s wing that Rarity held an assortment of antler-jewellery in her magic. With pursed lips, the unicorn slipped a simple silver ring with a loose chain onto her horn.

“Maybe,” said Fluttershy. “But I don’t know what they could be trying to say by rolling around in colours.” She giggled and shook her head before gesturing to the jewellery Rarity toyed with. “Do you know what the jewellery you bought ‘means’?” She shifted where she sat, but settled down when Dash made a wordless noise of protest.

“Oh, yes,” Rarity said airily. “I asked Mirossa about it while you were getting our food. They have no meaning beyond signifying a connection to Daros and Phostos. If Phostos is the Aspect of fair trades and promises, Daros I believe is the Aspect of adventure and such. Quite fitting if we are going to be trekking along the road for another week.” She shook her head and her smile waned. Almost as an afterthought, she magicked her jewellery, the dress, and one of the food platters all over to the other bed—claimed as her workbench—and lay down to continue her work while eating.

“You really should try the kelp cakes,” said Fluttershy. “Naressa’s kelp cakes are really good. I didn’t like the ones they had in Orto, but these are delicious. I think it’s the sea salt.”

“Darling, when I say the kelp cakes made me ill, I am not trying to be dramatic. I mean just that,” said Rarity, grabbing a plate of some clear jelly-like things with leaves inside. “They really did not agree with me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Fluttershy, her wings closing on reflex. Dash saw it coming, though, wedging a hoof under Fluttershy’s wing, causing the other pegasus to yelp and give another muttered sorry while Dash continued her work uninterrupted. Rarity, on the other hoof, had made all of two stitches before she put her work away again.

“I also did some thinking,” Rarity said.

Rainbow Dash didn’t look up. She tugged at the last of Fluttershy’s secondaries to make it lie right, then pulled back to assess her work. It hadn’t been as bad as she’d initially thought. Now she hesitated. She didn’t strictly have to keep going, and there was little cleaning to be done after their bath, but on a whim, she leaned in closer to Fluttershy’s axillaries.

The feathers closest to her body looked fine, but it didn’t hurt to make sure. She didn’t mind. Dash bit onto the soft, downy feathers and gently arranged them one by one. Fluttershy glanced over her shoulder and smiled, the towelled bundle of her tail flopping over to touch against one of Dash’s legs.

“Oh! Um, sorry, you said you had done some thinking?” Fluttershy asked, turning to Rarity again.

“About what we all discussed at the baths, yes,” said Rarity. “Or rather, what Rainbow Dash had said, and I agree with some of it, even though I feel you were a little rough with Mirossa.”

Dash snorted. The hot air against her wing’s base made Fluttershy eep, and Dash rose to stand on the bed, stepping over her to sit between Fluttershy and the wall. “Other wing,” she said. “And yeah, I know, I get it, I was hard on her, and she’s just a kid,” Dash admitted, feeling her cheeks heat up. “I feel bad about it, okay? Happy?”

“Why would I be happy about that?” asked Rarity, frowning. “I’m not trying to attack you, dear, I just meant to say that I thought about it, and I find it a little strange how they barely travel between the cities, and it’s only to trade. They don’t seem to mix as much as we ponies do. We have pegasi, unicorns and earth ponies who all travel and mingle with each other as they wish.”

“Mhm,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Sure, there are exceptions, like Cloudsdale, but even there—look at your mother, Fluttershy! She’s an earth pony living in Cloudsdale. How does the prince, princess—head consul or whatever they called them—keep this place functioning if they don’t wish to be kept together?”

“I think it’s even more strange that they don’t seem to know much about each other, either. Or, not as much as I thought they would,” Fluttershy said. She sounded half asleep, sinking heavily down onto the bed when Rainbow Dash leaned in under her wing to triple-check some feathers. “Mh. Their leader is probably really good at their job to keep them all working together.”

“Are they, though?” Dash asked. She surfaced, letting go of Fluttershy’s wing for a moment and resting a hoof on Fluttershy’s side. “I don’t know if they do work together. The Dockmistress wanted the sigil for herself, like she didn’t want us to take it to this Cotronna place. What’s up with that?”

Rarity huffed and nodded. “Can you imagine some foreign diplomat visiting Ponyville and inviting Mayor Mare to discuss foreign affairs without consulting the Princesses? These are national matters!”

“Mm, I’m sure she just didn’t understand what we meant. It must’ve been a misunderstanding,” said Fluttershy, yawning.

“I don’t know,” Dash said. “They’re just… really different from each other.” She poked Fluttershy above the base of her wing, prompting her to furl it, the other pegasus folding her wing with exacting care and a tired smile. Licking her lips, Dash lay down at the foot of the bed to spread her own wings and start preening them, too. She was five seconds in when she paused.

“Hey, Fluttershy, think you can do me?”

Fluttershy blinked heavily, rubbing at her eyes. “I’m sorry?”

“Wings,” Dash said. “I think I lost a few feathers playing in the sea, can you check?”

“Oh. Of course,” said Fluttershy, and though there was a note of hesitance in her voice, Fluttershy scooted over without protest. It wasn’t unfair to ask a favour for a favour, of course, but Rainbow Dash hadn’t really thought to ask her before. It wouldn’t hurt to teach her if she really was that bad at preening.

“Just tell me how bad it looks towards the back. I can’t see those feathers, I’d have to feel my way,” Dash said.

“Do you need a mirror, dear?” asked Rarity.

“Oh, no, it’s alright, I got it,” said Fluttershy before Dash could protest. “It’s not all that bad. The only ones missing should grow back, but I think… these are a little skewed. I’ll get it.”

Rainbow Dash nodded and stretched her forelegs out ahead of her, yawning. “Cool, thanks. Hey, Rarity, can you pass me a plate—” she began, only to be interrupted by a knock on the door.

Rarity raised a brow. “At this hour? A few more minutes and we might have been asleep, hmh.”

“Door’s open,” Dash called, having no desire to wrestle with the sliding door. Besides, she didn’t even know if it could be locked. It slid open heedless of her musings revealing a peryton doe’s head, and Dash needed a moment to recognise Naressa from just her head markings and her jewellery. She thrust a folded sheet of thick paper ahead of her.

“I did not mean to interrupt or wake, but a note arrived for you, and it looks to be important. I thought you might appreciate it,” she said, letting Rarity take it from her. “Was your meal to your tastes?”

“It tasted wonderful, thank you ever so much,” said Fluttershy, poking her head over Dash’s wing. “If you don’t mind me asking, what was the sweet yellow paste?”

“Sweetened rutabaga with my own blend of spices.” Naressa beamed. “I am pleased.”

“Really liked the spongy things, too. Thanks!” Dash said.

“And these,” said Rarity, nodding at the plate that held the last of the jelly-like treats she favoured, smiling only until she opened the letter. “Ah yes. Could we ask one more favour of you?”

Naressa tilted her head. “I owe you still, twice for the kindnesses you have bestowed upon my daughter.”

Rarity held up the letter and sighed. “We can’t understand your letters. Would you read this for us?”

Naressa nodded and took the letter back, unfolding the brownish paper. She stepped inside the room proper and closed the door behind her before she looked at the note.

“Ah, so. It says, ‘the Bent Feathers have received and give in fair trade to the Dockmistress Ouressia of Stagrum words neither secret nor rare, nor knowledge gathered upon request.’ This is a common way to open a letter. Its pride establishes the value of the content. I explain this because my daughter tells me you find many things strange—I hope you do not think I pry.”

Rainbow Dash nodded along, while Fluttershy nuzzled in between her feathers. She’d been working on the same feathers for a good half minute now, mostly just smoothing them out.

“You can’t be that gentle,” Dash whispered. “Use your teeth if you have to, come on.”

“Sorry,” Fluttershy returned, barely audible to Dash’s ears. A second later, Dash felt a tug at her feathers.

“Not at all, nothing in that letter is secret,” said Rarity. “In fact, we don’t know much about these ‘Bent Feather’ peryton at all except that the Dockmistress suggested they might know more about the roads. What do you know of them?”

Naressa gave a small, hesitant nod. “I know some. If they are shrouded in Kholarys’ veil of secrets, it is only because none have cause to see them much. They are honest, but they are also rootless. They travel. Since I run an establishment and offer beds for when they visit our city, I see them more than most, and as of late, I have had cause to need to learn more.” She frowned ever so slightly, staring past the letter now.

“Mirossa has taken an interest in them.” She added, shook her head. “That is not what we talk of now. I will continue reading this letter.”

“Where are they from?” asked Fluttershy, pushing Rainbow Dash’s wing away for a moment. Dash frowned and let the wing stay exactly where Fluttershy left it, waiting.

Naressa slowly let out the breath she’d taken, her brow furrowed. “They are from all the cities. The last one I saw had the bearing of a doe from Ephydoera, and Mirossa was very taken with her.” She smiled and shook her head, then cleared her throat. “So, the letter says the following. ‘This Bent Feather relates its own story of words as understood over the past five hundred suns, that the path by land from Stagrum to Ephydoera returns safe, but that the path through the highlands from Vauhorn to Ephydoera is travelled by no single wagon-team for the loss of cargo.”

The doe frowned, lowering the letter again. “While this is business between Ephydoera and Vauhorn, I do not like reading this.”

“So there is, in fact, trouble of some sort,” said Rarity, looking none too pleased.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. The letter could be poetry for all she cared as long as it told them exactly what was up. She waited for Naressa to go on, glancing back at Fluttershy when the other pegasus went back to finishing up her first wing, starting on the other with more enthusiasm than Dash had expected—and her right wing’s feathers were well in order.

“It explains,” said Naressa. “‘Two wagon-teams have returned without their cargo, one in fall, one at the onset of first summer. For payment offered, this Bent Feather shares how the Bent Feathers relate: Twice, Vauhorn has asked the Bent Feathers’ help. Two times, the Bent Feathers have turned to Ephydoera to suggest they make safe this path. Twelve times, Ephydoeran flights have patrolled the road in the past five hundred suns, and nothing has been found.’”

“So my understanding is that someone is waylaying wagons between these two cities, stealing their wares?” Rarity asked. “And that these Bent Feathers have asked one of the cities to solve it?”

Naressa nodded. “None of what you say is false. There is a note at the end, in the same writing, but hastily added. I suggests that if yours is a flock carrying no great value, they suggest the path is safe, but with no promise. They also supply what is known to all—that eight stele dedicated to Selyria guide the path to Ephydoera from our town of Stagrum. The letter ends.”

Dash furled her wing, and Fluttershy made a startled noise. Dash flashed her a smile, shaking her head at the confused pegasus. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll fix the rest later.”

“So, if these statues are a day apart, that means that it is even further to this town of Ephydoera than it was between Orto and Stagrum,” said Rarity. She sighed and rolled onto her side with one foreleg in the air. “No ships, and the road is both long and potentially dangerous further ahead.”

“If you hurry, you will make it to Ephydoera before the seven suns of the storm,” said Naressa, showing teeth in a wide smile. “That is something to be grateful for. If not, you are welcome to stay here.”

“It might be, if we knew what that was,” said Fluttershy, lying down at Dash’s side now. Dash pushed the plate of food closer to her. “I think someone mentioned it before,” Fluttershy added. “Is that, um—that’s not a week full of… storms, is it?”

“Storms happen now and then in summer, dry or wet,” said Naressa. “You cannot guard yourself against the threat, but the seven suns of the storm is the midsummer small-week wherein one such storm will happen without fail. The storm does not last the week, but it is always the fiercest one of the year. The seven suns of the storm separate first summer from second summer, a time during which all kin with good sense will be ready to run indoors. If you wish to be sure to make it to Ephydoera, you need to make good speed. The seven suns begin in a week and two days, ten suns from now.”

“Hey, I’m down with a storm,” Dash said, but a quick look told her that her friends were rather less enthusiastic about the prospect. Fluttershy’s ears wilted, and Rarity, well, the unicorn still lay stretched out on the bed staring straight up at the ceiling as she had since the prospect of more travel had been brought up.

Fluttershy chewed her bottom lip, peering over at the dejected unicorn on the bed opposite. “Rarity? If the storm is at least ten days away, and Ephydoera is only a week from here, we still have enough time to try to show them your dresses tomorrow. We don’t have to leave until the day after tomorrow, just like we planned.”

“Yes, yes, I know,” Rarity told the ceiling, sighing deeply, then again when she apparently decided that her first sigh wasn’t loud enough.

“I know what could make this next trip way better, though,” said Dash, leaning over the edge of the bed to fetch her saddlebags. She knew she had a small bag of gems in it, somewhere. “You really know how to make food. D’you think you could make us some more food for the road for when we leave? Maybe some smaller portions?”

“That’s a good idea,” said Fluttershy, nodding. She gave the supine unicorn an encouraging smile. “Having something good to eat is a nice start, isn’t it?”

Rarity flopped over onto her side again, facing both the ponies and a clearly very confused peryton. “Very well. If I must trek into the jaws a tempest, I shall do so on a full stomach.” She frowned and sat upright, her demeanour brightening in an instant as she pointed to the last remaining treat on her own plate. “Oh! And if you could make sure to pack an extra helping or ten of these jellied herb items, that would be wonderful, thank you. How much do we owe you?”

“I will make sure that this is done, and that you have all you may need if you will travel in a day’s time, yes,” said Naressa, blinking. She folded the letter she’d held on to all the while, putting it on a shelf near the door. When Dash finally pulled the gem pouch out of her saddlebags, the doe shook her head. “I will ask no more of you, you have paid more than you must already, and I have delayed your rest enough.”

Naressa tilted her head forwards in a small bow and departed, leaving the three ponies alone again, and Rarity rooted around in her supply chest before the door had even fully closed as though she hadn’t been in the throes of her own dramatics seconds prior.

“Okay, so… we’re not worried about the walking any more?” Dash asked, cocking a brow.

“Hm? Oh, by all means, I don’t look forward to it,” said Rarity, waving a hoof in Dash’s general direction. “I’ve much work to do if I am to make another set of dresses, however, even if I use the old ones as a base. Would one of you lend me a hoof, please?”

“Hey, whatever works,” said Dash, giggling under her breath while Fluttershy hopped off the bed and went over to help. Dash spread her wings and leaned back to see if there was anything more to be done, but her feathers were all clean, aligned and neatly ordered after Fluttershy’s little check-up. They must not’ve needed much care after all.

Chapter 8

I write this having finished the dresses for tomorrow’s sortie. It is late, and I have kept both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash up past sensible hours—Rainbow to fit her more complex dress, Fluttershy to help me with some of the stitches. I have high hopes that even if the peryton do not approve of these dresses, I shall get some opinions. I emphasised one of the hemlines simply to provoke a response. This time, at least, I shall be present to see how they feel about my creations.

I try not to think on how I may have had my last bath in a while now. It is getting late, and though I’ve worked past bedtime, I prefer the familiar exhaustion of a job well done to the more physical challenges as of late. My hooves still ache from the days spent on the road, and I remain convinced that unicorn hooves were not made for such things.

-R

“No, no, the neck wrap goes on other way,” said Rarity, letting out an exasperated sigh.

“It fits this way, too,” Dash protested, straining to look down right at her own neck. The cloth choker with its weird little tie glowed with Rarity’s magic, shifting until the tie rested at the back of her neck instead.

“Like so. The knot isn’t meant to show. There’s a small decorative gem set in the front, you see? It’s the exact green of the Myrtellan scarves.”

“Sure,” said Dash. Instead of pointing out that Rarity had been the one to help her into her dress, and that the frazzled unicorn herself had tied the thing around her neck, Dash went for another sip of water and a bite of fried whatever-it-was with sauce. Their late morning meal might as well be called lunch, owing to a serious case of oversleeping. Already the sun was high in the sky outside, and the room was stifling hot, the dress hotter.

“There. Perfect,” said Rarity, wiping her forehead. She stepped back, her eyes sweeping over Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy each in turn, the latter of the two silent for the moment. Dash noticed Fluttershy’s head kept turning to the shuttered window through which the muted din of Stagrum penetrated with ease.

The unceasing hum was drowned out for a second by a knock on their door, followed immediately by Mirossa sliding the door open with her magic. “We should leave soon,” said the young doe. “This is what I told you long ago. If we wait much longer, the push towards the markets will be too much. The streets will be busy.”

“Are the streets ever not busy?” Dash asked, tilting her head.

“Yes. They are not busy now. You have not seen what I think are busy streets,” Mirossa retorted, deadpan. She tapped a hoof on the ground anxiously and leaned against the doorway while Rarity quickly drug a comb through her mane. A moment later, she looked something like her usual self rather than a pony who had been up half the night making another pair of dresses. And again—

“Nothing for yourself this time either, huh?” Dash asked, looking around the mess of fabrics and tools still covering one of the beds. She half expected to find a third dress somewhere amidst the small bolts and scissors.

“No dear, we’ve been through this,” Rarity replied, trotting over to the washbasin near the vanity. She dabbed at her cheeks with a wet cloth. “I’m trying to see if we can create fashion that will interest these peryton. They have wings, and so do you—I do not.”

“Maybe,” said Fluttershy, the other pegasus finally stirring. “But you have a horn, a lot like their antlers. It’s not exactly the same, but we don’t have either of those, anyway. We don’t know that they’re very worried about flying in dresses, so maybe wing-holes aren’t all that important to them.”

Rarity pursed her lips, nodding at that. “Perhaps, but we’ve hardly gotten comment from the peryton themselves about that, and until we do—”

“When I say busy streets,” Mirossa interjected. “I mean busy streets.”

Rarity frowned at the interruption, turning to face Mirossa, but it lasted only a second. “Oh,” she said, her brows raised. “I suppose it is rather silly to talk about what peryton want and what they do not when we might as well ask.”

The unicorn stepped up to Rainbow Dash, tugging at the side of the dress. “Mirossa, darling; what do you think? Do these dresses pique your curiosity?”

“Eh, I liked the other ones better,” said Rainbow Dash. She took a step away from Rarity, glancing back over her own flank. The cotton stuff around her barrel and the flared skirt didn’t scream awesome, but at least hers left her forelegs and her chest bare unlike Fluttershy’s more cumbersome full dress. Fluttershy smiled at her as though she’d read her thoughts, spreading and settling her wings on her back. Dash fanned her own sides with her feathers.

“‘Like’,” was all Mirossa said after an entirely too long pause for thought. Dash would’ve liked to say that she knew Mirossa tried, that her eyes simply glazed over when she tried to comment on fashion in the same way Dash’s did when Twilight spoke of maths or something—but there wasn’t even that. The young doe stared through Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

“Yes,” said Rarity. “I don’t expect comment on the stitches or the balance of the dress, but do you like the allowance for the wings, or would something that accentuated your antlers make more sense?”

Mirossa blinked. “It is an ornament that one wears?”

Rainbow Dash raised a brow and looked over at Fluttershy. Fluttershy shrugged and stared back.

Rarity nodded slowly, with all the patience in the world, her voice a tad more flat. “In a sense, I suppose they are ornaments, yes. Like we discussed with your antler-wear. I used the Myrtellan colours of forest green, aquamarine, scarlet and what we call royal purple in Equestria, all because I didn’t have the presence of mind to ask you if there are colours more appropriate for Phostos. Would this be better if I had the right colours?”

Mirossa, shook her head slightly. “I do not think so? In the stories, Phostos favours silver and the amethysts where possible, but I do not understand how this would change this dress-thing.”

“But you know about scarves,” Fluttershy suggested, and as she continued, Rarity levitated out one of the thin Ortosian scarves, and Fluttershy nodded at Rarity. “Those ones, yes. They wear these scarves in Orto, scarves that they use to… well, I really don’t know what they do for Myrtella, but they really seem to like them.”

Mirossa nodded quickly. “Because then, the point of the scarf is their colours and what they reference, in the same manner that our jewellery reference other Aspects.” She pointed to Fluttershy, tilting her head as she did so. “What you wear is a complicated riot of angles and loops. Its point is not the colour—or if it is, then… what opinion can I have of a very strange Myrtellan scarf? You stand with Myrtellan stories. You speak of yourself. What do my thoughts on it matter? If it had carried symbols that mean something to me, then that would be its meaning, but it does not.”

Rarity drew a slow, audible breath through her snout, closing her eyes for a second. The exhale filled the room with its sigh. Mirossa pushed off the wall to stand upright, fidgeting. Fluttershy cleared her throat, and Dash tapped a hoof against the floorboards, punctuating the silence.

It wasn’t that Rainbow Dash didn’t like dresses, fashion and all that stuff. She’d just never had the passion for it, never made a lot of room for it in her mind. Not for wearing stuff, not for caring about it. Her interactions with clothes were by and large limited to where her life collided with Rarity—which was a fair bit, and that was fine. Sure, sometimes she fell asleep when Rarity wanted to talk about a cool outfit rather than put it on and just go, but whatever. By and large, Rainbow Dash thought that was about as little as any pony could care about clothes, that she was the best at caring the least.

Mirossa simply looked lost, like rather than not understand the issue or the question, she didn’t understand that there was a question at all.

“Well, we best get moving before the streets become ‘busy’, I suppose,” said Rarity at length. She slipped on the saddlebags she’d prepared earlier. “Hopefully we can get a variety of different perspectives if we find somewhere to showcase these dresses at the market. Any perspectives at all.”

Rationally, Rainbow Dash knew that there weren’t that many of them. The streets were narrow, and all the peryton around were taller than her—with the exception of children who somehow managed not to get trampled. For all she knew, there were only a dozen or so peryton in all of Stagrum, they just walked in tight formation around them, hiding the rest of the city.

Probably not, sure, but it wasn’t as though she could fly up and check. She couldn’t spread her wings without hitting someone else, the peryton of Stagrum stealing away all the air and any semblance of wind. It’d been uncomfortably hot ever since she stepped out into the daylight.

“It’s getting a little busy,” Mirossa said over the chaos of infinite peryton chatting as they walked. “The first shift at the docks is heading into the city, and those who live in the inner city are beginning to head to market. Keep to the right side of the road.”

“A little busy,” Fluttershy replied with a nervous glance at the stream of peryton walking in the opposite direction.

“Yes,” said Mirossa, looking back over her shoulder to give the pegasus a blank look. “There is still room to move. This is fine.”

Fluttershy looked like she very much disagreed with that singular use of the word ‘fine’, but didn’t protest. Dash busied herself looking at all the weird stuff the peryton wore. Chains hanging around the base of their wings, glittering with small gemstones. Loops and rings around their tails, like Applejack’s tail bands except shiny—and shiny was cool.

Mirossa took them forward and left, through an even narrower street where they had to walk single file for a moment, and then back to a street wide by comparison only. On a street corner stood a large stag with a booming voice. “Raven from Orto has arrived, and it speaks: The last trade-ship is safely in Orto’s harbour, none are wounded, all are safe! Raven from Orto!”

The peryton who walked near cheered, some waving a foreleg in the air as they passed, the speaker repeating the message a few more times, and just before they passed out of earshot, Rainbow Dash saw the stag levitate up another scroll. “Raven from Cotronna,” he said, passing out of view.

“What’s the deal with that?” Dash asked.

“The ‘deal’? With what?” asked Mirossa from the front.

“The guy on the corner shouting, reading… letters?” Dash said. Mirossa looked back as though she could see past the crowd to what Dash meant, but clearly she knew.

“The criers’ guild,” Mirossa said, taking a right turn, now onto the broadest street yet, still crowded. “They copy all that arrives by letter and spread it in service of the city. If an opinion is needed, they will tell Stagrum to attend. If news arrive, they will spread it. Everything that is important, they will share it.”

“That’s certainly one way to get your news,” Rarity commented, frowning ever so slightly. “I can’t imagine everyone will hear everything important in such a way, though.”

Mirossa laughed, a single, long, drawn out caw. “If you wish to hear all that there is, you go to the Dockmistress’ raven-house where we visited, I guess, but who has time for that? You hear some, you talk to others, and they hear some, and together you hear much. You trade words and news.”

“I still think I personally prefer reading my news, thank you,” said Rarity with a smile at Fluttershy. “Wouldn’t you agree, dear?”

Fluttershy made a vague noise of agreement, a hum accompanied by a faint smile in return.

Now Rainbow Dash was the one who frowned. The energy Fluttershy found to match the challenge of the city yesterday and the glow surrounding her in the evening as though the sea-creatures had worked some magic on her, it had all evaporated. Fluttershy had gone more quiet than usual ever since they left the Hymn—or perhaps more accurately, she’d gone exactly as quiet as Dash had expected her to in the face of this many people.

“You call it a trade, though,” said Rarity. Dash blinked. It took her a moment to realise they’d been talking. “Does that mean you would pay someone to tell you the latest news?” the unicorn added.

Mirossa shrugged, turning around to walk backwards, somehow without colliding with anyone. “Yes? No? The word ‘pay’ means so little and so much. If you ask a stranger or one of another House to share with you all news, you will trade them something. If you ask a friend to share with you what they have heard, you will also trade them, but you use that word like trade and greed are the one and the same. A trade of words is a trade, too. It is not about greed, but about fairness.”

Rarity furrowed her brow. “Hmh. I… will admit that I had not thought of that.”

“We have,” Mirossa replied, shrugging. Dash couldn’t help but grin at her tone, but another voice drifted in even as Rarity and Mirossa went on talking about trading and whatever. They passed by a small pocket by the streetside, like a tidal pool to the rushing waters of the street itself. On top of a bench stood a doe with a scroll, just like the crier they’d passed earlier—but here, in a little space of calm, peryton paused to listen rather than rush by.

“—she turned, and found behind her not a soul. Vestrus had pondered alone for days on end. Would Vestrus wander, he would wander alone too, and this he would not brook—”

Whatever else she said, Dash couldn’t hear, indistinct chatter overtaking and drowning out the solitary voice just a few steps further on. Dash had no idea how random stories fit into the criers sharing news from other cities, and everything supposedly important, but both Mirossa and Rarity seemed engrossed in a conversation of their own. She shrugged and tried to get a better look at the buildings at their sides.

At some point the tall three- or even four-story buildings had shrunk away, but she couldn’t get a good look at what was going on, some huge stag or doe always in the way. The most she could tell for sure was that the cobblestones under her hooves were worn and cracked. Maybe they had always been, but the space around her felt airier and more open, crowd notwithstanding. It made her want to fly.

“Heh, I feel bad that we’re missing some weeks of the summer vacation,” Dash said.

“Hm? How do you mean?” Fluttershy looked up, her ears the tiniest bit more perked.

“Scoots has been looking forward to flying lessons all spring,” Dash said, shaking her head. “I’m gonna have to make it up to her.

“I think she’d appreciate that a lot, but I’m sure she understands, too,” Fluttershy replied, smiling faintly.

“Maybe, but before we left, AJ was getting on my case because I cancelled on her once. Scoots told Apple Bloom, and Apple Bloom told Applejack.” Dash rolled her eyes.

Fluttershy shook her head. “Applejack knows you care about all your friends. Even if she was a little disappointed in you, I’m sure she didn’t mean it like that. And besides, Scootaloo would probably be sad if she heard Applejack said anything, because I know she knows you’ll help like you said. Applejack too, really.”

“Yeah, well, you weren’t there. You didn’t hear Applejack,” Dash retorted.

“Was this two days before we left? Before Applejack finally got that reply letter from Apple Fritter?” Fluttershy asking, cocking her head. “She was a little angry when she thought none of her family could take care of her duties while she was gone.”

“Yeah, I guess she had a pretty crummy day,” Dash admitted, chuckling. Fluttershy was right, of course, and the memory wasn’t half as annoying, now. It helped that Fluttershy smiled back at her, but just as Dash was about to comment on the annoying press of the crowd around them, she realised that it wasn’t half as bad as it’d been a moment ago. Rarity and Mirossa slowed down to a halt, and the peryton around them allowed for it. Finally, Rainbow Dash could stretch her wings out.

“Did you have any particular ideas on how we might do this?” Rarity asked, turning to Mirossa.

“I do not understand what ‘this’ is,” Mirossa replied, shaking her head. “But if you have something new to trade, you show it. An idea, wares, a promise or an act.”

Rarity lay her ears flat, deflating a tad. “You can’t possibly mean you expect me to start hawking my dresses as though I were selling apples.”

Mirossa stared blankly. “Do I not? Apples are known, even if they are rare, and so you do not need to show them—but I did have an idea. Do you remember Rohast?”

“I do,” said Rarity, nodding.

“Who?” Dash asked.

“A friend of Mirossa’s, we briefly ran into him at market yesterday while the two of you were bathing,” said Rarity, turning back to Mirossa. “He was very charming. What about him?”

Mirossa smiled at that and nodded. “It is perfect. We only visited the outer markets, but he rents a spot at the far markets, the innermost square of the Font. There, people expect to find the new. If there is such a Stagrumite as will understand your ‘dresses’, they will be there, and if we ask, he may trade us his spot for the day.”

“That is somewhere to start, at least,” said Rarity, smiling back at her. “Come, girls! Let’s find this ‘Font’ place.”

“Uh, okay,” said Dash, shrugging. She didn’t have much choice but to follow, and Fluttershy did the same, the other pegasus’s eyes flitting about the market much like Dash’s own. They walked for minutes that paired and doubled, left, right, left and right while Dash tried to ignore the growing heat. One portion of this ‘market’ place actually answered to the name, with peryton buying fruits and vegetables, with the occasional jewellery stand so large and elaborate it only needed a roof to be called a “boutique”. However familiar, it didn’t last. Crossing a broad and busy street not long after, suddenly there was only open space.

Here were carpets in a dizzying array of colours, shapes and patterns, upon which stood or sat peryton in lively discussion, but there was entirely too much noise for Dash to hear what any of them talked about. Soon after, they waited with a huge flock of peryton to cross another street, and passed into what Mirossa called the Font.

If the previous market-area existed as an apology for how cramped the rest of Stagrum was, with its open space and flat mats a perfect opposite to tall buildings and narrow streets, the Font provided a counterpoint to Dash’s growing annoyance with how samey the city was. Sure, most of the stuff around was just more stalls selling all kinds of strange stuff she didn’t recognise, but past a tall, painted wooden arc were also small gazebo-like structures neighbouring pavilions where peryton sang. A doe played on a bent guitar by plucking at the strings with her magic, and a stag posed while someone painted his coat gold.

At least Mirossa seemed to think that last one was weird. She stared while they passed him by, just like the others. For all the variety, the Font was every bit as busy as the rest of Stagrum. If the streets were rushing rivers, the markets were maelstroms of peryton walking every which way, and the Font especially was full of people wandering around staring at all the weirdness beyond the implied paths between the stalls and the performers.

“Rohast’s corner is here, this way,” said Mirossa, speeding up a little. Rarity uttered a wordless noise of protest, following after her, and Dash nudged Fluttershy ahead, the other pegasus nearly tripping over her longer dress in her haste. Past a stall with coloured globes of light, and another selling vegetables—why turnips were in this market of weirdness, Dash didn’t know—they came upon a small raised wooden platform upon which a stag danced.

There was no other word for it. The lithe brown stag, no larger than Mirossa and with feathers tipped rust red, leapt from his forelegs to his hind-claws. He rose up and pirouetted, then stretched out a his left foreleg and his right hindleg, his muzzle pointing skywards. Some peryton stopped to look for a while, while most rushed by, staring in passing, a massive audience with a dearth of attention and little patience.

“Rohast!” Mirossa called when the group drew up to the little platform of his miniature stage. In any other setting, perhaps her yell would’ve been distracting, but there was no calm to be found here in the first place. The stag met Mirossa’s eyes upside-down, supine for a moment on the floor before he rose and twirled around.

“Mirossa! Hi!” he said, one wing spread as he turned and twisted. Some of the watchers left. Another stopped to look. “And hello again, Rarity I think your name was? A meal together? Or you have found someone with interest in my dances?”

Mirossa cawed with mirth and shook her head. “Not now, and probably never. I need your spot!”

Rohast frowned. The smoothness of his moves broken, he trotted over to the edge of his stage and leaned down close to Mirossa. “You need my spot? What do you have? I did not think the markets were for you.”

“They are not,” said Mirossa, gesturing to the ponies with a hoof. “It is for them. You have met with Rarity, but she, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy have stranger ideas still. And, since you have not met him, this is Rohast.”

Rohast looked at Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy for the first time, his head at a tilt. While he looked curious enough, his eyes didn’t hold the same wonder that the Ortosians had. For all the weirdness of this place, that detail stuck out more than the Rohast’s neighbouring little stall trying to sell cabbages as though they were something special. Then again, he’d met Rarity, so he’d seen a pony before. That was probably it. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy said their hellos anyway.

“I have to say, I did not know you were a dancer,” said Rarity, smiling at him. “Yesterday, you said you were… ‘in trade’.”

“And I am,” said Rohast, smiling wide at her. He hopped off the stage with the rustle of chains hanging from his antlers, casually leaning against the woodwork while peryton walked past close by. “I hope some will wish to trade for what I offer. Perhaps some Head of House will see my capacity for inventing ways to move and hire me for it. Perhaps one will enjoy the particularity of my dance and trade for it, to have me dance at their House.” He shrugged. “It is worth trading for.”

“I’m sure you’ll find a… buyer?” Rarity asked more than she suggested. “Well, in time, regardless.” she smiled, and Mirossa let out a harsh cawing laugh.

“He will try for another three days before he gets it into his head that there is something else he wishes to do,” the doe said, grinning toothily.

“Either or both of those are true, but I appreciate anyone who believes in me,” said Rohast with a shrug, reaching out to give Mirossa a push. “How long?”

Mirossa looked at Rarity, who looked to her friends. Dash shrugged. How would she know how long Rarity wanted to try to… sell? Show her dresses? Dash herself looked over at Fluttershy for comment, but the pegasus had gone silent again, her eyes on the stage, now on the crowd rushing past.

“For as long as you can part with it, really,” said Rarity. She took a few steps around the stage as she thought. “Ah, there’s even a little shade and place for my bags. That belongs to you as well?”

“Yes. Without some place to take a break in the shade, this would be cruel,” said Rohast. “What do you have to offer in return?”

“I can—” Mirossa began to say, but Rarity cut her off, levitating a small dark gem out from her saddlebags.

“If you’ll take a gemstone, I’ll give you this. I have many larger ones, but I do not wish to offend,” she said.

Rohast frowned. “A gemstone. Hmh. Do you not have something more interesting? We are in the Font. Do you… ponies, was it? Do you have dances?”

“She is trading you for your spot,” said Mirossa, rolling her eyes. “Not your dances. The gem is enough for the season and more. Take it and never speak of it in Phostos’ stories.”

“One must eat,” said Rohast with a sigh. He brightened when he seized the gem in his magic, craning his neck forwards in a short bow. “Fair trade to you. Mirossa, are you staying with these friends of yours, or will you share a meal with me instead?”

Mirossa looked back and forth between the ponies and the stag, hesitant.

“We’ll be fine,” said Rarity, making a shooing motion with a hoof. “If you’ll come back a little later, that’d be lovely, but we’ll be fine.”

The doe nodded and smiled at that. “Then, Rohast will pay for food for the both of us, and I will see you later.” She gave Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy a long look, staring at the dresses they wore, her face unreadable. “Daros readies himself to hear of your ventures, at least. Good luck!”

With that, the two young peryton disappeared into the crowd, and both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy followed Rarity around the little platform, in between the cabbage booth and the little stage stood a simple shelter made from two steel rods and a tarp stretched between the stage and the rods. A little bit of shade. Rainbow Dash planted her flank on the wooden pallet-like thing placed in the rare and precious shadow, and a moment later, Fluttershy sunk down at her side with a heavy sigh.

“You got a stage, at least,” said Dash. She smiled at Rarity feeling a little better now that it was a touch cooler. “It’s almost as good as a catwalk.”

“Honestly, when I asked Mirossa if she expected me to show my dresses as though they were produce, I thought it might come to that,” Rarity admitted with a chuckle. “This is better than it could have been.”

“What’s the plan, anyway? What do want us to do?” Dash asked, glancing back at the little platform. “Just get up there and strut about, show off the dresses and see what happens?”

Rarity opened her saddlebags and the little traveler’s jug of water Naressa had given them, taking a sip before passing it along and answering.

“I think that’s the long and the short of it, yes. I don’t expect to sell any dresses. I hardly have the materials to make more than a few more dresses anyway.” She pursed her lips and shook her head. “It’s not about sales, it’s about showing what Equestrian fashion can be, about sharing.” Her smile transformed into something of a smirk as she added, “And perhaps a little bit about showing something of myself, too.”

“I hear you,” said Dash, grinning. “I’ve always known you like to show off, but it’s nice to hear you admit it.”

Rarity huffed and looked away. “Oh please, Rainbow Dash. Showing off is your territory. I am content with merely showing.”

The silence lasted all of three seconds before Rarity looked back at Dash and her completely flat expression. The unicorn giggled first, and Dash joined in.

“I just wish to see what they think of the dresses, that’s all,” Rarity said. “I still don’t quite understand this market of theirs, but people are looking, at least. I didn’t get a response at all in Orto, so anything, even harsh critique will be welcome. Are the two of you ready?”

“Sure,” said Dash. She got up and stretched out her legs. Modelling wasn’t exactly something she did often, but Rarity was right about Dash: Showing off didn’t really get old. She turned to Fluttershy, giving her a nudge and smiling at her.

Fluttershy had remained quiet all the while as Rarity and Rainbow Dash laughed, and she didn’t budge at Dash’s touch. She sat on the pallet’s edge, her head turned sideways looking across the nearest pathway. When the people moving to and fro allowed for the occasional gap, Dash saw another peryton across the path. A doe performed on another small wooden stage, though whether she was dancing or posing, Rainbow Dash couldn’t tell.

“Hey, time to wake up,” Dash said, chuckling. She touched a wing to Fluttershy’s side. “Let’s go.”

“I think I’ll, um, just sit here, if that’s okay?” said Fluttershy, her wings shifting just a touch to lie tight against her body.

Rainbow Dash blinked and tilted her head.

Rarity gasped. “Oh. Oh no, no, Fluttershy dear, I designed these dresses to be a pair! Rainbow Dash’s dress is heavier on the colours, but lighter on the fabric—they accentuate each other on display. What’s the matter, is it too hot? You could take off the outer skirt! I… it would ruin the composition, but…” she sucked in breath through clenched teeth. “Ruin it quite a lot, actually—”

“No,” said Fluttershy, shaking her head quickly. Finally she turned to look upon Rarity, her ears splayed. The pegasus sunk down on the pallet and sighed. “Or, well, yes, it’s very hot, actually. I should’ve told you sooner, but that’s not it. I just don’t think I can do it.”

Rarity frowned. “But surely something is the matter. You didn’t have any problems wearing the other dress I made during the festival. I’m not asking for dances, darling, just for some simple poses and to give these peryton a good look!”

Rainbow Dash reached up to scratch at one of her ears while Fluttershy leaned forward, the two speaking past Dash.

“I know that. That’s the problem. It’s different when you’re on a stage, when… when you’re asking people to look at you.” Fluttershy wrapped her wings about herself for a moment. “I’m sorry, Rarity. I just don’t think I can do it.” She stared at the ground, dejected.

Rarity sucked her teeth and grimaced, holding up a hoof. “What if—”

“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy muttered, her ears perilously flat against her head, and her eyes on her own forehooves on the ground, as clear a statement as Dash had ever seen her make.

“But if you don’t get up there, this entire trip will have all been for nothing!” said Rarity, gesturing to the platform while Fluttershy hung her head, mute. “You don’t even have to pose, or even look. You can close your eyes!”

“Rarity!” said Dash. “She’s not doing it. Just stop.”

“Sorry,” Fluttershy said again, looking away. Rainbow Dash rolled her shoulders in the ensuing silence, waiting. It didn’t take long for Rarity to let out another quiet sigh, walking over to Fluttershy to hug her around the neck briefly. The sound of the city around them became muted for a quiet moment.

“I’m the one who’s sorry, dear,” Rarity said. “It’s not right of me to put undue pressure on you.” She pulled back to look Fluttershy in the eye, smiling. “If you change your mind, I’ll of course be thrilled, but even if I did make the dresses as a pair, they can stand on their own.”

Fluttershy nodded, smiling back at the unicorn. “I’m really sorry, and I wish I could help.”

“Don’t be,” Rarity said. “There’s precisely nothing for you to be sorry about, and my dresses are entirely second to the well-being of my friends. Rainbow Dash, how about you?”

“Sure, I can strut my stuff for a bit. Or strut your stuff. Both I guess,” Dash said, grinning. She stood, dragging a wing along Fluttershy’s side as she did. Fluttershy reached out to touch back with her own, saying nothing. “Just want me to hop up there?”

Rarity shrugged, gesturing all around as though they could see the market in general rather than just the press of peryton around. “To all accounts, there’s no method to the madness of this place. I think there are some stairs in the back—”

Rainbow Dash spread her wings and flew up the snout-height platform in exactly two flaps.

“Or, you can fly,” said Rarity from below. “Now see if you can get their attention.” The unicorn stepped over to the mouth of the tiny backstage-alley space, biting her bottom lip as she scanned the crowds.

If there was ever a command Rainbow Dash loved, that’d be the one. Get their attention. Even if she only had an uncomfortably hot dress to work with rather than an open sky, she could work it. She strode up and down the wooden stage, striking a cool pose at the end, then flipped around and walked to the front again, rearing up to strike the exact pose Spitfire used on the cover of the 998’ Wonderbolts Calendar. It was a classic. Rarity apparently thought the same, impressed enough that she had to shield her eyes. Too much awesome had that effect, sometimes.

“Yes, that’s… wonderful,” said Rarity. “You keep doing, ah, that, and we’ll see if anyone has any comments on the dress eventually. Perhaps I can ask them a few questions.”

“Sure thing. I got a bunch of ideas for poses and moves,” said Dash.

She could no sooner forget a cool picture than she could forget a flight maneuver, and what most ponies didn’t know was that the Wonderbolts released three separate calendars for every year—and those were only the official ones.

Rainbow Dash lost track of her poses somewhere around the vintage calendars of 932, probably well before grandparents had been born. Maybe even her great-grandparents? She couldn’t remember. She’d been sidetracked by the realisation that she needed to ask Twilight some serious questions. Why were all the Wonderbolt stallions’ poses in the thirties nearly identical? Dash spread her wings and leaned to one side like Rarity had suggested—when? An hour ago?

Presently, Rarity sat with Fluttershy, the two talking in low tones while Rarity scribbled in her journal. Dash frowned as a thought—one she’d tried hard not to think about—crept up on her. Now she was annoyed.

Not by Fluttershy and Rarity talking while she strutted around. They’d even packed away Fluttershy’s dress, but Dash didn’t mind. Free attention might not feel as good as justified attention, but it was attention still. No, she found herself annoyed by something Rarity had said. She had said that Rainbow Dash pushed. The word returned, or stuck around. However she thought of it, she did think about it.

She could’ve tried to push Fluttershy to come along and model with her. It’d be more fun to be two about it. Everything was. She knew plenty of cool poses that required two ponies. While it wasn’t a big deal, she could have sided with Rarity.

Only, she didn’t. Of course she didn’t! Ten times out of ten, you did not push Fluttershy about this kind of stuff. Not when she put her hoof down for real, which was different from when she kind of put her hoof down.

So Rainbow Dash hadn’t ‘pushed’. Why was she thinking about it? Rainbow Dash made another slow walk down the stage.

Because sometimes she did want to push, and sometimes, she didn’t, and she’d never stopped to think why. The reason for this was simple enough: “Stopping” was not on Dash’s agenda any day of the week, and thinking, well. It wasn’t about being bad at it, she fancied, so much as disliking it when something came down to just thinking. Thinking about how to pull off a cool stunt? Great. Trying to think of something fun to do with Scootaloo when she got back home? Also great.

Thinking about why she thought what she thought? No thanks. Yet there she was, thinking about why she wanted Fluttershy to fly a cart across a brook. Thinking about why she wanted Fluttershy to try the silly bucking game in Las Pegasus, but didn’t feel a huge loss when Fluttershy hadn’t joined her on the silly little stage today.

Another turn. A slow walk to the inner portion of the stage. From this angle, she couldn’t see much of Fluttershy and Rarity, just the quill with which Rarity scribbled in her journal and a little bit of Fluttershy’s mane.

Because people watching Fluttershy didn’t matter. Because people watching Fluttershy wasn’t the point, and Fluttershy herself didn’t like that bit at all. Attention was the obstacle. Fluttershy being awesome despite obstacles, which may or may not be people watching, that was the point. If people were to watch, it was to understand how awesome Fluttershy was—and Fluttershy worked hard for her awesome. Rainbow Dash felt her snout frumple with… did it count as a realisation if you felt like you’d know a thing all your life, really? Probably not.

The sun crept towards the roofs of the buildings. From the stage, Dash had watched the Font and its chaos all day long until it no longer looked quite so… chaotic. It was just a market where people sold weird things that they didn’t sell in Equestria. Big deal. Just across from their borrowed stage, the dancer-or-peryton-living-statue doe from earlier had been replaced by a larger doe who sold wooden puzzles—and just below Dash’s own little spot, a group of peryton watched her move about. Dash posed on sheer automatics, flashing them a grin and receiving puzzled looks in return.

“Hey, Rarity,” Dash said, striking a particularly heroic pose, neck stretched out and a foreleg reaching for the sky. She’d probably done this one a hundred times now, but it was better than standing around like a mannequin.

“Yes, dear?” Rarity’s voice floated over.

“If you wanted to get some thoughts on the dress, I think now’s the time,” said Rainbow Dash. These particular peryton had been watching for a while now. Most moved on when Rarity approached them—a scene that had played out more than once so far. Dash took a short rest. She felt dizzy, her head throbbing. How long had she been at it, anyway? Her last break for a drink and a chat with Fluttershy must’ve been hours ago.

“Hm? Oh, so I see,” said Rarity, peeking over the lip of the wooden stage, trotting around to the front. “Hello there, gentle… sirs and ladies,” said Rarity, smiling wide at the peryton. “I see you’re showing interest in my creations?”

The group counted three, draped in glitter and gemstones, chains from antlers and bangles on legs. A lithe stag dipped his head slightly, smiling without showing teeth.

“You are willing to trade?” he asked, gesturing to Rainbow Dash. Dash moved to the very edge of the platform to give him a closer look, while Rarity beamed.

“Oh—yes, certainly,” said the unicorn. “I wasn’t planning on selling, but if you’re interested, I can absolutely part with it. I’ll have to fit it to your measurements—hm, probably make another one, really, no offence, and I’d have to buy more fabric—”

“Make… another one?” the stag repeated, pulling his head back, wide-eyed for a moment. He looked over at Rainbow Dash, and Dash didn’t know what to do, so she waved.

“Hey?” Dash said.

Rarity nodded slowly, one brow quirked. “Yes? If you want one like it done to your size, I am happy to help. If you want other colours, I can absolutely accommodate that as well, but frankly, just knowing that there is someone here who appreciates fashion does wonders for my mood.”

“I think you misunderstand,” said a larger doe at the stag’s side, her head at a tilt. “What Falmos wishes is for him to dance at our front hall. We have never seen these… expressions. We can offer much silver or bronze if he can make an appearance at noon every day for a season.”

“Her,” Dash said, flicking her tail.

“I see,” said Rarity, her ears as level as her eyebrows. “You are, of course, speaking of buying Rainbow Dash.”

Fluttershy’s head popped over the edge of the stage, staring wide eyed and confused at the proceedings.

“If that is his name, yes,” said the stag, this time smiling with all his teeth on display. The stag on his right stepped forward, levitating out a pouch from the bag around his neck. “You are responsible for hiring, his manager?”

“Her, and you couldn’t afford me anyway,” Dash muttered under her breath. She walked over to sit next to Fluttershy’s head, the other pegasus’ ears perked as she, too, listened.

“Mm, no, you misunderstand,” said Rarity. “What I’m selling—or what I am displaying, to be exact—is the dress she is wearing. Her clothes. Have you no interest in them at all?”

The three peryton all looked at Rainbow Dash like Dash did the first year flight theory test before she met Fluttershy. Blank looks again.

“The colours are not part of the presentation?” came the question.

“No, the… the ‘colours’ are like your jewellery,” Rarity tried, her smile strained. “You would wear it as you do the ornaments in your antlers,” she added, gesturing to the gems and metals atop the stag’s head.

The stag looked at Rainbow Dash again, a quick glance only, and Dash felt herself dismissed not unkindly, but dismissed nevertheless. He craned his neck in a short bow.

“I do not recognise the symbols. I do not think Phostos would smile upon anything I can offer for this,” he said. “I am sorry for having taken of your time.”

“And I’m sorry for wasting yours, I suppose,” Rarity replied with a curt nod.

“Actually, if you’re interested in dancing and not just, um… the things Rainbow Dash were doing that probably weren’t dancing,” said Fluttershy, raising her voice a tad. “There’s a stag who usually performs here. Maybe you could ask him instead?”

The largest of the two stags and the doe exchanged looks and bowed to Fluttershy as well, turning to leave. Rarity walked with slow steps around to the little shaded area, sitting down without a word, taking a deep, loud breath. Fluttershy sat down at one of her sides, and Dash hopped off the stage to flank her.

“Want me to try the other dress instead?” Dash asked, rubbing the side of her head.

“I don’t think so, no,” said Rarity, shaking her head. “Somehow, I doubt a different dress would solve anything. That makes it twice now that they’ve not reacted at all,” Rarity commented.

Fluttershy rubbed her head against Rarity’s neck lightly, and Dash just leaned on her from the other side. Secretly, Dash was glad. Her headache wasn’t letting up. She glanced over at the empty water jug.

“It’s not really the same, though,” said Fluttershy after they’d sat in silence for a little while. “In Orto, it was like they didn’t even see the dress, but the peryton you just talked to sounded like they just thought it was part of the… performance I guess? At least they saw the dress?”

Rarity frowned at that, even as she nodded. “Well, you were the one who showed the Ortosians the dress, so if you say so, I’ll have to believe you. I did recently find myself thinking that Khaird never so much as commented upon the dresses, though—I just don’t know what to make of it.”

Dash shrugged. “That depends. You feeling okay?”

Rarity seemed to consider that for a moment. She looked at Fluttershy, who still rested her head against her, and Dash to sat flank to flank with the unicorn. Rarity smiled slightly and nodded.

“I am frustrated, more than a little confused, but I’ll be fine.”

“Cool, because that means we can talk about how I did what this Rohast guy was trying to do, in just one day,” Dash said, grinning. “Any of you ever gotten hired as dancers?”

Rarity snorted with laughter, covering her muzzle with a hoof, and Fluttershy laughed as well. When Mirossa turned the corner seconds later to peek around the stage, she found three ponies in giggling fits, and one neighbouring cabbage vendor giving them odd looks.

“I had thought to apologise for being late, but I understand things must have gone well?” Mirossa asked, her head nearly perfectly horizontal.

“Oh, no, it’s been terrible,” said Rarity, her laughter petering out. She shook her head, all ending in a little sigh, though she smiled still. “Absolutely awful, and I’ll have to adjust my approach, obviously.”

“I… see?” said Mirossa. She stepped past the ponies and to the far end of the shade of the tarp. Her antlers glowed and she levitated up the empty water jug. “I meant to ask you for some water, but it seems you have run out.”

“We really should have brought more,” said Fluttershy nodding.

“Brought—” Mirossa blinked. “You did not refill it at the wells? This is all you have had this day?”

“Yeah,” said Dash, shrugging. Now that she mentioned it, Dash didn’t just have a headache, she felt parched. “I could go for something to drink, actually.”

Fluttershy and Rarity both nodded their agreement before Dash had even finished her sentence.

“I believe that. That, or your people must need much less water than mine,” said Mirossa.

“Perhaps we could go find a café or some-such nearby?” Rarity suggested. “The walk back to the Autumn Hymn is longer than I’d like.”

Mirossa nodded quickly. “If it is food and drink you want for, I know a place not far away. It is Font-side, and they have the best akossyn in town.”

“I have no idea what that is, but I’m in,” said Dash. Rarity packed all their stuff in her saddlebags—minus Dash’s dress, which they didn’t have room for, so Dash kept it on. The group left the market stage inside of a minute, following Mirossa through the slowly thinning crowds. Soon after, they passed under another one of the painted arcs, leaving behind the large square Dash had spent so many hours watching from one spot.

“I thought this was the ‘Font’,” Fluttershy said when buildings crowded around them once more, replacing empty space with stone ground floors and wooden top floors, all studded with awkwardly high-placed windows and rife with signs and plaques Dash couldn’t read.

“It was the Font, and this—” Mirossa said, gesturing ahead to something Dash couldn’t see, unless she referred to the hindquarters of the doe in front of them. “—is the Font. The largest river-branch of the river Meronna. The Font is also the market close to the Font.”

“Clear as day, really,” said Rarity, her tone hard to make out over the sounds of the city.

Dash gave Fluttershy a flat look behind their backs, and Fluttershy giggled soundlessly. “Uh-huh,” said Dash. “So, I know this is our last day here in town, but you really should’ve written that down in your traveller’s guide to Stagrum.”

“In our what?” Mirossa asked.

“Also, you really need a traveller’s guide to Stagrum,” Dash added. “I didn’t even know that the tiny river-things had names.”

“From Meronna the flowing Font, the cleaving Claw and bending Beak the north presents, in south the Pride and sisters Tail and Toil relent,” said Mirossa, her eyes half-lidded. “Those are the parts of Meronna.”

“That sounds like a nursery rhyme,” Fluttershy said, smiling. “It’s lovely.”

“It has no tune, but if a ‘nursery rhyme’ is something you cannot get out of your head thanks to the efforts of the teachers, then yes, it is a nursery rhyme,” Mirossa retorted.

Finally they stepped out onto a crossing road, and now Dash saw what she’d been talking about. A broad and rushing river cut straight through the city, each side walled where the wide roads followed the water. Stone bridges spanned the gap at regular intervals, each one far fancier than the simple wooden bridges that had carried them into the city, and rather than walled storefronts with doors and windows, most of the buildings’ bottom floors were open-faced, thick stone columns supporting the weight of the top floors.

Mirossa pointed to one such nearby, peryton crowding around tables in the relative darkness of a ground floor restaurant, lit up only by glowing globes set in the walls. A bend in the river and the city at large kept it out of the fading sunlight, and the second they stepped inside, the last of the lingering heat faded. Dash let out a sigh of relief when they sat down by a corner table, only now realising how hot her flank had been under the fabric of the dress. Someone placed a bowl of water in front of her, and she drank it all, her throat no longer quite as raw. She sat back and waited for her headache to go away, letting the others handle food-stuff. Sure enough, the next time she opened her eyes, they had food.

“So ‘akossyn’ is…” Dash said, her words trailing off as she inspected the stuff floating in her bowl. She was pretty sure she saw a piece of carrot, and Fluttershy’s had something that looked a lot like an olive?

“Long-boiled vegetables and fruits in a stew,” said Mirossa, leaning forwards to sip from her own bowl.

“Sold,” Dash declared.

“Okay, you can add this place to the traveller’s guide,” said Dash. She pushed her third bowl away, leaving it half-empty. She covered up a tiny belch with a hoof, eliciting a mid-drink wince from Fluttershy and a rather flat look from Rarity.

“Again this guide for travellers.” Mirossa repeated the words, staring past Dash for a second. Rainbow Dash turned around to see what she looked at, but there was nothing much to see. The chefs no longer added stuff to the huge pot in the corner, resting and chatting instead, and half the tables were empty. There’d been a large rush of people outside a moment ago. Now, not so much.

“I think that just means ‘the food here was really good, thank you’, and I agree,” Fluttershy suggested, smiling at Mirossa. She reached over for the ungainly carafe, re-filling her own water-bowl with some effort.

“Pretty much,” said Dash. “I think that’s our first hot meal in… jeez, over a week, probably.”

“Not that an actual traveller’s guide would go amiss, either,” Rarity suggested without looking up, still furiously scrubbing at an errant stain on her coat. “We’d be lost without you and your mother, but while you’ve been wonderfully helpful, it would be a lot more comforting if we knew that each of your cities had some sort of brochure.” She stopped wiping, the handkerchief frozen in the air as she frowned. “We don’t even have those in Ponyville, do we?”

Dash scratched her head. “No idea. Ponyville is like… half the size of this place, anyway. Probably even less than that.”

“A lot smaller than that,” said Fluttershy, nodding. “I think Twilight wanted to make some leaflets, but Pinkie Pie heard about it and said she’d do the drawings, and, um, well. I haven’t heard her talk about it since.”

“For there to be a reason to tell those who visit Stagrum of our city, there would have to be visitors in need of learning,” said Mirossa. “Those who visit are here to trade or collect bronze, not to… visit. Visiting is for Wandering Day, when all in Stagrum leave their homes to visit others and learn to know them, but that is for Stagrum. To visit other cities? This is rare.”

“Except if you’re one of the Bent Feathers, right?” Dash asked, tilting her head. “Your mom said you were all over them.”

“Yes, except for the Bent Feathers,” said Mirossa. She looked away and yawned soundlessly even though she didn’t look tired at all. Maybe it was a peryton thing.

“Rainbow Dash, it’s very rude to share gossip like that,” said Rarity, scowling. “We don’t know if Naressa shared that with us in confidence.”

“It is no secret,” said Mirossa, shaking her head. “Mama knows, and she wishes her best. We talk of it often.”

Fluttershy bent an ear and cocked her head sideways. “If you don’t mind me asking, is there a problem with that? Isn’t it okay to like them? You don’t sound very happy about it.”

Mirossa looked back at Fluttershy, her expression unreadable at first, but after a moment, something in the young doe gave way and she softened—not just her carefully neutral look, but in the way she sat as well. She sank down until her muzzle nearly touched the table.

“To like?” Mirossa asked. “It is not a question about liking or not liking the Bent Feathers. Most do not think of them, like most do not think of Ephydoera unless danger lurks, or think of Vauhorn beyond the stories they create—but I do think, because I would like to join them, to step outside Stagrum and see.”

“Yeah, so you want to travel,” Dash suggested with a shrug.

“Yes,” said Mirossa, nodding sharply. “I have wanted to for a long time, and then you—” she halted, looking up at the three ponies each in turn, lowering her voice a touch. “Meeting you did not hurt my desire to see more. I thought I only wondered what lies beyond the forest, around the Sedgewall south past Orto, but I know there is more still. Not just… places, but people. Like you. I was late to return today because Rohast asked about—no, because I wanted to tell him about you, about your strangeness and your words and—and your strange dresses. It is still hard for me to understand.

“I cannot imagine myself in this thing,” she added, gesturing to the dress Dash wore. “Just like I cannot imagine myself stepping out of sight of Stagrum, but I wish to.”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand,” said Rarity. “Why is this a problem? Even if these Bent Feathers are uncommon, they hardly sound vilified. Why shouldn’t you travel? Is this about expenses?”

Mirossa’s let out a full-bodied snort. “From your words, it sounds simple, but it is strange to mama and to the families. That is fine. The issue is in the eyes of the Bent Feathers themselves. Getting their attention is difficult. I do not wish to hide under their tail-feathers and be a nuisance, so I speak to them only when they guest at the Hymn, and always to the same answer.

“To travel with them, I must show my desire or prove my ability. They also think me young, but I am of age.” She scowled. “The one who stayed with us earlier this summer said those words. Desire or ability. They do not take me seriously.”

Dash frowned. “Well, that’s a load of hay. They don’t believe you?”

“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy said, offering a sympathetic smile. “The Dockmistress contacted some Bent Feathers for us, so there must be more of them in the city right now. Maybe you could ask them?”

Mirossa shrugged. “There are always some, somewhere in Stagrum, but as I said, I do not wish to be a nuisance to them, and they speak to each other. One will not agree where another does not, I do not think, and besides, I have nothing to offer them.” She looked up from the table. Outside, the evening had well and truly settled over the evening, and they were one of two groups left at the restaurant. “If you wish for me to show you to the Hymn, we need to leave soon. I need to go home, anyway. Mama always worries even if she says she does not.”

“I’ll go settle our bill,” said Rarity, grabbing her saddlebags, halfway towards the bar before anyone else got up. Dash watched Rarity get directed over to some peryton by a table, deflected by the chefs. Fluttershy stretched, and Mirossa drained her water bowl.

“For the record, it’s not like we’ve been all across the world,” said Dash, tossing her mane. “This is a lot further than we’ve ever been before. People can travel wherever they want to here in Perytonia, right?”

“Of course,” said Mirossa.

“But you’re one of the few who want to?”

“I suppose so, yes,” said Mirossa.

Dash grinned. “I get it. You’re a bit weird to the rest.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Fluttershy said, smiling.

“Weird?” Mirossa asked, squinting. “Thank you?”

Rainbow Dash didn’t immediately reply. More power to Mirossa if she wanted to do something a little different, if she dreamt big or however the peryton chose to think of it. Dash certainly knew what it felt like to get odd looks.

“Sure,” said Dash, shrugging. “You don’t have a problem with us paying for the food, and you didn’t mind us taking you to the super expensive bath house yesterday, either. You just let us treat you for free.”

“Um, I don’t see—” Fluttershy began. “That… might sound a little rude.”

“What?” Dash asked. “All I’m saying is that everyone else is about fair trades and everything, and it’s weird that you don’t kick up a stink about it like everyone else—”

“Consider that maybe I find it fair payment for all your strange questions,” Mirossa shot, looking away.

“Yeah, very funny, good job, but seriously,” Dash said.

Mirossa stared intently at the wall to her side. “I have told you, not all of us live our lives as though our every move will be storied in Phostos’ name. If you wish to work with the trade Houses, maybe you do that. If you wish to impress, yes.”

“But it’s like you’re all all about that!” said Dash, throwing her hooves up in the air. “We haven’t met everyone in Stagrum, but everyone else we’ve met has wanted to make a trade of everything, that’s what I mean.”

“Is there a problem?” asked Rarity, returning to the table. Fluttershy sat very still with her ears flat against her head. Mirossa huffed.

“You make it sound like I do not wish to be fair in all my trades, like I turn left where Phostos turns right, and that is not true—but to wear the rings and caps dedicated to Phostos’ stories is mama’s life, not mine. It just doesn’t bother me much to accept what is freely offered.”

“That’s—” Dash tried, but Mirossa barely paused for breath.

“Phostos’ stories ring loudest in our city, but it is not as though we don’t give gifts to friends. Do you not understand this? But—but if you don’t know someone well, it can be rude to take when you do not give in equal measure.” She looked up at Rainbow Dash, a little more quiet all of a sudden. “I hope I have not done wrong? Have I presumed more than I should?”

“Rainbow Dash?” Rarity asked, frowning at her.

Dash slowly let out her breath, exasperated and frustrated at the same time. Better that than let herself be hurt by the frailty in the peryton’s voice. How young was she, anyway? Dash had no idea, but she felt a pang in her chest.

“I’m saying it’s a good thing,” Dash said, trying to keep her voice under control. “It’s cool. We wanted you to come along yesterday, and today, jeez. I’m just saying—ugh, that I get it. I know what it’s like to be the odd one out, and if you’re down with this Phostos stuff and being fair or whatever, that’s cool too.”

Rainbow Dash felt her eartips burning, and spread her wings a little to get some air under her feathers. “If I said something wrong, I don’t know, I’m sorry I guess.”

Mirossa hung her head and shook it slowly from side to side. “I think I’m the one who misunderstood. The apology is mine to make. I do not fear that I want something different, but I suffer envy. I hear you speak of travel, and I think of how I cannot even understand from how far away you come. You had good intentions.”

Rarity cleared her throat. Fluttershy licked her lips, her gaze flitting back and forth between Mirossa and Rainbow Dash. After exactly five seconds, Mirossa got up, smiling ever so slightly.

“Come, let us go back to the Hymn, I will show the way.”

“It wasn’t dancing,” Dash said. “I was posing. I don’t even know what you’re supposed to do when you’re showing off a dress anyway. It takes like… ten seconds to actually look at a dress, tops.”

“There are no rules for a catwalk, Rainbow Dash,” said Rarity. Finally they reached the top of the stairs. “You do whatever you must to show the dress in a good and varied light. Furthermore,” she added, bristling. “If you think anyone can appreciate all the qualities of a dress in ten seconds, then I don’t know what to tell you—oh, there’s our food.”

“She even put it in a box. That’s very nice of her,” said Fluttershy, pausing to pick it up by the ropes wrapped around it like a Hearth's Warming present, holding it in her mouth while Rarity opened the door to their room. Ligilia had put a large pitcher of water on one of the nightstands, too.

“Sure,” said Dash. “And that’s my point, I did do ‘whatever’. You can’t tell people I went up and danced to show off a dress when I didn’t! I just had to do a bunch of stuff because I was up on that stage half the day!”

“You’re making an entirely too big deal of it,” said Rarity. She shut the door behind Rainbow Dash and tossed her saddlebags onto one of the beds. “You were the one who made the joke about how the peryton certainly seemed to want to hire you on. As a dancer.” She giggled, and Fluttershy did as well. Dash groaned.

“I’m sorry, but it is a little funny,” said Fluttershy. “And there’s nothing wrong with enjoying yourself.”

“It is funny, and of course there’s nothing wrong with it—until Applejack hears about it,” Dash grumped. She walked over to the windows, pausing for a moment to taste the air before she closed the shutters. No point in trying to predict the weather. More sun, of course.

“I’m sure Applejack will have her own stories to tell,” Fluttershy said. She giggled again and shook her head. “And some stories she doesn’t want to tell.”

“Yeah. You’re right. Stories that Pinkie Pie is gonna spill,” Dash said. She rubbed her forehooves together with glee.

“I’m amazed that even half across the world, you’re still planning how to ‘win’ your silly game with Applejack,” said Rarity, her horn lighting up to work Dash out of the dress, adding to the light of the dimly glowing globe over the vanity. Dash stood still until Rarity folded the dress and put it away.

“You don’t win if you take breaks,” Dash concluded. She hopped onto one of the beds, sitting down next to Fluttershy while Rarity cleaned up the mess of fabrics and tools on the bed opposite.

“Thank you, by the way,” said Rarity, pausing for a second to look over her shoulder. “Both of you.”

“No prob,” said Dash. She flopped onto her back.

“I didn’t really do much of anything,” said Fluttershy, shaking her head.

“You kept me company, and you tried,” said Rarity, huffing. “And I won’t have you say otherwise. I hope the two of you had some fun today.”

Fluttershy smiled at that, nodding. “It was nice to just relax and talk a little. I’m glad we got to know Mirossa better, too. She’s been ever so helpful.”

“Yeah, and I keep shoving my hooves in my mouth,” Dash said.

“You made up. It was just a little misunderstanding. You can’t beat yourself up over that,” said Fluttershy, frowning at her.

Dash rolled onto her side, staring back at Fluttershy. “It just keeps happening, but yeah, you’re right. She probably thinks I don’t like her or something. Whatever, I just wish these stupid Bent Feathers would let her join.”

Fluttershy nibbled her lower lip. “She really did sound like she knew what she wanted to do. I hope they let her come with them sometime. Maybe when she’s older?”

“Yeah,” said Dash. She let her thoughts wander, but they didn’t go very far. She lay there looking at Fluttershy, who looked back at her.

Fluttershy smiled. “Remember when you really wanted to use the fifth year aerobatics course when you were in third year? Your mom yelling at Ms. Sunbeamer is still one of the scariest memories I have.”

Dash grinned. “Remember when you told your parents you wanted to move to Ponyville as soon as you finished basic? Or when I told mom I wanted to do the same?”

Fluttershy giggled, and Rainbow Dash shook her head, stifling a yawn. “I just wish there was something we could do,” Dash said. She wiggled her way up the bed a little, rolling onto her stomach and trying to find a way under the blanket. The bed had been made very neatly.

“Rarity? Could you bring the blanket when you’re done?” Fluttershy asked. “Oh. sorry, I thought you were cleaning up.”

Dash looked over, and found that Rarity stood by the other bed, staring at her supply chest, completely still and quiet.

“Uh, Rarity?” Dash asked. “Blanket?”

Rarity turned her head sideways, brows knit in concentration, though she still didn’t look at either of the pegasi. The blanket hovered from one bed to the other, into Fluttershy’s waiting hooves.

“Actually,” said Rarity. “I think I have one more thing I need to do before bed. I’ll join you shortly, and I’ll be quiet.” Her horn glowed once more, and all her earlier cleaning was undone in moments, a parade of tools and fabrics flying out from her chest to arrange themselves on the bed.

Chapter 9

These peryton clearly do not mind sleeping in the cold, and if there is any form of heating in the Autumn Hymn, it does not extend to our room. I do not want to be uncharitable, however. I simply need to make a brief note for myself: I will need to pick up more white thread before we leave tomorrow, as I have just used the last of it.

Who knows if tonight’s efforts will be recognised? It is always better when one’s work is appreciated, and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that two unmitigated fashion disasters in two separate cities has rattled me.

Now to see if I can get abed. Rainbow Dash’s sleeping acrobatics are quite something else, and Fluttershy’s response is apparently to lie so close Rainbow Dash can’t kick her. They meant to leave a spot for me, but I think I may have to wake Fluttershy and ask her to make room.

-R

“You did not get to see the ring-markets,” said Mirossa. “You would have enjoyed it. They trade for the most curious and expensive things.”

“We’re sorry,” said Fluttershy, smiling at her. “I’m sure it’s very nice, but we really do have to leave today if we don’t want to get caught outside in this storm.”

“This really weird storm that’s supposed to happen at some point in a week,” Dash added. “What gives? Anyway, sorry kiddo.”

Mirossa shrugged and sped up, walking a short distance ahead of the ponies. “The loss is yours, not mine. Stagrum has many more secrets, and it is impossible to see all it has to offer in two suns.”

“Even what we were able to see was all very impressive,” said Rarity. “You have every reason to be proud, dear. It was a lovely little island of culture.”

Clusters of houses passed them by to the left and right as they walked the road that led west out of Stagrum, and never mind that Stagrum itself technically stood upon many small islands: Dash already knew that before the end of the day, all traces of Stagrum would be gone from sight.

Sure, there were long, empty stretches of road between all of Equestria’s cities too, but when you left Ponyville for any other city, you didn’t feel like you left it all behind, like an island passing into the distance. They hadn’t seen anything reminding them of Orto since they left its valley, either. Stagrum absolutely was an island itself.

Rainbow Dash flicked her ears. Rarity had a way with words. Sometimes she found the exact right word to describe a thing. Other times, she could say something, and three days later you would hear something unrelated and suddenly be made to think about how you were some kind of bossy jerk making your friends do things they didn’t really want to do.

Mirossa unfurled her wings and left them half spread, walking backwards in front of the three ponies. “You say it, but you do not know it. You have not seen the trade fleet coming home for the last time in late fall, sails decked with Ilyra’s colours, or the lights that run from roof to roof at Wintersdepth to ward off the gloom—you even missed the Wandering.”

“Maybe we’ll come visit again,” said Dash with a shrug and a grin. She glanced back at the cart she pulled, wherein lay all their packed food. Naressa said she’d added extra sauce to the sour grass-balls. That was more than good enough reason to come back.

“You must,” said Mirossa, nodding. “I love my city and all within it, but I have already seen it myself. I would want more to come visit.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. All the while, despite her words, Mirossa hadn’t sounded half as excited as her words made her sound, and Dash liked to think she’d met enough peryton to tell by now. Only at the prospect of the ponies visiting again did the doe perk up at all. Mirossa turned to walk at their side, and for a while, there was only the steady roll of wooden cartwheels on packed dirt.

“Maybe you’ll come visit us instead,” Dash said, casting her a sidelong glance. The doe had already made clear what she really wanted. To travel.

“I may,” said Mirossa, her eyes lighting up, her wings spreading a little more. “May I? Do you really think I could visit your city? It must be very far, but would it be possible?”

“Why wouldn’t it?” asked Fluttershy, smiling bright. “It would be wonderful to have you visit Ponyville sometime. You could sleep on my couch if you don’t mind Angel.”

Mirossa nodded, glowing now. “I think I would like this. Meeting you has been strange. I did not know what to think, but now I do. Most other travellers do not care to say much more than hello, but if I were to travel, if there was a way, I would be different from them.” She hopped along the road more than she walked. “I would want to greet people and learn more about them, too! I have not asked you many questions about your city, but I would like to see it. Seeing is better than speaking.”

“If Equestria and Perytonia establish friendly relations, maybe there’ll be passenger boats,” said Rarity, smiling at the exuberant peryton. “Granted, that may take a while, but I’m sure there are other ways. Us being here is proof of that.”

Mirossa slowed down a little, looking around. Her energy evaporated in an instant. “You are, and yes, some day, but… not soon, and it is not certain,” she said, slumping. “I wish you could have stayed longer and shared more stories. These are idle dreams, I think. I have no way to go beyond our demesne. I should turn around and go back now.”

Rainbow Dash slowed down as well, bringing the cart and the group to a complete stop. The buildings around them had become increasingly sparse along the riverlets.

What had been obvious on their approach was even more apparent now: Stagrum’s river delta was no valley. Whatever lay further north, Dash couldn’t tell from ground level, but up ahead, the road crossed over the last of the river branches near where they all met until it joined the southern side of the full width of the river Meronna, heading west inland over flat and forested terrain.

“We can still see the city,” said Dash with a smirk. It was obvious to her that the peryton wanted to go on. “Come on, where’s your sense of adventure? There’s a forest’s right up ahead.”

“I’ve been to the forest’s edge before,” Mirossa said with indignant snort. “I dragged Rohast by his tail all the way.” Even so, the young peryton made herself as tall as she could, her head raised as though she could see beyond the forest when she stood on the tips of her hooves. “To the forest, just not beyond it, never south of the crest or north of the mines.”

“Why not?” Dash asked, grinning still. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

Mirossa huffed. “I do not know how to stay safe or to travel alone. Even you travel together as three.”

“Rainbow Dash, please stop trying to filly-nap our new friends,” Rarity said, though she smiled even as she rolled her eyes.

“Yeah yeah,” said Dash, but she couldn’t quite laugh. “It’s the whole Bent Feathers thing again, isn’t it? It comes back to that. They could help you, teach you or take you along or whatever.”

Mirossa nodded her assent. “And it would make mama feel better. If I am rash enough to fill an ohron with kelp and run into the forest, she will worry. If I join the Bent Feathers, I am not alone. I suppose she may still wish I had joined a House—but, these are words we have already said.” Mirossa smiled with the corners of her mouth only. “We should say our goodbyes if you are in a hurry.”

“I really hope that they change their minds and let you join them some other time,” said Fluttershy, dipping her head and smiling back at Mirossa. “Maybe you can find a House or something else to do that makes you happy until then.”

“It is not time,” said Mirossa, giving Fluttershy an odd look. “Time does not open any door.”

“Then what do they want?” asked Dash, scowling. “You said something about that yesterday, didn’t you? Showing what, ‘desire and ability’?”

Mirossa shrugged. “If you wish to join a House, you must show your sincerity. Part of this, you show in the caps and jewels in your antlers, part you show with a suitable gift. The Bent Feathers are no House, they do not ask for tribute, but still they wish for me to prove that I am sincere.”

“I guess that means giving you a bunch of gems is right out, huh?” Dash asked, snorting.

Fluttershy frowned. “You were the one who got angry that the Wonderbolts were thinking of selling honorary memberships.”

“Exactly!” said Dash.

“And besides, I don’t imagine Mirossa would accept a lavish gift such as that,” said Rarity, stepping over to the cart and rooting around in it. Dash cocked a brow, but the unicorn offered no explanation.

Mirossa nodded at that, looking to Dash. “I do not think this is a problem solved by gemstones, and Rarity is right. I will let you pay for our dinner, but I will not take a fortune. I have told you, I do not ignore Phostos’ stories.”

Dash groaned. “Ugh, I get it, but they’re asking you to show that you want to travel, right? They want you to ‘prove’ that you really want to travel, or that you’re cut out for this, but how? You can’t prove something to them if they don’t give you a chance!”

The doe looked away at that, letting out a soft snort. “I have thought of this, too. It is the beach and the tide.”

“The—wait, the what?” Dash asked.

“The beach and the tide,” Mirossa repeated, shrugging. “Is the beach the harvest of the tide’s efforts, or is the tide the result of the beach.”

“The chicken and the egg,” Fluttershy said, nodding quickly. Dash blinked.

“Okay? Uh. I don’t—that’s fine okay, whatever, I just think it’s stupid,” said Dash. She tapped the ground with a hoof.

“I’m sorry, Mirossa,” said Fluttershy, her ears splayed. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out. I don’t know if there’s anything we can do to help, but—”

“Oh no, there is absolutely something we can do,” said Rarity, placing her saddlebags on top of the cart. The unicorn smiled wide. “You say they ask for sincerity. Darling, they want ability or desire, so you hardly have to travel across the world for that. Certainly, maybe you could travel across the world to pluck some rare flower that only grows who-knows-where or some equally fanciful drivel, but you’ve already met us.”

“She’s what-now?” Dash asked.

“It’s a matter of convincing these Bent Feathers,” said Rarity. “Consider that in a city of thousands of peryton, you’re the one who made friends with ponies travelling from very far away. That has to count for something. You have our friendship, and you people always go on about stories—well, now you have one. That isn’t nothing.”

“I… had not thought of it like this,” said Mirossa, her brows knit.

“How do you prove that?” Dash asked, frowning.

“Maybe it’s the thought that counts?” said Fluttershy. “I don’t know why they would think she’s lying, though, but I’m sure we could give her something.”

“Oh of course, if they want something more tangible, I am sure that could be arranged.” Rarity’s voice turned soft, almost breezy. “I imagine just about anything would do, really. Anything sufficiently strange and outlandish would do, something beyond the capacity for peryton to really understand.” She raised a brow, feigning surprise as her own magic levitated out a bundle of grey, white and green cloth from her saddlebags. Dash squinted.

“You stayed up all night and made another dress,” said Fluttershy, her tone a mixture of awe and concern. Mirossa stared unblinking as the bundle hovered in front of her.

“I do not… I—” she tried.

“Hush, and take it,” said Rarity, waving a hoof. “In fact, better if you do not tell me what you think of it. You’re the first peryton I’ve met who has even attempted to understand or appreciate anything I’ve made, and I wish to pretend that you like it. Just take it. Maybe Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy would like to give you something as well?”

“What?” asked Dash. She loosened the harness with two quick tugs with her teeth and rounded on their cart. “All we have is a bunch of travel junk. I didn’t pack friendship bracelet making stuff or anything lame like that. You made her a whole dress.”

Mirossa held up a hoof. “Please, I—wait, do not trouble yourselves—”

Rarity shook her head slowly at Dash. “I may have gone a little overboard, but I think just about anything that is strange to them will work—if I am right in my suspicions. Initially I meant to give her one of my measuring tapes, since they don’t use hooves and quarter-hooves here as their small units of measurement. You don’t, do you?”

Mirossa’s face was exquisitely blank.

“The point is, you have the story to go with it. You’ve met ponies travelling all the way from Equestria. Not everyone can claim that,” Rarity concluded.

“I suppose not,” said Mirossa. Finally, she took the dress, levitating the bundle of cloth in front of her, unfolding it a little bit. “But—”

“Hey, Fluttershy,” said Dash. “Pluck one of my feathers.”

“Oh. Oh no, I—I couldn’t,” said Fluttershy, aghast. “You already lost some yesterday, and I just couldn’t—”

“Oh. Yeah, okay. Let’s give her one of yours!”

Fluttershy shrank back, her eyes wide for a second. “What? That’s not what I meant!”

“Come on, it’s a great idea! If you have a pegasus feather, everyone knows you’ve met a pegasus!” said Dash.

Fluttershy sighed, but she found her steel a second later. “Okay, I guess it is a nice gesture,” she said, pouting. She craned her neck around and plucked one of her feathers with a little ow, and Rarity graciously accepted the feather from her, putting it in a little bag she’d procured.

“And a piece of my mane!” said Dash, grinning. “If all the colours confuse them so much, it’ll be great. They don’t even have manes. Don’t take the front bangs, just grab some from the back.”

“Perfect,” said Rarity, smiling. She levitated her scissors out and snipped a lock of Dash’s mane, making sure to get as many colours as possible, and as an afterthought, she snapped up a measuring tape from her own supply chest with a grin. The bag with the collected items hovered in front of a stunned Mirossa.

“There you are, dear,” Rarity declared. “I would loathe to repay your mother’s kindness by taking you away from her, but this way, perhaps you stand a better chance at convincing these peryton you are meant to ‘spread your wings’, as it were, if that is truly what you wish to do. If they don’t believe you’d make a wonderful traveller, explorer or whatever it is they are, then that is their loss, but you’ve certainly made three friends of us.”

“And it’s something to remember us by, too,” said Fluttershy, smiling.

“Actually,” said Dash, grinning. “I want that piece of my mane back when you’re done with it, so you better come by Ponyville.”

Mirossa put the dress on top of her back and accepted the cloth bag too, holding it to her chest. She looked at each of the ponies in turn, tilted her head forward to lay her muzzle flat along her neck and closed her eyes.

“You are very strange people, and I hope you find success with your journey.” She opened her eyes again and grinned wide showing all her teeth. “And if the world has more creatures half as strange as you, maybe I will have stories of my own to share when I come visit.”

“They called it what, Khosta Woods?” asked Dash. Their slightly late start this morning, plus the time it took to cross the delta plains lengthwise, all meant that the sun neared its peak when they finally entered the forest proper. Many of the tall, thin trees had multiple trunks weaving about each other in clusters, and their leaves were too small and too tightly clustered. It looked like somepony had stuck a bunch of warped brooms in the ground. Brooms in strange new shades of yellow, green and even blues, and though the leaves were bushy, the canopy wasn’t nearly dense enough to fully shield them from the sun.

At least the road stayed normal and maintained its roadyness: the grass and the other undergrowth flanking them went up to their bellies in places. Walking without a road would be tough.

“I believe they just called it the Khosta,” said Rarity with a backwards glance. “And this Ephydoera place should be inside it, isn’t that right, Fluttershy?”

“That is what the map said, yes,” said Fluttershy. “The forest is very big, and this is as close as it ever gets to the coast. We’ll be in the forest-marked area until we get there, wherever it is. Khaird said we would find Ephydoera here, but the map doesn’t actually show a city.” She looked around, her eyes low to the ground rather than up at the trees, smiling as she added. “This place is a lot more fertile than the south was. It’s nice.”

“What’s nice,” said Rainbow Dash, adjusting the harness as she walked. “Is that we don’t have to keep these dumb water jugs full as we move.” She cast a glance at the river that ran parallel to the road at their right. The Meronna was huge, a proper river rather than a brook or any other kind of pretend-river, though its waters didn’t flow very fast. “I guess we can probably bathe in it, too,” said Dash.

“It certainly is a boon for hygiene,” Rarity said, though she sounded unconvinced. She cast another look behind them, but Stagrum upon the delta had already been lost behind the trees as the road made tiny adjustments to follow the river. “It’s almost a shame to leave, I have to say. For all the confusion and the disappointing lack of ships for hire, Stagrum turned out quite well.”

“It was alright,” Rainbow Dash said. “I hope stuff works out for Mirossa.”

Fluttershy nodded her agreement while Rarity moved to walk right next to the cart. “I’m sure she’ll be fine, and all the others, too. It was a nice place.”

“Absolutely,” said Rarity with a sigh as she turned her eyes ahead. “Now, to the road.”

The theatrical sigh, Dash had expected. She wasn’t keen on a week on the road, either: Even ignoring the extra burden of the cart, the heat felt even worse right now somehow. Regardless, there was a note of frustration in Rarity’s voice making her sound weary beyond the annoyance of walking.

“You alright, Rarity?” asked Dash. They’d taken a break before they reached the forest’s edge, but she could go for another break to have a drink from the river, herself.

“Oh, I will be,” said Rarity. With a small burst of magic, she opened the chest on the cart while she walked alongside, levitating out some of the sketches she’d worked on during breakfast this morning. “I will find a design that appeals to the peryton, I am sure of it.”

“Yeah, no, I didn’t mean the fashion stuff,” Dash said, rolling her eyes and laughing.

Rarity frowned. “You mean the walking. Yes, well, there’s nothing to be done about that, I suppose, but I don’t think it’s too early to start thinking about an approach for this next place.” She squinted at the sun and packed her things away again, shaking her head at her sketches and shutting the chest with a bang. “I’m floundering, directionless. If they all have their own local non-fashions, their own way of expressing themselves that have nothing to do with clothes as I know them, what am I to do? That is my problem.”

“I understand that it’s important to you,” said Fluttershy, offering her a smile. “But you haven’t had a lot of time to work on your dresses. The ones you’ve made have been lovely, but hopefully we’ll have a little more time to sit down and think about this in Ephydoera. You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself.”

“I haven’t had time? But I have, dear,” said Rarity. “Every day spent on the road, I could have been working on ideas while we walked, and before we bed down, why, that’s the perfect time to try out some concepts! Clearly I need to step up my efforts.”

“Before we go to bed?” Dash laughed. “Rarity, you’re barely awake before bed most days. On our way to Stagrum, you fell asleep while we walked at least two times!”

“I am well aware that I’ve lagged behind a little during our last stretch,” said Rarity. She flushed faintly through a scowl. Dash had expected some scathing but funny reply to her little stab, but Rarity said nothing, facing ahead.

“Come on, if it matters that much to you, I’m sure you’ll sweep the peryton off their hooves somehow,” Dash said, smiling at her, but Rarity said nothing more. Dash flicked her ears in annoyance.

“Maybe we should take a little break, though,” said Fluttershy, clearing her throat. She gestured at the river. “I’m very thirsty, actually, and it’s getting really hot.”

Finally someone who wasn’t Rainbow Dash suggested it. Dash didn’t even bother answering. She turned the cart a sharp right and cut in front of her friends, creating a furrow through the grass heading for the river.

The grass must be very happy with the trees, Rainbow Dash thought. The grass grew thick not only near the river’s edge, but all around. Fluttershy had suggested that the lack of a dense canopy let the forest floor’s flora flourish, and that bit was easy to appreciate. Colourful flowers clustered around the base of the trees. Every time Dash looked, there was a new type of tree or flower.

Fluttershy was probably right, but while it was cool of the trees to share the sun the grass and the flowers, Dash really could have done without the extra sunlight. Every time she wanted to ask one of her friends to take a turn with the cart—a cart that became heavier by the moment despite the fact that Dash knew it was wrong—she noticed her friends were flagging and decided against it.

Fluttershy’s head drooped, and Dash held her own head high in defiance simply because somepony had to. They had taken an extra break—or maybe two? It was getting harder and harder to think, but she knew she would’ve liked two breaks. Better to keep moving than think, Dash figured.

Well, she figured it, or she said it. She probably said it out loud, actually, before or after she’d nearly tripped over a rock. She couldn’t quite tell how long ago that had been. There were a lot of rocks, and the sun kept climbing higher and higher, rising out of the soup of mundane yet confusing events Dash honestly had a hard time keeping track of. She put her left forefoot forward two times in a row forgetting the right, stumbling a little, blinking heavily.

If she just kept moving, Dash imagined that she could outpace the bright orb, but despite her best efforts, the sun stuck around, making all the greens too green. There was a word for it, a word for the sun hitting the top of the sky, but she couldn’t remember. Dash knew that if she stopped, the sun would probably never go away. She walked into something again. Someone, actually. Somepony. Fluttershy, it took her all too long to realise.

“Rainbow Dash, we really have to stop,” said Fluttershy.

Dash took a step back and rubbed at her snout. “Yeah, sure, just, uh.” She looked up at the taller pegasus, squinting. “No, we can’t stop, it’s just mid-day, are you crazy? We can go faster, probably!” Her throat was dry, raw.

Fluttershy didn’t move. Dash considered just going around her, but Fluttershy stood very close—almost chest to chest with her, as though she had expected it. Had Fluttershy stepped even closer, all in the space of what Rainbow Dash thought was just a long blink? The touch was uncomfortably hot.

Thinking about it, Dash was pretty sure Fluttershy didn’t just expect Rainbow Dash to walk past her. She vaguely recalled she had stepped around her before, some time ago. Behind her, Dash saw Rarity sat at the cart’s side, her eyes closed even though it had been less than ten minutes since the last time they’d stopped. Or maybe an hour. Hard to tell with time being soupy.

“Exactly,” said Fluttershy, bringing Dash back to the present. “It’s the middle of the day, and it’s really, really hot,” she said. Now that they were standing still, Dash found it was a little easier to pay attention. And to breathe. That was nice. Sweat trickled down Fluttershy’s face, while Dash herself noticed that she barely sweated at all. Idly she wondered if that might mean something.

“This is stupid,” said Dash, but it came out a mutter, a croak. “We walked all day on the way to Stagrum.”

“Yes, but it was windier at the coast,” said Fluttershy. She leaned forwards a tiny bit, resting her muzzle on top of Rainbow Dash’s head, imploring. “It was a little bit colder, and I don’t know about you, but I thought it was very, very hard. If we’re going to travel for even longer this time, and it’s even warmer, I don’t know that we can take it. This is dangerous.”

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Yeah I guess.”

“And do you remember?” Fluttershy went on. “We walked past a few peryton resting by the wayside on the way from Orto, too. Maybe they always rest during mid day? We should probably do the same. We can just walk a little faster in the morning and evening if we really have to.”

Dash nodded again. Fluttershy made a lot of sense, and she didn’t really have any counterarguments. She knew she had protested this the last time Fluttershy had argued with her about it, but she didn’t know what she had said. Waiting was her least favourite thing, though. At least in her top five.

“Maybe we can just walk really slow, instead,” said Dash. “I—”

“No,” said Fluttershy, taking a step back and away from Dash. She locked Rainbow Dash with a firm look. “We need to stop. Please.”

There was no actual pleading in that ‘please’. Fluttershy’s gaze was unyielding, and Dash held up a hoof in surrender. “Right, sure,” said Dash. “Okay. We’re stopping. Fine.”

She’d no sooner agreed than Fluttershy started working the straps to get Dash out of the harness. Fluttershy moved the cart to the side of the road by a large multi-trunked tree, roused Rarity to move her to the shade, and was on her way to fetch water from the river before Dash really knew what was going on. Dash sat down by Rarity’s side, keeping as much of her body as she could in what shade they had.

There was a difference between telling her no, and saying no, Dash thought. Fluttershy used to tell her no. She didn’t often say no. There had been no ambiguity in what Fluttershy had just said just now.

Well, that wasn’t the full truth of it. Fluttershy could say no just like anypony else, but the way she had blocked Dash’s way a minute ago was—what was it? Cool? Probably the coolest thing Dash had seen in a good while. Fluttershy being cool, though—Dash shrugged. That wasn’t really news, actually. This particular expression of coolness was new, that was all. She stretched her wings to stop them from itching.

“In her defence, not that I wish to take anything away from her coolness,” said Rarity. “She has been pleading with you to stop no less than four times since the last time we had a proper break—and do keep your wings out my face, thank you.”

Dash blinked. “What?”

“Fluttershy,” said Rarity, pushing her wing away.

“Oh. Yeah, was I talking just now?”

“You were.”

“It’s really hot.”

“Yes it is, dear. This is no joke. For all we know we might be heading for heat stroke.”

Fluttershy returned with a bowl between her wings filled with water. She meticulously placed it on the ground in front of Rainbow Dash, grabbed it in her mouth instead, and in one swift motion, splashed it in Dash’s face. Dash sat still for a long while, not even shocked. She said nothing, still contemplating the way the water turned warm even as it dripped from her muzzle when Fluttershy returned with a full bowl again, placing this one in front of Rarity and Rainbow Dash before taking a seat and closing her eyes.

“Why didn’t you tell me to stop sooner?” asked Dash. She leaned forwards for a drink at the same time as Rarity levitated up the bowl for herself, and pulled back to let the unicorn have the first go. Rarity smiled and took a few small sips.

“Thank you, dear. And, that’s what I’ve been telling you. Fluttershy has been trying, but you’ve been insisting we keep moving.”

“I don’t remember that,” Dash admitted. She looked at Fluttershy, but the other pegasus sat unmoving, breathing slowly with her head against the cart.

That realisation was really unpleasant. Scary, almost, but she decided against being scared. Tried to, at least. She took a deep draught and let Rarity have the water bowl again. The first swallow of water hurt a bit.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Dash asked.

Rarity breathed out slowly through her nose. “Would two voices yelling at a wall helped?”

“That’s not what I asked,” said Dash, frowning, but Rarity didn’t say anything more. The unicorn stared resolutely at the water bowl, her face blank. It was too hot to get into an argument, anyway. Rainbow Dash folded her ears and leaned back. “Fine. Never mind. I’m sorry. I said I don’t even remember it.”

Rarity covered her face with the nook of a foreleg and sighed deeply. “You did say that, yes, and I believe you. I’m sorry, Rainbow, dear. That was unfair of me, too.”

"It’s fine,” Dash muttered. She reached out to touch a wing to Rarity’s side. “Just yell at me really loud if I tell you I think we should keep going when it’s this hot ever again. This stinks.”

Keeping with Fluttershy’s suggestion helped. The three ponies moved as soon as the sun relented a little, and they reminded each other to drink often, leading to as many breaks for drinks as they took steps forward, Dash felt, but there was no helping it. Closer to the evening, when it got pleasantly cool by comparison, Dash managed to convince her friends to trot for a little while. Rarity looked like she wanted to protest, and Dash had expected as much—except Rarity didn’t say a word. She simply nodded and went along with it.

When the unicorn finally started flagging, Dash gave the cart over to Fluttershy, and they slowed down again. Dash had to admit she was tired, too. Soon after, the sun fully set, and Rarity lit her horn against a dark more absolute in the forest than it had ever been on the coastal road.

With the darkness, the sounds of the forest grew. Rainbow Dash hadn’t given much thought to how quiet the forest had been before, not until the occasional tweets and chirps of birds flying overhead grew and grew, new voices added every moment. When they spotted the familiar stone visage and sheltering wings of a Selyrian statue, they walked under the sparse canopy accompanied by constant song.

“Where’s it all coming from?” Dash asked, parking the cart by the statue. "I can’t see a single bird.” She looked over at Fluttershy to find the other pegasus already under assault from a tiny red bird.

“The birds here are a little wary, that’s all,” said Fluttershy, giggling when the little bird pecked at one of her ears and chirped. “That’s what little Scarlett says, anyway. Most of the peryton who travel here don’t want to share their food and shoo them away—at least the Red Wibblers like her. Maybe we could offer them some of the bread Naressa gave us?”

“If we keep up the pace and make it to Ephydoera when we’re supposed to, I think we have some extra food,” said Dash with a shrug. “And we have a lot of tastier stuff than just the boring chunks of bread, so I don’t mind. What do you think, Rarity?” she asked, shedding the harness. The fire pit and the wheel- hoof- and claw-marks all suggested this statue was a busy one, but clearly they were alone for tonight. She ducked her head inside the statue just to make sure.

“Yeah, nobody here,” she said to herself, then a little louder, “Rarity? D’you hear what I said? Do you think—”

“I think I’m trying my best to keep up,” replied Rarity, her voice tight. She sat very still on the ground next to the cart, eyes shut. “I’m sure we’ll make it in time.”

“I’m not worried about the time or whatever,” said Dash, tilting her head. “I asked about the food. Fluttershy’s wondering if we can give the birds some bread or something.”

“Oh. That,” said Rarity, breathing out slowly through her nose. “My mistake. Yes, by all means. She gave us more food than we could possibly eat, I don’t see the harm.”

“Alright. Cool,” said Dash. She rooted around their cart until she found one of the small loaves of coarse bread they’d been given. Grabbing it in her mouth, she tossed it over to Fluttershy who yelped and hopped back a step from the leavened missile. The little bird took off and flew in circles around Fluttershy, chirping loudly in protest.

“I guess… dinner is served?” Fluttershy said. She’d barely finished the sentence before two, five, fifteen—more birds than Rainbow Dash could count came flying down from wherever they had been hiding. Some of them were the tiny balls of fluff Fluttershy had called Red Wibblers, but there were entirely too many other kinds to make out. Rainbow Dash laughed, and Rarity smiled, watching Fluttershy’s delight as the pegasus lay down next to the besieged loaf to watch and listen.

“I thought you were taking issue with my pace,” said Rarity. It took Dash a moment to realise she’d been talking to her. She moved a little closer to better hear her over all the bird noises.

“What?” asked Dash.

“Just now. I thought you were worried we wouldn’t make it to Ephydoera in time. I’m aware I’m slowing us down,” said Rarity. She didn’t look up at Dash.

“Okay? Well, I wasn’t,” Dash replied, because she really wasn’t worried. If Rarity was slowing them down, it wasn’t by much. Fluttershy didn’t do much better, and and as much as she didn’t want to admit it, the heat did a number on her too. Rarity went through a lot more water than they did, though, and she’d barely taken a turn with the cart today at all.

“I’m trying my best, you know,” Rarity said when the feeding frenzy petered out. Fluttershy rose to stand and whispered a few parting words to some of the birds. A few didn’t seem ready to leave just yet, resting on top of her head or on her back.

“Well, um, we know pegasi handle cold better than other ponies, but I think maybe we do better in the heat too, at least a little bit?” Fluttershy suggested. “I don’t think it’s a problem, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”

“If you say so, dear,” said Rarity, sighing. She stood and made for the shelter of the stone wings. “Maybe Twilight has a spell that lets her cool off. I suspect she must. Remind me to learn it when we get back home, will you? For now, I think I will see if I have some ideas for new designs before I sleep.”

Fluttershy’s smile faltered a little, but she nodded, and Dash watched Rarity go until she disappeared into the cover of the Selyrian statue.

“At least it doesn’t seem to get as cold, or cold as quickly,” said Fluttershy. She grabbed the blanket from their cart, her movements as slow as possible, probably so as to not startle her feathered little passengers. Four birds perched between her ears.

It didn’t get quite as cold, but Rainbow Dash decided she’d happily trade the small difference in temperature for a little quiet. Even after Rarity and Dash had convinced Fluttershy to hush the birds that stayed inside the shelter with them, the birdsong outside kept going. Whenever there was a lull, some insects provided a constant, albeit distant song of their own. Rarity fell asleep quickly enough regardless, face down on her sketches, and Fluttershy followed soon after, leaving Rainbow Dash as the last one awake.

Rainbow Dash was moments away from sleep when a sharp snap jolted her awake. For a few seconds, the birdsong halted, but it didn’t last. Whatever it was—some large animal stepping on a branch?—it was a brief interruption before everything carried on as before.

Dash kicked out with her hindlegs, hitting two of the changelings straight in their jaws. They hissed loudly as they fell, long, forked tongues sticking out of their muzzles, flapping in the wind. The fact that Dash had time to observe their tongue-flapping was a little odd. Even more odd was the fact that she had time to think about herself thinking about it. By the time she finished that thought, the changelings’ falls were completely arrested mid-air.

Rainbow Dash turned around on the spot and saw four more of the creatures frozen mid-pounce behind her. She wasn’t quite sure whether she was annoyed or grateful for the assist. She could’ve taken them anyway.

“I was fine,” said Dash out loud. There were changelings everywhere. Hundreds. Thousands. No, infinite changelings, and they had pet beasts, too. Was that a dragon in their back ranks? Surrounding the battle were jagged mountains. She thought they were mountains, at least, but their shape was too regular. They had been cut, not… grown? How were mountains made, anyway? It didn’t matter. These were not her mountains, but she was glad she had them. They were borrowed, and she did not know how she knew.

“I did not mean to interrupt.”

With the familiar voice drifting from nowhere, a section of the sky darkened, from deep blue to black to something darker still, and from it bled a shadow that coalesced into the shape of Princess Luna. One moment, she stepped out of the sky, head raised high and horn glowing bright. No time later, she stood right at Rainbow Dash’s side.

“Yeah, yeah, you said that last time,” said Dash, but she bowed low right after. “Uh, I mean, Princess.”

“Do not be alarmed. You are dreaming,” said Princess Luna. She raised her muzzle a tiny bit, peering over the rim of her snout at the forces arrayed around them, all walking, charging, flying towards them, frozen in time. After she’d done a full sweep, she turned back to Rainbow Dash and gave a start, her brow quirked in very un-princess-like confusion. “Would you repeat that?”

Rainbow Dash blinked. “Repeat what? I just said I know it’s a dream. You said the exact same stuff last time.”

“Last time,” Luna echoed. She turned around and took a step back, facing Rainbow Dash in full. “You remember?”

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I?” Dash asked. She frowned, recalling that Luna had told her that she wouldn’t remember their last meeting. “Did you try to make me forget? Are you doing some weird magic right now?”

Luna looked taken aback, her poise broken. “Absolutely not! I would never do such a thing, and the idea offends me. Most ponies simply tend to forget. The bridge between the waking and dreaming worlds is not easily crossed by most, especially not when I try not to take part, but never mind that. I should have understood you would remember. Your dreams are possessed of an—ah, let us say… impressive consistency and repetition. Not that I mean to pry.”

Rainbow Dash got the distinct impression she had been insulted, but she couldn’t pinpoint exactly how. She shrugged. “They’re cool dreams. You don’t change a winning team.”

Luna nodded, her sternly neutral look back in place. She looked past Dash to the wedge-shaped mountains in the difference. “There is some wisdom in that, perhaps. Well, I suppose any attempt at subtlety from my side of things is ruined, then. That is annoying.”

“Why?” asked Dash.

“That is a very big question. Why what, Rainbow Dash?” Luna folded her wings meticulously.

Rainbow Dash thought about that for a second. “Why… I don’t know, why anything? Are you spying on me? What’s going on?”

Luna took a deep breath and let it out through her snout. “Why would I ‘spy’ on you?”

“I dunno, but you asked how we were doing,” said Rainbow Dash. She remembered that part. She didn’t remember exactly what she had said, and trying to think about it, trying to remember how she was doing, was tough. She grit her teeth trying to get at it. Where were they? Where was she sleeping? What had they done today? She felt a hoof on her chest, and her concentration scattered under Luna’s touch. Either Luna did some magic without her horn or, more likely, the distraction was enough to ruin her tenuous grasp on the not-dream.

“We—my sister and I—are the ones who sent you to Perytonia. When you return, we will expect to hear how your efforts went. I cannot spy on you by definition,” said Luna, giving her a blank look. “I am asking because I am curious.”

Rainbow Dash stared at her. If Luna thought Dash was stupid enough to believe she’d visit her dreams or whatever was going on, just to say hi, Dash would need to ask Twilight what she wrote about her friends in all those letters to Celestia.

“I am curious,” Luna continued, as though perhaps she sensed the skepticism. Or maybe she saw Dash’s flat look. “And part of me finds satisfaction in checking up on you and your friends. Will you believe that? Sister would rather we did not, because she—likely correctly—assumes you are capable enough to handle this without our assistance. That is why we asked your help, after all.

“But still I feel compelled. We have sent you afar, and you have been kind enough to accept these charges. My intent was simply to ensure you were doing well without causing undue distress to you, or frustrating Sister. Hence the subterfuge. I will not make a habit of this, and I do not mean to intrude.”

Dash nodded right away. “Alright. That’s cool, then,” she said.

Luna tilted her head ever so slightly. “Indeed? You are satisfied?”

“Yeah, sure. We got this handled, probably. I don’t remember exactly what we’re up to, but I think we’re fine. You don’t have to check up on us. Can you put the dream back on, please? I got a lot of changeling butt to kick!” Dash grinned.

Luna nodded swiftly and took a single step back, spreading her wings, but she neither left nor let the dream continue. She visibly hesitated. The Princess was a lot more animated in Dash’s dreams than she was in the real world—or so Dash thought. She couldn’t bring up any specific memories of having talked to Princess Luna. Again trying to think of the real world resisted her efforts, like trying to chew a sponge.

“Well, actually, I say that is the truth of it, but it is half of it. I alluded to the other half earlier,” said Luna.

“Alright?” asked Dash. She walked up to one of the frozen changelings and poked at it. It felt just as weird as touching the frozen manticore in her earlier dream. Strangely, she remembered this perfectly well, but she had no idea where she slept. Memory was weird.

“You dream the same dreams every night?” Luna asked.

“Pretty much? Not exactly? If you’re the Princess of dreams, you know that, don’t you?” replied Dash.

“Because I do not, in fact, spy,” retorted Luna with a brief, dour smile. “I note that there are similarities, that your dreams move in the same ways most nights, distant but unchanging like a fixed star in a star-pool. I never suspected until now… you are always in battle during the night?”

“Uh, not always,” said Dash. “But usually?” She felt the tips of her ears heat up a little. Was that weird? Her friends sometimes shared their dreams with her, usually silly ones, and sure, she had funny dreams on occasion as well. Sometimes. She just usually preferred having a good fight or a race or something. She’d never have worried that this might be strange before. Amazing what royal scrutiny could do.

“Do you always fight alone? Is the tragedy of a doomed and lonely battle part of the draw, Rainbow Dash?”

Dash drew a blank. “I… what?”

“Is this a battle you must fight alone?” asked Luna again. “Do you live the battles of your past, and do you seek catharsis through annihilation never given?”

The good news was that Dash was no longer even the slightest bit embarrassed. She was just thoroughly confused. “Probably… not?” she tried. “I don’t even know what half of that means, so no? I… I don’t even have any battles of the ‘past’ unless you count—what? I just have fun kicking flank and winning! I have no idea why you’re—”

“Good!” declared Luna. Her horn flashed so bright Dash had to shield her eyes with a wing. A series of metallic clanging noises and a thrum made the ground shake and set Dash’s teeth rattling. When Rainbow Dash peered over the rim of her wing-feathers, Princess Luna stood clad horn to hoof in armour of gleaming silver, and an umbral orb of magic made manifest hovered at her side.

“With your permission, we would join you in battle, Rainbow Dash!” Luna’s voice boomed across the time-frozen field, and the orb of un-light swirled about her, leaving a trail of stars in its wake. “Say you will let us fight with you, child!”

Dash stared, gaping until the visor of Luna’s helmet slid open with a clack, and the Princess’ voice added, a touch less metallic.

“I understand all is well with you and your friends, and you still carry the dragonfire in case of emergency?”

It took Rainbow Dash a moment to decide, thinking hard at the question until she gave a confident nod. “Yeah, we’re fine, and uh, sure, you can… join?”

“Good. We have a half-hour until I must ready to join Sister for a morning meal.” Her horn gave a weak pulse, and the innumerable changelings stirred. The wind picked up in an instant, howling in Dash’s ears. “Steel yourself, pegasus. They come!”

The horde rushed in.

Chapter 10

We are travelling again, and it is every bit as horrid as I had imagined. This very moment, I can only think that for all of its flaws (lack of heating, a criminal disregard for hot water in our room, and beds a tad too hard for my taste!), I would happily spend another week in Stagrum. Or a month.

Somehow I am the first one to wake up today, probably on account of my poor, poor aching hooves. My first stop when we get home is the spa, and the first item on the list, a pedicure. My mane is truly in a state as well, but that much is obvious.

I make no progress in trying to think of an expression of fashion to woo these peryton. There must be some essential element of a dress that they can appreciate. With the stress of trying to keep up with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, I did not need an artistic drought—but, I hear them waking up now.

-R

Scarlett tweeted sharply. Fluttershy could read a lot into those little tweets and chirps, but all Dash could tell was that she seemed happy enough. She could hear no deeper meaning, and certainly no answer to her question.

“So, what did she say?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“She says she doesn’t know exactly when the peryton usually stop,” Fluttershy replied. She giggled when the little red fluffball flew off her head to sit on the rim of their cart instead, still chirping away with her high-pitched trills. “Their wagons stand still mid-day whenever she follows them for scraps, but she can’t tell time very well, you know. She’s just a little Wibbler.”

On their right, they passed more peryton wagons by. It was the biggest trade caravan they’d seen yet, and Dash counted eight wagons so far, all parked by the road-side under the ascending sun. She had no idea how many more there were. The road curved ever so slightly to follow the river’s bend, obscuring the path ahead. All around, jewelled peryton rested in the shadows of their large wagons, and some moved to and fro the nearby river. She could hear some of them splashing around in the water.

“Regardless, even if they stop a little earlier than we had planned to stop ourselves, perhaps we should follow their example,” said Rarity with a glance overhead. “I think it is a little more than an hour until the sun is at its peak.”

“Sure,” said Dash. She moved the cart to the left side of the road, opposite of a peryton wagon-team. Two does and two stags rested there, some with half-lidded eyes, some asleep with their heads resting on the others’ flanks. One of the does snored loudly.

“You don’t mind, do you?” Rarity added once Dash slipped out from the cart’s harness. She sought Dash’s eyes, and it was all Dash could do to shrug. She felt about as tired as Rarity looked herself, and she leaned down to wipe sweat her forehead with the nook of a leg.

“No? Why would I?”

Rarity shook her head. “It’s quite alright, never mind. I’ll go fetch us some water, perhaps?”

“That would be very nice of you,” said Fluttershy. “But I can do it if you don’t want to. Or maybe we could take turns when we take our mid-day rests from now on?”

“I think that sounds fair, but I’ll go first,” said Rarity, smiling at her. She secured two wooden bowls with her magic and made for the river, saying her hellos to the peryton she passed. Fluttershy grabbed her book from the saddlebags on the cart, and Rainbow Dash lay down to rest next to her in the meager shadow offered by their small cart. They’d taken a food break not long ago, so she didn’t feel particularly hungry.

“I think there are supposed to be Wibblers of every colour,” said Fluttershy, leafing through the pages. Scarlett hopped down from the cart to fly off into the forest. “Have you seen any of the blue ones so far? They’re only supposed to come out at dusk and at dawn.”

“Don’t think so,” said Dash. She turned left, then right, looking up and down the length of the road as far as she could see. None of the wagons had tarps over them, and there didn’t seem to be much need for it anyway. “All their wagons are nearly empty,” she mused.

Fluttershy made a little noise by way of a question, but didn’t look up. Dash poked her with a wing and pointed to the wagons, earning her a curious look from one of the peryton who lay by the wagon across the road.

“Their wagons are all nearly empty,” she repeated, in case Fluttershy hadn’t heard.

“Maybe they’re on their way to pick up things?” Fluttershy suggested.

“Maybe.”

“Oh, no, wait,” said Fluttershy, frowning. “That doesn’t make sense. Unless the Ephydoeran peryton also wear jewels in their antlers, I think these are all from Stagrum. Maybe you could ask them?”

“Nah,” said Dash. “They’re probably gonna be all secretive about it like the other guys were. They’re super careful about their trading stuff, and even if they’re not, I don’t care that much. Whatever. Thanks, Rarity,” she added when the unicorn returned, drinking greedily from one of the water bowls. She’d been nursing a growing headache for a while. Rarity smiled back and brought out the tarp they kept in case of rain.

With a little magic, Rarity stretched the tarp out over them, fastening it to the cart and tying it to the nearest tree with a simple knot from a silken ribbon. Soon, the tarp stretched out overhead, providing enough shade for the three ponies without needing to huddle by the cart or in the imperfect cover of the trees themselves

“That’s a neat trick,” Dash admitted.

“I saw some of the peryton down by the water do it,” Rarity said, laying down and closing her eyes. “Now, wake me when we need to move again, please, and not a moment sooner. I swear, all this walking is going to ruin my figure.”

“You’ll be fine,” Dash laughed. “You’ll be the fittest unicorn in all of Ponyville.”

“That’s precisely what I am afraid of.” Rarity snorted, but did not stir.

“Well, thank you anyway, Rarity,” said Fluttershy between drinks. She glanced up at their makeshift cover. “I guess the peryton have had some practice walking in hot weather, so taking a few pages out of their book is a good idea. Since they are larger than us, they probably move faster, though, so they can afford longer breaks.”

“Move faster on the ground, maybe,” Dash said. “Still bet I can outfly them.”

“I just think we’re being a little reckless moving so much,” said Fluttershy without acknowledging Dash’s cocky grin. “Taking a longer break mid-day is probably smart. I’m sure it’ll be fine anyway.”

“Honestly, all this talk about walking is getting dreary,” Rarity muttered without opening her eyes. “Enough that we have to deal with it every hour of every day, but I could stand not to be reminded that I’m slowing us down as I drag my hooves.”

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy exchanged glances. Dash shrugged. She didn’t have much more to say on the topic anyway. She spread one of her wings and started cleaning her feathers instead, having wanted to do that ever since her little flight that morning. Perytonian trees were even better at hiding than Equestrian trees, and that one particular branch she’d clipped came out of nowhere.

“Hey, Fluttershy. Did you dream anything tonight?” Dash asked.

“Not that I remember,” said Fluttershy, looking up from her book. “Why? I’m sorry, did I talk in my sleep?”

“Nah, just curious,” said Dash, working a small twig out from between her primaries. “What do you usually dream about, anyway?”

Fluttershy tilted her head and bent one of her ears. “Um, I don’t think we’ve talked about that since flight school.”

“Uh-huh,” said Dash. She strained her neck and tried to get at one of the feathers at the base of her wing, but she just couldn’t. A single leaf stuck between two of the very few feathers she couldn’t reach. Typical.

“Nothing very special, I think,” Fluttershy went on, lowering her voice a touch. “I usually don’t remember. I dream about flying, sometimes. Really high up. It’s scary, but I don’t think they’re nightmares.”

“Flying,” Dash echoed, staring at her.

“Really, really high up,” Fluttershy said. “That’s the only dream I remember that I’ve had many times.”

“Heh, alright, cool,” said Dash. She made another push for the one feather she couldn’t reach. “I wonder what Twilight and the others—agh, come on—are up to.”

“I hope they have better weather than we do,” Fluttershy said, sighing softly. “And I really hope they’re okay.”

“Of course they are, I just wanna know what they’re doing.” Dash grinned. “Do you think they’ve been to a big festival, or had a swim with some weird toothy sea creatures?”

Fluttershy smiled at that. “Probably not. Do you think they’ve had a fashion show that was also a dancing routine?”

Dash glowered. “Seriously, you’re not allowed to call it dancing. When I try to dance, you’ll know it, but that wasn’t it.”

Fluttershy giggled and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I’m sure they’ve had some fun, too, anyway.”

“With Pinkie there, probably,” Dash replied, stretching her wing out in full. “Hey, help me out. One of the feathers near the edge is bent, d’you see it?”

Fluttershy leaned a little closer and squinted, reaching out to point at it. “This one?”

“Yeah. Can you yank it?”

Fluttershy raised a brow. “You don’t have to worry about those little feathers at all, you know. They’re not used for guidance or for anything else, really.”

“Hey, it’s not about worrying or whatever, it’s about perfection,” Dash protested. “I can’t reach it, and I want it gone. Just bite and yank.”

Fluttershy shook her head slowly. “I don’t think I can, I’m sorry.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Do you have teeth, Fluttershy? Yes, yes you do. You absolutely can do it.”

“It’s not that,” said Fluttershy, frowning at Dash. “It’s really close to the base of your wing. That one’s going to hurt a lot more than the feather I pulled from my own wing yesterday.”

“Yep. Going to hurt a lot.” Dash flexed her wing in Fluttershy’s face. Rarity shifted where she lay, and Dash lowered her voice a little for the unicorn’s benefit. “But it’s fine.”

“It’s not fine. I’m not comfortable hurting anyone,” Fluttershy hissed back. “And especially not you!”

Rainbow Dash groaned. She really needed that feather gone, and Fluttershy wouldn’t mind half as much if she knew how much it meant to Dash—once it was done.

“You can’t hurt me, Fluttershy,” said Rainbow Dash. “I’m asking you to do it.”

Fluttershy looked left, right, everywhere but at Rainbow Dash, breathing a little faster. “Rainbow Dash, you care more about your wings than any pegasus I know. If I don’t do it right—what if I make a mistake?”

“There’s no way to make a mistake, and don’t worry about it! I’m just asking you to pull a feather!” Dash said.

“I—I don’t know—”

“Please?” added Dash, and finally Fluttershy met her eyes. The other pegasus puffed out her cheeks and let out a long breath.

“Okay,” Fluttershy whispered, finally nodding. She shuffled around and leaned in closer to Rainbow Dash’s wing, her snout right by the mischievous feather. “This one?”

“Yep!”

Fluttershy bit down on the feather and looked askance at Rainbow Dash one more time.

“Just do it! Come o—oww oh wow that stings,” Dash hissed between gritted teeth. Her wing snapped shut on reflex, and Fluttershy froze, wide-eyed with terror, the loose feather in her mouth. Dash took a deep breath, then another, and the pain was gone, replaced by the knowledge that her wings were in perfect order once more. She spread open the wing again and smiled lazily.

“Thanks, Fluttershy,” said Rainbow Dash. She rested the wing on Fluttershy’s back for a second. “I couldn’t have done that myself.”

The fear in Fluttershy’s eyes melted away, her ears perked up, and her wings loosened again. She spat out the feather, licked her lips and nodded, tentatively smiling back.

They started moving when the trade caravan did, and that was mostly because the hustle and bustle of dozens of peryton all shouting orders and rousing each other made it rather hard to sleep. The ponies received a few waves, some smiles, and the occasional greeting in passing the Stagrumite wagon teams going the opposite way, and the three were happy to return them. They met no other traders the rest of the day, and kept to the plan of moving a little faster as they got closer to sundown. Dash meant to ask how so many peryton fit inside the single statue they rested at that night, but Rarity pointed out subtle signs of the peryton having parked their wagons all over the place and put up shelters of their own.

“Yet still they cannot keep their roads in a decent state!” Rarity exclaimed when Dash pulled the cart over a particularly large rock embedded in the ground. The cart jumped, and Rarity winced. “I have half a mind to bring this up before their princess-person.”

The weather got hotter still. Each day, their pace slowed, they extended their mid-day breaks little by little, and they upped their pace in the mornings and the evenings to compensate. Dash wasn’t too worried. Even if they hadn’t made it to the shelter statues shortly after sundown, it wouldn’t be a huge problem. It neither rained nor froze during the nights, and the forest floor was infinitely more comfortable than the hard dirt of the coast.

All around them, the forest grew thicker. It took Fluttershy pointing it out for Rainbow Dash to really notice, as it happened by degrees. The trees were denser, larger, and today—though Dash had no luck convincing the others—she swore they got twistier too.

They were definitely larger, though, and every day they found new plants in the undergrowth they hadn’t seen before, flowers, berries and grasses all. Over the past few days, what had begun as a flat road following a mainly straight river became a twisting and turning path that climbed small earthen banks and hills more often than not. The river Meronna dropped out of sight every now and then, and in other places it flowed like a torrent so close to the road Dash could feel the spray of water upon her face.

Rainbow Dash was content pulling the cart to make sure they kept moving, but whenever one of the others took a turn, she flew to give her hooves a rest, and even Fluttershy took to the air once in a while. Rarity did not have that luxury, and it didn’t help that for the past few days, she had tried hard to keep herself awake after they stopped, working with her sketches and fabrics in a daze. Presently, Rarity fiddled with the straps of the harness during the first short break of the morning leg of the day’s journey.

“She said she was fine with doing it,” Dash said. “What’s the problem?”

“There is no problem. We are all doing our part, and when it is my turn to fetch water, then I’ll fetch the water,” Rarity retorted. She blinked heavily, and the glow of her magic fizzled out before the straps were fully undone. She lit her horn and tried again.

Dash rolled her eyes. “You’re pulling the cart. It’s just a short stop, so don’t worry about it. Fluttershy can get the water. I can do it. You don’t have to if you’re tired.”

Rarity said nothing, finally freeing herself from the cart and grabbing their wooden water-bowls, setting off towards the river.

“It’s okay. I can fetch water next time,” said Fluttershy with an uneasy smile. “Rarity? Are you—”

“It’s not okay,” said Dash, stomping a hoof on the ground. “Rarity, what the hay is going on with you? Last time we stopped, I told you Fluttershy and I could set up the shade with the tarp and everything, but you got all mad!”

Rarity turned on the spot, her legs lost in the tall grasses of the forest. “Nothing is going on, except that I am tired, and I’m fetching water!” she snapped.

Rainbow Dash glared right back at her. She didn’t give the unicorn a chance to take it back, to mutter an apology, or run off in a huff. This particular scene had played out entirely too many times over the past few days, and it was grating.

“You’re not fetching water, you’re being dumb,” Dash said. “Who the hay spat in your oats? You keep, I don’t know—”

“Whining?” asked Rarity. She let the bowls fall to the ground and drew herself up, staring through narrowed eyes. “I know I am holding us back, Rainbow Dash, and I am sure the two of you have your own problems with sore wings or what-have you, but if you are still not happy with the pace we are keeping because of me, then I apologise for that.”

Dash blinked. “What?”

Fluttershy pawed at the ground. “Rarity—”

“I know you would rather we run all the way to Ephydoera—a place I am coming to dislike before I have ever seen it,” Rarity said, raising her voice. “But I am just a unicorn, and a unicorn who doesn’t have Twilight’s repertoire of magical spells, at that. I’m sorry, dear.”

“I... don’t have a problem with our ‘pace’ or anything,” Dash said. “I told you days ago, didn’t I? Are you still on that?” She looked to Fluttershy for support, for an explanation, for anything to help her make sense of this. Fluttershy made a soft little noise that could mean anything and started moving towards Rarity, and Dash followed. She stopped a stride away, while Fluttershy hugged an unresisting Rarity.

“Do you want to talk about it?” asked Fluttershy. “We’ll listen.”

Rarity leaned into the hug and closed her eyes, deflating. She looked past Fluttershy’s mane at Rainbow Dash, her face unreadable for the moment.

“I haven’t said anything about you being slow,” said Dash. She frowned. “Okay, not that I remember, but I probably haven’t said it a lot, anyway.”

“But you’ve been thinking it,” said Rarity. She shook her head and gave Fluttershy a squeeze before letting her go, muttering her thanks. “I know I’ve been a little irritable lately. It’s not just the wear and tear of the road and the heat. I don’t relish being the one holding us back.”

Fluttershy nuzzled Rarity. “That doesn’t sound like you at all. I mean, not that I think you would like holding anypony back, but… you know what I mean, I’m sure. Is there something else bothering you?” She gave the unicorn gentle a smile and a look full of concern.

“All this talk about trotting and moving faster, trying to get to this city before the storm—” Rarity sighed and rubbed at her eyes. “It is not very pleasant coming at the tail end of my failure to create anything of use. The more I think about the way my creations have been received so far, and with myself not being half as athletic as you two, I rather feel like dead weight.”

Fluttershy gasped, her mouth hanging open. Where she looked aghast, Dash felt a fire growing in her own heart.

“That’s stupid,” Dash said. She jabbed Rarity in the chest with a hoof, stepping closer to force Rarity back. “You’re the one who’s done most of the talking and everything—and who cares about the walking and whatever? You’re trying your best!” Her breath came quicker and quicker, and her heart hammered in her chest. Rarity was a lot easier to deal with when she whined. These days, she barely complained at all, and for all that it made Dash respect her, Rarity usually worked as hard as any other two ponies. This nonsense just made Dash angry.

“I think you’re maybe even trying a little too hard,” added Fluttershy. “I worry about you, Rarity.”

“Yeah!” said Dash. “I don’t give a hoot about how fast we’re moving. You’ve got to take care of yourself. You look like you’re about to fall over!”

“I’m f—” Rarity began.

“You’re not fine!” Dash cried. She plopped her rump down on the grass and crossed her forelegs. “That’s it. We’re taking an extra break, right now! A long one.”

Rarity rolled her eyes. Dash thought she could see the beginnings of a smile lurking, but the unicorn schooled her face, slowly walking towards the cart, unfolding the tarp.

“Let’s at least rest in the shade if you’re going act like a foal about it,” said Rarity.

When they had shade and water both, Dash felt a little more calm, and it looked like Rarity had cooled off in both senses of the word as well. It was as good a time as any to get some stupid apology out of the way if she had to.

“Alright, I’m sorry,” Dash said. There. Over and done with.

“For what?” asked Fluttershy and Rarity in chorus.

“If I’m trying to hurry you two up or whatever, and I’m being a butt about it,” Dash said, flicking her ears.

Fluttershy took a sip of water. She looked over at Rarity, but the unicorn didn’t seem inclined to comment, so she cleared her voice. “I don’t think you’ve been unreasonable. But, um… if Rarity thinks so—”

“I haven’t. You haven’t,” said Rarity, looking pointedly at the ground in front of them. “That was never the problem. Or, well, of course it is a problem, and I do wish I had Twilight’s magical talent or something to help me keep up with the two of you—but I am afraid giving my best is still not very good.”

“The only thing that’s not ‘good’ is you complaining about yourself,” Dash said, suppressing a growl.

“You said there was something else bothering you,” said Fluttershy. She shuffled a little closer until she lay side to side with Rarity, and the unicorn reached out to lay one of her forelegs across Fluttershy’s.

“You’re very kind, but it’s nothing new. I’ve mentioned I’m having something of an artistic crisis trying to decide on what to create. A fashionista’s work is never done, but in Ponyville I at least had the luxury of—” she hesitated, crinkling her snout. “—of hiding myself away during my more unsavoury moments.”

“You’ve been pushing yourself,” Fluttershy said, leaning against her. “And you’ve worked very hard. Maybe you could give it a little time? You don’t need to stress yourself out over it. Maybe you could try taking a break from fashion-related things? We could watch some birds together.”

Rarity drew back. “Darling, fashion is why I am here. To show the peryton the wonders of my work, of Equestrian fashion altogether. I realise that planning ahead is a little challenging when we don’t know what’s in front of us, but if an opportunity arises to create something that appeals to peryton sensibilities while also showing off Equestria’s fashion potential, I must be ready!”

“That’s not why we’re here at all,” said Dash, tilting her head. “We’re here to give their leader an invitation to Canterlot, remember?”

“Yes, yes,” said Rarity, nodding along. “Of course, that is our task as a group, by all means. That’s why we are travelling to Cotronna, I haven’t lost sight of that.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her jaw and kept her silence. She met Fluttershy’s eyes, and the other pegasus said nothing, either. Arguing with Rarity about the importance of fashion—or the lack thereof—was something you did once, and never again. Dash just let it drop and instead settled for a companionable silence once it was clear everypony was okay. She lay still for approximately six seconds before she got bored.

“Okay, if we’re cool, I’m gonna go for a flight, seeya later!” Dash declared. She spread her wings before she’d even fully stood up, jetting towards the canopy in a flash. She looped around the top branches and flapped her wings hard, catapulting herself into the open air, flying straight up and exulting in the rush of wind against her face. It was still early enough that the sun didn’t punish her too much for it, so the only reason she stopped was to make sure she could still see her friends far below. She memorised the rough shape of the river nearby and flew on, chasing any interesting change in currents that she could use, gliding and flying, corkscrewing and flipping around.

It was all forest. Greens, yellows, almost-blues and the occasional patches of more vivid reds in between the trees, visible only when she let herself fall closer to the ground before she inevitably climbed again. When she was at her highest, she could see the change in the forest in a different way. Far, far to the east, where they had been days ago, the forest was flat—or more flat, at any rate. Below, and to the west and south-west, the Khosta was lumpier than Dash’s bedroom floor after a storm. The entire forest seemed to rear up, climbing to mimic the mountains in the distant west. She thought she saw something glitter near the grey mountaintops, but she couldn’t find it again. Probably a trick of the light. With sunlight this sharp, everything gleamed.

The landscape was as complicated and foreign as the sky and the air itself was familiar to Rainbow Dash. She closed her eyes and hovered in place, imagining she was back home for a moment. Without sight, there was only ever one sky, always known to her, always there to hold on to. Nopony could take that away from her. As much as she loved her friends, sometimes you just had to fly. Not that she’d mind if her friends came flying with her, though. She should’ve asked Fluttershy to come along.

They’d spent a lot of time close together, like a really, really long slumber party, and so far, it had mostly been awesome. At least now that Rarity was better. Dash hoped she was feeling better. Fluttershy seemed to hold up well, too, most of the time.

Most of the time. Dash flicked her tail in annoyance and splayed her ears. She let herself drift, flying in large, lazy circles in a thermal rising from a forest clearing below. Still she couldn’t stop thinking about what Rarity had said the day after they left Orto. Every time she saw anything but happiness on Fluttershy’s face, Rainbow Dash found herself back on the cliffs overseeing the shore, Rarity telling her that she could be a bit pushy.

Most recently, Dash couldn’t forget the look of worry in Fluttershy’s eyes when she’d been asked to yank out one of Dash’s feathers. She’d looked pained, scared, worried—a combination of those things, or maybe all of them. Unhappy, was the point.

Dash had been right about the end result. Afterwards, Fluttershy seemed truly happy she could help Dash out, and Dash herself was happy that Fluttershy could forget about ever hurting her. It’d seemed simple enough to her. Fluttershy needed a little push, just like she needed a little help to get on board with the idea of flying the cart over the brook. She hadn’t put her hoof down like when she didn’t want to get up on the stage in Stagrum. Things had worked out in both of those cases, so why couldn’t she stop thinking about it?

Was it different from when they had gone swimming with the snickersnouts? Probably. Then, Fluttershy had just needed Rainbow Dash’s help to do something Fluttershy herself wanted to do in the first place—and she’d been really happy then, too. There was no pain when Fluttershy did the things she obviously wanted to do, only when Dash tried to get her to do things that she thought Fluttershy wanted to do. Or were they things Dash wanted Fluttershy to do?

Rainbow Dash upped her pace, annoyed and confused already. She followed the outer edge of the thermal, angling herself downwards against it, picking up speed. She’d seen Fluttershy uncomfortable and scared a lot recently, but that was hardly news. She was Fluttershy. Dash just hadn’t thought about it much until now.

Did that make her a bad pony? Dash snorted loudly. She let herself drop, then pulled up again, weaving up and down in the air like the snickersnouts through the sea. Still faster, ever faster.

She couldn’t shake the images of Fluttershy worrying, of Fluttershy in pain—and the idea that she was the one causing it. Before, she’d only cared about the smile that came at the end of her pushing Fluttershy along. No. That was a lie. Of course she’d always cared. She’d only noticed everything else recently, perhaps.

Rainbow Dash veered sharply to the left and shot off back towards her friends, her mane straight out behind her, hurtling through the air on momentum alone. Whatever. I can’t read minds, she thought. She could read the weather, though. Far to the west, beyond the mountains, a huge layer of clouds rested uneasily on the other side of tall peaks, and unless the wind worked differently here in Perytonia, they were heading this way.

Rainbow Dash was right, of course. The clouds were heading their way. She honestly wasn’t completely sure at first, but when she convinced Fluttershy to come up and have a look—she was great at all the visual weather stuff—they both agreed that they would be in for some heavy rain. The evening was dry and hot, and so was the entirety of the next day, but Rainbow Dash could tell that the day after would be a wet one. Today, it would rain. Then again, Rarity could’ve said as much even without feathers to tell her the air pressure was dropping. As they followed the road ever west, the clear blue skies were gradually eaten up by a grey blanket that brought with it a wave of humidity.

“And you are certain this is not the storm that all the peryton have been so nervous about,” Rarity asked, not for the first time.

“Yep, and nope,” said Dash.

“It’s just rain,” Fluttershy said, and from atop her head, Scarlett tweeted something that might have been agreement. The little bird never strayed far, and today she’d nested in Fluttershy’s mane all day long.

They were moving at a speedy trot now, and Fluttershy laboured hard to move the cart while Dash took a flying breather to give her legs some rest. She’d pulled their heavily loaded cart all day except for their noon break. They even risked a brief canter earlier to cover more ground, spurred on by Fluttershy’s breakfast comment about how getting caught in the rain might be a bad idea. The cart getting stuck in the mud wasn’t anypony’s notion of fun.

Running for a bit, on the other hoof, had been fun, even if it had taken its toll. Rainbow Dash’s legs ached, and even her wings were feeling it since she flew any time she didn’t pull the cart. At least Rarity did well. The unicorn hadn’t even broken a sweat.

“If you breathe a word about this, Rainbow Dash, I will not forgive you,” Rarity said. Apparently Dash had failed to hide her grin when she looked over at her.

“Relax! Who am I gonna tell?” asked Dash, wiping sweat from her brow. “And what am I gonna tell? Everything’s completely normal!”

Rarity’s only reply was a glare through half-lidded eyes, but her heart wasn’t in it. Rainbow Dash flew a little closer to Fluttershy.

“Hey, Fluttershy. Let me know if you need a break. Give me like ten minutes and I can pull the chariot again. Er, the cart. I meant cart, honest.” Dash snickered.

“Somehow, that is even less funny than the previous five times,” said Rarity, holding on to the rim of the cart. “I only hope that we haven’t broken some sort of no-littering law or taboo by leaving the empty water jugs behind.”

“I’m sure it’s fine,” said Dash. “You wouldn’t fit on the cart otherwise, and we have the river for water anyway. Just enjoy the ride!”

“Enjoy?” Rarity asked, shooting her a deadpan look. “I have serious issues with the seating arrangements, so enjoyment is not in the cards. If you move any faster, I’ll fall off!” She sighed. “All the same, thank you. Both of you,” Rarity added, her annoyance quickly spent.

“It is—” said Fluttershy between breaths. “—no problem. No problem. At all.”

Dash flew right above Rarity, flipping upside down. “Hey, at least there are no peryton on the roads to laugh at us if you think it’s that embarrassing. I still don’t see the big deal. We’ve all flown in chariots before.”

Rarity furrowed her brow and hummed. For a second, the wagon rattled along the road in relative silence outside of Scarlett’s occasional bursts of song. Dash had already started to tune out the fluffball’s noises anyway.

“We haven’t seen any peryton for days now, thinking on it.”

Dash’s ears perked at Rarity’s words. “Huh. Yeah. I guess it’s because of these ‘seven days of storm’.”

“Seven suns,” said Rarity. “I believe that’s what they called it, but as far as I gather, yes, that’s the same thing. I suppose if anyone left either of the cities now, they wouldn’t make it to the next city safely in time.”

“Yeah,” said Dash. “And speaking of time, we’re running out of it. We’re still not fast enough.” She pointed up above—or, well, below, what with the flying upside down and all. The clouds were closing fast, and the sun disappeared behind the cover of grey, quickly muting the light. Fluttershy’s little bird-friend clambered down from her head to hide under her mane.

“Rarity, can you put the tarp over our stuff and still stay on top without crushing my saddlebags?” Dash felt a plan coming on. It was a one-step plan, but a plan nevertheless.

“To stop it all from getting wet? Of course, but I think I’d rather walk,” answered Rarity. She shuffled to the side and opened her chest, but closed it again when the cart shook ever so slightly. “If you just stop the cart for a moment—”

“Fluttershy! Are you good to fly?” asked Rainbow Dash, wiping her brow and touching down next to her. “Let me have the cart!”

Fluttershy brought the cart to a halt, perhaps sensing the urgency in Dash’s voice. Rarity yelped and clutched the rim of the cart, but whatever complaints she had were lost to Dash, who only noticed with satisfaction that the unicorn set to covering the cart.

Rainbow Dash worked Fluttershy free from the harness, and Fluttershy neither protested nor asked any questions. Probably because she was breathing hard, too exhausted to speak at the moment. Her expression bore a loud question, really, but Rainbow Dash didn’t bother commenting. They could stay and get their cart stuck in the mud over and over—probably listen to Rarity whine about getting dirty for hours on end—or they could get out of here.

Dash leaned in close to Fluttershy. “Okay, nod once if you’re good to fly, shake your head if you don’t think you can fly at all.” Predictably, Fluttershy did neither of those. The other pegasus hesitated.

“Good enough,” said Dash. “Rarity, how’s the tarp coming?”

“It’ll keep the rain out,” said Rarity, clambering back atop the covered cart with exaggerated care. “But it’s even less comfortable now. I’ll dismount the moment the rain hits. What are you—”

Rainbow Dash put a foreleg around Fluttershy’s neck and leaned closer still. She couldn’t stop from grinning wide. “You just hold on to the cart and spread your wings. Fly if you can, let me glide you along if you can’t. Alright?” Dash didn’t wait for an answer. She strapped herself in just in time to feel the first raindrop hit her face. “This is gonna be awesome,” she added, just to herself.

“Rainbow Dash? What are you planning?” asked Rarity. “No, actually, forget I said that: are you planning anything? Because I find I don’t like the prospect at all.”

“Oh, and Fluttershy?” Dash asked.

“Yes?”

“If Rarity falls off, you gotta catch her. Cool? Cool.”

Rainbow Dash kicked off straight into a gallop. Her hooves ached and her wings were still tired, but it didn’t matter. Two seconds of run-up was all she needed. Her passing left a dust-storm ending in the middle of the road to become a rainbow trail pointing to a little two-wheeled cart rocketing off in a skywards arc with a high-pitched cackle and an un-ladylike scream of “Rainbow Dash!” on the wind.

“This may just be the worst idea you’ve ever had,” Rarity called over the driving rain. “I am revoking your planning privileges!”

“It’s fine!” said Dash. “Everything is fine and amazing, and more importantly, fast!”

“Which is wonderful, except if the entire point was to avoid getting wet, that ship has well and truly sailed,” Rarity retorted. “In fact, I would be less wet if I fell off an actual ship!” Rainbow Dash glanced over her back to where Rarity clung to the cart, her mane soaked and a trail of droplets becoming mist in the cart’s wake.

“The idea was to avoid getting stuck,” Dash replied. She wiped her face and trained her eyes ahead again, grinning despite the way her wings stung, despite the fact that she could really go for a pair of flight goggles right now. “Whoa, sit still,” she added, adjusting when the cart shook. Rarity shrieked.

“I am sitting still!”

“Guess it’s the wind then,” Dash said, taking the cart a little lower still. Darkened tree-tops rushed by below, the river’s flow frenzied under the heavy rainfall. Anything more than that, Rainbow Dash couldn’t see clearly. Great big drops smashed against her face, and though the wind wasn’t too bad, certain other factors made the flight a fair bit more challenging.

“Just so you know, this isn’t the easiest thing I’ve done,” Dash shouted. “This thing wasn’t made for passengers. Or flying.”

“Really,” said Rarity. “I never noticed.”

“Yeah,” said Dash, nodding to herself. Another small gust of wind. She banked slightly to make up for it. “The profile’s all off, and it’s too heavy for how big it is, I think. It drags too much!”

Rarity scoffed. “Yes, that is the issue with your plan. I am too heavy.”

Rainbow Dash groaned. “You can’t be angry at me for saying you’re getting fit from all this walking, and be angry with me for saying that you’re heavy—which was not what I was saying anyway!”

“I absolutely can!” Rarity snapped. “It’s not as though those are mutually exclusive, either. One can be large and still have room for more distinction in one’s figure. Look at Applejack!”

“Whoa!” Dash said, glaring at Rarity over her shoulder. “What the hay does that mean?”

Rarity stared right back at her. “It means that Applejack has a wonderful body, Rainbow. That was not an insult, and she’s beautiful, but just because it is perfect for her does not make it the body type I wish for myself!”

“Right,” Dash said, snorting. “Fine, but stop yelling at me so I can focus—”

“I am yelling, snarking, and generally being difficult because I am scared, Rainbow Dash!” Rarity replied, her voice shrill.

“So don’t be!” Dash retorted. She scanned the horizon quickly, and thought she could see a familiar speck of yellow ahead. Fluttershy on the return, finally.

“Oh yes, that helps—oh, oh dear,” said Rarity.

“What?”

“Something fell off!” Rarity called.

Sure enough, Rainbow Dash saw something spinning as it fell towards the forest below, already far behind them. She sucked in breath through clenched teeth. “Okay, that’s bad. Uh, should we turn around? D’you see what it was?”

“I think it was the compass I bought in Orto,” said Rarity, sighing loud enough to be heard even over the downpour.

“Oh. Whew, never mind then,” said Dash. All the talk wasn’t helping the growing fatigue. Her wings had stung for a good while now, and that wasn’t a good sign, but now the rest of her body caught up and she genuinely started to feel tired.

“Never mind?” Rarity asked.

“I told you! You’re travelling with two pegasi! I never understood what you wanted with that!” Dash said. Fluttershy fell in at Dash’s side, turning around and matching her speed.

“It would’ve made a wonderful souvenir, or something for the mantelpiece,” Rarity huffed.

“Rarity, you don’t have a mantelpiece!” Dash countered.

“Did—did I miss something?” Fluttershy asked, clearly still trying to catch her breath.

“No!” said Rarity and Rainbow Dash in chorus.

Fluttershy blinked, shook her head, and pushed her rain-slick mane out of her face. “Okay, the road still follows the river, and I think there’s a landing spot up ahead. Do you see the cliff?”

Rainbow Dash strained her eyes. She couldn’t see a cliff, but up ahead, the dark shadow of the forest rose up.

“I think so,” Dash said.

Fluttershy nodded, flapping her wings a few times to keep from drifting behind Dash, whose wings worked constantly. “It’s where the road meets the cliffs.”

“Cool,” said Dash, grinning. “Up high.”

Fluttershy smiled back and held out a hoof. Dash punched it lightly and put her head down, flying on. Having Fluttershy as an advance flier was invaluable for making sure they were on the right track—just in case the road drifted from the river—but she could tell the other pegasus was tired as well. It should be late afternoon or early evening at worst, but in the heavy rain and under the total cloud cover, it was impossible to tell. They’d been in the air for a while anyway.

“How’s your little bird friend?” asked Rarity, sounding a little more calm now. When Dash looked over at Fluttershy, she could just barely spot a touch of red peeking out from the tresses of Fluttershy’s drenched mane.

“She’s fine,” Fluttershy replied, flying a little closer to the cart. “Are you okay, Rarity?”

“I can tell you ‘no’, or you can look at the state of my mane and my tail for a summary of my well-being,” Rarity retorted. Fluttershy just smiled and shook her head at that.

Up ahead, the hill, ridge or cliff—the bit where the forest rose, anyway—closed in. As they drew near, Dash could spot rock amidst the forest colours, showing a sheer cliff separating the lower and the upper forest areas, along with her first look at the road in a while. Even flying low, the riverside road hid beneath a still denser canopy, but ahead of them, the road wound its way up the cliffside. Not far away, Dash spotted a bare patch of ground.

“That it?” Dash asked, pointing.

“I think so!” Fluttershy replied. “I didn’t get a close look, but I think that’s a good place to stop.”

Rainbow Dash turned the cart a little bit, heading towards the clearing by the cliffside. She didn’t ask for specifics. She didn’t really care what the place was, because they really needed to stop. An overloaded cart was certainly not a chariot, and her wings were getting stiff from not being able to glide at all—and from constant work of fighting the wind and rain. The wind would pick up, too. She could tell.

“Are all the other animals going to be okay?” asked Rarity, her head down against the rain now. “I remember you having to help evacuate animals in Whitetail Woods last fall during that awful downpour!”

“Oh, I’m sure they’re okay,” Fluttershy replied. “Scarlett says—” she paused for breath. “She says all the birds hide in between the tree-trunks with the little rodents. This is the furthest west she’s ever been, but everywhere she knows of, they’re used taking care of themselves.” She sounded a little saddened by that. Dash just shook her head at the weirdness of it all.

“If you say so, dear,” Rarity replied. “Any other interesting animal details to keep me from thinking about how my hooves are going numb? I don’t know if I can hold on forever.”

“We’re nearly there,” said Dash, slowly letting them drop. Finally, she’d get a moment’s rest. If she’d known they’d be flying this far, she wished she had thought to switch places with Fluttershy at some point. Not because she needed to, of course, but because she was sure Fluttershy could pull it off, too.

Then again, the missed opportunity didn’t sting that bad. They’d get another chance, probably, and this way, she didn’t have to deal with seeing Fluttershy nervous or scared at the prospect. She didn’t have to try to convince her.

“Alright, landing! Hold on to your flanks!” Dash announced. The clearing closed quickly, a hole in the dense forest nestled in a nook between river and cliff, right next to a waterfall where the river Meronna rushed off the top of the cliff in a torrent.

The rain whipped against her face and her hair became a trail of colour behind her. Despite the weight of the rainwater, Rarity’s mane stood out straight as a flag in a storm, and Fluttershy easily kept pace. Dash felt good about that. Really good, in fact. The warmth from that realisation lingered. Who the hay trusts wingpower measurements anyway.

“Darling, we’re going faster,” said Rarity.

“We are,” Dash replied.

“We’re supposed to go slower when we land, aren’t we?” Rarity asked, louder.

“Usually!” Fluttershy said.

“Hang on!” Dash yelled, every feather working against their descent, her ears pinned and her teeth clenched as she braked as hard as she could. One second they cruised just over the treetops, the next they came down in an arc over the clearing. A moment later, wings burning with the effort, Dash brought them to a perfect, gentle stop near the edge of the clearing. Gentle enough that Rarity didn’t say a single word of complaint. Gentle for everything involved other than her wings. While Dash hissed in pain, Rarity let out an appreciative gasp.

“This is certainly a step up in aesthetics, at least compared to the rest of our stops. Whomever planned this place is—ah!” Rarity cried out as she nearly slipped stepping off the cart. Dash was glad for the roar of rain covering her giggle while Rarity recovered her balance to avoid falling on the rain-slickened grass.

The very short wet grass, Dash noted while Fluttershy steadied the unicorn. Though it was well underway to becoming mud right now, the clearing looked trimmed or grazed compared to the rest of the forest floor. Even more curious, Dash had been wrong thinking there was nothing here. There was a statue of Selyria, but rather than being carved out of a boulder, the bird-monster’s shape jutted out from the cliff-face upon which the clearing bordered.

The shelter was carved into the sheer stone right where the clearing met both cliff and river, creating something between a hut and a small cave. The nearby waterfall’s spray added to the rain, occasionally splattering against one of the shielding wings.

“This is super weird,” said Rainbow Dash to nopony’s protest. The forest had changed, too, as though they had taken off from one forest and landed in another one where the trees were larger and more imposing. While there was still plenty of open space for flight, the undergrowth held more than tall grasses and flowers. Vines hung from trees and heavy moss grew everywhere.

Fluttershy moved over to the far edge of the clearing, opposite of the waterfall. She tilted her head as she approached the largest of the trees—a top-heavy oak-like thing with long reams of leaves like so many party streamers.

“What is it, dear?” asked Rarity. Carefully watching the ground as though she expected to slip again, Rarity picked her way after the pegasus, and with a grunt to get the cart moving, Dash joined them, the cartwheels creating furrows in the grass and mud.

“I don’t know,” Fluttershy admitted. The bark had been removed, and someone very skilled had carved a flame-wrought spike. A mountain, perhaps, or an antler tip? For all the skill that went into the deep and smooth carving, it lacked in detail.

“I think I saw an even simpler version of this on one of the trees by last night’s rest stop, actually,” Rarity mused. “It wasn’t half as elegant as this one.”

Dash shrugged. If her friends wanted to ponder strange symbols, they were welcome to do so. Her own eyes were on the clouds above. They were moving fast, but that only made working with them harder, not impossible. She wiped the rain off her face again and again, trying to get a good look at their movement.

“Speaking of yesterday’s stop, where is the road?”

Rainbow Dash looked around at Rarity’s question before she remembered. “Oh. Yeah, the road is a little bit further south, I saw it climb the, uh… cliff? It wasn’t as cliff-y over there. No way the road could go up here.” She gestured to the near-vertical rise that loomed above them.

Fluttershy hummed her agreement, poking at her drenched mane to a peep of protest from inside. “The road turned away from the river east of here, so I don’t know if this is one of their usual rest stops. Maybe it is.” She frowned. “I don’t see a path leading away from here though.”

“That probably means there’s a statue on the road ahead of us, then,” said Rarity. “A good rest now will make tomorrow easier if we’re behind schedule and need to rush to catch up.” She sighed as she watched Fluttershy try to attend her own mane and looked back at the mess of a tail she dragged in the grass behind her. Rainbow Dash was glad she had a short mane: Fluttershy’s and Rarity’s manes were plastered to their heads, and their tails all drooped with the weight of water. Rarity shook her head and moved over to the cart, lifting the tarp up a smidgen.

“Yeah, I don’t know about that,” Dash said with a shrug, following. “We’re probably ahead of schedule, actually. The statue should be on the road way behind us, not in front. We’re good to relax.”

“We were flying very fast,” Fluttershy said. Dash noticed a touch of something in her voice. Satisfaction, pride—whichever of those or whatever it was, she sounded pleased with it, and Dash met her eyes, holding out a hoof to go with her own smirk.

“Hay yeah we were fast. That was awesome,” Dash said. “Come on girl, hit me again!” She laughed when Fluttershy giggled and slapped her hoof light as a feather with a barely-audible clop.

“It was very impressive. And you’re not tired at all?” asked Rarity, lifting the tarp a little more. She found her saddlebags and started rooting around.

“Oh jeez, you have no idea,” said Dash with a burst of laughter. There was no point hiding the fact that she was working on adrenaline alone. She’d crash soon, and her wings were hurting, but admitting it had taken its toll was fine: fully loaded cart cross-country during a rainstorm? There was awesome to spare. “I don’t know that I’m up for this again. Even if we’d gotten above the cloud layer, flying this cart is a nightmare, and if I had to fly when it’s hot, too? I—”

“Oh, make no mistake, darling,” Rarity said, frowning. “You are not getting me on top of this cart ever again. We were lucky we only lost the compass.”

“You lost the compass?” Fluttershy asked, one ear bent in question.

“It fell off,” said Rarity, nodding. “What if it had been something more important? What if I had fallen off the cart? This has all been tremendously risky, surely you can see that.”

“Eh, Fluttershy would’ve caught you, and if you fell when she wasn’t near, I’d just ditch the cart and grab you. I saved you once, I can save you again,” said Dash, shrugging and grinning. Mentioning the mess at the Young Fliers competition always brought out a smile from Rarity, and sure enough, she sighed and smiled this time as well.

“You do understand I am grateful, I hope,” Rarity said, lowering her voice a tad. “Not just for that time last year, but for now, too. Though I’d never wish to repeat it, today did work out rather well, and we are not stuck on the road with our cart mired in the mud. Well done, dear—and you, too, Fluttershy. On behalf of my hooves, thank you.”

“I’m just glad you’re feeling better,” said Fluttershy, smiling.

Dash shrugged. She already knew all that, of course, but it was nice to hear Rarity say it. She spread her aching wings in full and nuzzled in under to give herself a good sniff. “Heh, if it wasn’t raining, I’d probably smell pretty bad right now. I’ve been sweating like you have no idea.”

“And just like that, the charm is extinguished,” Rarity said with a roll of her eyes. She worked a brush free from her saddlebags.

Fluttershy giggled and shook her head. “Let’s just all hope the rain stops by tomorrow. If the hot weather dries everything quickly, we won’t have to worry about mud.” She pointed to the cliffside statue-shelter. “Let’s get to somewhere a little more comfortable?”

“Sure,” said Dash, walking the cart towards the cliffs. “Just so you’re warned, what I’m saying is that when we dry up, I’ll still be dripping. And smelly.” She slapped a soggy wing onto Rarity’s back.

Rarity snorted, the corners of her mouth tugging upwards. “If you’re trying to gross me out, I’m afraid you have stiff competition from the mud around, and I’ve been soaked to the bone for hours.” She gave Dash a wan smile. “In all seriousness, as much as we’ve been too close for too long for you to really over-share, I will admit that I’d be grateful if you cleaned up at least a little.”

“Yeah, I was gonna take a dip in the river anyways,” Dash said, rolling her eyes. It was no fun when she couldn’t get a rise out of Rarity.

“I was thinking of just filling a bowl with rain water and cleaning my hooves and tail inside, but whatever works for you, dear,” said Rarity.

“If you’re going to wash in the river, you’ll be careful, won’t you?” asked Fluttershy. She shook her wings out and folded them on her back. “It’s really dangerous when it’s flowing this fast. Maybe we could go together? I need to clean my mane and my tail, too.”

Dash shrugged. “Sure. I just gotta check something first, it’ll be quick.” She trotted all the way over to the shelter-statue and quickly slipped out of the cart’s harness while watching Rarity make her own way over at a slow walk. “Heh, you’re not exactly running for cover, Rarity. Do you like being out in the rain now?” she asked.

“Rainbow, darling,” said Rarity with a deadpan stare. “I can not get any more wet at this point, but that does not mean I am happy about it.”

“We’ll all feel better once we’re dry, and if we can get a good night’s sleep, that will help too, I’m sure,” Fluttershy suggested. Once she drew close to the shelter, Scarlett zipped out from beneath the cover of her mane into the darkness beneath the stone wings ahead. “What was it you wanted to do, Rainbow Dash?”

Dash blinked. “Huh? Oh! Yeah, I just wanted to go see if I could kick a hole in the clouds. I know they’re moving, but I was thinking I could make like… a furrow or something? I’m just curious about how their clouds work.” She looked straight up at the tantalising grey mass that hung far above. Her wings still ached, but it wouldn’t take long to get up there. Dash hopped off the ground and managed a simple hover for starters.

“I’ll be back in a second,” said Dash, but she didn’t make for the clouds just yet. The second Dash declared her departure, Rarity began moving between the cart and the statue, ferrying little odds and ends into safety, but Fluttershy neither headed inside to take cover from the rain, nor did she help Rarity. Instead, the yellow pegasus waited, occasionally glancing up at Dash.

Did Fluttershy wait for Dash to ask her to come along? Should she? Even if she didn’t plan on doing much, flying close to fast-moving and heavy rain clouds wasn’t the safest thing in the world, and Fluttershy would be tired, too. This wasn’t at all like her wanting to hang out with the snickersnouts in the ocean. If Fluttershy didn’t take the initiative, that probably meant she needed some encouragement.

Half an hour from now, Fluttershy might be thrilled to know that she could wrangle foreign clouds, but along the way, Dash would have to push and prod and pull and drag Fluttershy along. However good Rainbow Dash was at ignoring it up until recently, Fluttershy would get nervous. She’d get scared, and she might fail.

Dash felt a vague sense of queasiness, probably just from too much awesome flying in one day. She’d have to make this quick, then. She could ask Fluttershy to come along the next time.

“Alright, be back in a flash and we’ll head to the river,” Dash said. She smiled at Fluttershy, and Fluttershy smiled back with a nod, moving towards the cart without a word. Rainbow Dash climbed straight up.

It took her half a minute to reach the cloud layer, but she knew long before then that it was pointless. Once she cleared the treetops and the shelter of the cliffs, the east-going wind tugged at her wings, still picking up. The clouds would simply be moving too fast. She should’ve been able to tell from ground level, honestly, and it didn’t help that the clouds were dense at the core, but wispy towards the edges.

Of course, if any pegasus could work with this, it was her. She had to check it out, at least, tired wings or no. Down below, she could just barely spot Rarity and Fluttershy engaged in conversation by the cart. There wasn’t much else to see in all this rain. She couldn’t even see the road that she knew lay nearby. Unless that was the road. She squinted. There was definitely a path, and she could swear she saw a lone figure walking along it. When she blinked, it was gone. She could find neither path nor person again.

Whatever. Dash zipped up with her forelegs out straight, creating a nice and wide tunnel through the clouds. Despite the rough going, she punched through the top seconds later, violently shaking the water off when she landed on the edge of the hole she’d made, hissing with the strain as she folded her wings.

Topside, everything was calm in the way that only the world above weather could be. Lumpy grey clouds formed a carpet below a darkening blue sky, and the sun shone on uninterrupted. The only irregularity was the hole she had made. Everything had been perfect until she meddled with it.

The hole no longer pointed down at the campsite. If she was going to give them any respite from the rain at all, she’d spend more hours clearing clouds than they’d get minutes without rain. Dash sighed and dove back through the hole, spreading her wings to glide down towards her friends. They still stood by the cart, just like she’d left them. Rarity pointed up to her and finally disappeared inside the shelter with the last of their stuff, leaving Fluttershy to wait for Dash to land by her side.

“Alright, I don’t even have to try to see it’s not gonna work,” said Dash. Looking up, she couldn’t even find the hole any more. She tried to flick her tail, but all she accomplished was to drag it around on the ground like a wet mop on a muddy brown floor. “Let’s go clean up.”

Fluttershy said nothing to that, simply nodding and following along when Dash started them towards the nearby river. Around the waterfall, the river’s edge was scoured down to rock by falling water, so Dash led them downriver a bit, looking for a likely place to take a bath. Though she wasn’t much of a river-ologist or whatever, she could tell that simply hopping into the rushing river would be a bad time. The Meronna was less than half as wide here than it was when they followed it yesterday, a roar of foam rather than a sedate flow. After a minute or two, Fluttershy took wing and flew over to the other side of the river, calling for Dash to follow. The river had overflown into a pool with still, but clear water.

“Hey, nice catch,” said Dash. Fluttershy sat on a rock by the little pool’s edge, but Dash didn’t bother waiting. She hopped in, splashing Fluttershy with water and cackling, but her laughter only lasted until she noticed Fluttershy didn’t react. She didn’t splash her back or even scold her, she just soaked her tail in the water and worked her hooves to try to clean the worst of the mud off.

Well okay then. Dash sighed noiselessly. Was something up? Fluttershy would tell her. She didn’t look upset. Worse. She looked pensive.

“I wonder if these statues are all over the forest,” Dash said instead of asking. She ducked under the water, soaking her mane. The water was already getting a little muddy, but it was still an improvement. Her tail floated to the top of the water, colour returning at last. “If they don’t fly their wagons, I don’t get how they’re supposed to reach this place.”

“Maybe it’s for people who don’t have carts or wagons,” mused Fluttershy. She pulled her tail out of the water and slung it over her body.

“Maybe,” said Dash, shrugging. “I don’t know who’s using them, then. We only ever see peryton travelling with wagons. If we’re supposed to be close to Ephydoera, we haven’t met—”

“Did you know Rarity used to think we were, um… together?” Fluttershy cut in.

“Yep,” said Rainbow Dash. She made waves with her wings in the pool. Was that all that had Fluttershy all quiet? She’d almost forgotten all about it, and now she regretted she hadn’t made a joke about it. “Wait, hang on,” Dash added, tilting her head. ”Why? Did you think we were, too?”

“Oh, goodness, no,” said Fluttershy with a little burst of laughter. Dash chuckled along and shook her head, but the silence settled again, twice as heavy. Rainbow Dash let out a breath underwater, blowing bubbles that were lost among the heavy raindrops that whipped the water. She was starting to get really cold.

“Did you ever want us to be together?” Dash asked, though she honestly didn’t even know what she meant by that word. She hadn’t even planned to ask, but the question hit her mouth long before her brain.

It made sense only in hindsight. Had Fluttershy’s laughter been a little nervous right now? Knowing Fluttershy most of her life meant she noticed little things—just like having a pair of eyes and ears meant noticing that this time, Fluttershy didn’t laugh in response.

Fluttershy kept working her mane, scrubbing the pink and perfectly clean hairs against the rock she sat on. “Fluttershy?” asked Dash again. She moved a little closer, drifting in the waters of the little river pool until she looked straight up at her.

With her mane out of the way and nothing else to hide behind, Dash saw that Fluttershy’s pupils were tiny little pin pricks, and she could hear her rapid breath.

“I—I have to go see if—if Rarity is okay,” Fluttershy blurted, her cheeks a bright red and her ears splayed. She took off with enough force to send Rainbow Dash’s mane flying, a yellow and pink blur heading across the river.

“Alright. Seeya,” said Rainbow Dash to nopony at all, swimming around the little pool on her back.

Rainbow Dash let her mane soak a little more before she headed back. The mud and grime on her hooves loosened and came off, and she felt at least slightly less icky. Instead she was cold. Pegasus or no, spending any more time in the cold river water during a rainstorm would do her no favours at all. No wonder that even Rarity, fastidious as she was, decided against a bath today. Rainbow Dash slowed down to a hover when she got close the shelter, folding her wings mid-flight to land just inside.

“And not a single bit of mud on my hooves, how’s that for precision?” asked Dash, grinning wide. She shuffled her wings slowly and painstakingly to make sure they lay right, and she had to suppress a groan of pain. Even just rustling her wings hurt.

“Very impressive, dear,” said Rarity, and somewhere in the relative darkness, Scarlett sang. “Now come sit down and have something to eat—and please try to refrain from shaking the wet off your mane inside!”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and tried to pretend she hadn’t been about to do exactly that. She settled for dripping. “Well, duh. Do you have towels or something?” She squinted, her eyes slowly adjusting to the dim light that Rarity’s horn provided. Rarity herself sat on the far side of the support column of inscribed stone in the middle. In the back, under the cliffs proper, images of wings were simply etched into the stone rather than sculpted separately. It was a snugger, cozier statue than the others they had seen, and this particular one only offered two entrances rather than four. Right now, Dash didn’t mind the lack of a draft.

“I have a towel, and it’s nearly dry,” said Rarity. She sat by her trusty supply chest, wringing and heating the small towel with her magic over a bowl of water, her mane wrapped in some spare fabric or other for drying. Fluttershy sat next to her, arranging food on top of the chest for lack of proper plates. She was making quite a spread of different treats, and one of them had filled bowls with clean water to drink, too.

Dash smiled appreciatively and took a seat by her friends. She leaned forwards to grab the towel intending to dry herself off a little, but the unicorn whisked it away.

“Let me, dear. Hold out your hooves one by one and I’ll dry them like I did for Fluttershy. I’ll take care of your manes after we’ve eaten.”

“Alright, sure,” said Dash, stifling a laugh. She held out one of her forelegs and let Rarity rub her down, leaning over for one of the rutabaga treats while trying not to move too much. They ate, drank, and talked about nothing much. Fluttershy bemoaned the state of her book, which had gotten a little wet on one of its corners, and Rarity said something about the state of all their manes and her aching hooves, but it was hardly complaining so much as it was fact.

When the food had all disappeared, Rainbow Dash opened her eyes to find herself leaning against Rarity while the unicorn worked on the tangles of Dash’s mane with comb and magic. She must’ve drifted off for a second. Rarity just smiled and kept grooming, and Dash stretched languidly. It felt better than it had a right to do. When she woke up again, Rarity was hard at work combing through Fluttershy’s tail with a blue light that lit up the shelter. Dash blinked and rubbed at her eyes.

“Thanks, Rarity,” she murmured. She looked down at her tail. It looked just right, colours no longer randomly mixed together. She didn’t realise until now how bad it had gotten before Rarity worked her magic.

“It was my pleasure, dear,” said Rarity without looking up. She gently shooed away Scarlett when the bird hopped onto Fluttershy’s tail and started pecking at the glow wherever Rarity worked.

“No, I mean it. I was a mess.” Dash shook her head and stretched out all her legs, leaving her wings be for the moment. She grabbed another bite of food. Someone had put out another few bits of rutabaga, and she was still hungry despite having eaten.

“It’s really amazing what you can do with barely anything at all. All you have is a comb,” Fluttershy chimed, making Rarity blush ever so faintly.

“Well, some soap, water, and a little grooming magic can go a long way,” said Rarity. “I might not be able to start a fire, but I can heat some water, and combing is an art, you know.”

Fluttershy nodded and nuzzled Rarity without another word.

“Oh, do stop,” Rarity said, but her cheeks glowed still. “I still wish I’d thought to pick up some material for proper head-wear while we were in Stagrum. Some good hats would keep the rain out of our faces, and ward off the sun. If I’d known it would’ve gotten this hot and this rainy, I would’ve made it a priority. I don’t even have material to make some rain-proof clothes.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t bother commenting on that. Rarity wouldn’t be happy until she could fix every single one of their problems, preferably with fabulousity. It was the reason Dash hadn’t voiced how much her wings ached right now. She stretched the left wing, then the right one, but every hoof’s length of wingspan hurt more than the last. She met Fluttershy’s eyes by chance, the other pegasus watching her with some concern.

Fluttershy hadn’t said anything about what happened in the river-pool. Rainbow Dash hadn’t brought it up, either. Fluttershy seemed perfectly content to pretend it hadn’t happened—that, or she thought Rainbow Dash was too stupid to understand what had been left unsaid.

No. That wasn’t it. Just having thought that made Dash’s stomach clench, made her head hurt with how wrong that idea was. Fluttershy didn’t think she was stupid. She was the last pony who would ever think Rainbow Dash was stupid, one of the few people Dash knew she could trust never to say or think that.

Rainbow Dash just needed to make her own mind up about what was going on and decide what to do. As much as it annoyed her, that meant she had to think about it—and she would. Just not right now. She was tired, hungry and she ached all over. Thanks to Rarity and Fluttershy, she had food, and she was well groomed. She could fall asleep right then and there. She just didn’t want to. Not yet.

“Rainbow Dash?” asked Fluttershy.

“Yeah?”

“What do you have in your saddlebags that you were so worried about?” Fluttershy lay one of her ears flat and tilted her head.

Rarity ran her magic through Fluttershy’s tail-tip with a flourish. “You were worried about me sitting on it, as I recall.”

“Oh. That,” said Rainbow Dash with a shrug. “I guess some of it could be fragile, it’s just some junk I grabbed before we left. Nothing useful.” She grabbed a long draught of water and brought a kelp cake with her over to where her friends sat, leaning against Fluttershy’s back while Rarity finished her grooming. She closed her eyes and let out a long breath.

Sure, they were in a strange country, stuck in the middle of a rainstorm in a huge forest, and she was a little bit confused, but she had two of her closest friends with her. She’d figure out what was up with Fluttershy. She’d decide on what to do, and things would work out. She just needed to do a little thinking.

Chapter 11

Nothing I can think of quite lives up to my hopes. I toyed with the idea of trying to design some form of headdress, but in all honesty, I simply haven’t the materials. I came here to create dresses, not hats.

I have had my share of failures so far, and I am more glad now than ever that I did not ask Mirossa for her opinion on the dress I made for her. For all that it was a joy to create—and what a challenge, a dress for another species on measurements by eyesight alone? If it fits her, I think—

On second thought, I should like to know if it fit her, at least.

No matter. One simple success, that is all I need. Still I have no ideas on what might impress these Ephydoerans—and how could I? We have no idea what to expect.

-R

Thinking wasn’t easy, as it turned out. Rainbow Dash always had a better time wrangling thoughts when something happened, when she was doing something, and this morning was light on everything except mud. They all woke up rested and in good spirits that somehow survived both dragging the cart through the dense undergrowth to the road, and the continued, if light, rainfall. They couldn’t really afford to wait for the weather to get better than this, so under a gentler shower and a brighter sky, they’d packed up.

Fluttershy pulled the cart along at a sedate pace, and the three ponies worked together to push the cart free when it got stuck in the muddy road. The climb up the cliffside path to the plateau was hardly exciting, and as much as Dash was happy with Rarity’s delight over the view from the top, she’d seen it herself every time she took flight. From the cliffside as from the sky, the scale of the Khosta became clearly known, an endless forest—and then they stepped under the canopy again and the leaves closed off the sky, greedier this time.

The most thrilling thing to happen since then was Rarity sharing some funny story or other. At least, that’s what Rainbow Dash assumed had just happened; Fluttershy laughed, but Dash didn’t really catch the beginning of the story. Or the end of it. Rainbow Dash stayed quiet, but she wasn’t thinking about the confusion with Fluttershy at all. She was thinking about how she should be thinking, and nothing came to her. Dull inactivity was great for nap time, terrible for trying to think about best friends acting weird, so instead, she idly noted the slowly shifting colours in the leaves of the forest around them.

More blue, less yellow. Colder colours, denser growth, and roots everywhere. She spotted a colourful glade of flowers just off the road. There was a distant, blood-curdling roar. At least the temperature was pleasant today.

Fluttershy still hadn’t said anything about yesterday. Left to her own devices, Fluttershy probably wouldn’t say anything on that topic, ever. Maybe that was alright, and maybe it wasn’t. Rainbow Dash even couldn’t decide on that. Thinking. Trying to think.

“Rainbow Dash?” Rarity asked, her voice distant.

Dash turned around. Fluttershy and Rarity had stopped in the middle of the road a small ways behind her. “Yeah? What’s up?” Dash asked. She retraced her steps. “Why’d you stop? Stuck again?” Rainbow Dash leaned around, but from what she could see, the cart’s wheels were free.

“Did you hear that?” asked Fluttershy.

“Hear what?” Rainbow Dash replied.

From the forest came a chorus of unintelligible cries of rage that echoed with themselves, all sharp and piercing. A small distance to the north, a particularly tall tree-top disappeared from view with a loud crunch and a puff of rain-mist. Rainbow Dash’s wings spread with a rustle and a whip-like snap that sent water spraying, the pain from her still-sore wings forgotten. Fluttershy backed up against the cart, and Rarity moved closer to her, the three ponies clustering together in the middle of the road.

“Wh—what is that?” asked Fluttershy, wings jammed to her side. Scarlett darted out from the cover of her mane and into the cover of the forest, chirping wildly.

“I think it’s coming this way,” Rarity answered, frowning. “Something tells me this is not an Ephydoeran delegation come to greet us.”

Rainbow Dash darted around and tore the harness’ bindings loose, freeing Fluttershy from the cart in case they had to run, and then stepped in front of her friends. Each and every one of her heartbeats were punctuated with a thud and a shake of the ground from heavy steps that got louder every moment. She could only barely make out something moving in their general direction, a shadow cutting a line through tall trees that only halfway concealed the huge thrashing shape.

“You’re kidding me,” said Dash, breathless.

The hydra burst out from the forest and onto the road. Eight heads roared in unison, and the creature was halfway across the road heading for the trees on the other side when it spotted them. One head turned, then another, and soon all its maws were bared before them, the hulking reptilian dragging itself towards them along the muddy road on two powerful legs.

“Oh my goodness, oh no, oh my goodness—” chanted Fluttershy.

“Of course they have ridiculously huge monsters here as well.” Rarity sighed and glared through half-lidded eyes. “Why ever not.”

“Finally!” Rainbow Dash cheered, louder than the hydra itself. She hopped into a hover and grinned hugely. “Let’s get it on.”

Rainbow Dash cackled with glee and flew around the hydra’s neck. Its nearest neck, anyway. A second later, one of the beast’s ugly faces impacted against its own body with a dull smack. She laughed and turned skywards, gaining height. “Come on, you can do better than that,” she taunted.

“This is awful!” screamed Fluttershy, joining in the fun. She ran between the beast’s legs, trapping one of the twisting hydra-heads beneath its own bulk.

“Awesome going, Fluttershy!” Dash called. “Keep it up!”

Between the cart and the hydra, Rarity stared down two more of the toothy heads, brandishing the largest of their wooden bowls. “Back, you beast,” she snarled. “Those herb-and-jelly treats are what gets me up in the morning, and you are not touching my fabrics with those dirty, dirty claws!”

When one of the heads lunged for her, she expertly deflected it with a swat on its snout, but the other forced her into a feigned retreat. The screaming-at-the-top-of-her-lungs was a nice touch that gave the impression of real fleeing, and Dash was amazed at Fluttershy and Rarity’s teamwork. The hydra tried to give chase, but with a head wedged underneath it, it tripped, the huge monster’s fall like an earthquake that sent mud flying everywhere.

“Alright, that was awesome,” Dash declared. “Great work, guys! Rar—oh feathers. You want more?”

The hydra got back up, covered in mud but not looking very defeated at all. One of its heads launched towards Rainbow Dash, mouth open. She shot up at the last second, kicking off its muzzle for speed, laughing as she went along. Below, Rarity bombarded the hydra with some of their food. “Whoa, are those the grass balls, or is that the rutabaga? At least throw the kelp cakes instead!” Dash yelled, dodging another snapping maw.

Rarity didn’t acknowledge her, but the unicorn’s assault worked. Some of the hydra’s heads were squabbling over the food and smashed into each other. Below, Fluttershy ran in circles around the hydra, chased by no less than three of its heads, the monster slowly spinning in place trying to catch her. Dash cheered and zipped after the leading head, kicking it in passing.

Rainbow Dash didn’t have a plan. If anything like it formed in her head, she just blurted it out and hoped for the best. Fluttershy, try stepping on its tail—er, or slip and trip over it, sure! It worked fine enough, if you ignored the mortal peril. Thinking was pointless, it was all in the fighting. In the doing. She gave one head a kick, then another, waiting until they both lunged for her. Neatly dodging out of the way, Dash let the two heads collide with a loud thwack, two of the necks limp and flopping to the ground.

Acting. Doing. The hydra shrieked loudly and redoubled its efforts.

It was impossible to do anything unless you knew what you had to work with. A hydra trying to nibble on her was something she could touch—and kick. Yesterday night hadn’t been a thing. It was an un-thing. She’d spent the morning fumbling around trying to think about what Fluttershy had or hadn’t said when she should be acting, but she couldn’t act because there was nothing to act on. All she knew for sure was that Fluttershy had dropped a bomb and bolted.

Rainbow Dash had wasted enough time believing she could think answers into existence like she was a unicorn able to wave her horn and make things happen.

She couldn’t. She could charge head-first into the problem like she ought to. Dash flew tight circles around one of the monster’s necks, starting a minor twister that sent it to the ground with a wet and muddy smack.

“Hey, Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash called.

Fluttershy didn’t respond. She hopped over the beast’s tail and kept running in circles.

Rainbow Dash dodged a flying pastry, letting it hit a hydra-head on approach instead. “Fluttershy!” Dash tried again.

“What?” Fluttershy yelled back. The hydra wised up to Fluttershy’s clever running-away tactic and came at her from both sides, forcing her to take wing.

“When did you figure out that you were in love with me or whatever?” Dash asked. She snapped her wings back, then shot them forward, sending a blast of air at the next contestant that wanted her feathers.

“What!?” Fluttershy said again, even louder this time. She narrowly dodged a lunge, ending up clinging to the top of one of the hydra’s heads, riding it rodeo-style.

“If you’re in love with me,” Dash repeated. “When did you—”

“I heard you! You want to talk about this now?!” Fluttershy screamed, clinging on for dear life.

“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity called. “A little help, dear?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. No time like the present. Besides, none of the hydra’s heads were interested in her right now. The hydra slowly crept up on the cart and the retreating Rarity, though, no longer fazed by the one-pony food fight. “Sure, why not? I really wanna know!” she said.

“Fine!” yelled Fluttershy. She kicked off the head she’d been riding. She didn’t look scared or angry. She looked scared and angry. It was an interesting combination. “Probably a very long time ago, happy?!”

“Pft, nah,” said Dash. She flew around the hydra and hopped up and down on its tail to turn it around, away from Rarity. It worked. The hydra gave chase, and Rainbow Dash set off down the road at a decent pace, leading the Hydra along. “I’m serious,” she yelled over her shoulder “You’re gonna have to give me more detail than that! And what the hay does ‘probably’ mean? Either you’re in love with me or you’re not, right?”

Fluttershy zipped around the hydra in a wide arc, faster than Dash had thought her capable of. She hovered right in front of Rainbow Dash, stopping Dash dead in her tracks. Fluttershy glared at her, and Dash shrank back a little.

“Ever since we were young!” she spat in Dash’s face, breathing hard, but whatever anger she’d mustered evaporated bit by bit as she spoke. “Or this summer. I don’t know. I’ve never felt this way about anypony else, so how can I tell?” she asked, sighing and slumping. “I don’t think it’s something that’s a yes or no question.”

“Are you girls serious,” came Rarity’s voice, far behind them. In the corners of her eyes, Dash noted that the hydra turned and made for the cart again, dragging its three unconscious heads along the road.

“Yeah, well, how the hay would I know how you know? I don’t know either,” Dash said, returning the question. In a flash, she rocketed towards the hydra with her hindlegs outstretched, landing a solid hit on its butt. It roared and turned around, and Dash was back with Fluttershy a moment later. She flicked her ears in annoyance and frowned. Was Fluttershy messing with her? “You sounded sure about it yesterday, even if you didn’t say it! What gives?”

“Well, yes, I am sure now,” said Fluttershy, no longer meeting her eyes. “We’ve been friends for so long, and I’ve always loved you as a friend, but I guess it turned into something else. I didn’t think about it until… until maybe this summer? It felt natural, and I haven’t thought a lot about it, but I didn’t want to lie when you asked.”

“Then why haven’t you told me? You should’ve asked me out or something!” Dash said. “That’s what I would have done!” Probably. Rainbow Dash hadn’t really been in that situation, but it was the only thing that made sense to do when you felt something, right? The hydra closed in on them, rearing up for a strike.

Fluttershy puffed out her cheeks. “Because I’m not you, Rainbow Dash.” Her voice was low and quiet, soft as the falling rain. ”I’m fine with the way things are, and besides, you’ve never shown any interest in me. Like you said, if you had, you would have told me.” Now she locked eyes with Rainbow Dash, and for once, Dash couldn’t read her.

“Rainbow Dash! Fluttershy!” Rarity sounded very far away. “For Celestia’s sake, watch out—”

“You’re fine?” Dash asked. Several of the hydra’s heads shot forward with their fangs bared, but between the hydra and Fluttershy being ‘fine’, the hydra barely registered as a threat. She hovered in place, staring at Fluttershy. Fluttershy shouldn’t be ‘fine’, she should be great.

“Yes, I’m fine!” Fluttershy replied. She glanced to the side, her eyes widening at the impending doom on fast approach. Fluttershy rammed into Rainbow Dash, pushing them both out of the way at the last second, the pegasi going down in a heap. “What are you doing?!” Fluttershy demanded, standing over her.

“Do you wanna go out then?” Dash asked, clambering back up on all fours. She brushed some imaginary dust off herself, and a fair amount of non-imaginary mud, too.

“What?” Fluttershy asked.

“If you wanna be the one to ask me first, that’s fine, but if you’re not gonna ask—” Dash said. Two of the hydra’s heads were on the return. She grabbed Fluttershy and kicked out behind her with all her might, smacking one of the charging hydra’s heads into another. The heads bounced off each other, and Dash launched the two pegasi up high, out of harm’s way. “If you’re not gonna ask, I’m asking now!” Dash finished.

Fluttershy didn’t reply immediately, the other pegasus hanging in the air, entirely blank-faced.

“One sec,” said Dash. Spotting an opening, she soared down and away at an arc, thundering into the jaw of another hydra-head with one of her forehooves. The monster’s remaining heads looked at each other and apparently reached consensus. It took off down the road, brushing past Rarity and the cart. Vaguely, Dash noted some shapes flying towards them from the opposite side, but she was busy.

“So, do you? Wanna go out at some point?” Dash asked again. “It could be fun!”

Fluttershy pushed her mane out of her face while watching the hydra flee. It didn’t help a lot. While none of them came out of the fight looking good, Fluttershy in particular was caked with mud from her earlier fall. The only clear colour visible on her was a touch of red provided by Scarlett, who flew in to perch on top of her head at that moment.

“I don’t think you understand what I meant,” said Fluttershy. “Or… maybe you don’t understand what you are saying.”

Two dozen shapes gained definition, closing in fast behind Fluttershy, but Dash didn’t pay attention to that. Fluttershy’s words stung. She felt her ears wilt and opened her mouth to say something, anything, her face flush with anger, but Fluttershy beat her to the punch.

“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy added, sighing. “I didn’t mean it like that, but if you do understand, then this is a very cruel joke, Rainbow Dash. This isn’t funny.”

“It’s not a joke!” Dash scowled. “Let’s grab something to eat and be together or whatever it is ponies do. Why not? Why do you think I’m joking?” She tilted her head sideways, waiting for the other mare to say something meaningful. She didn’t know which annoyed her more: That Fluttershy didn’t think she was serious, or that Fluttershy was okay with being “fine” rather than great, like she ought to be.

Fluttershy looked behind her, only now noticing the peryton who were almost upon them. “Oh,” she said.

“Come on, focus,” said Dash. “It’s simple. If you wanted to ask me out, you can just say yes now.” She shrugged. “Or you can say no, I guess—or anything in between, I just don’t understand why it’s so hard.”

“We really need to talk about this, Rainbow Dash,” said Fluttershy, shaking her head briskly. “I mean, I’d like to. To go out, I mean, but—”

“Good enough,” Dash declared, grinning. Talking sounded like a threat more than anything, but Fluttershy smiled ever so faintly, even if that smile didn’t reach her eyes. “Sure, let’s talk or whatever, but let’s say hi first. It looks like we’re getting a real welcome this time.”

“Eireaus, Drakoss, your flights will circle it, chase it back, go!” One of the approaching peryton had a voice that rang loud and clear even at a distance. Over half of the group broke off and sped up, more than a dozen great wings carrying them in the general direction of the fleeing hydra. The large fliers cut through the rain, their bodies blending with the cloud-cover above leaving faint streaks from antlers lit with magic, though for what purpose, Dash couldn’t tell. Did their bodies glow as well?

Dash couldn’t tell how fast they were going, but watching peryton in flight, she thought back to Captain Calm Seas’ words. Exactly how much of an “incident” would it be if she ignored her wings’ protests and gave chase, just to see how fast they were? Were there degrees of incident-ness?

Fluttershy made an executive decision, guiding them both down to the ground, and the second Dash landed, she was glad of it. With the adrenaline spent, her wings were going numb, and she struggled to even pack them away.

“I hope they’re friendly,” Fluttershy said under her breath, moving over to stand by Rainbow Dash. Scarlett let out a single, loud peep.

Ten of the peryton stayed on course towards the ponies, rapidly descending. They barely caused a splash in the mud when they touched down in a perfect wedge, the peryton on the sides walking quickly to catch up until they all stepped through the rain in a perfect line, walking abreast and blocking the road. Nine of the ten peryton halted, with the last taking one more great stride before stopping close enough to touch.

The ponies probably didn’t impress quite as much. Their little cart was mired in mud, they were all muddy and drenched in ways that the maneless peryton didn’t have to deal with, and Rarity still had an array of food items arranged around her in a magical halo. She left the cart behind and approached, but the unicorn looked like all she wanted was an excuse to pelt someone with kelp.

“You trespass in the deeps of Khosta Forest, the demesne of Ephydoera,” said the peryton who had yelled orders earlier, the voice a dark and threatening rumble. His head—if it was a stag—was tilted down to look straight at Rainbow Dash. One more step forward and he’d be chest to chest with her. Or chest to face, as it were.

“Yeah, we kinda figured that’s where we are,” said Rainbow Dash, grinning. “Name’s Rainbow Dash.”

The Ephydoeran peryton were easily the weirdest ones yet. All their chests and undersides were a light blue, while the tops of their bodies—heads, backs and the top-side of their wings, were the mossy green-blue hues of the forest about them. Without wearing anything at all, they were all uniform, set apart only by shaving different parts of their flank-coats down to the skin.

“I am Agaus, warden to the paths.” He did not move. In fact, he barely seemed to breathe.

“Cool,” said Dash. “So, we’re not really trespassing. Maybe you’ve heard that we’re coming to visit? Or, more like passing through, actually.”

The peryton warden said nothing. Water dripped off his muzzle perfectly regularly like clockwork, and a small rivulet poured down his chest, rain-water pooling beneath his forelegs.

Rarity cleared her throat and stepped up to Dash’s side, tossing the food to the roadside. “Hello. I am Rarity—”

“You interfere with our guardianship and you trespass,” the stag said, ignoring the unicorn entirely. His eyes never left Rainbow Dash, and she was really getting annoyed with the way he made her look up at him. To cap it off, he snorted hot air in Dash’s face, washing the pegasus’ smile away like so much smoke.

“Hey, you could say thanks! If we’re in your lands, you’re welcome for the help with the hydra, you know?” Dash said. She took a half-step closer, looking almost straight up at the stoic stag.

“Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy whispered, and Dash felt a tug on her tail.

“If you want us to go get the hydra back so you can have a go when it’s feeling better, you let me know,” Dash suggested. The tug on her tail repeated, a little more insistent, and Scarlett’s sharp tweets pierced the momentary silence. She let Fluttershy walk her back a few steps, but she kept staring at the stag through a mighty frown. Rarity stepped neatly into the vacuum Dash left.

“Like I was saying,” said Rarity. “I am Rarity, and the lovely mare who is currently helping avoid a confrontation here is Fluttershy. Introduce yourself, dear!”

“Hello,” said Fluttershy around a mouthful of Dash’s tail, waving without looking at the peryton. She let go of the tail and moved to stand in front of Rainbow Dash, smiling apologetically at her, and Dash felt her ears heat up with the indignancy of what amounted to being put in time-out. Fluttershy rested a hoof on her withers. It helped a little.

“We’re ponies on a diplomatic mission from Equestria, and I assure you, we don’t want trouble,” Rarity continued. She paused for a moment, but Agaus kept his silence still. “So, ah, well. You should have been informed. We are travelling by land—obviously—and we are heading towards Cotronna. We were told that we could reach it by going through Ephydoera, and you’ll forgive me if I mix some of these names up, but there is a path through the highlands, I believe?”

Rarity smiled radiantly. It had all the effect of smiling at a mountain, but the unicorn did not falter in the least. She dipped her head in a nod as though Agaus had spoken in reply. She still had the lead peryton’s attention, and the other nine stood silent like ghosts in the rain.

“Ahem. We’ve just come from Orto by way of Stagrum, having had peaceful dealings with everyone of your species that we’ve met, and let me say, they had only good things to say about the wonderful peryton of Ephydoera. They suggested we may find some assistance from you. Were we misled?” Rarity tilted her head ever so slightly. “After all, there is this storm coming, and it would be terrible to be caught outside.”

Still silence. Dash tilted her head to look past Fluttershy to confirm that, yes, this Agaus person was still completely passive. Dash felt her hackles rise. No one got to be this rude to Rarity. She heard Fluttershy whisper her name again, but the urge to tell this rude stag off was growing.

“We’re not asking much,” said Rarity, her tone slightly less chipper. “We were hoping to visit on amicable terms, but we will of course pay for services, and we only need directions and some information on how to safely travel north. Now, I am led to believe that your mayor—or whomever is in charge of your city—should have been told of our coming. Are we mistaken? Equestria? Princess Celestia and Princess Luna? Does this ring any bells, dear? Word should have been sent by raven from Orto months ago.”

“Solast, Phoreni!” barked Agaus. “I would turn these away. They are not warriors, but they have routed a great beast with less than half a flight’s wings. I do not trust this power, I do not remember hearing of them, and they stole from us our task. Your thoughts.”

Two more of the peryton stepped forward, but there was no drill-like precision to this maneuver. Where Dash was fairly confident that Agaus was a stag because of his voice, she couldn’t decide whether these two were stags or does right away since all the peryton had the same general colours, one looking like another.

“Do I think they are warriors?” asked one. “One of them has the heart of a warrior, but I do not think they are a threat. The insult and the theft I do not care about. I do not care for fighting in the rain—and,” they continued. “I do recall this missive from the Lodge. They are expected.”

“Would I turn them away?” asked the other, this one with less complicated antlers and shorter tail feathers. Maybe this was a doe and the other one a stag. “I stand with Solast. You see insult, I see favour, and favour is tribute. Raise your pride and let them pass if they have business with the High Warden. I, too, have seen this report.”

Neither of the two peryton had betrayed any emotion in speaking. Agaus nodded, and the two speakers stepped back in line without another word.

“I would send you away, but I have been given counsel. You will have safe passage if—” he said, lingering on that word. “—any of my council will suffer you enough to take ownership of the visit.”

The first speaker, the one Dash had pegged as a stag, looked down at the ground for a moment, then stared blankly ahead. The doe with the short tail-feathers took one step forward again with her head raised high, and this seemed to satisfy Agaus.

“Done, then. Phoreni, the strangers belong to you. Name three to go with you and show them to the Grove. The rest of us continue patrol. Eireaus and Drakoss will find their own way back.”

“What? Agaus—” the one who’d stepped forth protested.

“We go by ground, bodies low!” Agaus barked. “Phoreni, pick your three, but leave Solast with me.”

The doe nodded briskly, and the assembled peryton broke formation. She called out three names to stern nods and no reply, three near-identical peryton clustering around her, while the remaining five formed up on their leader. Without further words, explanations, or so much as a backwards glance, the one called Agaus stalked off into the wet woods. It only took seconds before they were gone; the peryton walked with heads low and wings tight, the colours of the tops of their bodies merging with the undergrowth to swiftly disappear the six who went off the path.

Rainbow Dash and her friends were left with four peryton who looked the same, none of whom spoke aside from some muttered whispers between two in the back.

“If I understand it correctly, you volunteered to show us to your hometown?” Rarity asked. She smiled at Phoreni as though the ponies hadn’t just been ignored. Dash frowned. Did Rarity actually understand what had happened, or was she guessing, too?

“Volunteer? I did no such thing,” said Phoreni. ”I was given ownership and charge of your presence. Can you fly?”

Rarity looked back at her friends. “I, ah—”

“We can fly,” said Rainbow Dash. She indicated Fluttershy with a nod of her head, the other pegasus now stood at her side. “Rarity can’t. She’s a unicorn. No wings.”

“Yes. Like I said, we’re ponies from—” Rarity began.

“By ground then. We can still make it by sundown following the shortest way. Take charge of your cargo and move,” Phoreni declared, waving a hoof in a circle before pointing down the road to the west. “We follow the trade-path until my say.”

“Rainbow Dash? I think maybe you should take the cart, if that’s okay,” Fluttershy whispered.

It was probably for the best if these peryton were in a hurry. Rainbow Dash didn’t know how she felt about an escort, but one look at Fluttershy—at the pegasus who had been quiet for so long—told her how she needed to feel about it: Fluttershy’s ears were splayed and her tail dragged, wings tight to her sides.

Rainbow Dash decided she was neither intimidated nor impressed. These peryton weren’t scary at all, and her friends didn’t need to worry either. Dash strapped herself into the cart with practiced ease and grunted with effort as she dragged it loose from the mud.

Intimidated? No, but definitely bothered.

“What do you mean by ‘given ownership’?” asked Dash the second they began moving. She looked at the one she thought was Phoreni. The four peryton moved around a lot, and now they took up position two to each side of the ponies.

“I meant what I said,” replied Phoreni. Now that she walked at their side, Dash could see her markings better. She had a lot of symbols carved or shaved into the coat of her flank, down her leg, and on even on her side, like many large, colourless cutie marks. Dash couldn’t make out exactly what they were meant to be, especially on the move: A half-circle here, a crow’s foot there.

“Yeah, well, I heard what you said, but you don’t own us,” said Dash, scowling.

“Do I own you?” said the peryton. “I own the burden and the risk of your visit.”

“So what you mean is that you are liable for any trouble we cause,” Rarity suggested.

“I meant what I said,” repeated Phoreni.

“And that’s a yes?” asked Dash. “I thought you weren’t helping us.”

Phoreni upped her pace a little, forcing the ponies to do the same. Dash happily accepted the challenge, the cartwheels creating furrows in the mud as they kicked into a trot. Rather than stay on the path, their escorts stuck to the side of the road where their colours blended them with the terrain. Whenever Dash didn’t look straight at them, they were a blur in the corners of her eyes.

“Did I say I am not helping you?” asked Phoreni after a moment. She leapt a fallen log, showing no problems keeping her attention on Dash and talking while she ran. Her antlers glowed faintly without doing anything, well, magic, outside of making her wings and hooves glow very faintly in the same manner.

Rainbow Dash blinked. “What? Yeah you did! Rarity asked if you were helping us!”

“The white one asked if I volunteered. I did not,” the doe said, utterly impassive. “I am helping you because I do not believe anyone should be miserable alone in the coming storm, even in the generous shelter of the Khosta.”

“That’s very nice of you,” said Fluttershy. “Thank you?” She sounded almost as confused as Dash felt.

The peryton pulled ahead again until they were at a brisk canter. Finally Phoreni seemed satisfied and ran at their side rather than ahead of them. The cart sprayed mud behind them now, and Fluttershy took to the air to keep from slipping while Rarity ran between the road and the forest for better grip.

“Yeah, sure, thanks,” agreed Dash, but Phoreni said nothing to that. “Anyway, you look different from the other peryton. Like, really weird all over.”

“Words from a blue creature with hair of rainbow, travelling with a yellow one and a white one without wings,” retorted Phoreni.

Dash snorted. “That’s not an answer. Ponies have all sorts of different colours, but we haven’t seen any blue or green peryton anywhere else.” She shot Rarity a glance, half expecting the unicorn to beg her to stop bothering their guide, escort, or whatever she was, but Rarity had enough trouble keeping her footing as she ran. At least she kept pace well enough.

“You have not been to the deeps of the Khosta, against the Bow,” said Phoreni, ducking under a branch. She switched position with the other peryton on her side of the road. “You have not seen Ephydoeran warders before.”

“Obviously.” Dash rolled her eyes. “We haven’t met. We’re from Equestria, but seriously, what’s your deal? Why’s your coat like that?”

That got a reaction. At least, Rainbow Dash thought she spotted a toothy peryton smile on Phoreni’s face, but it was gone when she blinked. “We have met you, but you have not met us. We had eyes on you the day before, to see that you did not stray from the path.”

“You’ve been—you’ve been stalking us?” asked Rarity between breaths.

“We have seen you from afar,” said Phoreni with an unapologetic shrug. “Stalking? We ward. You have come this far at our sufferance. Today, the leading warden felt you had come far enough, and so you were challenged.”

As creepy as the thought was, Rainbow Dash smirked. “Heh, some stalkers you guys are. I saw one of you yesterday.”

“Do I believe we were spotted? I do not think you have seen any of us,” Phoreni said.

“Totally did! Saw one of you in the forest,” Dash said. She meant to spread her wings and jump into the air, but her wings refused to listen, giving her a jolt of pain that shot down her back instead. Rainbow Dash drew breath through clenched teeth.

“When was this?” asked Rarity, glancing at Dash.

Fluttershy frowned ever so slightly, looking at Dash’s wings for a second before she met her eyes. “You didn’t say anything to us. Rainbow Dash, are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure!” said Rainbow Dash, glaring at Fluttershy. “I just forgot to mention it. I saw a lone peryton somewhere in the forest when I was up messing around with the clouds yesterday.”

“We never run alone. It was not one of us,” said Phoreni. She looked away, and Dash felt like all her feathers had been crossed, utterly dismissed. Before she could protest, Phoreni slowed them down, step by step, until they halted completely.

“This path, now. Will your cargo survive? If not, is it precious to you?”

“Oh, I think the cart will be fine,” Fluttershy suggested, landing next to Rainbow Dash. The peryton moved to one side of the road, pushing apart some shrubbery to reveal a narrow path. With the forest getting ever denser, Dash would’ve never spotted it if she didn’t know about it. In fact, she doubted she would find the path again if she looked away for a second. These peryton knew the forest as well as Applejack did her farm.

“But our cargo is, in fact, precious to us,” Rarity added. “Rainbow Dash, do you want me to take the cart?”

“I’m good,” said Dash. She pushed ahead, leading the group off the road and onto the slightly less slippery, less muddy path that cut through the forest. Better to use her legs than think about her wings right now. The peryton still kept a little distance between the ponies and themselves, and they still moved with their heads and bodies low to the ground and the rain-wet flora in a weird, stalking walk.

“Why do they do that?” asked Dash, her voice low. The ponies moved close together on the narrow path, slower now. Every now and then, some bush grasped at their cart.

“Why do they do what?” asked Rarity. She kicked some mud off one of her hooves on a tree as they passed it.

“The weird walk, the way they talk, the way she refuses to answer my question about why they look different, I don’t know—everything!” Dash said.

“I think it’s camouflage,” said Fluttershy. She craned her neck to look ahead. The leading peryton had almost disappeared, and a second later, Dash realised Phoreni walked at their side, not more than a few hoofbreadths away.

“Well, duh, but—”

“The colours? It is to hide our movement,” she said, nodding to Fluttershy. “Like your yellow friend, who has covered herself in mud to blend in, though I do not understand the purpose of the bird.”

Fluttershy smiled at that, shaking her head. “She’s a friend, she’s not camouflage.”

Scarlett noisily agreed, and Rarity winced at the sharp sound, clearing her throat.

“So, this camouflage, it is dye? Like the powders they use in Orto, perhaps?” Rarity asked.

“The recipe and its secrets are not for me to share. The colours above hide our bodies when we prowl on the ground. The colours below hide our shapes when we fly high against the clear sky.”

“What are you hiding from?” asked Rainbow Dash.

Phoreni kept her muzzle pointing forward, her eyes darting around as she navigated the forest by the pathside. “As you may have guessed, hydras. Among many other things.”

Fluttershy looked around as though the forest had suddenly grown sharp teeth, sinking down a little until she walked almost as low to the ground as the peryton. “Are there… a lot of hydras here?”

Phoreni raised a brow at that. “The Bow sends many creatures our way. Hydras in particular are not common, not like the glare beasts. You have many questions, like young-feathers who have yet to win their first charge. They are too simple for me to understand. How can I explain what everyone should know?”

“We’re not from here, dear,” said Rarity, frowning. “How would we know these things? We would be happy to tell you of Equestria, but I will be surprised if you know any more of our Everfree Forest than we do of this Khosta of yours.”

For a time, the group moved at a comfortable trot in an uncomfortable silence. Despite how narrow the path was, it still made for easier going than the muddy road. Every now and then, a great big raindrop would work its way down the trees, but at last the canopy swallowed the grey sky entirely. Normally, Rainbow Dash wouldn’t have noticed all the new berries and flowers if Fluttershy hadn’t pointed them out to her, but they were rather hard to miss: she could swear some of the berry clusters glowed. Now that she was aware, she noticed some of the trees were decked in moss or vines that also glowed ever so slightly.

“Weird,” Dash muttered, ducking under some vines that definitely gave off light.

“We have some of those in Equestria too, but I’ve never seen them glow that bright,” Fluttershy replied, smiling at the curious plantlife.

“Huh. I’ve never seen them. They’re in the Everfree, I guess?” Dash asked.

“Oh goodness, no—or, maybe they’re there, too, but I don’t really go into the Everfree to look for plants, you know. There’s a little grove in the Whitetail where ponies usually don’t go.”

“Oh. Cool,” said Dash. “Hey, you said you wanted to talk about stuff? About going out and all that?” Better to get the talk out of the way sooner rather than later.

Fluttershy splayed her ears, looking over at Phoreni who still walked at their side. Rarity cocked a brow.

“Maybe later? When we’re not so, um, right here with a lot of people?” Fluttershy suggested.

“Sure,” said Dash, smiling back at her and looking around instead. The three other peryton who shadowed them were visible only now and then. Whenever Rainbow Dash thought they had gone on ahead, one of them would come stalking out of the brush at their side. Though Phoreni always stayed near, Dash figured that her conversation with Rarity had been well and truly dropped. She herself didn’t care to try for answers again, more concerned with the dull and throbbing pain on her back. She was just about to say something to Fluttershy—ask her about some berries or whatever—when Phoreni spoke up again.

“Though your questions are like those of our children, you are not they. It was not an insult in spirit either way. Understand, we see few who visit, and I am not used to speaking with them.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t know what to make of that. She looked to Rarity who walked at the opposite side of her, and the unicorn smiled faintly.

“I think that is something of an apology,” Rarity murmured under her breath before the peryton went on.

“Those not of Ephydoera who walk the deeps of the Khosta are usually peryton who come bearing gifts, or the beasts of the Bow. The Bow is the mountain range to our west, the mountains against which the Khosta is the ward. Against which Ephydoera spends most of its efforts warding.” Phoreni did not look at them. She trotted at their side with eyes ever ahead, wending around trees, over logs and below branches seemingly without conscious effort.

“In case you did not know, I will explain. We were told you might come. It is a poor warden who does not read every missive to understand what to expect,” she continued. “Agaus pretended not to know because he does not want this responsibility. This, I understand from his decisions. He sent the greater part of our flight against an already beaten hydra, and the smaller part of the flight to those who had beaten it and still stood strong. He understood you were no threat and meant to allow you to enter, but did not want to do this himself.”

Rainbow Dash frowned at that. “Okay, that’s lame.”

“It is his choice to make, and I have made mine,” Phoreni replied. “And so, we are here, and I must explain things. ‘Visitors’ is... new, but I have been far enough to know there are those who trade with our sister-cities. I hear of, but have not seen Zebra and Cotilla in the other cities. In Orto, Stagrum, Cotilla and Vauhorn, yes, but not here, and never before this missive have I heard of ‘ponies’. Equestria is a word I may have read, but neither heard nor understood. Where is this city? Will you show me where it is?”

“We would be delighted to,” Rarity said.

“We don’t have a map, so I guess it would be telling, not showing, but of course,” Fluttershy agreed.

“Sure,” said Rainbow Dash, smiling. “Trade you for telling us where we’re headed?”

“Then you are poor traders, and Phostos shakes his head,” said Phoreni, her own head moving from side to side herself. “You have already helped us rout a great beast. Eireaus and Drakoss will have an easy time chasing it back to the folds of the Bow. You are owed and will collect more than this for your aid.”

“Aid? So now you are happy we helped?” asked Rainbow Dash, staring at her with her jaw hanging open. “Make up your mind already!”

Phoreni didn’t bat an eyelash. “Were we not aware of your help? We were always thankful, and your anger is misplaced and reckless. Now, tell me where you are from, and I will tell you of Ephydoera. We are not far from the Grove.”

“And these princesses who sent you here, are they warriors?” asked Phoreni.

“Oh goodness, I don’t know if I’d say that.” Fluttershy licked her lips and knit her brow in thought.

“You said we weren’t warriors,” Dash said. “What do you even mean by that?”

“If you ask if the Princesses are brutes given to fighting, then no, they most certainly are not,” Rarity added with a huff.

Phoreni nodded once and seemed to think. She’d done that more and more often as they talked, lapsing into long silences.

The path cut through the forest seemingly without touching it, sneaking around and under the ever deeper, ever denser forest. Here and there, Dash caught glimpses of more faintly luminescent growths, brighter in contrast to the darkening sky she couldn’t see. Though all the care Rarity had put into their manes the day before was ruined, they’d gotten most of the mud out of their hair, at least.

“Solast marked one of you as a warrior. Do I agree? I do not know,” said Phoreni, her face as blank as ever. “But if a warrior is to you one who fights, then the question is meaningless.”

Dash hopped over a rock embedded in the path. The bottom of the cart barely cleared it. “What else is a warrior?”

“That is the largest question one can ask,” Phoreni said. “High Wardens have been chosen for their answers to variations of that question. Did these Princesses send you to Ephydoera or to Cotronna? You are unclear.”

“To Perytonia, so both and neither, in a sense,” Rarity said. “We landed near Orto, but we are headed to Cotronna to seal a treaty. We thought we’d visit you on the way by suggestion of a friend. Khaird, one of the consuls in Orto.”

“Very well,” said Phoreni. “Alergos! We make for the grove!” she shouted ahead.

Dash blinked. “Uh, aren’t we already heading there?”

“We have been circling it for a while.”

“What, why?!” snapped Dash. “You tricked us?”

“Trick? I have learned of your intent, and I have done this by asking you questions,” said Phoreni with a short-lived smile. After a short walk along the path, she paused and let the other peryton reveal another, yet smaller path than the one they followed. “I am satisfied that none of you have violent hearts, not even you—” she locked eyes with Rainbow Dash for a split-second, utterly expressionless. “—despite your hot blood. I believe your story, and the tale of your ‘Princesses’. Your kind means us no harm, and I will take ownership of your visit. Now come.”

Dash glared at her back and followed. The cart straddled what was not so much a road or a path as it was a thin strip of wet dirt to fit between the cartwheels. If Fluttershy and Rarity felt similarly betrayed, they said nothing, and Phoreni offered no further explanation. All four peryton rose up and walked at their full height now, and rather than shadow the ponies, they walked single file in front, occasionally trading words too low for Dash to hear.

More and more glowing berries hung from branches above them, luminescent moss on every tree, but the light was faint. More annoying was the fact that nearly every step of the way, some plant or other grabbed at their cart, branches and wet leaves getting tangled with the wheels.

The trees had been getting larger and larger by degrees, too, and some of them were rapidly approaching ridiculous. Dash spotted one in particular that looked like it could pick a fight with Twilight’s library tree and come out on top. Scarlett, who’d been blessedly quiet for a while, started singing.

“She’s excited,” Fluttershy explained, smiling. “She says there’s food nearby.”

“I do hope that’s true,” Rarity replied. “I needn’t tell you we’re all out, now. The only one who’s eaten well today is the hydra.”

Fluttershy nodded at that. Their escorts had insisted on the ponies eating on the move, and aside from one brief stop to drink from a small stream, they’d had little to eat or drink themselves.

“How are you doing?” Fluttershy asked, turning to Rainbow Dash. “Your wings hurt, don’t they?”

“I’m fine,” said Dash. “How about you two? Rarity?”

“My hooves are starting to ache again, but I’m quite frankly starting to get used to it. Thank you for your concern, dear,” said Rarity.

“And I’m okay. A little tired, that’s all,” Fluttershy added.

“I’m more worried about the lack of… anything ahead,” Rarity added. “I was looking forward to some rest, but I don’t see any signs of a city. I’m wondering if we’re about to be tricked again.”

Fluttershy nodded her agreement, but she didn’t look very concerned. She ducked under a low-hanging clump of moss. “I don’t know. You might be right, but you could probably hide a mountain in this forest and we’d walk right by it.”

“Yeah,” said Dash, then, louder, “Hey! You said you’d tell us about this grove or Ephydoera. What is it? Are we close? Where’s the city?”

“The Grove,” said Phoreni without turning or halting, “is the heart of Ephydoera. Those who come bearing tribute visit us by the trade roads. Those who wish to hold counsel with us will be seen to the Grove. Ephydoera is many places, but the Grove is where we roost above all.”

“Okay, you know, I think I liked no real answer better than too many answers,” said Rainbow Dash. “Where is it?”

“We are here,” said Phoreni.

Chapter 12

Applejack

I’m ever so sorry for the late reply. I’ve been a little busy by the edge of the Whitetail Woods lately, and I meant to reply to your letter—and I’m again sorry for leaving this letter in your mailbox. I heard you knocking on my door last night, but it was a little late, and, well. I’m sorry.

You’re right. I wanted to talk about last night. I guess it’s last week now, actually. I just wanted to let you know that Rainbow Dash and I are friends, and that you didn’t have to yell at her. I understand you were probably just trying to help, and I appreciate that, so I’m sorry if it sounds like I’m not very thankful, but it’s really okay.

-Fluttershy

Whether or not they stood before a city was something Rainbow Dash really couldn’t decide on. They passed between two large trees with branches that drooped so low, Rainbow Dash had to duck to pass them by. Once through, the last few drops of rain fell upon what Phoreni called the Grove, and if nothing else, Dash had to agree that they’d definitely arrived somewhere.

They stood upon the top of a slope, its edges curving inwards suggesting an immense bowl-shape, but Dash couldn’t tell for sure. The lip of the slope was densely vegetated, creating a wall they’d just passed through, a contrast to the more sparse forest floor beyond. Their path, and many like it, went from the green wall down into the relative darkness where trees grew even larger, thicker and taller to counter the drop of the slope, keeping the canopy above unbroken and even.

Though most of the thick trunks studding the slope had their lower halves free of branches, it was hard to see far: the trees were anything but bare. Faint, ephemeral light was cast upon the Grove by luminescent reds, blues, greens and pinks from plant-life clinging to trees and branches. On platforms built onto the trees and in their branches lived the Ephydoerans.

Huge platforms in dark wood jutted from the trees, some circling the entirety of a tree-trunk, and many of them not looking built into so much as grown from the trees, wood entirely too flat and smooth to be… carpented? Woodworked? Built. A few of the platforms had wooden supports and some had bridges spanning the gaps, but the vast majority of what Rainbow Dash could see were solitary platforms with simple roofs. Ephydoerans flew to and fro these platforms with purpose, gliding down to the ground or flying in great big circles up from the forest floor.

Someone gasped when they pushed through the wall behind Dash, and Rainbow Dash was fairly confident it hadn’t been her. She made an effort to follow Phoreni and to drag her friends with her. Well, her friend, Rarity, and possibly her girlfriend, Fluttershy? She shook her head and grinned. She liked the thought of it, even if Fluttershy wanted to “talk about it”.

“My home is in the third middle circle,” said Phoreni. Dash still looked up, barely avoiding a collision when Phoreni stopped. Where had the other peryton in their escort gone? She must have dismissed them. “Second blue gleam from top of twelfth on the warm side. You will find me there. I will go announce your arrival to the High Warden and ask if she will see you, ponies of Equestria. The evening is still young.”

“Sure,” said Dash, agreeing with whatever Phoreni had said. Down the slope, the lights were even brighter, owing in part to the contrast with the darker forest floor, but also due to some sharper points of light that couldn’t be plants. The path they followed became indistinct, but there was precious little vegetation in this place outside of low grasses and some flowers. Plants and mushrooms mostly nestled among the roots.

Rainbow Dash kept thinking back to Twilight’s library. Not far ahead, where the trees reached a certain size, there were buildings in and around the roots of the trees, too. The tree-house library would fit in perfectly with all the other stuff built or carved into the trees on the ground level. Further in, nearly every single tree showed signs of population, peryton milling about. Many of them looked young, some carried small bags slung around their necks, and a couple carried radiant lanterns that were clearly not guested by fireflies.

“Um, actually, one more thing,” said Fluttershy, just as Phoreni spread her wings and her horns took on a soft glow. Dash jerked her eyes away from the chaos around them. So many of the peryton were flying compared to the other cities. Rarity stared off into the distance still, while Phoreni tilted her head in question.

“I’m sorry to keep you, but do you know if there are any places we might sleep?” Fluttershy asked.

“Oh yeah,” said Dash. As awesome everything around them was, she had no idea what she was actually looking at. “Do you have any hotels? Motels? Inns? Or I guess you call them resting houses?”

“And while we’re at it, are any of these shops and boutiques?” asked Rarity, gesturing towards the nearby doors, portals and obviously well-kept glowing mosses that populated the roots of a massive tree. A few peryton stood around one of the doorways. Now Rainbow Dash noticed that most of the peryton were unpainted, in more familiar natural colours.

“More questions. That is natural, and I am unthinking. You have no place to rest.” Phoreni let out her breath slowly. “We have no place for you. There is the communal nest, but that would not be fitting. You may sleep in my nest, but there is little space for so many. You will have to sleep on the floor. Are your bodies hard enough for this?”

Dash shrugged. “It’s better than nothing, right?”

Rarity nodded and put on a smile, though Dash could tell she wasn’t happy with the prospect. “Oh, of course, and you are very kind to offer.”

Phoreni pointed up and ahead, to a cluster of tall trees nearly lost amidst the others. They were a little thinner than the rest, though still absurdly thick compared to anything but the largest oaks of the Everfree. Right below where their branches spread to join the thick canopy far above, through the washed-out mess of colours, a number of small wooden constructs were only barely visible, built on top of half-formed branches that grew leaf-shaped out from the trunk itself.

“There,” she said. “You will find it. Second blue from the top of the twelfth. I said this earlier.”

The ponies looked at each other, exchanging nonplussed looks. Dash spread her wings, thinking to fly up and see if she could make sense of it up close, at least.

She immediately regretted it. Her joints burned the moment she tried to unfurl her wings, and she sucked in breath, trying to keep quiet so nopony would notice. Right. Wings. I knew that. She looked away and closed her eyes tight for a second.

“Hey, yeah, so, that’s great,” Dash said after a few deep breaths. “But, uh, flying Rarity around everywhere is going to get really… uh, old. There’s not a lot of ways to get between places up there without flying, huh? Don’t you have any place we can crash down here?”

Rarity frowned at Rainbow Dash, but it was short-lived. “What she says is right, quite frankly. Are all your houses up in the trees?”

“Most,” said Phoreni. “Again I do not think. One of your number cannot fly. Our houses are tree-bound, as are the proving grounds and the exalted places, but down here, you will find necessities.”

Phoreni nodded her antlers to a nearby door set in a thick trunk. The bark had been removed around the doorway to make room for elaborate carvings lit up by a bright red lantern. Simple yet elegant sculptures of peryton and abstract symbols lined the ground around the door.

“A woodcarver, a storyteller. There—” she pointed to the bright and busy cluster or doors and tree-house windows Rainbow Dash had noted earlier. “—are trades and simple paints, and a brush-height drinking house. Far down the path, to the left, if you see all the young feathers playing between the trees, that is one of our rearing grounds where the flightless learn. There is life down here, too, and much of it. Half of life is brush-bound, half is not.”

Fluttershy smiled. “We can ask if they have someplace we can stay at the… drinking house, you called it? If they are some kind of inn, maybe they have rooms?”

Phoreni shook her head. “There is no reason for a drinking house to have nests for others to rest in, and its tender will nest above, as do most. I have a better idea if resting on the ground does not offend.”

“Why would sleeping on the ground be offensive?” asked Rarity.

“Because when you have wings, why would you not use them?” Phoreni retorted, to which Dash automatically nodded her agreement. “This way, follow. I have a solution that will suit even those who are unlucky and without wings,” she added, leading the way down the path.

“Unlucky, is it?” Rarity muttered. She sighed and shook her head as Dash led the three to follow in Phoreni’s wake.

Fluttershy glanced over at Rarity and walked a little closer, brushing against her. “Oh Rarity, you’re not offended, are you?”

“By what?” Dash asked. “What would she be offended by?”

Rarity rolled her eyes and lowered her voice further. “Come now. I can deal with her manners being a little rough, but I feel as out of place as I would in Cloudsdale without being able to fly. You’ll take me up there later if there’s anything to see, Rainbow Dash, won’t you dear?”

“Heh, sure, no problem,” said Dash, feigning interest in the tree-house they passed by. The tree-house, as it turned out, returned that interest tenfold—specifically, the peryton near it did. A group of young peryton, barely bigger than pony fillies, played outside. They jumped from low branches and glided to the ground while a large, unpainted stag watched from a doorway. The smell or rich food wafted from inside and Scarlett let out a sharp burst of song.

The younglings’ games halted at the sound, noticing the ponies walking by. No less than twenty of the fluffy feathered things pointed at them, and in a chorus of caws and trills, they all ran up to hide behind the cover of the roots that sketched their playground-sized pen. Rainbow Dash grinned and pretended not to see the rows of tiny nubby antlers and eyes peering over the rim of the roots and hidden in the grasses. She heard Fluttershy giggle at her side as they walked on. None of the young peryton left the safety of their hiding spots, but Dash heard shouts once they passed from view.

“My father has a brother,” said Phoreni over her shoulder. “His name is Mennau. When he is not in the far northwestern reaches attending as one who wards, his is a trade that takes bronze, favour or goodwill for shaving.”

“Shaving?” Rarity echoed.

“What kind of shaving?” asked Fluttershy.

“Stories. Declarations. You must have noticed,” Phoreni said. She slowed down a little to walk at the ponies’ side. She didn’t stop, but indicated the patterns in the side of her coat with a wing while she led them further down the slope. Trees grew larger, lights brightened a little, and more peryton moved about. They caught a few stares, some comments Dash couldn’t make out, and many a pointed hoof.

The attention took on a different character from all they had experienced yet. The friendly looks of the Ortosians seeking contact had little in common with the vague disinterest of the Stagrumites, and neither of those had anything in common with the open and unafraid stares of the adult Ephydoerans.

“—no meaning by itself?” Rarity said. The other three were talking, and whatever they’d said, Dash had missed it.

“They have meaning depending on what we attribute to them,” Phoreni said.

“What about the large symbol on your haunch in particular?” Fluttershy asked. “I think I’ve seen that one on some of the trees, and on some of the other peryton here—the one that looks like a mountain, or a sharp triangle.”

Rainbow Dash cocked a brow. They were still talking about their flank-marks. On their peryton escort’s upper haunch, partially hidden by her wing, was the symbol they had seen on a tree during last night’s rest: A spike outlined in what Dash guessed was a flame, shaved into her coat in stylized lines and curves. Did the other peryton have that one too? She hadn’t noticed.

“This one?” Phoreni asked, gesturing with her antlers. “Helesseia, of course—” she paused and frowned, her steely demeanour broken for a moment. “—or, is that obvious to you? I do not think it is. She is the fire within and the fire without. The Aspect of burning passion, of strength but… how would one best say it simply? Of restraint. Her stories guide us in our vigil.”

“So that’s your thing, huh?” asked Dash. This bit, at least, made sense to her. “Like Orto has, uh, which one was it—”

“Myrtella,” supplied Rarity.

“—Myrtella, and like Stagrum has Phostos, you’re all about this ‘Helesseia’?”

Phoreni glanced at Rainbow Dash. “Is it ‘like’ their relationship with other Aspects? I can not say. One thing is not like another.”

“Sure, not exactly like,” Dash said. “Just… kinda like?”

“One thing is not like another,” Phoreni repeated, turning right to follow the curve of a tree serving as some sort of eatery, large groups of peryton taking meals on simple tables scattered around it, chatting and eating noisily.

Dash snorted. “Yeah, you said that, but if it’s kinda like the way Ortosians like Myrtella, then it’s a ‘yes’, and if it isn’t at all like it, then it’s a ‘no’. You know what I mean, you don’t have to be difficult.”

Phoreni stopped in a quiet spot between two trees particularly close together. There was no path here. They’d walked on low undergrowth for a while now. The peryton turned to face Dash.

“Two things that are not the same, are not the same,” Phoreni said, her voice low but sharp. She looked… something. Frustrated? It reminded Rainbow Dash of Twilight’s face when she’d said something the unicorn knew was wrong, but Twilight couldn’t correct her on without doing a lot of thinking or research.

“Yeah, duh?” said Dash, shrugging.

“I’m sorry,” said Rarity, smiling at Phoreni. “Rainbow Dash can be a little—”

“Hey!” Dash snapped.

“—direct, which is fine, do have a little faith dear,” Rarity added, shooting Dash a quick frown. “In Equestria, that is not a problem. Usually. What is the matter?”

“Is there a problem? Have I been wounded?” asked Phoreni. “I have not, but you must understand. When you ask for, when you demand... absolutes, you may call them, you destroy any room for things to change. Using those two words, it is not very common. With them, there can be no nuance.”

“What, okay, what’d I say?” asked Dash. “I don’t get it. Which two words?”

“‘Yes’ and ‘no’?” Fluttershy suggested.

“You can’t say yes or no? Okay, that’s weird,” said Dash. “I don’t—”

Phoreni shook her head and shifted her stance a bit, digging her hind-claws into the ground. “We can say the words, of course. Listen. Yes, no. See? The words are easily spoken, but when you use them, you land the argument and clip its wings, never to take off again. This is the issue.”

“Alright,” said Dash, scratching at her snout. “I still don’t get it.”

“You can at least make an effort—” Rarity began.

“Well, yeah,” said Dash, pulling at the cart. There weren’t a whole lot of options on which way to go. She set them moving forwards between the trees. “I don’t have to know why. I’ll try not to say it. Happy?”

“I spoke hoping to avoid conflict, not to cause it,” said Phoreni with a small sigh. “Kin from the other cities do not always understand, either. You may use the words as you wish, of course. They are not forbidden. Just know that they may be considered rude. This rudeness I can abide from a stranger, but demanding of another to use them, to choose between two absolutes, this will cause anger.”

Dash nodded, flicking her ears. “Right. Now I know. Got it.”

It was a ten, maybe fifteen minutes’ walk. Rather than take them deeper down the slope—where Dash could see great rocks and stone formations mingling with the flora—Phoreni led them along the curving slope, passing by countless traders, eateries, and just about every other kind of place you’d find in the middle of a regular town—except it was all trees. The light slowly changed, and though she couldn’t see, Dash knew that the clouds thinned and broke up, trading the grey clouds for the dark blue of a late evening sky.

Phoreni halted them outside an unremarkable, unpainted door set in a wide trunk that shot off into the canopy above. Two shuttered windows betrayed a second floor to whatever lay inside, and there were no other doors in this particular tree. The tree opposite sported multiple windows and doors and stood equally closed and silent.

“Mennau will not be back for weeks,” said Phoreni, making for the door. “You may have this. Mine is his, and his is yours, if you will be gentle before greedy or reckless.”

“I really only think we need a place to sleep,” said Fluttershy, smiling at the doe. “It’s very generous of you to offer. Thank you ever so much.”

Phoreni nodded by way of reply. She gave the peryton-sized door a push, and it creaked as it swung open, letting the group of four slip inside into the darkness. Rainbow Dash left the cart outside, and Rarity gave them light, bathing the room in a soft, blue-white glow.

The main chamber was dusty and disused, entirely hollowed out from the inside of the tree-trunk, with a high ceiling and fairly generous space. A weird bench, too thin for even a pony, stood near the door, and numerous small tools Dash couldn’t recognise hung on the wall next to a wooden bucket. The rest of the room was taken up by a kitchen with a small stone firepit, a tiny mushroom garden behind some wooden screens, and under an empty lamp of some kind stood a table that would easily seat four.

All this was contained within a single room given no doors, but on the far side, a large gap in the ceiling betrayed a balcony above. Rather than stairs, the gap provided space for even the large and clumsy peryton to fly up to its landing. Or a tiny bird, as Scarlett proved, tiny wings sending her from Fluttershy’s head, into the room and up and out of sight. Distant, muffled and contented peeping noises suggested something up there delighted her.

“And this uncle of yours, he… shaves these symbols and such into your flanks for a living?” Rarity asked. She stood by the bucket and the metal tools, eyeing them critically. Without letting her light drop, she magicked over what looked like a small metal potato peeler.

“‘For a living’? He wards. Shaving, he does as a service, I think is the better term. He has elected to take on the paint, and that is his chief concern.”

“So then he’s an amateur artist. Does he compete with professionals?” Rarity asked, raising a brow.

“Rarity, what the hay are you getting at?” asked Dash, chuckling. “He’s letting us stay at his house. Or, uh, she’s letting us stay at his house, but you don’t have to… actually I have no idea what you’re doing.” Her laughter petered out. Fluttershy gave Rarity an odd look as well.

“I’m asking because I’m curious if he’s an artist, dear,” said Rarity. The unicorn put the tool back in place and smiled at Phoreni. “I mean no offence, and if you are in a hurry, don’t feel compelled to indulge me. This is a lovely place.”

Phoreni glanced at the tool rack, then back at Rarity. “You ask if he is professional. You mean, are there those who do his job, and only his job? Not that I know of. Any who have a claim to some vision can perform shaving craft. Some have none in their family who do it. Those will seek out generous peryton such as Mennau. He minds the story I carry with me, carves my coat to my liking as I decide what I wish told.”

Rainbow Dash trotted to the back of the room, trying to get a good look at the second floor. She reared up on her hindlegs, but there was no way to tell without flying up, and she knew better than to try. When she noticed—or felt, rather—Fluttershy’s eyes upon her, she feigned interest in the stuff near her, pretending she’d never wanted to fly up there in the first place. Are these real mushrooms? Are those cobwebs? Super interesting, yep.

“Well, even if it is just a hobby or what-have-you, why does he use these tools?” asked Rarity, indicating the tool rack and the bucket. “These look to be designed for mouth-grasping. Why not use magic? Does he—oh, dear, have I put my hooves in my mouth? Does he not have magic? Was there some accident? It’s just that every other peryton we’ve seen has been able to do magic, and—”

“He has not lost the magic of his antlers,” Phoreni interrupted, holding up a hoof to forestall Rarity’s spiralling ramble. “But using magic for such things is a waste.”

That got Dash’s attention. Their horns glowed when they flew. They clearly used magic, but she hadn’t seen exactly what they used it for. She looked over at the still-open door, and it had a proper door handle that could be pushed by hoof.

“Using magic for art is a waste? Well, that’s… certainly an opinion,” said Rarity, frowning deeply.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why is that?” asked Fluttershy. “I haven’t seen you use any magic. Your luminescent flora is lovely, but you don’t use magical light?”

“Well, now that you mention it,” said Rarity, her head tilted sideways. “None of the peryton eating at the restaurants used utensils or any form of magic as they ate, either. Do you not use your magic at all?”

“They do when they fly,” said Dash. “Don’t you know how to pick stuff up with magic?” She blinked and looked over at Rarity, never having really thought about whether or not all unicorns could do that. “Is it like… a thing you can not know how to do?”

“I don’t know that there is a unicorn of age who cannot, but the other cities were clearly built for magic.” Rarity crossed her forelegs and leaned against the bench, deep in thought for all of a second before she drew breath and gave Phoreni a muted smile. “We are probably being very rude by putting words in your mouth again, dreadfully sorry.”

To Rainbow Dash, Phoreni didn’t look very insulted. She had her usual complete lack of expression, and if she was anything to go by, the Ephydoerans were a little weird like that. Phoreni appeared to just listen, stood by the doorway a little apart from the ponies. She sounded a little tired when she spoke, though.

“You are travellers whose steps resound with Selyria’s name. I am not. You speak of these things that are new to you, but they are not new to me, and I can not make myself understand the wonder as you feel it. I cannot easily understand the difficulty of understanding—I was not raised to answer questions, and I have no children to teach me how.”

The stone-faced peryton rolled her jaw and stretched her neck from side to side. “A trader from Orto once asked me similar questions. He had heard our magic was taken. I think most born in other cities know this, but he wished to know why. He did not leave pleased with the answers given.”

“Uh, okay?” tried Dash. “What did you tell him? I didn’t get half of what you just said.”

“I ward. I do not think as well as some, and presenting my thoughts through speech is not among my gifts, so instead, I will do this.” She gave a brief, strained smile, moving away from the door and further into the room.

The ponies gave her some space, and Phoreni spread her wings slowly and deliberately. At first, Dash felt her own wings itch in a pang of envy, but it rapidly transformed into wonder as the peryton’s antlers started glowing. As if in response to the magic, the wing-joints glowed as well, and so did her hooves and her hind-claws, the peryton lighting up in the relative darkness of the room.

Phoreni stretched her wings out in full, drew herself up, and looked at them each in turn, her presence and her body presented as the explanation.

“I know that magic can be used to do much. I do not… blame those who do other things. I do not judge. Ephydoera is not in the habit of judging, but our magic is for our bodies, and our bodies alone.” She bowed her head low, folded her left wing and pointed the right wing straight up. The move looked too practiced, too graceful on the warrior-creature to be random, like a dance move that Phoreni had performed a thousand times. Neither Rainbow Dash, nor Fluttershy or Rarity said a word, the room utterly silent until Dash’s brain caught up and she considered the words rather than just stare at the wings.

“Wait, hang on, you use all your magic for your wings and your legs? Is that why you guys fly so much—well, more than the other peryton? How?” Dash asked. She didn’t ask why. It made perfect sense. If she had a horn, and there was a way to use it to get better at flying rather than do the dishes or whatever, why wouldn’t—”Whoa, hang on, do you guys think the Princesses can use their magic to fly faster?”

Fluttershy blinked. Rarity stared at her.

“Darling, that may be the least relevant and interesting question possible. No offence,” said Rarity.

“Hey, none taken, and you’re wrong,” said Dash, shrugging.

“Um, should we… leave? Are you okay? Are we interrupting?” asked Fluttershy, leaning a little closer to the frozen peryton.

Phoreni reversed her move perfectly, spreading the folded wing as she lowered the other, furling them so neat she didn’t even need to rustle and shrug them into place.

“You asked a question, and I hope it has been answered,” said Phoreni. “Would we fly as we do without our magic? We would not. Glandros’ stories teach us that as the body soars, so will the spirit. The stronger we are, the faster we are, we are exalted. And so, our magic is put to that use.”

Dash nodded for lack of anything else to do. Now, the Ephydoerans made sense to her. If they all wanted to be as fast and as strong as they could possibly be, she would be the last one to argue. Maybe that meant they could get a proper meal without freakishly large portions meant to be cut up by unicorn utensils, too.

“Well, thank you for explaining that to us,” said Fluttershy, smiling at her. “I understood it, I think, and if that’s what you want to use your magic for, then good for you.”

Phoreni nodded sharply. “If you are satisfied for the moment, I will leave to see the High Warden. We will speak again, as I own your visit.” She made for the door, but paused at the threshold to look back at the ponies, tilting her head to one side. “Please do—hm. You may do what it is you are here to do, but I have explained that visitors to the Grove are not common. We do not balk at doing what is not done, but I ask you do not make me regret speaking up for you.”

Rainbow Dash stood by the door and watched Phoreni go. After a short run to build up speed, the peryton leapt off the ground and spread her wings, taking off to gain height by flying in large circles around the trees of the Grove. Compared to the flying she’d seen in Orto and in Stagrum, the magically augmented flier was definitely impressive, but she wasn’t exactly graceful. For all her speed, she didn’t pull any tricks, but Dash couldn’t deny that the wingbeats looked strong.

“She said we’re free to do ‘what it is we are here to do’,” said Rarity behind her. “I don’t know what we can do while we wait for her to contact their mayor. Well, ‘High Warden’, as they call her here.”

“We probably want to ask Phoreni about the road ahead,” said Fluttershy. “She seems to know a lot about the forest, but if the storm could hit any day now, we probably have to wait until it passes anyway. Khaird would be happy to know we’ll spend some time here.” She moved past Rainbow Dash and dragged their cart to the side of the door, grabbing all three of their saddlebags and starting the work of moving their stuff inside.

“I guess it could be worse,” Fluttershy continued. “Though if I had to choose, I think I’d like to be back in Orto right now.” She smiled at the floor, at nothing and no-one.

Rainbow Dash could all but hear the final words she didn’t say. Or back home at my cottage. Again, she idly wondered if Fluttershy would’ve stayed home if Rainbow Dash hadn’t decided to go. She puffed out her cheeks and shrugged.

“Yeah, I don’t know. We’ve been running all over the place, I don’t mind kicking back and hanging out for a bit. Just, maybe not with Phoreni all the time,” she said. She grinned at Fluttershy, hoping for some support, but the other pegasus didn’t look at her.

“Rainbow Dash!” said Rarity, glaring at her. “Phoreni has been nothing but helpful, and sure, she was a little brusque, but I know a good heart when I see one.”

Dash huffed. “Jeez, I’m not saying she’s not great, I’m just saying she’s not a lot of fun. It’s about as fun as hanging out with the Royal Equestrian Guard.” She grinned at Fluttershy, but the other pegasus didn’t laugh or even smile, still studiously avoiding looking at her.

“I think she had a lot of interesting things to say, really,” said Fluttershy, pointing to Rarity’s supply chest. “Rainbow Dash? Could you help me with the chest?”

“I happen to agree,” said Rarity while Dash moved to Fluttershy’s side. “Communicating may be a bit of a challenge, but I think she’s sold herself short with all this self-deprecation. She tries her best to explain, I feel.”

“Hey, Rarity. Do you think the leader guy who tried to stop us on the road has a ‘good heart’ too?” asked Dash, snickering. Once the pegasi had the chest sequestered inside, she opened their food box, and found that the only stuff they had left were a few kelp cakes and some of the treats Rarity liked. She grabbed a bite. “‘Cauhf’ ahm’ finking ‘no’”, she added.

“I’m sure he had his reasons,” said Fluttershy.

“Yes, I’m sure, and according to Phoreni, that ‘reason’ was laziness or unwillingness to take responsibility for us,” said Rarity affably. She waved a hoof. “Regardless, you have a point with what you said a moment ago. We have been stressing a lot, even after your… concessions.”

“Concessions?” Dash echoed, tossing the last of their stuff on the pile. She pushed the cart out of the way and stepped back inside.

“Slowing down our travel for my benefit,” said Rarity, shaking her head.

“Oh come on, are you still on that?” said Dash. “Walking around in that heat was stupid. Sure, we all wanna get this done, but we’re not gonna get anyone hurt. Besides, we’re travelling smarter, not slower, and smart can be fast!”

Fluttershy frowned ever so slightly, nodding with conviction.

“I didn’t mean to re-open any wounds, dear,” said Rarity, sighing. She raised her head and brightened the light from her horn ever so slightly, peering around at the room. “Hmh. This place is a little more claustrophobic than Twilight’s house, and a lot messier. I don’t even know how their light works. Did you see any fireflies out?”

“No, but it has been raining,” said Fluttershy. “They have lanterns and lights, but I don’t think they use any form of insects. We know they don’t use magic either, so I don’t know, I’m sorry.”

“Well, that’s one more mystery for us,” said Rarity. She looked straight up as though she could see through the ceiling to the second floor balcony, and the light of her horn shifted. “That, and finding a comfortable place in here to sleep. Perhaps the floor above is clean, unlike this place—and unlike us.” She held up a foreleg, inspecting it critically. The rain had helped a little, but they were all still flecked with dried or drying mud. “We really should find out what’s up there. Beds, I imagine.”

“Uh, maybe,” said Dash, hoping very much Rarity wouldn’t ask her to check. “Hey, now that Phoreni’s gone, actually, d’you wanna ‘talk’ or whatever?” she asked, looking over at Fluttershy. The very word still annoyed her, but clearly they needed to do something. Fluttershy had acted a little odd ever since Phoreni left. Fluttershy took a deep breath, but before she could even reply, Rarity rounded on them.

“Also, that! Yes!” Rarity said, pointing a dire hoof at them, her voice almost painfully high-pitched. “You two! What ever happened during that scuffle with the hydra? We will do nothing until you explain to me exactly what is going on!”

“I… don’t actually know if I can explain,” said Fluttershy. She puffed out her cheeks, finally looking over at Rainbow Dash.

“Pft, like it’s complicated,” said Rainbow Dash, smiling back at Fluttershy until it kindled the beginnings of a smile in Fluttershy as well.

“First I jam my hooves all in my mouth by misunderstanding what’s going on between the two of you—or rather, what wasn’t,” Rarity said. She took a step forwards, her head at a tilt. “And now the two of you are discussing romance? I am very, very confused. I feel I have to ask, as a friend to you both, what exactly is going on? Rainbow Dash, is this some prank, or are you quite serious?”

“Oh come on,” said Dash. “Why do you ask that? Why do both of you ask that? Do you seriously think I’d prank someone—” she paused, rolled her eyes and groaned. “Okay, maybe I could have, but I’m not,” she said, glowering.

Fluttershy chewed on her bottom lip. “I don’t know what’s really ‘going on’, exactly. We were going to go talk about it, but I guess… Rainbow Dash wants to try?”

“Yep! We should totally give it a go,” said Dash. Go. She loved that word. Dash bumped her flank against Fluttershy’s, earning an eep and a confused look.

“And you?” Rarity asked. “You never told me you’ve shown an interest, Fluttershy,” Rarity said, frowning at the pegasus in question. Fluttershy dipped her head low and smiled.

“I’m sorry. I don’t really—or, I didn’t really think it mattered,” Fluttershy said.

Rarity exhaled slowly, touching a hoof to her temple. “I see. Well then. Between monsters and the stress of getting settled, there really hasn’t been much space for anything today. If the two of you need some time to yourselves, how about you attend that while I find some water and a way to clean up. When you come back, we’ll see about setting your coats and manes right as well. Again. Hopefully, you’ll agree on where you stand by then.”

“Wait, don’t we agree?” Dash asked, tilting her head.

“I… don’t think we disagree, but we should probably still talk,” Fluttershy suggested.

“Truly, the two of you are paragons of romantic expression,” Rarity said, smiling and shaking her head. “Go sort this out.”

“Romance schmomance,” said Dash with a snort. The word annoyed her almost as much as ‘talking’ did. “Let’s find somewhere else to hang for a bit.”

Fluttershy nodded in return, smiling with obvious trepidation. “I think that would be nice, yes.” She’d no sooner spoken than a tiny red missile zoomed down from the balcony above, landing with expert precision on top of her head. Fluttershy giggled and shook her head. “Scarlett, I think it’d be very nice if you could let us be alone this time.”

Peep.

“Yes. Just this once, please. You can keep Rarity company. You’ll take good care of each other, won’t you?” Fluttershy replied. She laughed when Scarlett hopped over and sat down on top of Rarity’s head instead. Rarity herself didn’t look half as amused.

“You may stay for now, but after I clean up, my head is off limits, just so we are clear,” the unicorn said, glaring cross-eyed at the bird before she turned back to the two pegasi. “You two take as long as you need, I’ll be—”

“Mennau! Your counsel?” came a voice from outside.

The ponies exchanged glances. Before any of them could mount a reply or comment, a peryton stuck its head inside.

“Mennau? Will you mark—ah. What is this?” the peryton asked. Rather than wait, they walked fully inside, uncomfortably crowding the entrance all by themselves, wings a little looser on their body now. With the paint covering their feathers and given neither particularly long or short tail-feathers, Dash had no idea whether it was a he or a she.

“Are we threatened?” They asked, leaning forwards a touch, long neck stretched towards the ponies.

“Threat? Sure, yeah,” said Dash, her eyes half-lidded. “We’re invading. Boo.”

“Maybe don’t say that,” said Fluttershy, her eyes widening a touch.

“Mennau is not here at the moment,” said Rarity, smiling brightly. “His niece, Phoreni, was ever so kind to let us borrow his house. May we help you?”

The peryton maintained their stoic demeanour impressively well. For a few moments, they looked back and forth between the ponies, from their faces to flanks to horns and wings. Dash tapped her hoof on the ground impatiently.

“I intended to ask his help with my markings, but I see now he is not here. If you are here, then your intent is peaceful, and if peace is in your hearts, I will ask no more of you,” said the peryton, turning to leave. Rarity craned her neck as they did so, staring at they peryton’s flank as it passed her by. Dash quirked a brow. The peryton didn’t look like Rarity’s type.

“Ah, a moment, please!” said Rarity, halting the visitor by the door.

“If your guesting here is marked by others, best you should speak with them,” said the peryton, looking back over their shoulder with their head tilted. “If I can help, I may, but I suspect I am of little use to you.”

“Perhaps,” Rarity allowed. “But maybe I can be of use to you.”

“Now, I hope you understand I do not mean any offence to your… ways if I make any mistakes,” said Rarity.

“Did I for a moment suspect you did? Your manner is inoffensive and unassuming,” replied the peryton. The doe—she had introduced herself moments ago—half lay, half stood inside the chamber, her right-side legs standing up to display one side to Rarity, and her left side at rest on the tall, thin bench.

Simple shapes were shorn into her side. Some odd trees and peryton script that Dash couldn’t read surrounded stylised icons, including a full set of burning antlers—a little bit like the symbol Phoreni had said belonged to this “Helesseia”, maybe? Whatever the case, where Phoreni’s markings had been clearly visible, this peryton’s tan skin was bare only in spots, cream and brown fur growing back instead to contrast with the colours of her camouflage.

“I am glad you think so,” said Rarity. “Now, you wish to have the patterns you’ve shaved into your side touched up, that is all?” She turned one of the shaving tools around in the grip of her magic, looking about as pleased as Pinkie Pie had been when Twilight had offered her a sugar-free treat last week—probably longer than last week. How long ago, Dash wondered?

“I had meant to ask for a few more shavings, but my first intent was this,” the doe said. When Rarity tossed the tool into the bucket, the peryton looked a touch worried. It was the first time Rainbow Dash had seen an Ephydoeran even the slightest bit concerned.

“Mennau fills the bucket with water, wets the coat, and shaves—”

“I understand, dear,” said Rarity. “But this is not some sort of sacred ritual, is that right?”

The doe nodded slowly. “It is not a sacred ritual, as those words mean little to me.”

“Good. Then all I need is my magic, if you don’t object to that.”

“I… do not object,” the doe said, still frowning ever so slightly. With a complete lack of subtlety, she stared at Rarity’s flank, then Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy’s. “It is clear your craft is excellent.”

“They’re not—” said Rarity.

“They’re—” began Fluttershy.

“Our—” Dash started to say. The three ponies looked at each other. Dash chuckled and shook her head, Fluttershy giggled, and Rarity smiled.

“They are not my designs, sadly,” Rarity concluded. “But thank you regardless.” She turned to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. “This doesn’t change our plans, dears. If you two want to go get some air and spend some time together, I think I will be busy here for a moment. If this lovely lady is content to let me help with her decorations, then I can no more reject someone in need than I can withstand the temptation to try a form of artistic expression.”

“Are you sure?” asked Fluttershy, furrowing her brow.

“Of course! Go on, you two, figure this out so you can tell me whether or not I should be happy for you,” said Rarity, shooing the two pegasi away with a hoof. Scarlett scrambled for purchase as Rarity whipped her head around again, turning to her subject. “Now, tell me again what you wanted done. I don’t suppose you are open to some suggestions on your tail-feathers too?”

“Let’s leave her to it,” suggested Fluttershy, waving to the unicorn already lost in her work, and Rainbow Dash followed, happy to give Rarity some peace in case she suddenly decided she wanted to start shaving Dash’s coat as well.

“So, what would you like to do? Or, I guess, where would you like to go?” asked Fluttershy. The other pegasus smiled at her when they stopped a small ways outside, two ponies planted in the grass between titanic trees.

Rainbow Dash looked up at what tiny bits of sky were visible through the dense canopy above. What did she want to do? She didn’t know for sure, but doing had a far better ring to it than ‘talking’, and in that sense, Fluttershy had her in a better mood now than a minute ago. They could do a thing and talk.

“I don’t know, what do you want to do?” Dash returned, and she realised her own lie right after. She knew what she wanted to do: She wanted to spread her wings and check out what was up near the tree-tops, but she also knew that even just spreading her wings would be a bad idea. Something not flying, then. “Actually, hey, let’s go find some animals or something. We’re in a forest, how hard can it be, right?”

Fluttershy tilted her head. Her mane fell over her face, but when she tried to blow it away, it didn’t quite work out. The entire side of her mane stuck together as one mass. Dash grinned and reached out to part the bangs of Fluttershy’s mane, shaking loose some remnants of mostly-dried mud that glued it together. Fluttershy smiled her thanks, sitting down to tend her mane for a moment. Yesterday, that would’ve been a completely normal thing to do. Help a friend out. Right now, it made Dash’s ears itch pleasantly. What was up with that?

“That sounds lovely, really, but we did swim with the snickersnouts last week,” said Fluttershy. “Isn’t there anything you would like to do?”

Dash shrugged. “Like what? We don’t know anything about this place. We could go see what they do for fun, but eh, it’s probably all closed by now. Let’s just get out of the valley and see if we find something cool. Or as AJ would say, ‘go rootin’ ‘round fer var-meents’.”

Fluttershy giggled. “Rainbow Dash! That’s not very nice!”

“Bet you couldn’t even tell the difference,” Dash said, puffing out her chest. She managed to keep serious for about two seconds before she burst out laughing as well. “Okay, okay, that’s terrible, but I know she does impressions of me, too, so I don’t care. She does an awesome Twilight!”

Fluttershy stood up and shook her head, her laughter trailing off. Her mane fell about her head like it should, and after a brief look around, she started them up the slope.

“I guess we can look and see what we can find. I don’t think it’s a valley, though,” Fluttershy said. “Did you see the rocks near the bottom? And the way it curves? It might be a big crater of some kind.”

“Yeah, I thought it looked kinda like a bowl. Valley, bowl, crater. It’s the same thing,” said Dash, falling in step with her. Vaguely, she was aware that they passed a particularly busy tree of some kind, drawing a lot of attention from the local peryton, but her eyes and ears were elsewhere. “What kind of animals do you think they have here? We haven’t seen many critters at all. Did you check your book? Anything like flying squirrels? Falcons? Y’know, the cool stuff.”

Fluttershy glanced behind her. “Hm? Oh, no. The book isn’t really a guide to Perytonian animals. It’s just a really old encyclopedia about rare animals from other continents. When we find something, I can read about it in the book, that’s all.” She shook her head. “It’s not always helpful, either. I didn’t find anything about these ‘glare beasts’. I thought they might be cockatrices, but those are native to Equestria and the Everfree. There should be ferralopes all around, but I don’t know if this forest is dry enough for them.”

Rainbow Dash nodded along, grinning at the excitement in Fluttershy’s voice. “Eh, maybe we’ll find something anyway. We’ll just go for a walk I guess.”

Fluttershy nodded and smiled at that. She kept looking over at Rainbow Dash. First a glance, then another, and finally she stared outright.

“What? Something on my face?” asked Dash. She tossed her mane back, chuckling. “Or are you just enjoying the view?”

Fluttershy didn’t even blink. “Are you sure you don’t want to do something else? We’ve been walking a lot lately, so I understand if you want to do something more exciting than just go for a walk.”

“I said I wanted to go look at animals, didn’t I?” Dash asked. “I’m not kidding around.”

Fluttershy nodded again, pinning her ears back for a moment. Dash looked away to hide her frown. Maybe she’d sounded a little angrier than she meant to, but she was serious. About wanting to go see if they could find some animals. About going for a walk. About talking, and about Fluttershy. About everything. The fact that Rarity had second-guessed her too really annoyed her right now.

“I’m surprised Rarity agreed to help that doe,” said Fluttershy, yanking Dash back to the present. Dash shook her head and blinked.

“Wait, why is that surprising?” asked Dash.

“Do you think she would ever open her boutique with her mane like that, and with mud on her?” Fluttershy asked, giggling.

“Oh, wow. I didn’t even think about that,” Dash admitted, laughing with her. “I guess she’s so used to it by now, heh.” She looked down at her own legs. Her coat was brown up to her knees, and the tip of her tail was still muddy. Dried mud flaked off her even as they walked. With luck, Rarity would have some water ready for when they got back.

“I’m very glad we have her with us, though,” said Fluttershy, a little more quietly.

“Yeah,” said Dash with a smile. “Yeah, me too.” They slipped between two trees that stood close together. The slope grew steeper, and they passed a bare earthen circle with dozens of little wooden statues. They had stele fields here, too, then.

If it got a little darker when they left the lanterns of the last ground-level houses behind, the moonlight that spilled through the slightly sparser growth above made up for it. A trio of painted peryton flew overhead, circled them twice, and then moved on in silence. The ponies both followed them with their eyes until the fliers were out of sight.

“I know we keep talking about it,” said Fluttershy, lowering her eyes, “but these peryton are a little scary.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t say anything to that. She’d already decided she wasn’t scared by the Ephydoerans, but they sure were different from the other peryton. She kept walking.

“Did you hear what Phoreni said, by the way?” asked Fluttershy. “She said that even she had problems understanding someone from Orto or Stagrum, once.”

“Yeah. I heard,” said Dash, frowning at that. “That’s really weird, but Gilda told me about some really strange towns on their northern borders, really far away from their capital.” She snorted. “The Peryton’ve got to work like any other place, right? It’s probably just like that. The Griffon Kingdoms are as different from Equestria as any place could possibly be.”

Fluttershy nodded pensively. “When I first heard that the griffons call their princesses ‘king’ and ‘queen’ there, and that they’re not sister and brother, but actually, um, you know, together, I didn’t believe it at first,” she said with a laugh. “Even if they call their princess a ‘head consul’ here, it can’t be stranger than that. It’s probably just because their cities are really far apart.”

“Exactly,” said Rainbow Dash, nodding. “I don’t understand why they build their cities so far away from each other, though. I guess we could try to ask Phoreni, but jeez, none of the peryton are any good at explaining that sort of stuff. ‘Why don’t you hang out more’? I tried asking Mirossa that!”

Fluttershy nodded pensively. Finally they neared the top of the crater where the slope got even steeper, and again they were faced with a wall of vegetation.

Dash looked around for a second before she found a path that headed for, and then was swallowed up by the flora right next to a wooden pillar with Helesseia’s mark. She ducked through, and waited on the other side for Fluttershy, offering a hoof to pull the taller pegasus through the narrow gap. Fluttershy smiled and dipped her head in thanks, and Dash grinned back. That was the sort of stuff she was supposed to do if they were girlfriends, right? She’d have to try holding a door open, sometime. Rarity would be impressed.

“Oh goodness,” said Fluttershy, and not to Dash’s amazing manners.

“What?” asked Dash, but she had her answer once she looked around. The undergrowth was as thick and heavy and the trees as dense as any patch of the Everfree—she’d expected that, but she hadn’t expected that the Grove would disappear so swiftly. She stuck her head back through the bushes they’d just come through just to make sure there was no magic at work. Sure enough, the Grove was still there, but from the outside there was no way to tell they stood within spitting distance of a tree-house city.

“Okay. South,” said Dash. “We need to remember that it’s south and a little bit west.”

“I’m sure we’ll be fine,” said Fluttershy. “I can always fly up and check, but we probably shouldn’t go too far anyway,” she added, looking up at the tightly knit leaves and branches overhead with obvious skepticism. She’d said ‘I’, not ‘we’ or ‘you’. Obviously she knew that Dash was in no condition to fly. Fluttershy didn’t miss stuff like that.

“Yeah, we’ll be fine,” Dash agreed. “Hey, I think there’s a small hill over there. Maybe we can get higher up without flying.” She tried to smile at the idea. Like trying to get Applejack excited over pear pie.

The hill was everything but small. The green rise Dash had spotted between the trees kept going, and there was little room for small-talk as they climbed. The steeper it got, the more determined Dash was to climb it. Her wings would’ve been little use anyway; the growth was so dense, half the challenge came from pushing through the branches and bushes.

She expected Fluttershy to suggest they turn back, but the other pegasus kept her silence, and before long, they were up. The last branches Dash pushed aside were the very tops of trees, and the hill jutted clear over the forest’s canopy like a tiny green mountain.

Rainbow Dash reached down to offer Fluttershy a hoof up, but her eyes drifted. While she waited for Fluttershy to take her hoof, she looked all around and ahead. It had been nearly a full day since she’d last flown, and she hadn’t seen the topside of the Khosta since the glowing plants started making their appearance, making the sight more than a little surreal.

Looking around from right above the treetops where the forest was this dense, the pair stood in a sea of colour. In every direction, greens and blues were interspersed with faint light from groves of luminous plants. Above, the deep blue sky was cool and cloudless apart from the banks drifting out to sea far to the southeast.

“You can’t even see the Grove from here,” said Dash, gaping. “It’s right over there, but the trees are the same height—or, I mean… the trees are taller the deeper they root? Is that how you say it? Jeez, what made this—”

“What’s that?” Fluttershy asked. “Did you see that?”

“What, where?” asked Dash. Fluttershy pointed to the mountains to the west. Though still distant, they loomed larger than ever. Dash squinted at the rocky outlines that were barely visible under the half-moon. She was just about to ask what Fluttershy was on about when a flash of blue blinked in the distance, tiny and brief but bright enough to make Dash squint. “What is that?” she asked.

“I don’t know either,” Fluttershy whispered, but though they both watched until their eyes stung for fear of missing another light, the mountains stood grey and silent. At length, Fluttershy slowly turned in a circle, drinking in the rest of the forest. “This is beautiful, but I guess we took the hard way up.”

“Oh. Yeah,” said Dash, looking over to the far side of the hill, which, as it turned out, only had one steep side. The north face presented a natural ramp that disappeared into the trees. She shrugged and grinned. “Heh, that’s silly, but I don’t mind the workout.”

Maybe some of Fluttershy’s breathlessness came from the climb rather than the view, too, but she hadn’t said a word of complaint. Fluttershy made a noncommittal noise, still slowly turning on the spot. A gust of wind blew past the hilltop, ruffling their feathers.

“I didn’t realise it was so late,” said Fluttershy, finally tearing her eyes off the horizon. She walked towards the slope and leaned her head low to the ground as though she could peer underneath the canopy from here. Dash heard distant, muffled birdsong. “I don’t think we’ll find anything but a few bats now. If there are any ferralopes here, I wouldn’t want to disturb their sleep,” Fluttershy added.

“Why are there so few animals here, anyway?” asked Dash, moving to stand next to Fluttershy. “It can’t be just because they’re shy. Back home, I can’t get in your door sometimes because it’s so full of creatures.”

Fluttershy giggled. “Well, they’re friends, you know, and some animals really are very shy. All animals are a little scared of people they don’t know, and it’s hard to make friends when you’re moving all the time.”

“I guess, yeah,” said Rainbow Dash, sighing. Fluttershy looked at her, head tilted down and frowning with a mixture of concern and question. “What?” asked Dash, staring back.

Fluttershy shook her head. “I’m sorry, I was just thinking.”

“Thinking about what?” Dash asked.

“I don’t know, it just sounded like you were disappointed that there were no animals to greet us here.” Fluttershy smiled. “I mean, I know you don’t mind them unless they’re geese—”

“Of course I’m disappointed!” said Dash, stopping Fluttershy’s giggle short. She raised a brow. “It’s awesome to watch you around animals. You’re super confident when you’re surrounded by bears and whatever. That’s cool,” Dash said, her voice cracking. How could Fluttershy not get that? She puffed out her cheeks and sat down. “And there aren’t a bunch of bears here, so that’s annoying me a little, yeah.”

The confusion and apprehension slowly drained from Fluttershy’s face. She sat down next to Rainbow Dash, side by side with her. She only gave a tiny nod, but Dash knew there was a smile lurking beneath the surface. Things would be so much better if Fluttershy was as happy about everything as she was about animals, singing, and all the other stuff that couldn’t possibly make her sad for a second.

“So...” said Fluttershy.

“Yeah. Talking,” said Rainbow Dash. “You know what would be a lot easier than talking about this? If you could just grab me with a wing or something. I’d do it, but you know my wings are busted.”

She gave Fluttershy a second, but when the other pegasus didn’t do anything, Dash leaned over to poke Fluttershy under the wing with her snout, causing Fluttershy to yelp, extending her wing on reflex. Rainbow Dash gently bit onto the wingtip and draped herself in a yellow, feathery blanket just as warm as the heat of Fluttershy’s burning cheeks. It lasted all of two seconds before Fluttershy packed her wing away again, looking straight at her.

“Rainbow Dash, I’m serious! We really do need to talk,” Fluttershy said.

“Okay, okay, we’re talking!” said Rainbow Dash. “What’s the problem? I don’t even know what you want to talk about!”

Fluttershy chewed on her bottom lip. “You said you wanted to give this a try, to try going out, being together—but I don’t understand what you mean. I don’t understand how you can just say that.”

“Why? Because you don’t think I like you?” Dash asked.

Fluttershy exhaled loudly, staring straight back at her. “No. Or, maybe a little bit, but it’s not about… about confidence or anything like that.” She lowered her voice until it came out barely a whisper. “I don’t think you mean it as a prank, but it’s… very sudden. For both of us, I guess.”

Dash squinted, staring at her through narrowed eyes. “Yeah, but that’s not an answer. You don’t think I’m serious.”

Fluttershy opened her mouth to protest. Dash knew she would. But she also noticed the hitch, the half-a-second pause first. She held up a hoof and beat Fluttershy to it.

“I knew it!” she said. Her snout frumpled and she tensed up, shifting her weight where she sat, but she lost the wind under her wings before she got properly worked up, sinking down a tad. “Fine. I get it. You still don’t think I mean it. You know what? Maybe you could have been right, actually. You say you’re not me? Well, I’m not you. I don’t think about stuff all the time.” She sighed, putting her hoof down again.

“Maybe I wouldn’t always have asked you out—or wanted you to ask me out. Whatever we’re doing. Maybe you’re right.” Dash felt a little cold as the truth of her own words hit her. Fluttershy made a soft noise, but for the moment, Dash neither heard nor saw her. She wasn’t looking at anything in particular, just visiting at some old memories.

She hadn’t always been on Fluttershy’s team the way she was now. Friends? Always. But she had a lot of memories of herself and Fluttershy. Most of those, she wouldn’t trade for the world, but some, she’d like to forget. Some she couldn’t, some she wouldn’t. She knew there was a time she’d doubted Fluttershy. The memory of a certain climb up a mountain as recently as a few years ago tore at her.

It wasn’t the only recent memory, though. Things had changed.

“Do you—” Dash began to say, pausing to clear her throat when her voice cracked. She sighed and looked over at Fluttershy. “Do you remember earlier this summer?”

Fluttershy tilted her head.

“The Ponyville hurricane effort,” said Rainbow Dash. “The way you stood up for yourself.” She never wanted to forget that day. It wasn’t the only time Fluttershy had shown how strong she could be, nor was it the first time she’d stood up for herself or her friends. It just happened to be the first time Rainbow Dash really noticed. Thought about it.

A small nod.

“Yeah, well, that was awesome, and I meant what I said about you around animals, too,” she went on, louder, trying to force Fluttershy to understand. “Did you see yourself when we were playing with the snickersnouts? That was awesome, too. You are awesome, and you don’t get to say that I don’t think so.”

“Okay,” Fluttershy said. She leaned over. They sat close enough side to side that she put her head atop Dash’s, and Rainbow Dash felt the sigh more than she heard it, the other mare’s muzzle touching against the base of one of her ears. “But why now? How can you just suddenly say you want something… um, something… romantic?”

Rainbow Dash stared out past the hill onto the darkened forest. Unable to look at Fluttershy directly, she fixed her eyes on the distant mountains, hoping to see another one of the strange glimmers.

To her, it sounded like the same question again, the same doubt, and she was getting tired of repeating herself.

“Why not?” Dash asked, trying hard not to sound weary. “Because I didn’t think about it before you told me you liked me, I guess, but can we just roll with it? Or not? If you don’t believe me, fine. If you do, then hey, if you want to give it a go, let’s. If you don’t want to, then… we don’t?”

Fluttershy pulled back, looking down at her. She fidgeted with the tip of her mane. “If you’re okay with it either way, if you can… take it or leave it, I don’t know if we—”

“Oh my gosh, Fluttershy,” Dash said, rolling her eyes. “You know that’s not what I meant! I’m cool with it if you’ve changed your mind, and I can’t force you to say yes, but why can’t this just be simple?”

Fluttershy winced and nodded. “I’m sorry.”

“Do I have to kiss you or do some other stupid unicorn thing to make you believe me?” Dash asked, frowning.

That broke Fluttershy’s funk. She burst out giggling in the middle of her backpedaling and apologising, looking away for a second. At length, she turned back to Rainbow Dash and sighed, smiling. “I’m sorry. I just don’t want things to get weird between us. I don’t want things to change—or, I mean, I do, but I don’t want to lose anything. I’m really happy with the way our friendship is right now, too. I’m more than just ‘fine’ with it, honestly.”

Rainbow Dash grunted, leaning to the side until her head hit Fluttershy’s neck, resting against the taller mare. “Fluttershy, I’ve known you for almost as long as I could fly. That’s basically all my life. The part of my life that matters, anyway. I’m not going to ditch my best gal-pal, no matter what happens, you know that.”

“I do know that,” Fluttershy murmured, resting her head on top of Dash’s. “And I’m not going to let anything ruin our friendship either. That’s important to me, and I won’t let that happen. I’m sorry.”

“And you don’t have to apologise!” Rainbow Dash laughed, rubbing her snout against Fluttershy’s neck.

“I know,” said Fluttershy again, sighing. “Sorry. I’m just still a little surprised, but if you really mean it, then I’m going to stop second-guessing myself. I’ll try at least. I just don’t know where we’re supposed to begin.”

“Don’t look at me. I don’t know the first thing about romance,” Dash admitted with a laugh. “I said you’re awesome, I didn’t say flowers were awesome.” Fluttershy giggled as well, and for a little while, neither of them said anything.

It was a little weird already, but probably not in a bad way? They’d been friends forever, and it wasn’t like Rainbow Dash hadn’t felt Fluttershy’s coat brush against hers before. It wasn’t like this was the first time she’d felt Fluttershy’s breath, but she couldn’t remember noticing her pulse against her ear where it lay pinned between them. Her ears felt pleasantly warm, and not just from the heat of Fluttershy’s body.

“So, uh,” Dash said.

She felt Fluttershy’s head shift on top of hers.

“Is this supposed to be awkward? I can’t tell if it is,” Dash admitted. “‘Cause we can sit like this a little longer. S’okay.”

“I don’t think I can tell either,” said Fluttershy. It sounded like she tried to laugh, but she brought a foreleg to her snout, and Dash heard her mask a sniffle. “I’m a little scared. I don’t know if that counts for anything,” she said.

“Well, don’t be,” Dash replied. What else could she say? They sat together in silence for another minute before Fluttershy spoke up again, this time with a nervous trace of laughter in her voice.

“You know, I think Rarity’s right. We’re probably not very good at being romantic at all. I don’t know what we do when we stop sitting like this.”

Dash shrugged as much as their hug allowed for. “Call each other girlfriends. Make fun of Rarity.” Fluttershy laughed at that, nuzzling into Dash’s mane. Dash grinned. “Seriously though, I dunno, we just hang out for a bit? You’re the one who’s been having a crush for a while, but if you don’t have any plans or whatever, how about… we don’t worry about it? I told you I’m not leaving you hanging.”

Fluttershy let go and drew back. The top of Dash’s head felt cold without her there. Fluttershy blushed ever so faintly, but she met Dash’s eyes, unwavering and glowing.

“Okay. I’ll try not to worry,” she said, nodding.

“Cool,” Dash said, smiling back at her. “Really though, you didn’t actually have a plan for what you wanted to do, right? Some creepy list? If Twilight has a crush on somepony, I bet she has one.”

Fluttershy shook her head, giggling. “No. Not at all. And sitting here with you right now is the only thing I’d write on a list if I had to.”

“Now you’re getting sappy,” Dash said, laughing.

Fluttershy smiled at that. “Actually, there was something else I’ve wanted to ask you about for a while.”

“Yeah? Shoot,” said Dash.”

“I know you probably don’t want to talk about it, but I’m worried about your wings. Are you okay?”

Rainbow Dash grunted and nodded at that, staggering upright. She wanted to say she was fine and to leave it alone, but if she couldn’t be honest with Fluttershy about this, she couldn’t tell anyone, and besides, it’d be obvious soon enough. Fluttershy stood as well, leaning in close to look at Dash’s folded wing, her breath hot against the feathers.

“Did something happen during the fight with the hydra, or was it from the flight yesterday?” Fluttershy asked.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and slowly spread her left wing as much as she could manage. It ached every step of the way, and once it was halfway open, she had to stop. Despite her best efforts to school herself, her breath came in ragged hisses.

“I’ve got it, just be careful,” said Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash felt a hoof supporting her left wing, and she let it rest as much as she was able.

“I don’t know,” Dash said, grimacing. “I lost a few feathers here and there, I guess. Flying really hard through the rainstorm wasn’t the best, and I didn’t rest up or stretch or anything before I did a bunch of other stuff. Then we found the hydra. I was stupid,” she admitted. She closed her eyes and craned her head back as Fluttershy gently massaged the base of her wing with a hoof. One of her forelegs lifted off the ground on reflex. “Awh jeez that feels good, don’t stop!”

Fluttershy clucked her tongue and did, in fact, stop.

“Fluttershy!”

“If you lie down, I can help you with both your wings,” said Fluttershy. “Come on now. Let me help, and you’ll feel all better in the morning.”

Rainbow Dash blinked. Something in Fluttershy’s tone reminded her a little too much of the way she coaxed all her little animal friends, but the promise of a massage was entirely too tantalising. She was down on the ground before Fluttershy finished her sentence, and Fluttershy herself lay down next to her, nudging her wing half-open again with excruciating care. Her hooves were cold at first, but warmed up nice and quick.

“Thanks,” Dash murmured. She’d have to ask if massages were available on the regular now.

“Don’t mention it,” said Fluttershy, gently kneading circles right above Dash’s wing-joint with her hooves. “I’m glad to help.”

Rainbow Dash meant to reply to that, but she neither knew what she wanted to say, nor did she have the ability to say anything. She kept taking deep breaths and letting them out again, helpless under Fluttershy’s touch. She could probably never go to the Luxury Lotus Spa again. It would never feel as good as the wonderful, warm, soothing and divine hooves that knead her sore and abused muscles.

Dash sunk lower to the ground still, her head on her forelegs. The grass tickled her snout, and she turned her head halfway around so she could look at Fluttershy with one eye while she worked, and she found Fluttershy looking back at her, a serene smile on her face.

Clearly Fluttershy was happy, too, and in that moment, being two wings down didn’t bother Dash as much as it should. With her wings hurt, they couldn’t do anything on Rainbow Dash’s A-list of cool stuff, so they had to do something more up Fluttershy’s alley. Sure, the massage was a nice bonus, but more than that, Fluttershy’s happiness with going for a walk made Rainbow Dash happy, too.

In the same sense, even if it annoyed her that Fluttershy didn’t believe her at first, squashing Fluttershy’s doubts had felt good, too. Whatever doubt there had been in Fluttershy’s voice earlier was now gone. Rainbow Dash had fixed it.

A hoof ran gently along her first wing-joint. Another kneaded circles under her wing. Fluttershy worked in silence, and Dash dutifully lifted her other wing when Fluttershy moved to the opposite side. The only thing keeping her from dozing off was how much she wanted to be awake to enjoy it.

Instead of pushing Fluttershy herself, she’d simply pushed Fluttershy’s worries away.

When Fluttershy stopped and let go, Dash’s sides had gone pleasantly numb. She had to consciously resist the urge to test her wings, because for all that she knew it was a terrible idea, they didn’t constantly throb to remind her. Rainbow Dash stood up and stretched her legs, yawning. “Alright, I owe you one,” she said. “A big one.”

“Happy to help,” said Fluttershy, smiling back at her. “Hopefully you’ll be okay in a day or two. I’m sorry you worked so hard. I know how much flying means to you.”

“Sure,” said Dash with a forced smile, but she dropped the act after a second. Fluttershy was one of the few who actually did know how much this hurt her. “I can’t stand when this happens,” Dash added, sighing.

Fluttershy nodded softly, letting her wings hang loose. “Mhm. I remember last time. That was a while ago, thank goodness. You told me your mom used to sing the Cradle of Wind to you when you got hurt.”

“Yeah, heh.” Dash felt her cheeks heat up. “I was probably overtired. Or had too much cider or something. I don’t know and it doesn’t matter, I’ll be up in the air again soon.”

“I’m sure,” said Fluttershy, nodding quickly. Another gust of wind rolled over the treetops, sending their manes and tails out straight behind them. It carried a chill with it, and the sky above was as dark as it would ever get. Fluttershy looked from Rainbow Dash’s mud-streaked legs and up to her wings again, pointing with a hoof. “Your wings could probably still use some cleaning and preening, too. I could help you with that if you want.”

“Heh, they’re a mess,” agreed Dash. Mud, feathers out of alignment or outright missing, the last fight had taken its toll. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll fix it later.”

Fluttershy nibbled her bottom lip. “Are you sure? I don’t mind.”

“Nah,” said Rainbow Dash, shaking her head. She considered it, but Fluttershy was happy right now. She didn’t like the idea of ruining that by risking her doing a poor job of preening or anything, or if she didn’t actually want to do it. “I got it, but thanks. We should probably go check on Rarity.”

Chapter 13

Fluttershy

I don’t rightly know what to make of your last letter. You can’t expect me not to speak up when I hear somepony giving another a tough time like that in public.

The way I saw it, Rainbow Dash was giving you a hard time the likes of which I’d never give any of my friends, that’s for sure. Now, I don’t know her any better than I know you. To my understanding she’s a real loud one, but it just wasn’t right, the way she kept bothering you about I don’t know what. Something about getting you to sing?

You’re asking me to make promises I can’t keep, and I don’t understand why.

PS: Also, I saw you delivering the last letter earlier today, and I’m fairly sure you saw me. Must’ve heard me, too, but you just kept flying. If I’ve done anything wrong, you’ll need to tell me. You should come over for dinner anyway. Might be easier for you to explain this that way. I still can’t make heads or tails of none of this.

-AJ

Getting back was harder than it should have been. Simply finding the Grove again took a little effort, and more than a few innocent bushes were bothered before they finally pushed through the vegetation to the crater’s lip. Once inside, they were nowhere near the carving that marked the path they’d used to leave.

Even then, without an address—did these peryton even use addresses?—the ponies were forced to ask for directions based on Mennau’s name alone. Though there were surprisingly many peryton still out and about late at night, clear answers were hard to come by.

“Barber shop? A weird spa? I don’t know, he does some ‘shaving’, like the marks on your—augh, okay, you don’t have any, but like most of you have on your flanks,” said Dash, whipping her tail in frustration.

“Do I know a Mennau? I do, but I know his as a shaving-house, not a ‘spa’,” said the brown stag, tilting his head to one side.

“Same thing,” said Dash, rolling her eyes.

The peryton frowned ever so slightly. “Two things that—”

“I get it!” Dash said. “Two things that are not the same, are not the same. I know!”

“We would be very grateful if you could tell us where Mennau’s shaving-house is,” said Fluttershy, unsubtly nudging Rainbow Dash in the side. “Please.”

The stag nodded. “It is root-level on the first inner circle, or fifth middle circle, facing towards the pink way.”

“Could you point us in the right direction, please?” asked Fluttershy before Rainbow Dash got in a single word, and that was probably for the best.

It took no less than four equally frustrating conversations—and one brief questioning from a patrol of painted peryton—before they actually spotted the barely-familiar place they’d left hours earlier. At least, Dash thought it was the same place they had left. Fluttershy stopped them both in the shadow of the neighbouring tree.

“Okay, I got nothing,” said Dash.

“Do you think she’s in trouble?” asked Fluttershy, digging the tip of a hoof into the ground.

“Rarity? Nah. But I have no idea what’s going on.”

The line outside their house, or Mennau’s Shaving House, went all the way to the other side of the path. Peryton stags and does chatted amicably, some of whom were painted with camouflage, most in their natural colours, and all in a fairly organised line leading away from the tree. As the two pegasi watched, a peryton wandered out the open door and past the line, heading off in the opposite direction. Rainbow Dash could have sworn this particular peryton actually smiled as they glanced at their own flank before flying away.

“We should probably go check, just in case,” suggested Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash nodded sharply and followed her towards the entrance. When they trotted along the line, Fluttershy muttered excuse-me’s and sorry-to-cut-in’s as they moved past the peryton, but the closest they got to any protests were some strange looks. Either they weren’t given to quarrelling, or they didn’t know how to react to ponies. It got them to the front of the line anyway. Dash smiled at the stag who waited at the threshold and ducked past him.

“Rarity, what the—”

“I understand, dear,” said Rarity, flashing Dash a smile by way of greeting before she turned back to the peryton stag inside the room. “Now, this Chorossa, does the Aspect have a symbol? I have done many Aspect symbols today, but not Chorossa. If you can describe it, I’ll certainly do my best—and you want it next to the other ones, which you want touched up?”

“If you would do this for me, I will swear to aid you,” said the stag, muzzle tilted forwards in an understated peryton bow. “As for Chorossa, their symbol is neither known nor static. It ever changes. What matters is the intent that goes into its making.”

“Artistic license? Wonderful!” said Rarity. “Ah, give me but a moment. I think my friends need me.”

“Do we?” asked Dash. “Sure? Rarity, what the hay are you up to?” She didn’t know whether to laugh or—well. No, she pretty much wanted to laugh, and Fluttershy simply smiled at Rarity and waved, then craned her neck to look out the door again as if to confirm that, yep, there was still a line there. Coat-hairs of all colours littered the ground around the little workstation and the peryton stag Rarity had spoken to presently half stood, half lay at the bench, waiting to add to the pile of shavings.

“It’s neither hard to see nor to appreciate, is it?” asked Rarity in return, shrugging. “I’m helping these peryton with their chosen form of self-expression, and respectfully, if this is Mennau’s work, hobby or whatever else, then to my eyes, he is a true artist despite Phoreni’s words.”

With a glimmer of magic, she brushed the floor clean of hairs, dumping them in the bucket with a lot of other detritus. Only now did Rainbow Dash notice that she wasn’t providing light for the room; the lamp inside the room glowed pleasantly, no longer empty.

“As it turns out,” said Rarity, “Phoreni was serious when she said they don’t look down upon other uses of magic. They just have very strong opinions of their own use.” She followed Dash’s gaze to the room’s light-source. “And they are very appreciative when somepony with creative skill and proper grooming magic comes along. A very kind doe thanked me by filling the lamp with glowing berries and some filtering fluid.”

“That was very nice of her,” said Fluttershy, looking around the room. “Did some of them do a little cleaning and tidying, too?” When she said it, Dash sniffed at the air. It smelled different. Some kind of soap?

“Well, yes, but I never asked them to. I do this gratis.” Rarity raised her snout a tad.

“You’ve been here for a few hours, and you’ve already made a new boutique? Awesome!” Now, Rainbow Dash did laugh. She held out a hoof. “Come on, hit me.”

Rarity gave her a half-smile and rolled her eyes, tapping Rainbow Dash lightly on the hoof. “It’s hardly anything of the sort. Now, much more importantly: did the two of you have a good time? You will need to tell me everything once I’m done—oh. But it is getting late, is it not? Hm.” She turned to her newest customer, slumping ever so slightly. “You will have to forgive me, but my friends and I must get some rest. Will you be terribly disappointed if I ask you to come back some other time? Perhaps tomorrow? I think we will be here for a while yet.”

The peryton stag rose and shook his head ever so slightly. “Am I disappointed? A little, but I respect that your time is your own, and hope to return. I have seen the skill of your craft in one of my friends.”

“Thank you for your understanding, truly,” said Rarity, smiling brightly. “Have a wonderful night still.”

The stag said nothing more, but traded words with the other peryton outside, and before long, the line dissolved. Fluttershy nudged the door shut while Rarity cleaned her little workspace. “Now, you didn’t answer,” said the unicorn as she swept the last of the hairs off the bench. She tried to hide the little glances she cast their way. “Did you enjoy yourselves? And… what came of your talk? You came back together, at least.”

Dash chuckled. “I don’t know what we could’ve done that would make us not come back together.” She grinned and looked over at Fluttershy, and though she looked a tad nervous—if her wings were anything to go by—she smiled all the same. “We’re gonna try it. The whole girlfriends thing.”

“The ‘girlfriends thing’”, Rarity repeated with a deadpan stare. “I swear, romance—”

“Told you she was gonna say we’re bad at it,” Dash said, snickering. Fluttershy giggled and shook her head at Rarity’s confused look.

“We had a lovely time. The forest is very pretty, and I think you would have liked it,” Fluttershy said. “We didn’t find any of the animals we hoped to see, but that’s okay.”

“Ah, you went looking for forest creatures?” asked Rarity, arching a brow.

“Yes, Rainbow Dash suggested we go see if we could find some ferralopes. Or, I mean, we agreed to,” said Fluttershy, beaming. “We just sat on a hilltop and talked for a bit instead, and we decided we’d try being together. I think that’d be very nice. Or, I mean, we do,” she corrected herself. “I think.”

Dash sighed and took a sideways step, bumping into and leaning against the taller mare. “Yes, we do. Both of us.”

Fluttershy’s cheeks lit up at that, but her smile redoubled, and she leaned back against Rainbow Dash with some hesitance. For her part, Rarity nodded and smiled, moving over to the kitchen section as she spoke.

“Details, dears. I’m going to need details. Come. You’ll tell me all about it while we clean up. One of the peryton showed me how to work this water pump.”

“And then we came back here,” Fluttershy concluded. “We don’t really have any plan. We’re just, um, rolling with it,” she said.

“That’s right,” said Dash, grinning. She pulled her hoof back when Rarity let it go to soak the washcloth the basin again. For the second time in two days, her coat had been restored to its rightful shade of blue.

“It’s no declaration of love under a setting sun or somesuch,” said Rarity with a wan smile. “But a hilltop in a glowing forest is an acceptable substitute.”

“I think I liked it better this way, really,” said Fluttershy, running a hoof through her damp mane.

Rarity nodded sharply. “And that is what matters. Thank you for sharing, and truly, it sounds like you had an absolutely lovely time. I’m very happy for you two.” The unicorn smiled at them both. “And plans or no plans, this will certainly cause a stir in Ponyville when we return!”

Rainbow Dash laughed. “Oh jeez, I can’t wait to see the looks on everypony’s faces.”

Fluttershy’s ears wilted. “Just thinking about Pinkie Pie’s reaction is enough for me right now, actually. She’s going to be very loud.”

Dash grinned. “Cold hooves? Change your mind? Because if you change your mind because of Pinkie Pie, I get it. That’s fair.”

Fluttershy giggled and shook her head. Rarity rubbed at the bottom of her own forehooves before wringing the washcloth.

“Hey, did any of your admirers give you any food?” Dash asked. “I’ve been hungry for hours.”

“I’m afraid not,” replied Rarity, slowly getting up. “We should try our best to find a restaurant of some sort tomorrow morning, I suppose. There is some food left at the bottom of the box Naressa gave us, though.”

“If they weren’t gonna pay you, the least they could’ve done to say thanks was give you something to eat,” muttered Dash. She trotted over to where all their stuff lay next to the table, finding the kelp cakes she had spotted earlier that night, as well as a treasure trove of jelly treats packed near the bottom. Fluttershy took a seat next to her, and Dash divvied up the food. One to her, one to Fluttershy, one to her, one to Rarity.

“Speaking of your customers, were they all as, um, short with their words as Phoreni?” asked Fluttershy.

“You mean, were they all as brusque, unapologetic and rude?” Rarity asked, filling their water-bowls at the kitchen pump.

“Oh, no! I didn’t say that, I just meant—” Fluttershy tried, but Rarity cut her off with a smile, sitting down next to them.

“I know what you meant, dear,” said Rarity, rearranging the jellied snacks so they had an equal amount, all without looking at Rainbow Dash. “The answer is, yes, they’ve all been a little on the ‘short’ side with their words, but I’ve found them to be very polite. They just don’t express it in the way we do.”

“Ihf’nt fha’ hwa’—” Dash said, pausing only to swallow. “Uh, isn’t that what politeness is about? You get really upset when ponies don’t say ‘thank you’.”

“Darling,” said Rarity, frowning and brushing some of Dash’s jelly treat off her chest. “There’s a difference between not saying thank you, and not being appreciative. One can put on a hard front and still be sincere. I think you of all ponies should know that.”

Rarity looked at Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash in turn at that. Dash glanced down to make sure she hadn’t spilled more food on herself, but she hadn’t.

“Regardless,” added Rarity. “The peryton here were in fact very appreciative of my work.”

“They must have been,” said Fluttershy, proffering the water bowl to Dash. “The line stretched across the road.”

“I suppose rumour spreads quickly here,” said Rarity, inspecting one of her own forehooves nonchalantly.

Dash shrugged and took a long draught of water. “Eh. You probably deserve it anyway, I’m happy for you.” She glanced at the other end of the table where Rarity had began unpacking their stuff. The only thing that stood untouched was her supply chest.

Fluttershy didn’t miss Dash’s look, furrowing her brow. “Did you ask them about other fashion?” she said, following up on Dash’s thought before it had even formed.

Where Rarity had been practically glowing with pride a moment ago, that light was snuffed out in an instant. “No, I have not, and I do not think it serves a purpose.”

“Oh dear,” said Fluttershy, laying her ears flat. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing dramatic. Or rather, nothing new,” said Rarity, sighing. “You will have noticed that of course they don’t wear any clothes here, and though they were grateful for my work, I got the impression that they considered trying on a scarf or letting me match some fabrics to their coats some foreign custom, a ritual to amuse me. I asked them about the Ortosian and Stagrumite customs, and while they knew of them, they had no interest at all.”

Dash grimaced. “That’s not great.”

“It’s hardly surprising, though, is it?” Rarity asked. “On the bright side, I have dozens of peryton who have sworn that they will ‘defend my cause until Daros takes their wings’.” Rarity gave a lopsided smirk. “I suppose that is something.”

Fluttershy shook her head slightly. “It’s the same thing that happened when we came to Stagrum. Phydra said that they all have these same Aspects in common, but even that bit isn’t as true as I thought it would be. Not that I think Phydra lied, but it’s really strange.”

Rarity brought a foreleg up to cover a yawn. “Mm, you’re right. I’ve heard more names for Aspects tossed about than ever before, but not a single one has had a particularly close relationship with the most popular ones in Orto or Stagrum.”

“Yeah, we talked about it a little bit,” said Rainbow Dash. “It’s like every city is as different as Appaloosa and Canterlot, but whatever, that’s fine—or, it’s not fine. I don’t know. What I really don’t understand is what’s keeping them all together. Like Ponyville’s a little bit like Appaloosa and a little bit like Canterlot, kinda? They don’t have that, so there’s gotta be something else.” She didn’t bother to resist the infectious yawn that bounced between the three. She rested her head on the table and smiled over at Fluttershy. Fluttershy smiled back and reached out to touch her side, right above her wing, gently rubbing little circles in Dash’s pleasantly numb muscles.

“There’s probably something we can’t see,” Fluttershy suggested. She looked up at the lamp that lit the room, brow furrowed in thought.

“We call it harmony, don’t we?”

Dash raised a brow at Rarity’s words. Fluttershy made a questioning noise.

“Twilight might have more to say on the matter,” said Rarity, staring past the pegasi, at nothing at all, “but while we’re certainly all different, and we all have our own special talents that make us unique, Equestria wouldn’t be Equestria if we didn’t all come together. If pegasi only kept to Cloudsdale, and if earth ponies didn’t tend to the land, it wouldn’t work at all, would it?”

“I think Applejack once said that all the best things in life comes from using your own talents to help others and make something wonderful together,” Fluttershy said, smiling and nodding. “It’s about coming together.”

“Okay. We call it that. That’s Equestria, but they’re not three different kinds of peryton.” Rainbow Dash ground the bottom of her muzzle against the rough grain of the table. She was about ready to drop the topic, but now Rarity had her thinking. “They’re just peryton. All of them. And they don’t meet at all! How do they stay friends, and how does this head consul princess person lead them if they barely know each other? Princess Celestia travels all around Equestria to meet all the ponies she can, and now that Princess Luna is helping out, they’re both all over the place doing all sorts of stuff!”

“Mm, I don’t disagree with that sentiment,” said Rarity. “As I understand it, any Griffin Kingdom diplomat who wishes to discuss treaties will talk to the Princesses for that exact reason. They speak for all of us. Their head consul must not take their job very seriously if they’re not as well known as our Princesses.”

“They used a really strange word about some of the trading here, too,” said Fluttershy, frowning deeply. “They used the word tribute. Maybe that means something different here, but it sounds very mean.”

“That might be a local term for trade,” Rarity said in a voice suggesting agreement. “Clearly the trading has some central authority somewhere. Really, we might be over-complicating all this. Most of the peryton seem very relaxed in a way I know I never would be if I did not know who held the reins. They must have a great deal of faith in their princess even with a less visible leader.”

“Or maybe,” said Rainbow Dash with a lazy, toothy grin and half-lidded eyes. “Maybe their princess is the most cruel peryton ever, and the only reason they stick together is because they’re afraid—” she paused for effect, staring at Fluttershy who drew back with eyes wide.

“Now you’re just being fanciful,” said Rarity with a roll of her eyes.

“—afraid,” Rainbow Dash continued, shuffling a little closer to Fluttershy, her grin widening. “That their princess will order their most trusted guard to sneak up on them when they’re not looking—”

“Um, Rainbow Dash—” said Fluttershy, leaning away from her as much as she could without getting up. Rainbow Dash leaned over her, teeth bared.

“—and gobble them up!” Dash finished, darting in to steal the jelly treat on the table next to Fluttershy. Fluttershy squeaked and fell over, and Rainbow Dash fell over next to her, overbalanced and laughing.

“That’s not very nice,” Fluttershy chided, clambering up on all fours. She tried to scowl at Rainbow Dash—she even succeeded for a few seconds, but Dash just kept smiling at her until the pegasus’s frown melted away. From where she lay, she was treated to a very nice view of Fluttershy’s sides from below. She took her sweet time in getting up.

“Very funny,” said Rarity, though she didn’t look entirely un-amused either. “If you two lovebirds are quite done—” she added, making Dash grin all the harder. Rainbow Dash leaned in to rub her cheek against Fluttershy’s neck on a whim. She could do that now, right? Fluttershy splayed her ears and her blush intensified. Doing silly stuff to freak out Fluttershy was going to be fun.

“—perhaps you’ll help me make the bed,” continued Rarity. “Well. Find a bed, then make it. And in case you wonder, your little bird is up on the balcony. She flew up there the moment you left and hasn’t returned since.”

“Oh. I hope she’s okay,” said Fluttershy, rubbing at her cheek with a hoof.

“She sang a rather long, and very loud song a while ago, so I should think so,” said Rarity. “I had to explain to the peryton that I did not, in fact, need help chasing a wild animal out of this establishment.”

“Okay, finding beds,” said Rainbow Dash, getting up and stretching her legs out. She poked her head behind the screen that shielded a small section of the room from the rest. “Nope. There’s still just mushrooms here. I got nothing,” she declared.

“I was thinking maybe somepony with wings could give the second floor a look. I’ve noticed the lack of beds down here already, dear,” said Rarity.

Fluttershy took to the air and swooped up in short order. Dash heard hoofsteps against wood, a few peeps from Scarlett, and the sounds of Fluttershy moving to the far side of the gallery and back again before her head poked down from the floor above.

“There are… um, I don’t think they’re beds, but there are two soft benches or sofas of some sort up here next to a table. I think it’s some sort of living room, but that’s all there is. I guess there’s no bedroom?”

“That’s what Phoreni said, isn’t it?” said Dash. “They sleep up top. Except for the foals, I guess. Are the benches any better than the floor down here?”

“Oh yes,” said Fluttershy, gliding down to the lower floor, landing gently next to her friends. “They’re cushioned, and if it gets warm, we can open a window up there.”

“Yes, well, unless the air gets very stale in here, I think I’ll vote against that. As much as it’s warmer than outside, it’s hardly cozy in here,” said Rarity. “Rainbow Dash, would you be a dear and take me up there?”

“Yeah, about that,” said Dash, sighing and glancing at her own back.

Rainbow Dash slid off Fluttershy’s back and muttered a thanks. While it was barely a hop up to the balcony, and holding on around her neck was a mixture of awkward and nice, fighting the urge to spread her own wings all the while was decidedly less pleasant. Whatever. They were all up here, now. The balcony held two large cushioned benches that Fluttershy was in the process of arranging into a makeshift bed while Scarlett hopped about and sang. Beyond that, they had a large low table, two windows, some plants, and shelves with sculptures, pottery, some dried pieces of wood—

“I don’t understand how you could be so irresponsible, hurting your wings like that!” said Rarity, rounding on her.

—and one irate unicorn. “We’d still be stuck in the mud if I hadn’t taken the cart,” said Dash. “Besides, it wasn’t just flying the cart about.”

“No, I understand it’s doing a lot of other silly things, and flying an overloaded cart with a passenger through a storm, before wearing yourself out fighting a hydra. How is that helping your case?” asked Rarity, glaring.

The two benches joined with a wooden clack, and Fluttershy, satisfied with her work, started moving one of the fabric rolls Rarity had declared ‘unredeemable’ over to it, fitting it as one would a bedsheet. “Well,” she said. “There’s a reason that the Guard fly their chariots in teams of two, and they probably train for that. And their chariots are aerodynamic. Maybe in the future—”

“You’re on her side?” asked Dash, rolling her eyes.

“I’m just saying I hope you’ll be more careful,” said Fluttershy, frowning. Scarlett let out a loud chirp. “I’m sorry.”

“There are no sides,” said Rarity with an exasperated groan, raising her voice. “I’m of course very grateful for all you’ve done, but it’s terribly hypocritical of you two to suggest I should relax and not wear myself out, and then you go and do these ridiculous things—”

“I told you!” said Dash, matching her tone and cutting her off. “We had to! If you want to—”

“And that’s fine!” said Fluttershy, shutting them both up. Fluttershy stood between them, her wings flared as she looked at them each in turn.

“Rarity said she’s glad you helped us get out of the rain. She’s very grateful. We’re grateful,” Fluttershy said, slumping with a sigh. “But you have to take care of yourself, too. We all have to. It’s done now, we don’t have to talk about it if we can all promise to stop… I don’t know, to stop doing reckless things, and try to take care of not just ourselves, but each other. And I really think we’re doing that already, so can we stop fighting? Please?”

Rainbow Dash slouched and hung her head, staring at the floor for a second. She flicked her tail and tried to muster a response, but she knew Fluttershy was right. She heard Rarity exhale noisily.

“You’re right,” said Rarity. “There’s no real issue. I just don’t want you to hurt yourself on our account. On my account. It makes me feel awful, darling.” Rainbow Dash felt a hoof on her withers, and she pushed it away gently.

“Come on, knock it off,” said Dash with a grunt. “I’m not hurt, I just need to rest my wings for a bit. I’ll be fine.” Of course, not being able to fly did hurt, but she didn’t really feel like tossing fuel on the fire. She felt a foreleg hook over her neck, and this time she did not protest, pulled into a hug with Fluttershy and Rarity both. She hugged back, glad when she felt Fluttershy’s wings drape around them, and annoyed that she couldn’t return the gesture.

“We’ll have plenty of time to rest up anyway,” said Fluttershy, giving her friends a squeeze. Rainbow Dash nodded at that, but when they let go of each other and Rarity moved over to make the bed according to her own exacting standards, Dash’s thoughts hitched on those words.

“It could be as much as what, a week,” said Dash. “This storm week thingy starts tomorrow or the day after, right? ‘Seven suns’ is one of our weeks, anyway.”

Rarity hummed. “I think that’s right. It will be nice to rest for a while, really. We have acted as though we are in this awful rush. Perhaps what we needed was a forced break.”

“Yeah, sure,” said Dash, waving a hoof. “What I mean is, we’ve been away for how long now?”

“Three weeks,” said Fluttershy.

Rarity unfolded their blanket and stood still for a second, rubbing at her eyes. Rainbow Dash hopped over the table and pushed one of the windows’ shutters open. Despite what Rarity had said about the cold, she really needed some air right now. Score one for windows with actual handles.

“That’s longer than I thought,” said Rarity, finally.

“I didn’t think about it before now, either,” Fluttershy said, moving to stand next to Rainbow Dash. The little red bird hopped off her head and sat down on the windowsill, rustling her feathers.

What could Dash say? Not much. If it had been three weeks, it had been three weeks. She hoped Flitter was checking up on Tank like she said she would, and she wondered what the rest of her friends were doing. Was Pinkie Pie cheering up some strange new creatures? Had Twilight run out of paper for all her notes yet? Was Applejack worried sick about her farm?

And when would they all be back together so Dash could tell them that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were girlfriends? That, at least, got a smile out of her.

Outside, peryton moved to and fro carrying their strange lanterns, and now in the darkest of night, the glowing plant-life about the Grove seemed brighter and stranger than ever. There was a burst of peryton laughter somewhere far away, bird-like trills and caws that echoed among the trees.

Rainbow Dash didn’t remember everything. She remembered one thing; there had been no Princess Luna fighting at her side that night. It wasn’t that she’d come to expect it, but she did make a habit of checking to make sure she remembered stuff right. Had she been fighting a hydra that night? Ten hydras? She had no idea, but now she realised she remembered two things. She knew she’d won.

A series of knocks rang from a door somewhere below. Three things, then. She also remembered she’d woken to someone knocking on the door—someone else’s door. It took her an embarrassingly long and confusing moment to realise where she was. How tired had she been last night when she finally fell asleep? How tired was Fluttershy, usually a light sleeper, to not be woken up by something that had roused Dash? Scarlett sat in the windowsill, for once making no noise.

Another knock on the door. Right. The door wasn’t going anywhere. Rainbow Dash wriggled out from under the blanket, wincing when Fluttershy’s breath hitched, but the other pegasus kept on sleeping, drooling on the sheets. Dash couldn’t keep from grinning. The other pegasus was a complete mess in her sleep, her mane wrapped around her face. One of Dash’s legs hurt. Had Fluttershy slept on it? Would she freak out if Dash told her?

Knock. Knock.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming,” hissed Rainbow Dash. She trotted up to the edge of the balcony-floor. Glide down and risk her wings taking longer to recover? No, chance the jump. It was at least five times her height, but she didn’t let that stop her. Dash hopped over the rim and landed on the floor with a loud clop, grimacing at the sound and the impact both. Less than a second later she bit down on the doorknob and tossed the door open, coming face to face with a peryton.

“It is late. Or, perhaps for you, it is early,” said the green-and-blue painted doe.

“Yeah. Morning,” said Dash. She recognised Phoreni’s voice, even if she couldn’t pick her out of a crowd. Dash squinted and looked up. The sun streamed in, painfully sharp between bright green and blue-toned leaves, and the Glade around them was busy with noise. “We had a late night,” she added, lamely.

“The High Warden will see you. If you will come, it would be good if you would hurry,” said Phoreni. She stepped inside, past Rainbow Dash, who rubbed at her eyes and yawned.

“Fluttershy and Rarity are still asleep, I’ll go—oh horseapples.” Dash groaned. “I can’t get back up. Ugh, okay, I guess it’s time to wake up, then. How much of a hurry are we in, anyway?”

“I asked if she would see you—”

“Hey guys! Wake up!” Dash yelled in the general direction of the floor above.

“—and she commanded me to find you and send you to her as soon as possible,” Phoreni finished, unfazed. “Sunrise is time for the first council of a day, and a good time to make introductions. You have not eaten, then, unless your kind eats in its sleep.”

“Nope,” said Dash.

“Rainbow Dash, what in Celestia’s name is going on?” came Rarity’s voice from above.

“We gotta move! Mayor-person’s ready to see us!” Dash called back. “Hey, so, maybe we can get some breakfast after we talk to her?” she asked, turning to Phoreni.

“Eating places are mostly root-level, and she is above in one of the exalted places, but there are a few dining-houses, yes. We can use the warden cantina.”

“Breakfast on the way, girls, come on, chop chop!” Dash yelled, grinning wide. She could go for another nap or three, sure—but if she couldn’t sleep, then they might as well move and move fast. Fluttershy came gliding down from above, a half-conscious Rarity clinging to her and a red bird in her mane. When the unicorn slid off her back, Rainbow Dash noted that her mane had tangled itself around her horn in what was probably the most unique mane style she had ever seen.

“Ten minutes,” said Rarity, her voice dire. She tried to untangle her mane with a hoof, then with her magic. “Make that fifteen. I—we need fifteen minutes, and we shall be ready to go. I am never going to bed with a wet mane again. Fluttershy, where are my brushes!?”

Rainbow Dash chuckled and locked eyes with Fluttershy, who shot her a smile back and helped Rarity look for her grooming kit.

“We’ll be ready to go in ten minutes,” said Rainbow Dash.

“You have one who is flightless among your number,” said Phoreni, casting Rarity a quick glance as though she’d expected the unicorn to sprout wings overnight. “Fortunately, this is not a problem.”

“There’s a way to get up among the branches without flying?” asked Fluttershy.

Phoreni nodded and led them around the tree, heading straight down the slope towards the center of the Grove. “An easier way to our homes? Not as such, but to the Fortress, to the Sunwise Run, and to the exalted places. There must be a way for the young ones who cannot yet soar.”

Once they were cleaned up, clad in saddlebags, and moved outside, it was difficult not to look up all the time. The glowing plants were nearly invisible now; all was sunlight and shadow from the trees. Curiously enough, there weren’t a lot of peryton down on the ground now outside of peryton children in small flocks, but Dash could see a lot of shapes darting around above.

“You could just fly them all up on your backs, right?” Rainbow Dash asked. She tensed her wings a tad to test them, but if anything, they were worse than the day before. Little lightning bolts of pain lanced along the full length of her wings whenever she so much as thought about spreading them.

“We could be so reckless,” said Phoreni, her voice effecting the shrug that her body did not. “Flying items and children up and down is best done as little as possible, but mostly, in case should any monstrous beast breach the Grove, we must bring all the young and the infirm up high, and swiftly.”

“Has that ever happened?” asked Rarity, gasping. “That’s a dreadful thing to have to think about!”

“Yeah, it’s not like we get something crawling in from the Everfree every other week,” said Rainbow Dash, rolling her eyes. “Remember the stomposaurus invasion right before we left?”

Fluttershy nodded quickly. “It did ruin Roseluck’s garden. Again. But we’re lucky nopony else got hurt.”

“We always have the town hall if ponies need someplace to hide,” said Rarity. “It’s not all that different.”

“To answer,” said Phoreni, her voice a little sharp. Perhaps she was annoyed at the interruption. Perhaps Dash imagined it. “It has not happened yet, but is that an excuse? We do not believe it is. Always must we be ready. The Bow is unpredictable, but I am not the one to explain this. The High Warden holds that responsibility.”

“What’s she like?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“What is she like?” echoed Phoreni. She peered over her shoulder to give Rainbow Dash a blank look. “You would not like the answers I could give you, you would think them vague, and it would frustrate you, so there is no point. She is kin, and you will meet her. I will vouch for her as good kin.”

Rainbow Dash decided not to press the point. She was probably right. Arguing with Phoreni wasn’t much fun anyway, and clearly the peryton wasn’t interested in elaborating. Phoreni stared at Fluttershy now, or rather, at the red ball of fluff bouncing around on the top of her head. She’d been unusually energetic this morning, Dash thought.

“I feel I must ask about this bird,” said Phoreni. “Not many birds come to the Grove, because the trees do not suit them, but this one—is it a pet of some sort?”

Fluttershy tilted her head, and Scarlett adjusted, holding on to one of her ears with a tiny claw. “Who?” she asked. “Scarlett? Oh no. She’s a friend. We met on the road, and she wanted to come exploring with us, that’s all.”

“A friend,” Phoreni said, the word as flat as anything could be. Dash grinned privately and shrugged. Most ponies just accepted these things, but she’d seen her fair share of those who didn’t understand or believe Fluttershy’s rapport with animals right away. The peryton didn’t look bothered, though.

“Mhm,” Fluttershy said, nodding and smiling. “Do you keep pets or animals here? I haven’t seen any.”

“We do. Falconeers do their work mostly on the western middle circle,” she said, pointing ahead. “And there are always the ravens—but for our safety and so as to not betray our location, they come to the sentry post, not to the Grove proper.”

Scarlett peeped, chirped, and hopped about, and Fluttershy sucked in breath through clenched teeth. “Oh. Oh dear,” she said. “Um, we’re not headed to this western middle circle with all its falcons, are we?”

Phoreni shook her head. “We are headed to the centre, not the western middle circle.”

Dash squinted at the little bird who let out another set of frantic peeps.

“Oh. Okay, that’s fine. We’ll see you later,” said Fluttershy, going cross-eyed as she looked up at Scarlett, who peered right back down at her and rustled her wings. Scarlett took flight, darting away to disappear among the trees in the exact opposite direction of the group, going east.

“She said she’ll catch us some other time. She… suddenly decided she’s very busy elsewhere,” Fluttershy said, wincing. “She doesn’t get along with falcons.”

Phoreni stared at her. “She has told you this?”

Fluttershy tilted her head. “Of course. How else would I know?”

Rainbow Dash chuckled. For once, it was Phoreni who apparently decided not to press the issue.

Before long, the ground got notably rockier. They were getting closer to the centre of the crater, and idly Dash wondered if trees were supposed to be able to grow here—though they undeniably did.

“What kinds of trees are these?” asked Rainbow Dash. Applejack would probably have something to say about the dirt—or was that ‘soil’? It looked dusty and dry, and she kicked up a small cloud of dust when she scuffed the ground. Huge gray boulders were strewn about, almost all of them carved with symbols. She recognised Helesseia and a set of four wings that might be Selyria, but the rest made no sense to her. Many of them had large blocks of peryton script instead of symbols.

There were no peryton here, and no houses carved into these largest and oldest of trees. Rarity had mentioned the Ponyville Town Hall, and it was all Rainbow Dash could think of that some of the tree trunks would fit the entire building without trouble.

“What?” asked Dash, suddenly aware that Fluttershy looked at her.

“I said I think it’s some kind of Ironwood, maybe,” said Fluttershy. “I’ve never seen trees this large before.”

“Oh. Yeah, okay, thanks,” said Dash.

“And I suspect that is the largest of them all,” said Rarity, a little hoarse.

Dash craned her neck to follow the tree that shot up from the very center of the Grove. Stone lay scattered about, like the giant tree had exploded out of the ground and caused the very crater, and the canopy seemed so far above that Dash expected to see clouds mingling with the leaves.

Phoreni looked about for a moment and made for one of the roots that burrowed into the ground like a crash-landed dragon.

“How did you grow these trees?” asked Fluttershy, her voice full of wonder. “Is it magic?”

“We did not grow it. We gratefully roost in a gift given to us by Helesseia, some of the stories say,” said Phoreni, looking around as though she saw the tree and its sprawling, massive branches for the first time, too. This time, Rainbow Dash caught a toothy smile on the peryton’s face.

“This way,” said Phoreni, shaking her head. She pointed to an arc leading into one of the tree’s roots. She led the way, but paused just inside, blocking the dark tunnel that curved up, then down before disappearing into blackness.

“Is there a problem?” asked Rarity.

“A problem? Perhaps not, but I did not have the mind to bring a lantern. Would you—”

Rarity closed her eyes even as Phoreni spoke, her horn lighting up. Rarity smiled at the peryton. “Say no more, dear. Shall I lead us on?”

“That would be useful,” said Phoreni, stepping aside. Now it was Rarity’s turn to pause at the entrance to the tunnel.

“I suppose this place is going to be full of spiders, isn’t it,” said Rarity, and it wasn’t much of a question.

“They are harmless unless you attempt to eat them in great numbers.”

“Wonderful, yes,” said Rarity, her face scrunched up in disgust. “That’s good to know.”

The shadows played around them as they walked, Rarity’s light constrained by the narrow tunnel that barely left enough space for Phoreni and Rainbow Dash to comfortably walk abreast behind Rarity and Fluttershy—the latter called to the front to aid Rarity with a critical task.

“Ah! There’s another one!” said Rarity. “Right there!”

“Excuse me,” said Fluttershy. “Could you maybe climb up a tiny bit so we can get past? Yes, I know you’re out of reach. It’s just… my friend—it’s okay? Thank you.”

Rainbow Dash tapped her hoof on the wooden floor and waited. A moment later, Rarity moved on, satisfied that the spidery threat had been avoided by a comfortable margin.

“Your rituals strike me as curious,” was all Phoreni said.

“What’s curious is that no one has taken a broom to this place,” Rarity retorted. “Children use these tunnels?”

“Only rarely,” said Phoreni. “We may take young ones up to help cure them of their fear of heights if they are born unlucky—and once, after their birth, to introduce them to the High Warden and the Flightmaster.”

“Flightmaster,” said Rainbow Dash. “Okay, that’s a cool title. What do they do?”

“Ensure that everyone can fly, whose bodies will let them,” said Phoreni.

“So they’re the best flier in the entire town?” Dash asked.

Phoreni gave Rainbow Dash a long look. “The best flier? That is not obvious. They are our best teacher of flight, and the most passionate soul for teaching others these gifts. It exalts one to excel. It exalts one to cause others to excel, too.”

“Yeah yeah,” said Dash, puffing out her cheeks at the lecture and moving on. At least, it sounded like a lecture, but who could tell what went on in the peryton’s mind. Besides, she had a feeling there was something clever in those words, she just couldn’t be bothered trying to squeeze it out before breakfast.

For a while, they walked, and neither pony nor peryton spoke. The tunnel’s curve became more pronounced, and it sloped heavily, going around and around. The walls remained wooden and unadorned, usually the exact same shade of light brown. Once, Rainbow Dash scuffed her shoulder on one of the walls. It was hard to keep focus and not go blind. Everything was utterly unchanging, and it really started to get to her. Finally she spotted natural light ahead. Rainbow Dash squinted and shielded her eyes with a foreleg as they exited the tunnel.

The peryton didn’t sleep in. They were all up here. If the forest floor today was Ponyville’s streets on a lazy Sunday morning, they exited unto the train station in the Hearth’s Warming rush. What had looked from below like natural branches embellished with woodcraft was a seamless, perfect platform. The tunnel had spat them out in the middle of a broad, flat area that ran in a circle around the central tree like a donut.

Dozens upon dozens of peryton moved around them, and while the Ephydoerans were quiet by Dash’s standards, gatherings of people unafraid of using their voices made for a constant din. Some clustered by the edges and many more grouped up by a huge, doorless entrance to the inside of the tree they’d just left.

“This tree is Helesseia’s Promise, and the floor the Warden’s Fortress,” explained Phoreni to the small gathering of ponies. “Around the corner and inside, the High Warden’s Lodge, and the High Warden. There are four levels below, and three above. This is the home of all those who ward. Of all who take the paint.”

Knowing that, Rainbow Dash didn’t see many unpainted peryton around them, and none who loitered. Everyone who moved about did so with purpose, and everyone who talked looked serious. Just as Phoreni had said, another platform made a ceiling above them, and she imagined she could hear the distinctive sound of peryton walking about on branch-and-plank floors above and below.

Though Helesseia’s Promise was certainly the largest of the massive trees, it wasn’t unique. In the distance, Dash could see rings, semicircles and platforms of other shapes and sizes, all of them busy to varying degrees. Any tree that wasn’t studded with peryton houses of some kind had common areas, and she couldn’t even begin to understand what was going on in half of them. From every platform glowed white lanterns nearly lost in the daylight, but also long strings of dormant, smaller multi-coloured lanterns, as though the treetops were dressed up for a party. Were peryton diving from one of the furthest platforms?

“If it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll stay as close to the center as possible,” said Rarity, staring at the edge of the platform. “I realise you all have wings, but would it hurt to include some railings?”

“Heh, don’t worry, I’ll—uh, well, actually, Fluttershy’ll catch you. No problem!” Dash grinned.

“While I have no doubt she will, I’ll be happy to not fall in the first place, thank you,” Rarity retorted with a tight smile.

Rainbow Dash grinned at Fluttershy, though she wasn’t really sure it had been a joke. The more she thought about it, she became sure it wasn’t, but it didn’t really matter; Fluttershy didn’t appear to have heard them. She was still looking all around, her wings tight to her sides. When Phoreni moved, Fluttershy waited for Rainbow Dash and Rarity to flank her before she began moving herself.

“Um, I know you said it’s silly to ask what the High Warden is like,” said Fluttershy. “But what can we expect?”

It didn’t look like Phoreni had heard Fluttershy above all the noise. Rainbow Dash was about to repeat the question for Fluttershy when Phoreni halted by the portal that led into the tree.

“She will likely invite you to join in the Brush Games. You should accept if you wish to earn her respect.” Phoreni gave them a searching look. “It is your decision. Not all wish to have their mettle thus tested.”

“Games? Are you kidding? I’m in!” said Dash, bouncing on the spot. She hooked a leg around Fluttershy and Rarity each. “Bring it!”

“‘Brush Games’? I don’t exactly suppose it’s going to be chess or chutes and ladders, is it,” said Rarity, slipping out from Dash’s grip.

“I hope it’s chutes and ladders,” said Fluttershy, ducking her head and laying her ears flat.

Phoreni raised a brow half a smidgemeter and nodded her head towards the opening. “Come,” she said. “We are expected in the lodge.”

The central chamber of the Warden’s whatever—this tree had entirely too many names—was in fact its only chamber. A roughly circular room had been carved out of the tree’s trunk, large, but hardly covering its entire length and width. Simple wooden benches, desks and tables littered the room, and here was an abundance of something Rainbow Dash only now noticed she’d seen little of in perytonia so far: paper.

Peryton chatted over maps and notes, groups were locked in animated discussions—for Ephydoeran peryton anyway—and in the back, a particularly large group circled a large-scale model carved directly out of the tree’s trunk. The model made more sense than any map Rainbow Dash had ever seen; the painted trees and mountains looked like a huge game board of some kind.

“High Warden!” called Phoreni. “The travellers! Will you see them outside? The map—”

“—is no secret, I will see them here,” finished a peryton from the largest group. She looked like any other Ephydoeran around, an average-sized doe in camouflage paint with a myriad of marks shaved in her side. “Come!” she called, stepping away from the model.

They drew a complete lack of attention. Rainbow Dash was a little disappointed. They were visitors from afar, ponies that these people had never seen before, and they were paraded in front of the town’s guard—or whatever they were supposed to think them as—to barely a glance. The other peryton looked up, registered the ponies, and went back to whatever it was they were doing. Pointing to maps and scrolls and talking, mostly.

“High Warden,” Phoreni repeated, gesturing to the trio with a hoof. “The Ponies from Equestria that Orto mentioned, here at my sufferance.”

“I am the High Warden, and I have been told of your guesting,” she said, “The surprise is not your visit to the lodge, but your presence in Ephydoera. One surprise out of two, then. Less surprise is good.”

She looked completely indistinguishable from the rest of them. Even Mayor Mare had her cravat, but the peryton who stood before them could have been Phoreni’s slightly smaller twin. Fluttershy sketched a quick half-bow, and Dash followed suit. Rarity did the same, dipping her head.

“I am Rarity, and this is Fluttershy—” she pointed, “and Rainbow Dash. We were sent by the Princesses of Equestria, and we’re on our way to Cotronna. We’re pleased to make your acquaintance, miss…?”

Apparently she was Phoreni’s slightly smaller, and also her slightly more expressive twin. The High Warden tilted her head and furrowed her brow, then looked to Phoreni. “Your counsel, Phoreni. Have I been asked a question?”

“Ah, I’m dreadfully sorry,” said Rarity. “I was hoping for a name, but we don’t know your customs. If you wish for us to refer to you only by title, then of course—”

“I have no name. I am the High Warden,” came the reply with a full-bodied shrug. “I will take my name once again when my vigil is over.”

“The High Warden commands all those who take the paint, if they are warders, wardens, or ward in any other capacity,” Phoreni said as though that explained anything at all.

“And you said you are surprised to see us?” Rarity asked. “May I ask why?”

The High Warden frowned slightly. “Because I recall sending word that you should better visit Orto. I did not meet Red Sun Runner myself, but I expected to hear from Orto before your kind trod into Khosta.”

“Is that a problem?” asked Dash.

“We visited Orto, in fact,” said Rarity, smiling at her. “Then Stagrum—and now, we are here.”

“Is it what I had expected? It is not, but it is not an issue, either. I hope you have not found us unwelcoming, but we have talked enough of this for now. There are more important things before you are made truly welcome. You two,” she said, locking eyes with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy in turn. “You will not leave and return to the Grove again.”

“I’m sorry?” asked Fluttershy, drawing back half a step under the High Warden’s stare.

“What?” said Dash, her voice cracking in surprise. “What do you mean? Are you kicking us out?”

“It’s a misunderstanding, surely!” said Rarity, gaping.

“A threat? Exile? A misunderstanding? It is none of these,” said the High Warden. “It is a command. If you are to walk the woods beyond, you will tell Phoreni first. You threaten the safety of the Grove by coming and going so inexpertly.”

“You’re talking about last night?” Dash asked, snorting. “Come on, we were just outside the crater, it’s no big deal.”

Rainbow Dash got the distinct impression that the High Warden had taken all the expressions that the rest of the Ephydoerans did not use. All the other peryton in this town had put their frowns, their glares and their sneers in a box marked ‘High Warden’—and their stares. The way she looked at Rainbow Dash sent chills down the pegasus’s spine.

“Perhaps it is your speech. Perhaps we do not understand each other as well as we could,” said the High Warden. “But you will understand this. When it concerns the safety of the Grove, I do not suggest. I command. If you leave the Grove alone once more, I will see to it that you do not enter it again. Do you understand this?”

“We understand,” said a wide-eyed Fluttershy, nodding rapidly. “We’re very, very sorry.”

“Got it,” said Rainbow Dash, her ears wilting. This time, they did in fact, get some attention from the surrounding peryton, and she’d rather do without the sympathetic looks they got.

“We are understood,” said the High Warden, letting out a deep breath. ”You tell us you make for our kin in Cotronna?”

Rainbow Dash flicked her tail and tried to toss the tension away. It was impossible to tell if the High Warden was still angry with them. She wished Pinkie was here to make them smile a little more, but for now, she settled for letting Rarity speak for them. She edged a little closer to Fluttershy. Just in case she wanted her to.

“Yes, finding a ship proved problematic, and we were advised to take the rather more scenic route by a friend in Orto,” said Rarity, nodding. “If we intend to go to Cotronna by... Vauhorn, I believe it is—the other city on the northern coast—then we’ll be travelling north through the highlands, but we heard there was some trouble.”

“If you say this, then you are well informed,” said the High Warden, nodding gravely.

“We heard from the Bent Feathers. Well, we got a letter, actually,” said Fluttershy from behind the cover of her mane. “They said that some wagons had their things stolen, and that you hadn’t found out who’s stealing.”

Phoreni made a low, growling sound at the back of her throat. “The Bent Feathers should keep words of our movements, such as they know, out of the claws of those not of Ephydoera.”

“Calm, Phoreni,” said the High Warden, fixing her with a look before turning her attention back to the ponies. “These words are not as untrue as we want them to be. Vauhorn now sends tribute through Cotronna by land, or by sea to Stagrum and by land from there. Wagons have been stolen away on the trade road between Ephydoera and Vauhorn, this is correct.” She shook her head slightly. “You should not worry. There are many paths through the highlands. There are many paths north.”

“If what Fluttershy told me is correct, our map only shows two. Or rather, one road, which splits as it leaves the forest, one to Vauhorn, one to Cotronna directly,” said Rarity, pursing her lips. “If you don’t mind me saying, there’s hardly an expansive network of roads around here. Have you considered contacting your high consul about improving them?”

“Did I say roads? I said paths. The two of which you speak are the trade roads followed by caravans, the great wagons.” The High Warden turned about and made for the great wooden model further into the chamber, prompting the ponies to follow.

The carved model centered upon a forest wrapped around a curved mountain range. If Dash had to guess, the forest would be the Khosta, the forest they were in—and they called the mountains “The Bow”? She had no idea how big any of this was meant to be in the real world. Maps. She shrugged.

Someone had put a lot of effort into this model, though. The forest wasn’t just a green-painted area. They weren’t even models: Little trees were carved out of the sheer wood, cut into the ‘table’ itself, which was also part of the tree they called the Promise. The High Warden pointed to two indented lines leading out from the edge of the forest.

“The two great roads are the furrows you see here. They are one beneath the boughs of the Khosta, but split when they enter the highlands. You have options. You may run the edge of the Splitwood. It is safer than the Khosta, even without warders. You may stay closer to the coast where none dwell. Pierce the Splitwood, keep to the dells, the options are many. You do not have to follow the road.”

“If you are suggesting we make some off-road trek, we do have a cart, unfortunately,” said Rarity.

“It is a small thing,” Phoreni said. “These are not wild paths. If you know where to look, and if you are told of them, you may find them, and they will easily take you and your cart.”

“They will… take our—” Dash squinted. “So you’re saying we can probably follow these weird not-road paths?”

Phoreni nodded. “That is what is suggested. Options.”

The High Warden nodded absent-mindedly, her eyes on the model for a little longer. Around them crowded other peryton who moved papers to and fro, cross-checking paper maps with the one on the table, all of them carrying items in the nook of their wings or in their mouth. One leaned forward with their muzzle, gently placing a wooden chit on the table under a tiny carved tree.

For all that Dash was used to ponies carrying stuff around, she couldn’t get past how strange it was to be surrounded by so many horns—or antlers, in this case—and not see them used at all. Then again, Dash thought with a frown, she was the pegasus who’d taken a tunnel to get up here.

“We think too much,” said the High Warden at length. “We have moved along this road you mention many times. We have found nothing, and no signs of battle. We sent a flock of unpainted kin last season without trouble. Dishonest hearts have made off with the tribute, and thieves, weak of mind, will already have scattered.”

“Or Vauhorn claims to have sent the tribute, but lie to avoid meeting their promises,” said Phoreni.

The High Warden snorted. “Rid your heart of the darkness of that thought, warden.”

Phoreni closed her eyes and took a deep breath, exhaling noisily while she nodded. “It does not matter. The High Warden is right. I do not see why anyone would trouble you three.”

Rainbow Dash looked over at her friends, and neither of them seemed to have anything to add. She shrugged. Why would anyone want to trouble them in the first place? The two peryton does seemed satisfied with this only now, after discussing it at length like they were in some strategy meeting.

“I am in agreement,” said The High Warden. She turned her back to the carved map. “Then, before you leave, Phoreni will help you plan a path, but I consider the road safe enough anyway. I am more concerned with a different threat. A far more grave threat to Ephydoera, and one that involves you three.”

“What, more?” Dash asked. Fluttershy shuffled a little closer, and Dash felt her hackles rise. Had they managed to anger these weird peryton in some other way? How easily offended could they be?

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean,” said Rarity, the unicorn frowned slightly.

“The threat is that you should think this is all we do,” the High Warden said. Without waiting to see if they followed, she led the little group outside, circling around to the sunny side of the platform and crossing over to its edge. “There is more to Ephydoera than this here, the heart of our efforts to keep safe. The Brush Games have begun today, as it is the first day of the Seven Suns of the Storm.”

Rarity kept a respectful distance from the edge while the High Warden gestured ahead to another large flat area among the trees. This one only had one main level, but it was built and shaped out of the branches that joined three trees together, an immense flat platform crowded by festive lights and throngs of peryton at work.

“At the Sunwise Run, we prepare for the Brush Games. Not every day is a battle, but time is best spent as Daros in pursuit of Helesseia’s strength, of Selyria’s long gait and of Glandros’ perfection. At noon, we will begin the search for the one who is champion when the storm hits.”

Rainbow Dash could feel herself tense up in the best possible way. She forced her wings to lie still, but could no more stop herself from grinning at the thought of a proper competition than she could fail to read a challenge in the High Warden’s eyes.

“Find your morning meal if you have not already. At the sound of the horn, come show us the skill of your home city.”

Chapter 14

Khaird

I hope this letter reaches you well. Your message was forwarded by Princess Celestia this morning, and along with the message came your quite exotic friend. Since this forces me to write (pft, she’s dictating. Hi, I’m Maven) this letter in all haste so your friend can take this reply back to read to you—and she is being quite insistent about this—please forgive any mistakes in spelling or fact. (ha, I never make amny spelling mistakes, and she never proofreads anyway)

Unfortunately, I don’t have good news. In fact, I am very confused by your request. All this talk about ambassadors and city to city relationships is very much beyond what I can do as a mayor. As Mayor of Ponyville, I am indeed charged with a great many very important tasks (such as underpaying my secretary who does everything actually important), but all the things you ask about are really national matters, and need to be brought before the Princesses themselves. I am not quite sure why the Princess forwarded this to me, no, wait, don’t write that, I can’t be seen second-guessing a princess in an official letter

Perhaps there has been a misunderstanding, but I really can’t help you at all. I did hear that some of the ponies living in our wonderful town have recently gone abroad, and if this is related, I wish to state for the record that Rainbow Dash is not on the City Hall payroll. (yeah she is)

-For Ponyville City Hall, Mayor Mare

“Are the stairs like this for every level?” asked Rarity. “I’m very glad there are stairs at all, of course, but they are a little—”

“Trip-and-you-fall-off-the-platform-and-it’s-really-high-up, high-up-enough-that-it-makes-me-a-little-scared-and-I-have-wings-y?” supplied Fluttershy breathlessly, peering over the edge.

“Yes. That,” said Rarity, keeping close to the inner side of the steps.

The narrow stairs were built onto the outer edge of the platform, leading down to the slightly smaller ring below. Rainbow Dash idly wondered if her wings would carry her in a glide right now. Probably not. She couldn’t make herself worry much, though. After all, Fluttershy’s wings were in working order. At some point in the past, she would’ve laughed at the notion that it could make her feel safer. She’d happily kick that past self.

“Not every one of the Promise’s levels are built like this, but Pelessa has made room for you,” said Phoreni.

“And… that’s not a person, but an Aspect, right?” Dash asked.

“I believe someone mentioned it when I was doing the shaving work, so yes,” Rarity suggested.

“All the exalted places have access from tunnels below, or by bridges above,” Phoreni added, either not answering, or not having heard. She waited at the bottom of the stairs, and Dash hopped down the last four steps. This lower level wasn’t quite as busy. Wooden tables ran all along the outer circle of the platform, and there were various little alcoves cut or dug into the center of the tree, like market stalls, most of which were serviced by unpainted peryton. Some sort of café? It certainly smelled like food, and peryton were eating at many of the tables.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what is an ‘exalted’ place?” said Fluttershy.

“That which is high up and… important?” Phoreni said, her brow knit for a second. “That which is important enough to warrant the young ones seeing it before they fly—but that thinking is circular. Not good enough. The central parts of the Grove, central to our being, not central in space. Is this an answer?”

Fluttershy nodded quickly and smiled. “I think I understand, thank you.”

“Good. As I have told you, what is important is that the Sunwise Run can be reached without wings. Would we let our young miss the games? It is unthinkable. These games happen only once every cycle of seasons, and last only until the storm. Last year, the storm happened upon the first sun, so there were no games.” Phoreni glanced to the side, squinting against what sunrays pierced the canopy. “This year, we have our games for a day at least, and patrols say there will likely be no storm tomorrow either.”

Rainbow Dash sniffed the air and turned her side to the wind without spreading her wings, just enough to taste the breeze on her feathers.

“Yeah, I don’t—” she began to say.

“Probably not—” Fluttershy said at the same time.

Phoreni looked between Dash and Fluttershy, and the two pegasi looked at each other. Fluttershy shook her head and gestured at Rainbow Dash. “Sorry, you go ahead.”

“There’s probably not gonna be a storm the day after, either, that’s what we’re saying,” Dash explained.

The peryton nodded slowly. “Do I believe your words? I may, though I do not understand how you can say this.”

“Big storms let you know they’re coming if you don’t make’em yourself,” said Dash, shrugging.

“I trust you are convinced. I can do little with these words regardless.” Phoreni gestured to a nearby table. “Sit, and I will bring food. You will eat plants?”

“Of course,” said Fluttershy, Dash and Rarity nodding their assent. They made for the free table, Rarity pointedly sitting down opposite of the platform’s edge. Fluttershy sat down next to her, and Rainbow Dash decided against being the odd one out. She sat down as close to Fluttershy as she could get, bumping into her. It was worth it for the look upon Fluttershy’s face, especially as it transformed into a faint blush.

“Remind me never to bring you two to a fancy restaurant as a couple,” said Rarity with a roll of her eyes and a faint smile. “People are staring.”

“No they’re not,” said Dash with a laugh. The only peryton seated next to them was a lone stag who’d sat down at an adjacent table right after they did, and he wasn’t looking. She did have a point in that it looked a little weird with all three of them clustered together, but so what?

“They’ll probably just think it’s a pony thing,” said Fluttershy with a smile of her own. She didn’t actually move away from Rainbow Dash, evidently content with sitting flank to flank.

“Rarity? Can I ask you a question?” asked Fluttershy, quickly glancing over her shoulder to where Phoreni stood by one of the stalls. At least Rainbow Dash assumed that one was Phoreni. It was still hard to tell.

“Of course, dear,” said Rarity, cocking her head. “Something the matter?”

“Oh, no. I just wondered, when we were talking to the High Warden, you didn’t mention what we were doing here exactly. You didn’t say anything that wasn’t true, but you didn’t tell her what you told the Dockmistress in Stagrum, either.” Fluttershy tilted her head. “Was that on purpose?”

“Oh. That,” said Rarity, letting out a sigh of relief. “I thought that going into detail about the sigil and such was a little pointless and irrelevant. All it has done so far is to confuse the people they have in place of mayors. Do you think we should explain? I honestly don’t think it makes a difference. As I understand it, if we’re here at Khaird’s behest, it is to learn about the Ephydoerans. Also, they didn’t react at all when we mentioned the Princesses.”

“We could tell them if they ask, but you’re right,” said Fluttershy, shaking her head. “I just wanted to ask to make sure we agreed. This whole journey is a little bit like a friendship lesson, isn’t it?”

“It’s almost exactly like a friendship lesson”, said Rainbow Dash. “Princess Luna said that she expected a full report and everything.”

Fluttershy furrowed her brow in thought. “I don’t think she ever said that, at least not that I heard, but that would make sense. The Princesses will probably want a long letter when we get home.”

“I don’t expect they’ll need you to take notes. I have the journal, at least—” Rarity said, interrupted when Phoreni rejoined them. She slid a very large bowl off her back with the aid of her wings. The wooden bowl was easily the match for Pinkie’s largest punch bowls, filled to the brim with turquoise leaves.

“I will go collect the water as well,” said Phoreni. “Would you be offended if I asked another to join us?”

“Just leaves?” asked Dash, sniffing at the bowl. It smelled a lot like mint, but there was nothing else below the top layer; just a bowl full of leaves. She did catch a look from Rarity for her inspection efforts, though.

“Leaves,” repeated Phoreni. “And good ones. Foraging is one of the finest arts known to us. The best days begin with food not grown and unpacked, but found. Are foragers not celebrated in your city?”

“We mostly grow our food on farms, but I sometime go look for mushrooms in the Whitetail Woods, and I grow my own herbs,” said Fluttershy. “I don’t think anypony ever celebrated that,” she added, stifling a giggle.

“You do this, but it is not your calling?” Phoreni quirked a brow. “This is curious. Is the bounty of your ‘Whitetail’ such that everyone can freely forage?”

“I don’t think a lot of other ponies like to go looking for their own food anyway,” said Fluttershy, shaking her head. “The only other pony I ever meet there is Cheerilee.”

Phoreni nodded. “Your land must be open, and allow for a great many farms, then.”

Fluttershy looked at Rainbow Dash and Rarity each in turn, but Rainbow Dash didn’t know what to say. Sure they had a lot of farms, but they had a lot of forests, too. Fluttershy was on a roll with answers anyway.

“Well, um, enough to feed us, at least? The heartlands are both plains and woods,” said Fluttershy after a moment, nodding her agreement with herself.

“You’re asking a lot of questions,” said Rainbow Dash, tilting her head as far as it would go.

“I don’t mind,” said Fluttershy.

“I don’t, either!” Dash hurried to say at Rarity’s quizzical look. “You just haven’t cared a lot about—or, uh, well, haven’t asked a lot about Equestria before, but now you’re suddenly curious? Hey, it’s cool and all, I’m just asking, too!”

If there was protest budding in Rarity’s eyes before, now she nodded and looked over at Phoreni at that as though Dash had a point, and Fluttershy looked curious as well. The unflappable peryton took it all in stride with the barest of nods.

“Do I think your observation is fair?” she asked, tilting her head. “It has merit. I am a forest warden. I ward. It is what I do; all I do. I rarely have the time to think of what happens outside our borders. Sometimes not even outside the Khosta, much less Perytonia.” She gestured off the platform with a wing. “When you arrived, I knew I did not have the time to sate my every question on Equestria, and I do not believe in half measures. Do one thing fully.” She looked down at the ground, lost in thought for a second.

“And?” asked Dash.

“And I have lost my battle with curiosity,” finished Phoreni with the tentative beginnings of a smile. “Now I repeat my question. Will you object if I collect someone to join us?”

“Why would we mind, dear?” asked Rarity. “I’m certain there’s room for one more at the table.”

“I ask because I wish to give you the option to refuse,” said Phoreni. “In case the more timid of you do not wish for more company.” Rarity raised a brow, Fluttershy said nothing, and Rainbow Dash blinked.

“Okay, I’m cool with it,” said Dash, looking at Fluttershy, her voice deadpan. “Fluttershy. Would you mind one more?”

“It’s fine?” Fluttershy said, her voice making it a question.

“Then I will return in a moment with the water, and with company, but before I do so, I will say one more thing. The High Warden. She—” Phoreni paused, letting out her breath before starting anew. “One thing is, she commands. It is what she does. If she did not place the safety of the Grove above all, she would not be the High Warden.”

“We understand—” Rarity said, only to be cut off when Phoreni went on.

“Another thing is, your misstep under last moon was my mistake. That you believed it was safe to leave and re-enter the Grove thus? That is not your failing, but mine. I still try to understand what you must be told, and what you do not need to be told.” She let out a soft grunt. “This is my charge, not that of the High Warden, so do not carry dark thoughts of her. If you do, you must tell me.”

“You don’t have to apologise for her,” said Fluttershy, though Dash noticed that she did not meet Phoreni’s eyes, her gaze on the wooden table instead. “It’s okay.”

“We’re fine. You’re not gonna be in trouble just because we decided to take a little walk, right?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Feel free to eat. I will return in moments,” said Phoreni. She didn’t even acknowledge their words, walking off without comment.

“Did she apologise for the High Warden?” asked Rainbow Dash the second the peryton was out of earshot. “That was a really lame apology, and she wasn’t the one who was being rude. The High Warden was. I think?” Dash groaned. “I can’t even decide if I’m sorry or not, it was all just a stupid misunderstanding, who cares!”

“Well, they seem to take that particular misunderstanding seriously,” said Rarity. She hummed as she thought. “Regardless, Phoreni is certainly making an effort to explain, and I don’t think that’s easy for her.”

“Heh. She’s trying, at least,” said Dash, leaning forwards to sniff the leaves again. “I don’t know how much it’s helping.” There was something beyond the minty smell. Spices? Whatever this was, eating presented an obvious challenge.

“No plates? Do you think we’re just supposed to dig in?” asked Dash. The stag sat on the nearby table hadn’t even gotten his food. Clearly this place wasn’t big on service. On a table further away, two does ate straight out of the same bowl.

“I think she’s doing more than just ‘trying’. She’s doing really well,” said Fluttershy, frowning. “There’s no way for us to tell that she understands what we say about Equestria any better than we understand what she says about Ephydoera.”

“You’re still on that? Sure. I’m not saying I could’ve done any better,” said Dash. She grabbed a mouthful leaves, chewing noisily. They didn’t taste like the mint they smelled of, but like limes and peaches mashed together. “I would’ve made a horrible tour guide or whatever,” Dash said.

Fluttershy smiled at that, but only for a brief moment. “Am I the only one who thinks it sounded like she’s actually going to be in trouble because of what we did?”

Dash swallowed the chewy leaves and sighed. “Yeah, she didn’t say she wasn’t getting in trouble. She’s taking a chance on us, I guess, but come on, the High Warden didn’t sound like a complete grump.”

“She seemed perfectly reasonable,” Rarity agreed. “But I still feel a little bad about it.”

“Yeah? Well, you’re the only one who didn’t do anything wrong, so you shouldn’t,” Dash grumped. “Can we just eat?”

“Mm. How is the food?” asked Rarity, glancing about with some concern. “Are we to eat from the same bowl?”

“It’s good,” said Dash, planting her muzzle in the bowl to grab another mouthful. “Mh, tastier than any other leaves I’ve ever had. What’s the matter with sharing food?”

“Hygiene, for one,” said Rarity with a sniff. Her horn glowed softly, and a few leaves paraded out from the far side of the bowl, as far away as possible from where Dash had chowed down and Fluttershy presently went for a nibble. She levitated up a few of the leaves and chewed them one by one, both Fluttershy and Rarity nodding appreciatively.

“Maybe we could return the favour, since Phoreni is being so nice to us,” said Fluttershy, wiping her muzzle with the nook of a leg. “Perhaps we could be a little more accommodating in return?”

“How?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Like, try to be like her? Try really hard not to smile or to laugh, ever? Stare creepily at her and repeat everything she says as a question? I can do that!” She could see Phoreni and another unpainted peryton on their way back.

“Rainbow Dash, no,” hissed Rarity, also seeing the peryton on approach. Fluttershy was caught halfway between a giggle and imploring Dash not to do it, but didn’t matter. Rainbow Dash utterly failed to school her features, bursting out laughing at the panicked face Rarity made. The two peryton did not offer comment at first, placing water bowls on the table. Dash was glad they had brought drinks. Shade or no shade, it was getting hotter. She missed the rain already.

“These are Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Rarity,” said Phoreni, gesturing to the three ponies with quick nods of her head, then to the peryton at her side. “This is Khyrast.”

Khyrast was a little smaller than Phoreni, and Rainbow Dash had them pegged as a doe from the shorter tail-feathers and the colours—light brown dappled with a white that also graced their wing-tips, and a flank unadorned by any symbols.

“Khyrast is a steady companion,” said Phoreni, smiling ever so faintly. “He and I are close. These three, as I have explained under last night’s moon, are ponies from afar, if you recall the missive from Orto. They are under my charge.”

And just when Rainbow Dash thought she had the peryton down pat, she was proven wrong again. Stag, not doe. She wasn’t even frustrated any more. She just went with it.

“They are no threat to you or us?” asked Khyrast, but it barely sounded like a question, the sentence was tossed out into the air like somepony might say nice weather we’re having or Rainbow Dash might say nice weather I made.

“We’re very pleased to make your acquaintance,” said Rarity.

“Hello,” said Fluttershy.

“Do you really think we’re that scary?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Oh, and hey.”

Khyrast blinked. Phoreni tilted her head slightly.

“The whole ‘threat’ thing. You just asked if we’re a threat,” Dash said, pointing to Khyrast, but evidently this didn’t clear things up for him. He looked to Phoreni.

Phoreni shook her head slightly. “It is… common. Not greeting, but habit? The assessment, to understand you as friend or not,” she said.

“Huh, alright. If you’re super worried about ‘threats’, you sure don’t seem to mind letting strangers snoop around your secret fort, that’s all,” said Dash, slurping the water noisily. They shared the two bowls of water without much problem, but it was odd having to wait for others to eat before it was your turn to lean forward for a bite. Rarity’s face as she ran out of places to collect untainted leaves was good sport, though.

“Neither hydra nor glare beast are able to read or understand a map,” said Phoreni, not missing a beat. “And few will make allies of such beasts. Would we let the Heron in there? We would not.”

“This is a very strange topic,” said Khyrast, pushing the perytons’ water bowl towards Phoreni. “Drink, please. You have not had a single draught.”

Phoreni nodded at her friend and did as asked before continuing, her attention on Khyrast. “They use many odd words and have strange manners. You see now what I told you. Two have wings, one has a single antler, a horn, but they are all very different from the others. Three very different people.”

“And the horned one—my mistake, you have a name, of course,” said Khyrast, frowning. “This must be rude to any who can speak. Rarity?”

“That is my name,” said Rarity, smiling.

“I have met one who spoke of the way you used your magic to grace him with your skill, shaved into his side.”

“Oh. He was pleased with my work, I hope?” Rarity asked, clearing her throat. “I did my best in every case, I assure you.”

“Was he pleased? He would not cease talking of it,” said Khyrast, a slight note of laughter in his voice, rare in the usually almost toneless Ephydoerans.

“You speak of Aleisos,” said Phoreni. She glanced over at the ponies. “He does not know how to be silent,” she added, to a giggle from Rarity and Fluttershy both. Peryton gossip. Really, thought Dash, going for the rapidly emptying food bowl to conceal her own grin.

Khyrast nodded, the small peryton eyes crinkling as he smiled. “It is a treat to see someone whose use of magic is skilled and unrestrained, is what I wished to say. It is such moments that makes one wonder if we are too set in our ways.”

Rarity blinked, stunned for a split-second. “Oh. Oh, well, I—I am flattered, of course, I just thought you only used your magic for—that is, if you wish, I could of course try to teach you how I do it? I am sure—”

The stag shook his head slowly, interrupting Rarity’s stammering. “Is your offer kind? I suspect it comes from a bright place, but I, too, am set.”

The unicorn nodded at that. “I see. Well, if you change your mind, the offer stands.” She chuckled. “A common friend of ours would lose her mind at the notion of someone not wishing to learn a spell, but we are all different, I suppose.”

Phoreni tapped the ground with one of her small forehooves. “We may be set and stubborn, but you are not. Khyrast, these are travellers to shame the Bent Feathers, and as you hear, greedy for learning. Perhaps you can gift Rarity instead? Teach her some of our magic? The games are not yet set up, our food is eaten, and none could teach better than you. It would pass time.”

Rarity touched her own chest with a hoof. “Teach me?”

Rainbow Dash stared. “Teach Rarity wing-magic?”

“Will I teach?” asked Khyrast, looking at Phoreni for a long moment, finally tilting his head forwards in a peryton neck-bow. His expression softened. “Because it is you who ask, I will offer.”

“Focus the sum of your magic, all your prongs—”

“I don’t have prongs,” said Rarity, grimacing. Her eyes were closed, and her horn glowed with a faint aura of magic, but that was the sum of all that happened. Next to her sat Khyrast, his entire body glowing with a faint sheen.

Rainbow Dash passed ‘bored’ three stages of boredom ago. At least the platform slowly fell into shadow as the sun moved up overhead. If this was as hot as it was going to get today, Dash was alright with it.

“You’re not very protective of your magic,” said Fluttershy. “That’s a good thing, of course, just, um. I’m sorry, I don’t know what else to say.” She sat by Rainbow Dash’s side, the pegasi and Phoreni watching Rarity and Khyrast over by another table. The two had begged relative privacy closer to the center of the platform, still within earshot. “Not that I ever thought you wouldn’t want to share, either,” she rushed to add.

“Is your magic secret?” asked Phoreni, the simple question accompanied by a slight head-tilt and a blank look.

“I don’t think so,” said Fluttershy, looking askance at Rainbow Dash.

Dash shrugged helplessly. “Beats me? I don’t think pegasus magic can be taught, but I bet if Twilight met someone else who could use like… horn-magic or antler-magic or something, she’d probably be all over trying to teach them everything she knows, and learn everything they knew.”

Fluttershy giggled. “She would. I guess we’re lucky if unicorn magic and peryton magic translates at all, anyway.”

“Yeah,” said Dash. “Heh, Rarity’s really going at it, though. Wonder what’s gotten into her. She really wants to learn this wing-magic.”

Fluttershy bit her lower lip and nodded. She looked a little less pleased with this. “I hope she doesn’t hurt herself. I haven’t seen her this intense in a long while.”

Phoreni stared at the two pegasi while she drank deeply from the one remaining water bowl, then shook the wet from her muzzle. “To correct your words just now,” she said. “It is not wing-magic, it is body-magic. The wings are only one part of the body, and your friend does not have wings. She may learn to strengthen her other assets—if the magic ‘translates’, as you say. Or she may learn nothing. If it can be taught, Khyrast will teach it. He is uniquely suited to it.”

Four pony ears perked at that, and two heads tilted to various degrees. That gesture “translated”, at least. Phoreni fixed her eyes on her peryton friend, and again she smiled, something she’d done a lot more since he joined them.

“Among many other things, Khyrast is a teacher of this magic, of our only magic.”

“Oh. Okay, cool,” said Dash, trying to sound like this fact interested her a lot more than it did.

“I’m sure Rarity has said so already, but even if it doesn’t work, thank you for trying to share it,” said Fluttershy.

Phoreni’s eyes were still on Khyrast. “Few things are so sacred or secret as not to be shared. This I should have told you when we met, before I accepted the charge. Do not ask for the secret of our paints, do not pluck any bright yellow flowers with red leaves—it will ruin the foragers’ bounty next year—and do not do violence to us.”

“And stay away from trying to get you to say ‘yes’ and ‘no’,” added Dash with a short-lived chuckle.

Phoreni shrugged. “If you wish for the list of what is considered rude, we will be here all day, but you cannot give such insult as to make me wrathful without trying, I am sure.”

“Speaking of all day,” said Rainbow Dash, shifting her weight a little. “What about these games?” She’d been wanting to ask for a while now. Ever since they had been told about the games, truth be told, but people kept talking about other stuff.

“The Brush Games,” said Phoreni. “What of them?”

“I dunno, tell us about them!” Dash said. Her blood was up in an instant at the thought of a proper contest. “How do we compete? Do we have to sign up? What’s the prize? Last pony—or peryton—standing when the storm hits, how’s that work? Lay it on me!”

“It would be nice to know a little more about them, at least, if you don’t mind telling us,” said Fluttershy by way of support.

“I can explain,” said Phoreni, finally turning her attention to the two ponies in full. “You already understand we are heading to the Sunwise Run, where many of the games are held.”

“We don’t know what that is, but yeah,” said Dash.

“It is where all the games that do not require swimming or stalking happen, where most will wait to watch, where those who do not compete will encourage those who do.” Phoreni pointed off into the trees towards the large platform Rainbow Dash had seen earlier, wedged between three trees.

“That is the Sunwise Run,” she said, those last two words spoken with weight now. “All games are open to all who wish to compete, though our young may not join the stalking, for fear of losing them in the forest. I suspect stalking will not be of interest to you, either. It involves knowing the lay of the land, and skill at not being found. You would be at a disadvantage not having the former—and perhaps for your more vivid colours.”

“So, it’s a little bit like hide and seek? I can be very quiet,” said Fluttershy, smiling.

“Hiding? Evading pursuit by the hunters. If you stay still, you will be found, and you will enter the chasing,” said Phoreni. “It takes a toll on the body.”

“Oh. Chasing,” said Fluttershy, her ears flat against her head in a second. “I think I’ll pass. Chasing is bad. I don’t like chasing. And being chased is even worse.”

Rainbow Dash snerked and extended a wing the tiniest bit, just to poke Fluttershy with a single feather. “You can just pretend that they want to invite you to watch the dragon migration and you’d never be found or caught.”

Fluttershy exhaled through her nose and gave Rainbow Dash the mildest of glares. “So, what other games do you have? Are there any that aren’t as, well, scary?” asked Fluttershy.

“And that don’t require you to fly?” asked Rainbow Dash. She grimaced and managed to just barely get one wing lifted away from her body without spreading it. “I busted my wings a bit. Hydra fighting and flying hard and all that.”

Phoreni made a sympathetic noise and nodded. “This does not surprise me. You have spoken much of flying, but I have not seen you take flight since our meeting. Will you be well?”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be fine, I just need to stay out of the air for a few days.” She closed her eyes and sighed deeply as she felt Fluttershy’s hooves both under and over her wing-joint, the other pegasus gently feeling her way around. Though Rainbow Dash didn’t hesitate in calling herself an expert on wings and feathers, Fluttershy knew her way around muscles better than Dash did. Fluttershy stopped all too soon.

“I just wanted to see if you were still tense,” said Fluttershy, letting go. “Sorry.”

“Sure. Thanks,” said Dash, blinking heavily and shaking her head. “Uh, we were talking about what? The games! Yeah, so, any cool non-flying things?” she asked, desperate hope creeping into her voice. Just when she’d found peryton who liked flying, she was grounded. What if Phoreni didn’t think she was any good at flying at all?

“That is what we were talking about,” said Phoreni, nodding. “There are no flying games, and wings are not allowed in any of the contests. That is why they are the Brush Games. The Cloud Games are held in the cold season, the Brush Games at the bridge between summers.”

“Oh,” said Rainbow Dash. She couldn’t decide if that was lame or awesome, but it was convenient at least.

“The stalking I have mentioned, and it happens outside the Grove. Swimming is held at the Glittering Pools to the west, and the rest are held at the Sunwise Run. There are games of circles, of speed, of agility, of wingless jumping—”

“Wait, hold on, circles? As in, toss the flat frisbee thingy?” asked Dash to a questioning look from Fluttershy. “I played that in Orto!”

“Toss the flat ‘thingy’.” Phoreni repeated the words slowly. “That… I suppose that may speak of the same game. Some games are not unlike other games played in other cities. I know that Stagrum holds swimming competitions every summer as well. It was told to me by a trader who took an interest, but the games are not the same every year. That is why I cannot tell you exactly what the contests are; they change and we improvise when we must or wish. The tests of agility change, the run changes,” she tapped her hoof on the wooden floor as she rattled the items off. “Swimming can not change much, the stalking is the same, circles may have the rings changed—”

“How can you tell who’s the best if you change stuff all the time?” asked Rainbow Dash, frowning. This made no sense at all. “You don’t have records?”

“Records? Written ones?” Phoreni asked.

“Kinda! Like, an all-time champion at circles? The fastest run ever?”

Phoreni shrugged. “We do not. That would scatter the focus of the contest in the now. What matters is the champion of any of the games this season, and anyone may compete. Child or adult, warden or forager, everyone is welcome, and when we change the terms, some who would not otherwise compete may be tempted into trying.”

“I think that sounds wonderful, really,” said Fluttershy, smiling at Rainbow Dash. “Isn’t it good if more people try their hoof at something?”

Rainbow Dash gave a grudging nod. “Okay, yeah, I suppose that’s cool. But there’s still a winner, right?”

“Of course. There must be a champion for each game, and they get the honours, but if renown is your concern, there is always the joust. The joust never changes,” said Phoreni, glancing off the edge of the platform. “But sunlight is changing. I will explain it on the way. Khyrast!”

Rainbow Dash hadn’t looked over at, or even thought about Rarity and the other peryton for a good while. The unicorn hadn’t moved at all, focused like she only ever was when working on her designs, horn still softly glowing. Khyrast muttered a few words under his breath and sauntered over to their table.

“I am needed?” Khyrast asked.

“The midday horn will sound soon, and we have flightless among our number. We must move if we wish to be at the Sunwise Run in time for the opening,” said Phoreni.

Now that she mentioned it, Dash noticed the café-or-whatever platform they were on had become increasingly empty over the past hour. The lone stag at the neighbouring table left without having eaten anything, and even as she watched, some of the peryton managing the stalls put food away and leapt off the platform to soar—most towards the Sunwise Run.

“I did not think of the flightless,” said Khyrast, nodding. “You have foresight. I will take Rarity along the ground-paths. Will we all go together?”

Phoreni looked to the pegasi, frowning. “It will take longer by ground. I had thought to ask these two if they would like to see the other high places, to show them some things that may be new to them—places I would like to see if I had not seen them. I have now learned that Rainbow Dash has been reckless and can not fly today.”

“Hey, I busted that wing fighting your hydra,” said Dash with a snort, but it didn’t get much of a reaction. She’d be angry about it if that was the full truth. Dash deflated a bit. “Meh, I’ll go with Rarity then.”

“Oh, um, maybe we should all go together, really,” said Fluttershy.

“What, you don’t want to see the city?” asked Dash. The idea annoyed her. For a split second she thought it was envy—and sure, that too—but there was no point in them all missing out. “Just go with Phoreni. You get along fine, right?”

“Will I mind? I am willing, but it is your decision to make,” said Phoreni, shrugging.

Fluttershy hesitated only for a second, then nodded. “Okay. If you’re sure you’re alright with it,” she said, shuffling her wings. “Um, both of you.”

Rainbow Dash gave Fluttershy a lopsided smile and ground the top of her head against the other pegasus’ neck, giving her a little push. “Why would I mind? That’s stupid. You go on, we’ll catch up.” She stuck out her tongue. “Catch up. Ugh, I don’t think I’ve ever said that before.”

Fluttershy giggled and spread her wings in full, nuzzling Rainbow Dash. Now it was Dash’s turn to fight a blush, her cheeks tingling ever so slightly. She hadn’t expected Fluttershy to be affectionate in public. This was all backwards. Her wings itched. Backwards and awesome.

“Hey, uh, want me to take your saddlebags?” asked Dash to distract herself.

“I think I can handle it,” said Fluttershy with a smile, walking with Phoreni to the edge of the platform.

“Right, have a good time and stuff,” said Dash, waving.

“Fly straight ahead until I turn, you do not want to ascend or descend for a little while when you leave the Promise,” said Phoreni, fixing Fluttershy with a stern look. “Else, you may collide those who leave other platforms.” Fluttershy nodded her understanding, and they were off, just like that. Rainbow Dash scratched at her cheeks with the nook of a leg and turned to Rarity and Khyrast who wrapped up their lesson, talking in low tones by their table.

The tunnel inside Helesseia’s Promise was every bit as cramped and awkward going down, even with just the three of them. Rainbow Dash had to walk a cramped and creepy tunnel because she couldn’t fly. Just like how the stairs back up to the middle platform had been awkwardly narrow without any other—or a very specific—pegasus around as backup: because she couldn’t fly. It had been less than a full day, and already she had to work hard to force herself to think of other things.

“So, magic stuff going well?” asked Dash, breaking the silence.

“Well,” said Rarity, exchanging a brief glance with Khyrast. “It is a little hard to gauge my progress because I’m an adult learner, and while Khyrast’s teaching is very pedagogical, it’s hardly intuitive.”

“Is it because it’s not unicorn magic? Twilight’s taught you a lot of spells, right?” Dash asked, ducking under a thin, low-hanging branch that somehow stuck out from the inside of the tunnel wall.

“And I’ve taught her a few in turn,” said Rarity, nodding. “But yes, that may be it. We even tried to see if Khyrast could grasp one of my spells, and, well. It’s not quite that easy.”

Khyrast nodded as well, the gesture larger on his bigger frame. “I know the location of every locus in the peryton antler. I suspect unicorns have fewer, but the way I understand Rarity’s instructions, she asks me to do many things I cannot, so they are stronger or different.”

“Uh, hang on, I thought you didn’t want to learn spells,” said Dash, trying to think back.

“Were those my words? I do not recall them exactly,” said Khyrast. “I felt it would be a wasted effort as I would never use them, but I am a teacher, and I have a love for knowing,” he added with a shrug. “I did not want to impose, but when it became relevant to my task of teaching? It was not a waste.”

Rarity nodded and smiled appreciatively. “And if you someday change your mind, what I told you might help you figure out grooming magic and such.”

“That is not impossible. I simply have no desire to do this, not now,” said Khyrast, sounding almost cheerful. “And you have made progress on our magic, too.”

“Did you figure it out? Show me!” said Dash, grinning. “C’mon. Flaunt it!”

Rarity chuckled. “I made progress, that doesn’t mean I have it figured out.”

Khyrast tilted his head, one eye on Rarity. “You are a fast learner. Your aptitude for detail and finesse is unlike anything I have ever seen,” he said. “You can apply the magic, but you are perhaps too restrained. I cannot teach you to lose restraint.” He clucked his tongue.

“We still talking about magic, right?” asked Dash.

“I should think so,” replied Rarity, pursing her lips.

“Am I? For peryton, magic is tied to the body and the mind. I expect it is the same for you. So, I may or may not be,” concluded Khyrast.

Dash nodded. “Okay. Cool. So, topic change, tell me about the joust!”

Rarity blinked. “The joust?”

Khyrast let out a low sound that might’ve been a chuckle, echoing and soon lost in the wooden tunnel. “You are eager for the games. I see energy in you like I do in some of my students. I will tell you of the joust.”

“It’s one of the games,” Dash told Rarity, moving a little closer to walk right behind and between the two. “Sounds like it’s the most important one.”

“The joust is the most central game to the Brush Games, and it is the game to end each day, held when all other games are done,” said Khyrast, his eyes ahead. They exited the tunnel, filing out onto the ground in the shadow of the great tree. He didn’t pause to look around like Phoreni had, immediately turning around the great root that housed the tunnel entrance to walk them up the side of the crater whilst he spoke.

“I do not know what Phoreni has told you of the Brush Games, so in simple terms? Each game will have a winner for the day, though all who participate are celebrated. When the games end, the winner for the last day becomes champion—and remember, the games end when the storm hits, so all must try their hardest every day.”

Khyrast turned them left, following the trunk of another great tree. For a while they walked in its deeper shadows, the air a little cooler. He stepped over a rent in the earth made by a root just barely poking up from the ground.

“Mind your step,” he said, smiling. “Now, the joust alone is different. Most joust only once, and so, the champion is the one who performed the best on any one day. There is no winner for the one night.”

“Sure, but what is it?” asked Dash, moving around to walk abreast the others, pinning the peryton with a stare. These weren’t simple terms. This was everything she didn’t need to know. “What do you do?”

“We enter the arena with the intent—”

Dash suppressed a groan. “Okay, let me try again before you say a bunch of wishy-washy stuff. Imagine you’re jousting right now. What do you do. What’s the challenge? What does your body do?”

Khyrast shrugged. “We charge at each other, lock antlers, and try to wrestle each other to the ground.”

Dash’s elation at finally getting a clear answer was short-lived. She hopped over a rock rather than go around it. They’d stopped climbing, and circled around the center of the Grove now, making for three huge trunks in the distance.

“We don’t have antlers, though,” Dash said, her excitement solidly blunted. She glanced over at Rarity, assessing her horn, and the unicorn must’ve seen her intent.

“Darling, if you think I’m going to run at someone and risk receiving an antler in my eyes, you must be mad,” said Rarity. “I don’t think I even want to watch that from the stands.”

This time, Khyrast did laugh. It was a short burst, a caw so quickly ended that it almost sounded like a cough, but it was obvious he worked to keep his face straight. “Injuries do not—well,” he corrected himself. “Do they happen? It is very, very rare, and usually a sprained muscle in the neck at worst. The object is not to harm.”

They finally neared one of the three great trees of the Sunwise Run, and they weren’t alone on the ground. Scattered groups of peryton were on the same heading as they, moving towards the three trees, all of them with one or more children escorted by adults or adolescent peryton. The excitement in the peryton was palpable even if they didn’t jump for joy: the stoic and reserved Ephydoerans were noticeably more animated.

“You’ll forgive me if I remain unconvinced,” said Rarity after a moment.

Khyrast nodded slowly. “Will I accept that? I must, but let me try to explain again before you think we are brutes who fight for sport. The winner is not the one who wrestles the opponent to the ground. The winners are they who provide the most delight. The ones who surprise and elate. In most bouts, there will be a winner, but the ones who fight are not always opponents, and no one truly ‘loses’. These are ancient games, but they have long since lost their purpose of proving strength. We have other games for that.”

“Then how do you tell who wins?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Do you... vote?”

“In a sense, you are right. The High Warden, the First Nurse, the head of teachers—that is myself—and others will discuss it, but we listen to the drums of hooves on wood, the applause that appreciates the best story told on the Sunwise Run.”

“You make it sound like theater, like a play being put on,” said Rarity.

“Is it a play? It is that, as well. In many ways, it is an expression of what it is to be Ephydoeran,” Khyrast said with a nod. He pointed to one of the many busy tunnels set in the tree before them. “Let us ascend.”

The Sunwise Run wasn’t as big as the Ortosian plaza, but that didn’t save Dash from the shock of exiting the tunnel and stepping onto the large, flat area high in the tree-tops. Standing on the Sunwise Run felt more than a little surreal.

The three neighbouring trees interwove as though they were trying to hug each other close, but the branches that touched were all nearly perfectly level. Any gaps were filled with expertly fitted and smoothed woodwork—or at least Dash assumed that was the case all over. She could only see a bit of patched wood nearby; once they were over the threshold of the tunnel’s exit, she could see very little else at all. Peryton were still a fair bit bigger than the ponies, and it only took a small crowd to block their view.

That left her with looking up. If she had doubts that the platform would hold the entire Grove, even with it being a lot smaller than the cities of Orto and Stagrum, the solution lay in the trees. Hollows had been carved into the trunks above, with galleries and small viewing platforms both jutting out from the main trunks and resting on the higher branches. Many of them were empty for the moment, and a team of three unpainted peryton does busily worked on another spectating spot right overhead, using hoof- and mouth-wielded tools and some sap-like fluid on pieces of wood.

“Those are certainly not without… artistic merit, but I don’t know that I recognise them,” said Rarity.

Rainbow Dash followed Rarity’s eyes along the trees higher up still, to right above the uppermost galleries before the trees became a mass of branches and leaves to block out the sun. Each of the three great trees had a figure sculpted into it, far larger than any stone stele or other carving they’d seen so far.

“These three watch over the Brush Games and all other games held here at the Run,” said Khyrast, and Rainbow Dash got the distinct impression he wasn’t explaining, but reciting what he must’ve told hundreds of young peryton through the years. “From the tree to our left, Helesseia presides over those who gather, bringing strength and the fires within and the fires without,” he said, gesturing to a regal peryton with its snout pointed skywards and massive wings wrapped about itself, obscuring its body.

“To our right, Selyria protects those who come here to compete, warding our journeys and dreams, ensuring all our safe returns.” Dash frowned at the imposing sculpture of a peryton with a sharp beak rather than a muzzle, many-winged and rearing up, powerful body in full view making it look very different from the abstract sculptures of Selyria that they’d used for cover during so many nights so far.

“Finally, above us, Glandros encourages us to seek to exceed our own limitations. Though these three watch over us, most relevant of all the Aspects, there are smaller carvings to give each of the Aspects their place at the Run.”

Rainbow Dash craned her neck to look up, but it was impossible to get a good look at the sculpture right above them excepting a large hindleg and a closed talon kicking out. She shrugged. “They don’t look like the stuff we’ve seen before.”

Khyrast nodded at that. “I once guested one from Vauhorn who said the same. That they were curious. These are very old. If that makes them wrong to some, then those are words to which I have no response.”

“I think I rather like these less abstract, more… personable depictions, myself,” said Rarity, still looking at the Helesseian statue far above. When she finally managed to tear her eyes off it, it was to look around them, bringing her face to face with what Rainbow Dash had already gotten frustrated with: the crowd. “Hm. Unless we wish to spend our time watching peryton flanks, this isn’t a very good spot. Where should we go? Rainbow Dash, dear, do you see Fluttershy anywhere?”

Rainbow Dash gave Rarity a blank look that the unicorn didn’t notice. Without her wings and the ability to fly up and look, Dash didn’t have much to offer in that regard.

“We will have to push forward for a good spot, but there is time still,” said Khyrast, stepping aside to let a pack of younger peryton past. He ushered the ponies away from the tunnel entrance, to a quiet spot in the shadow of the tree they’d ascended, right under some empty galleries. “If you will wait here, I will find my love, and your friend. Phoreni explained that you have difficulty telling us apart, and the yellow one will no doubt be lost in the crowd for her smaller size, hard to spot by herself.”

“Your love?” Rarity asked with a gasp. “I did not know you were—do you marry? Oh my, I never realised that I never thought to ask, how do your relationships function?”

“Rarity, come on, we’ll never get to the games if we keep talking!” Dash groaned.

“Dear, that is not how time works,” Rarity retorted.

“There is nothing to tell. Ours is a love like but unlike many others. I like to think perhaps it is stronger than most,” said Khyrast, his neck stretched to look over the forest of antlers. “I think I see her pride. I will be back.”

“Quite the romantic,” remarked Rarity dryly when Khyrast disappeared into the crowd. She glanced about, then sat down against the wall of the trunk behind them, curling her tail around her.

Rainbow Dash didn’t comment, still trying to get a good look at the center of the Run. Every now and then she got a clear view of what she thought was some sort of stairs going down closeby. Maybe it wasn’t all flat after all. A trio of painted peryton looked as though they would walk past, but at the last moment, one of them pointed to the ponies.

“—the ones who left the Grove under last moon,” one of them said, words partially drowned out by the crowd. “Why are they still here?”

The smallest of the three peryton nudged the speaker in the side and pointed ahead. “They are Phoreni’s charge, do not—”

Whatever else they said, Dash couldn’t hear. The short peryton nodded at them, entirely expressionless, and they moved on. Rainbow Dash felt the back of her neck tingle unpleasantly.

“Did you hear that?” Rarity asked.

“Yeah,” Dash said. “I guess we were right. Phoreni’s stuck her neck out for us. Ugh.”

“Quite the turn-around for someone who didn’t seem very keen on the responsibility at first,” the unicorn remarked. “Let’s be grateful rather than dwell on the past, hm?”

“I know,” Dash grunted.

“But, we were speaking of romantics,” Rarity said, and Dash could hear the smile in Rarity’s voice alone. Rainbow Dash felt her entire body tense up, ready to run. She looked up without thinking, finding no clouds to hide behind. That particular reflex that had served her well when Rarity wanted an unmoving model, or Applejack wanted to talk about—she didn’t know what, something uninteresting. Apple farming?

“I trust that things are well between you and Fluttershy so far?”

Dash sighed, exhaling the tension away. She didn’t know what she expected, but that question was harmless enough. She turned around on the spot and wandered over to sit next to Rarity in their little nook.

“Yeah, things are pretty good,” Dash said, smiling lazily.

“Pretty good?” Rarity asked, one brow arched. “You seemed very close just now, at breakfast.”

Dash grinned at that. “Heh, yeah, we were, weren’t we? Nah, things are great. I just don’t want to mess this up—ugh,” she crinkled her snout in disgust. “Which I’m not gonna, obviously. Jeez, when did I get to be this lame?”

Rarity chuckled. “I think I would be more worried if you weren’t at least a little bit nervous—even you, Rainbow, dear.”

“Whatever,” Dash grumped.

Rarity shook her head and smiled, inspecting one of her forehooves. “Well. I hope you understand that if I’m here for you. For both of you. But I am glad if things are going well. I doubt either you or Fluttershy are going to do anything to hurt each other, anyway.”

“Of course not,” said Dash, frowning. If there was anything even more unthinkable than Dash messing something up, it was Fluttershy doing the same. She leaned back against the tree. “Stuff’s just different, you know? Talking. Touching.” She felt her ears warm up a little bit, but as long as she ignored it, it didn’t count.

“I should think so,” said Rarity, smiling at her.

“A lot of stuff’s been very different,“ Dash added, her eyes on the mess of peryton bustling in front of them. Stuck waiting here, she got tired just from watching it, so she closed her eyes.

“I won’t argue with that,” said Rarity. “At any rate, perhaps it’s a little early for me to even ask how things are. You’ve barely been together for a day, but you sound like you have a handle on it, so to say,” she added, like it was the simplest thing in the world. “I know you’ve been friends for longer than I’ve known either of you, but I like to think I know each of you, too. In fact, I probably know things about either of you that you don’t know about the other, which is—”

“Like what?” asked Dash, popping one eye open to stare at her. “What’d she say?”

Rarity let out an exasperated sigh. “She has said nothing, I am saying that I like to think I know you two. I’m trying to… lend a little authority to what I was about to say before you so rudely interrupted me.”

Dash perked her ears as subtly as she could. “Which is?”

“Which is,” said Rarity, her voice prim, “That because I know you two, I can safely say that as long as you trust and love each other, you will be wonderful together.”

Part of Dash wanted to laugh because it sounded too corny. Another part of her wanted to laugh because it was obvious. Instead, she just nodded dumbly, so maybe there was a third part to it all.

“Yeah, we will,” said Dash. Sure, they were different, but she wasn’t going to let that stop them. Silence settled over the two ponies once more as Dash again watched the Ephydoerans. Stern-faced wardens patrolled here and there, and though they gathered and talked in groups, none of them were half as animated as any of the Ortosians or Stagrumites ever were, and the green and blue-painted peryton would look almost as out of place in Stagrum as the ponies did.

It wasn’t like Dash and Fluttershy had to be all that different, anyway. All the touching and nuzzling promised to be more fun than she’d expected, too.

If her wings weren’t acting up, Dash might’ve insisted they go flying in the treetops yesterday, and who knows how that would’ve worked out? If Dash got some crazy idea into her mind that she wanted Fluttershy to try, Fluttershy probably wouldn’t have been half as happy with how the evening had turned out. Rainbow Dash would’ve had to watch Fluttershy’s smile fade, hesitant and pained until she relented—or didn’t.

Instead of doing something Rainbow Dash would’ve liked to do, they met in the middle. Or, they did something Fluttershy liked, really, but making Fluttershy happy made Rainbow Dash feel good, too, so that was a win.

“Hey, thanks,” Dash added, a little more quietly. She felt a hoof on her side, but Rarity didn’t say anything else. Dash was thankful for that, too, content to wait in silence.

“There you are!” said Rainbow Dash, jumping up to stand when she spotted three familiar faces emerging from the ever-growing crowd. “Did you get lost or something?”

“We’re sorry we’re late,” said Fluttershy, trotting over to grab both Rarity and Rainbow Dash in a tight hug around their necks. “We spent a little too much time elsewhere, so when we got to the Sunwise Run, there were too many people here. We weren’t allowed to land. We had to use the tunnels. Poor Khyrast has been looking for us forever, and we weren’t even here!”

“Yet, when we did arrive, his memory played tricks. He said he left you under the protection of Selyria, but here you are, in Glandros’ charge,” added Phoreni with a quick glance up at the tree that gave them shadow.

“Let us save a portion of blame for later. You were late. Maybe we should meet in the joust and settle it,” said Khyrast, but it didn’t sound like a challenge or even an argument. Rather, the two looked at each other and smiled. Phoreni even shifted her wings on her back a little, though Dash didn’t know if that meant anything to peryton. Was she excited?

“The treetops of the Grove were a little scary,” said Fluttershy, low so only Rarity and Rainbow Dash could hear. “But it was a lot of fun, too. I wish you could have seen it. I’m sorry.” She squeezed them tight before she let go.

Dash leaned forwards to push up under Fluttershy’s jaw with her snout, grinning. “Come on, if you hadn’t gone, none of us would get to look around.” She stared at Fluttershy’s saddlebags. They bulged. “Did you get find anything cool? What took you so long?”

“I’ll show you later,” said Fluttershy, smiling, her cheeks still glowing from the nuzzle. “Phoreni told me all about the joust. Did you see the other games yet?”

“What you see here,” said Rarity, gesturing to their little corner, “is the extent of our exploration.”

“Yeah,” said Dash, moving a little closer to their two peryton friends, who talked in low tones by themselves. At least, she’d decided to think of them as friends, despite their weirdness. “Hey, wanna go do whatever it is you do? Find some games?”

“That is what we are here to do,” said Phoreni, pointing towards the middle of the platform with her antlers. Where peryton had been milling about in every direction before, chatting and whatever else, now there was a general movement inwards. “Let us get a drink from a water carrier and make for the center.”

The ‘center’ was in fact the vast majority of the Sunwise Run. Rainbow Dash didn’t often wish she was taller—and she’d have to be an awful lot taller to see over the crowd anyway—but it was stupid to think how long they’d spent waiting on what was just the outer ring, especially when a quick hop and a hover would’ve shown her everything if she had the use of her wings. She’d guessed right anyway: There were in fact stairs, and while those stairs ran the entire length of the imperfect triangle of the platform, it was only a few steps making vast and broad concentric depressions. It let them get an overview, though, and probably served as seating.

Below, peryton set up all kinds of contests. One large flat area was covered in what was either sugar or brilliant white sand, and peryton ferried in some large, odd-looking saddles. Right ahead, just down the steps, peryton assembled a high jump, and further on, more of them set up large, vertical rings next to a small track that reminded her a lot of the Ortosian game of circles.

Scattered groups of peryton sat on the stairs all around with bowls of food and jugs of water. While it wasn’t as claustrophobic as the streets of Stagrum, it was plenty crowded for collisions. Rainbow Dash yelped as something struck her in the side and whirled around.

“Hey, watch where—” she began, sighing when she came face to face with a wide-eyed peryton half her size. She grinned. “Careful, squirt,” she finished, a little more quietly. She reached out to ruffle the little thing’s lack-of-mane, maybe give her a light noogie or something, but the child darted off.

Dash rubbed at where the short, blunt antlers had poked her in the side, vaguely aware that Fluttershy looked at her, boring a hole with a smile.

“What?” Dash asked, squinting.

“Nothing,” said Fluttershy. Dash felt her cheeks heat up and stepped a little closer so her shoulder touched Fluttershy’s. Rarity and the peryton were talking. If they were gonna stop for a second, she might as well be comfortable. She spotted an obstacle course of some kind in the distance, and at the far edge of the Run, painted peryton flew around the rim of the platform, probably telling others to use the tunnels.

“You’ll be careful, won’t you?” asked Fluttershy, frowning at her. “Some of these games look a little scary.”

“I don’t need to be careful,” said Dash, grinning. “I just have to win. And hey, that goes double for you. The winning and the careful stuff.”

“Oh, I don’t know that I’m going to compete,” said Fluttershy, her tail drooping.

“Seriously?” asked Dash. “Look around! This isn’t some sort of Equestrian Games or whatever, this looks more like, uh,” she paused, thinking. “I don’t know, a hang-out. Look at it, nearly everyone’s working on setting up stuff! It’s like that snowball fight that broke out in the market square last winter!”

Fluttershy chewed her bottom lip and looked down at all the preparations. She nodded slowly. “Maybe? If we go together, I’m sure I could try, but I don’t know.”

“They said it’s all about trying. All their children are competing, too,” Dash pointed out.

Fluttershy nodded slowly, her wings brushing against Dash when she let them hang a little loose. Dash felt a little stab in her gut at that. Was she doing it again? Was she trying to egg Fluttershy on? She looked at Fluttershy, searching for any trace of reluctance—

“I’m sure I could try the game over there,” said Fluttershy, pointing to the far side where they were setting up the variant of circles. “It looks almost like a party game.”

“Sure, that sounds cool,” said Dash, masking her sigh of relief with a smile. She’d already decided she wasn’t going to ask again if Fluttershy said no, but it was obvious that Fluttershy was at least a little excited, too. Her ears were straight and her wings free. “Let’s go see if they want help setting it up? You gotta at least watch me try the thing over there, too—” Dash said, pointing to the sandpit. “—whatever it is, I want in.”

Fluttershy giggled and nodded. “I’ll try my best cheers.”

“Rarity! Wanna come play circles?” asked Dash. “We’re hitting that one, then the sandpit, come on!”

“I still don’t understand why I can’t toss the discus with my magic,” said Rarity with a small frown of distaste as she held the brightly painted wooden hoop to its matching base. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised with the Ephydoeran stance on magic—excuse me! Is this alright? It’s not too close to the other ring?” she asked, receiving a nod from the games master before continuing her diatribe, “—but I still don’t like the idea of biting this discus thing.”

“Seriously, you’re still not over it?” asked Rainbow Dash, giving the hoop Rarity held a whack with a hoof. It settled with a satisfying click. “Biting on to things to grab them isn’t new to anyone who isn’t a unicorn, you know.”

“I’m not trying to insult pegasi or earth ponies, if that’s what you’re implying,” said Rarity, rolling her eyes. “For goodness sake, Rainbow Dash, am I not allowed to have some hygienic standards?”

“Um. I… don’t think it’s not insulting when you put it like that,” said Fluttershy, tilting her head. She pushed the next hoop-stand a little, aligning it with the others. “I don’t mind, really, but…”

Rarity huffed. “Well, I’m sorry if I came across as rude, but I hope they wash it between uses. I can’t be the only one who thinks so. Do you think that’s everything set up?”

Dash looked about and shrugged. A few other peryton groups who’d been helping out now milled about aimlessly or sat down on the ground. “Dunno. The stag with the red scarf thing around his hindleg stopped barking orders at people, so probably?”

It had taken seconds for Phoreni and Khyrast to introduce the ponies and explain that they were here to play, and the peryton in charge accepted it instantly. Perhaps it was because of Phoreni’s paint? The peryton seemed to listen to those who wore the blues and greens of the wardens, and if Khyrast was some sort of super-teacher, that couldn’t hurt either.

Then again, the more she thought about it, the less Dash believed it mattered. The peryton seemed far more concerned with setting up their games and having a good time than they were with pointing out that the ponies were different. Dash just couldn’t decide if that made more sense, or less sense in this place where the peryton had neither the Ortosians’ curiosity nor the Stagrumites’… whatever it was they’d had. Dash accepted a drink from a water carrier who passed by. The barrel-bearing peryton were lifesavers, every one of them.

“Okay, so, how’s this work?” asked Dash of nopony in particular, scrunching her snout.

“I suppose we ask the ‘games master’ person,” suggested Rarity. “I don’t even know the rules.”

“In Orto, you just ran around the track really fast, then tossed the flat thingy onto another flat thingy,” said Dash. “Then someone helped you up, did some math, and told you you’d lost.”

Fluttershy giggled. “That sounds like half of a story.”

Dash snorted. “Nah, that’s the entire story, really. This isn’t exactly the same though.”

“Are these the rules in full? You understand half of it,” came a familiar voice from behind. Dash froze and grimaced. It wasn’t that the peryton were very sneaky, but she wasn’t good at picking Khyrast out of a crowd yet, which meant he appeared as though from thin air all the time.

“You probably throw the discus through as many hoops as possible?” said Fluttershy, gesturing to the wooden targets they had set up. A tunnel of ever-shrinking hoops led away from the circular track. The first hoop was wide enough for Dash to jump through. The last few were barely wider than the discus. To top it off, they’d been asked to set them up in a slight curve.

“That is what remains the same from year to year,” said Khyrast with a nod. A small distance away, the games master had laid down on the ground, legs tucked together as he talked to some particularly young peryton, gesturing to a discus as he talked. Maybe they were being taught the rules for the first time.

“You mentioned some changes,” said Rarity. “You change the distance between the hoops?”

“And the curve. Twelve seasons ago, we changed the scoring. Usually, it is circles ran in thirty beats of the drums multiplied by the rings cleared.” Khyrast paused to look at the children flocking to the games master, and it was hard not to join in his smile. A whole new generation of athletes. Of discus-tossers, at least, Dash corrected herself.

“D’you have a smaller discus-thingy for the children?” Dash asked.

Khyrast shook his head. “A separate discus for the little ones? We have not made one such, but see the pride when they run their first lap and clear the first ring.”

Dash grinned. “Alright, that’s cool. Where does the line start? Do we get more than one try?” she asked, hooking a foreleg around Fluttershy’s neck. “Let’s give it a go!”

Khyrast frowned for a fraction of a second. “I hope you do not misunderstand the spirit of these games. I should have asked how you conduct your contests of skill, but we do not make ‘lines’. You may try as often as you like, but do not be greedy. If you have a bad throw, you may try again, but take a moment to watch and celebrate others’ efforts before you take another turn.”

Rainbow Dash nodded along quickly. “Alright, as many tries as I’d like, and the best one at the end of the day is the champion. Got it!”

Fluttershy made a small noise of protest when Dash made for the games master, a needless clearing of her throat that was almost lost in the low drone of peryton talking all around them. Rainbow Dash wished she’d missed it, but she didn’t, so she stopped as surely as if her tail had been caught in a doorway.

“Rainbow Dash? Maybe we should let the children go first? We can watch for a little while,” said Fluttershy.

Dash slouched, sighed, hung her head, lay her ears flat and dropped her tail for good measure. “Fine.”

Watching the young peryton try their best at this variant of circles wasn’t as bad as Dash had expected. The group of five settled down by the track-side while the youngest of peryton challenged themselves, and most of the awkward, long-legged balls of downy fluff and claws and blunt antlers gave it their all. Even the ones who didn’t want to try were made to at least lift the discus.

While Dash waited for her turn, the others passed the time with aimless chatter about the history of the games. This variant with the larger track and the hoops was apparently really old—Rainbow Dash didn’t really pay much attention. She rested against Fluttershy’s back, lazing in the midday heat. Having a girlfriend meant having a portable pillow. Dash didn’t stir until the last of the children had run three whole laps, the dizzy stag chucking the discus in the completely wrong direction.

“Gotta love the speed on that one at least,” said Dash, rolling over and getting up. She raised a hoof and cheered, her voice lost among the hoof-stomps and laughter. “Nice going, kid!”

Phoreni stretched as she and the others all rose to stand. “Now, perhaps we should all give it a try?”

“About time!” said Dash. “Hey, you never mentioned the prizes. What do we get when we win?”

“It varies. They fit the contestant,” said Phoreni, leading the group towards the games master by the edge of the circle. “Last time we held the Brush Games, the winner of circles was a warden. He got to choose his next patrol. The winner of the high jump was a toolmaker, and I believe she was gifted some very fine pots for her gardens. The closest friends of the contestants usually help find a suitable reward, and to be asked help find the reward is an honour.”

“That sounds like a lovely custom,” said Fluttershy, nodding and smiling brightly. “That way, you know that they’re going to love it.”

“Yeah, but you can’t put pots or whatever on your trophy shelf,” said Dash, though she honestly didn’t care that much. It wasn’t about the prize so much as it was about the winning—but it’d be nice to know what she was going to get.

“Let’s give this a try then,” said Rarity, fluffing her mane. “I will go first, unless you mind terribly much?”

“I don’t mind,” lied Dash, trying very hard to stand still while Rarity approached the games master. The unicorn was given a discus—accepted with a bare minimum of grimacing before she bit on to it—and instructed to take her place in the circle. Dash had expected that people would pay more attention now that the children were done playing around, but the atmosphere didn’t change much. Some of the spectating peryton started up a steady beat of hoof on wood. Where one set of hooves would be a sharp noise, together they made an echoing drum.

“Rarity the unicorn”, said the games master, the words obviously foreign and awkward to him. “Thirty beats when you are ready. Glandros watches.” It wasn’t a loud announcement, and there was no official go signal. It confused Rainbow Dash a little. She thought she’d delivered something of a white lie when she told Fluttershy this was nothing like the Equestria Games, but now she suspected she’d accidentally told the complete truth. It put the other pegasus at ease, at least. When Rarity began running—well, cantering, really—Fluttershy tapped her hooves along with the beat, and Dash did the same.

“She must be very precise, to take such a leisurely pace,” commented Khyrast when Rarity was on the opposite side of the track.

“Do not be rude,” chided Phoreni. “Their legs are shorter.”

“Come on, faster,” Dash called, protesting their comments with a loud cheer. “Move those legs, girl!”

And so Rarity did. She broke into a gallop for the last fifteen beats. When the unicorn came to a stop by the curved line of hoops, she flicked her head and tossed the discus in an elegant arc through two of the hoops before it hit the side of the third. The drumming broke into light applause, and Dash stomped her hooves as loudly as she could to try to kick it up a notch.

“Five rounds and two hoops, it makes for ten points,” called the games master. Rarity bowed left, right and center before she made her way back to her friends through a few polite nods of acknowledgement as the applause scattered.

“You hold the record,” said Khyrast, nodding slowly. “If you wish to try again later, you may want to see if you can give magic to your legs, perhaps.”

“You did very well,” said Fluttershy smiling. She got up and hugged Rarity lightly, and the unicorn beamed. Dash gave her a little hoof-pump when she looked her way.

“I did feel a little dizzy, I have to admit. I don’t have much practice throwing things in that manner,” said Rarity before frowning. “Khyrast, dear. Did you just say magic? I thought magic wasn’t allowed?”

“The rules are to throw it with your body,” said Phoreni.

Khyrast nodded. “That is the game, to throw using your body, but there is no rule against magic. This puts you at a disadvantage without body magic, but you did well.”

“That is an incredibly inconvenient technicality,” said Rarity, huffing.

“You did your best,” said Dash, trying to sound impressed. “Hey, you could’ve run all the way and probably gotten more laps. You should try that next time!”

Rarity chuckled. “And get all sweaty? Please.” She shook her head. “Fluttershy, dear, would you like to try? None of the others seem to be rushing to it.”

“They will be waiting for our group to finish,” explained Phoreni. Sure enough, there were plenty of other groups of peryton around the track who gave the three ponies and their peryton friends the occasional glance.

“Okay, I can try,” said Fluttershy. She resettled the wings on her back as she got up, pressing them tight against her sides, and Dash immediately leaned over to rub her cheek against Fluttershy’s wings, saying nothing at all. Fluttershy rustled her wings and let them hang loose again, smiling at Dash.

Feathers no longer tortured, Fluttershy stepped into the ring and accepted a discus. The drumming started up again, and Fluttershy closed her eyes for a second, her chest heaving with a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again and sought Rainbow Dash, Dash already looked right back at her, grinning wide.

“You got this. Crush it,” said Dash. Fluttershy probably couldn’t hear her, but the sentiment of her grin got through. Fluttershy put her head down and kicked off—straight into a gallop, turning tight around the track.

Rainbow Dash didn’t know it was possible to feel so good doing nothing at all. Her wings quivered as Fluttershy ran as hard as she could, her mane trailing behind her. There she went, her girlfriend giving it her best. Rainbow Dash yelled something—probably something encouraging, but she didn’t remember what. Now Dash was up on all fours, stomping both her forehooves with every beat.

Twenty-seven beats. Twenty-eight. She wouldn’t make another lap. Fluttershy stopped by the hoops, flinging the discus with the momentum of her run. The wooden thing flew straight through the first three hoops before it missed the curve.

“Awesome!” Dash called. Was the applause louder now? Maybe it was just on account of Dash’s thundering hooves alone. When Fluttershy made her way back towards them, Dash met her with a tight hug around the neck.

“Eight rounds, three hoops. Twenty-four points,” announced the games master. Dash could feel Fluttershy’s breath steadying while her heart still hammered away. She held her close for as long as she could without making it weird for their friends. Fluttershy was flushed but smiling, and Dash touched her own snout to hers.

“That was awesome,” Rainbow Dash repeated under her breath. Fluttershy said nothing, reaching out to wrap a wing around Dash’s neck for a second, leaning her head against her.

The mushy stuff came at a price, though. When Dash didn’t seize the initiative, Phoreni instead made her way to the track, and Dash bit back a groan. At this rate, winter would come before she got her turn, but whatever. She joined in the drumming beat once more, tapping her hooves alongside Fluttershy, Rarity and Khyrast.

The disappointment of having to wait a little longer didn’t last. When Phoreni stepped into the ring, the peryton did in fact perk up a little. They were all a tad more alert, and when Phoreni’s antlers pulsed with light that shot down to her hooves and claws, Dash’s impatience transformed to a touch of concern instead. Phoreni shot off around the track fast enough to kick up dust.

The warden’s hooves scrambled for purchase, but she leaned into the curve until she lay nearly flat. Dash could see her hind-claws dig into the wood, could feel the draft with each of the peryton’s laps. Dash stopped drumming, lost in simply staring, watching. She lost count of the laps. Phoreni ground to a halt, her rear touching the ground with the abrupt stop, waiting a few precious seconds to take a deep breath before she flung the disc. It sailed through the first four hoops, curved through the fifth, and though it hit the rim of the sixth target, it bounced through.

“Eleven rounds, six hoops makes for sixty-six points.”

Maybe the peryton hadn’t woken up before now because, from their perspective, the children were still playing up until this very moment.

Dash snorted at her own dramatics and brushed away the cold tendrils of fear—no, of mild concern—that were trying to get at her heart. She could beat that score. Easy.

Chapter 15

Fluttershy

Thanks for coming along for dinner, and for giving Winona a good look, too. Ever since you came by, she’s been happier than ever. Right now she’s stood by the west fence barking in the direction of your cottage. I think you’ve made another friend. D’you mind terribly much if I let her out to visit you sometime? I expect you’ll say it’s no trouble, but you’d probably have to bring her back by the scruff from the look of things.

As for what we talked about after dinner? Hoo boy. I guess I owe you an apology. Writing ‘sorry’ is a lot easier than it is saying it in person, and I’m sorry if I acted a hard-head last night.

I get that you and Rainbow Dash go way back. If you’ve got a handle on things and if that’s how the two of you work and that’s something you’re fine with, I won’t stick my snout where it doesn’t belong. I’ve never seen stranger friends, but I’m not one for making enemies either. You make her sound like a stand-up pony, and I hope she knows she’s lucky to count you as a friend. Maybe I’ll be friends with her too, one day, just like you said, but we’ll see.

That's that done with, anyway. Don’t be a stranger. And let’s talk over the fence in the future if you don’t mind. Easier than these letters. I nearly spilled ink over the ledgers writing this out.

Ps: I forgot to mention one thing. If that whole mess was about getting you to do the hymn introducing Princess Celestia at the Summer Sun Celebration, that puts us on the same team! The Apple family’s providing the catering on the occasion, so maybe we’ll run into each other setting up and all.

Pps: Granny Smith says this Summer Sun’s gonna be “a bad’un”. Mind you, she says that every year, so don’t put much stock in it. She wanted me to tell that to “that pretty young filly without a voice to her muzzle”.

-AJ

Rainbow Dash couldn’t beat Phoreni’s score, much less that of the lithe stag who scored eighty-four points later. If she took the time to match their throws, she couldn’t beat their laps, and if she gave the running her all, she threw wide every time. She never came close to their totals. When she went for a second run right away, nobody batted an eyebrow, but after her fourth go in a row, Phoreni suggested they maybe take a tour of the other games before returning.

They went back for another shot every once in awhile, but there were a lot of other games, too. More than they’d initially seen, in fact. Some contests didn’t require much space, relegated to the edges of the platform, and some games were only now being rigged up. Wherever they were, the games usually had the same problem: Even if they let entrants of all sizes and ages play, a peryton with freaky magic and twice Dash’s body mass always had the advantage when wings were out of the question.

The peryton didn’t seem as concerned with winning, either, and maybe that was an advantage as well. It certainly ruined Dash’s concentration. She winced as she felt her hindleg touch the bar, landing on the soft stack of mats a moment later. She’d failed her high jump again. Rainbow Dash groaned and flopped over on her other side. Fluttershy and Phoreni walked towards her. Khyrast and Rarity were probably still off getting a meal somewhere.

“I’m sure you’ll make it next time,” said Fluttershy, offering a hoof to help her up. Dash ignored it, rolling off the mats to stand.

“It doesn’t matter. My target was a full hoof lower than what the others are jumping, and almost two lower than the record!” said Dash. “I bet I would’ve done better at that weird sand-run if the weights actually fit my body.”

Phoreni nodded slowly. “You may have. Your endurance is not lacking, but I again urge you to think on the fact that winning is a target, but also unimportant. One tries to win, but it is not the goal, not the thing to be gained.”

Rainbow Dash had heard a million variants of that over the course of the day. Though the sun waned, Phoreni was not out of new ways to try to tell her that the games were supposed to be about fun and celebration and all that other stuff. Dash nodded and shrugged. “I know.” Of course she knew, and she was having fun, but winning was what Rainbow Dash did. Just like Rarity did Rarity things, and Fluttershy—

“Hey, Fluttershy. You gonna give this a go?” Dash asked as an afterthought.

“Oh. I don’t… think so? I think I’m alright, that’s fine,” said Fluttershy, her eyes remaining on the jump target. Rainbow Dash gave her a long look.

Fluttershy had seemed content to watch for most of the day. Dash could probably convince her otherwise, and it’d be awesome to see Fluttershy give it a try—especially if she gave it her all like she’d done at the game of circles—but pushing the issue might just make Fluttershy unhappy. She looked fine right now, but things were better if Fluttershy could be more than fine. They’d have to find something Fluttershy wanted to do, later.

“That’s cool,” said Dash. She grinned at the memory of Fluttershy’s first attempt of the day. “Hey, you had the record at circles for a few minutes!”

Fluttershy’s smile fell a little bit. Her eyes lingered on the high jump for a moment before she gave Dash her full attention, nodding. “I did, but I don’t think that counts for much, really.” She gave a weak giggle.

“That’s more than I managed,” Dash laughed. “Maybe there’s time to give it one more go?”

Phoreni craned her neck to look past the peryton who moved about. There seemed to be a lot more movement now than before. “Do I believe you have time for another attempt? I do not think that you do. Sunset comes, and with the horn at sundown, the joust. Let us be swift and find our friends. Good seats are a treasure.”

It was about as energetic as Phoreni had been so far. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash exchanged glances as they followed their peryton friend around, finally finding Rarity and Khyrast by one of the tunnel exits. The two of them had brought food, and in twice as much of a hurry now, the two locals led them towards the central arena.

The biggest single area of the Sunwise Run was another few steps down from the main games floor. It was easy to see why they had chosen the endurance running arena for the joust they kept going on about: The large, unmarked oval space was visible from the outer steps as well as its closer, inner stairs, giving peryton ample choice of seats with good view.

All those seats were needed, too, now that the other games ended. More peryton flocked in from the tunnels, and the edges were cleared to let more of the Ephydoerans land, many shaking wet off their wings or picking branches out from their feathers.

Minutes later, the group sat on the lower part of the inner stairs, just behind most of the younger peryton. Dash would’ve considered complaining about being stuck with the children if it wasn’t so necessary. She shifted a little to the side so one of the few adults in front didn’t block her view—not that there was a lot to look at just yet.

“Now what?” asked Dash. She leaned over and grabbed one of the roots Rarity and Khyrast had brought for snacks.

“Now we wait for everyone to get seated,” said Phoreni.

“Careful, dear,” said Rarity. “They’re meant to be scraped with your teeth, They’re much too hard to be bitten and chewed.”

“I knew that,” said Dash, pausing her efforts to bite off a piece of the root. “But where do we sign up? Is there a games master?”

Phoreni shook her head. “A games master? Nothing so formal. Those who have ideas, challenges, thoughts, stories, or something to show will do so. The only true formality is the speech at the horn.” She gave Khyrast a long look, and the other peryton took a draught of water before he stood. He seemed oddly stiff even for an Ephydoeran in that moment.

“I dread this moment every year, you must know,” said Khyrast, stretching his neck side to side.

“I am aware you do not love it,” replied Phoreni. “I am also confident you will add to Helesseia’s tales with your gifts.”

“You’re giving a speech?” asked Fluttershy. “Oh dear. There’s an awful lot of people. Um, good luck?”

“I am, and thank you. I and some others will speak,” said Khyrast. “The High Warden, the First Nurse, the First Forager, the Tender and all others who will speak as a matter of tradition.” He shook his head and carefully made his way through the thickening crowd, heading for the center. It was easy to pick out a dozen or so other peryton who made way for the arena. Dash recognised the one painted peryton as the High Warden—or pretended to, anyway. It didn’t matter.

Finally the last of the daylight disappeared. The exact moment of the sunset was unclear under all these leaves, but that, Dash assumed, was what the horn was for. From the center of the Grove sounded a weird, long noise that could easily have been a strange bird’s call except for its volume. The oddest, hoarsest—and only—bird-horn Dash had ever heard.

With the darkness settling in full, the luminescent plants around the Grove that Dash had almost forgotten about became a lot more apparent. The luminescent mosses, berries and vines glowed twice as bright as last night, to say nothing of the colourful lanterns from the galleries and branches all around them. In a long moment, the Sunwise Run was transformed into a prismatic protest against the darkness, and a hush went over the crowd. The peryton in the center of arena formed an outwards-facing circle.

“The Brush Games,” said the High Warden. “Are a story of how far we have come. Are we the creatures we once were, that we barely remember, struggling to elevate ourselves above—”

Dash zoned out. Her eyes glazed over, and her desire to pretend to be asleep was tempered only by the fear that she might blink and wake up tomorrow to find the games were over, her chance to compete lost. Instead, she chanced a very subtle ahem, trying to catch Phoreni’s attention. Phoreni glanced down at her.

“Hey, so, don’t we need antlers?” Dash whispered. “How am I gonna—”

“We would listen to this,” said Phoreni, cutting her off. “It is tradition.” The peryton fastened her eyes back on the speakers. Dash took a deep breath and sighed. Some other unpainted peryton spoke now.

“—the dual nature, these games held where earth meets sky—”

Nope, still boring and infinitely less important than the question of how she was going to win if she couldn’t wrestle with antlers. Yes, sure, it wasn’t an actual fight. Dash got that. Fighting friends wasn’t cool any way you shook it, but even if it was just a little bit of wrestling, she didn’t have the right equipment.

Fluttershy moved a little closer, placing her saddlebags in front of Rainbow Dash. Dash had nearly forgotten that Fluttershy had done some unexplained shopping earlier. It was almost enough to distract her.

“Fluttershy, if you had fun shopping and all, that’s cool—” said Dash, lowering her voice a tad when Rarity hushed her and glared, “—but unless you got me a pair of antlers—”

“I got two pairs of antlers,” whispered Fluttershy, pushing the saddlebags open to reveal two pairs of antlers.

“You got two pairs of antlers,” said Dash.

“I did,” Fluttershy replied, sounding and looking almost as confused as Dash felt. Confused or excited. Confused and excited? She couldn’t tell. The two pegasi stared at the antlers for a quiet moment, their presence as sudden and absurd as the time Pinkie Pie procured the hoof-paint kit at the last Royal Dinner—but a lot more convenient.

“—take a moment to look ahead? We will do this, but also stand frozen for a moment and tell the stories of this day and its infinite truths—” drifted Khyrast’s high-pitched, almost doe-like voice past the pegasi.

“Seriously, what the hay, Fluttershy,” said Dash, unable to keep the laughter from her voice as she opened the saddlebags further to find delicate, ornate harnesses attached to the antlers.

“When Phoreni told me about the joust, I asked her how ponies would compete without antlers, and she said that the antler-locking was really important to the joust,” Fluttershy whispered, pulling out the other set of antlers, a matching pair like the first, both in wood with swirling patterns painted in a forest green.

“Since these games are so important to them, they make these for peryton who lose their antlers, or are born without them. That’s not a lot of peryton, but they care a lot about giving everyone a chance to compete.” She ran her hoof along one of the antlers’ lengths, smiling at it.

Dash nodded appreciatively. That was cool of the peryton, of course. Almost as cool as having a set of antlers of her own. She grinned wide and tried to put on a pair, thrusting her head into the harness and fidgeting with the straps. Fluttershy had gotten two pairs, though. Maybe they were prone to breaking? Dash looked at the other pair, then at Fluttershy, and she hadn’t meant to ask a question. Hay, she didn’t even know what the question was, but Fluttershy answered anyway.

“I got two pairs,” Fluttershy whispered, smiling. “Just in case.”

“Awesome,” replied Dash. “Hey, help me out here.”

Fluttershy nodded and leaned in close, but it still took a little work before they had it properly secured so it wouldn’t shift about when Dash turned her head. Phoreni didn’t say much, probably both because she was listening to the speeches and because she already knew Fluttershy had these, but Dash would be lying if she didn’t admit that she enjoyed the weird looks Rarity gave them. By the time the speeches finished and the peryton all stomped their approval in a low, politely floor-shaking applause, Dash had a brand spanking new pair of antlers.

“How do I look?” asked Dash, smirking. “Best-looking peryton ever, or best-looking peryton ever?” She looked up trying to see if she could catch a glimpse of her antler-tips and froze when something poked her in the back of her neck. Her own antlers, of course. Fluttershy giggled, and Dash tilted her head to try to tickle Fluttershy with her new headgear. Fluttershy scrambled away with a yelp.

“You look ridiculous, stunning, or possibly both,” declared Rarity, shaking her head through a smile before she looked to Phoreni. “Are you sure this will be alright? And safe?”

“Don’t sweat it, jeez, she said it’s fine,” Dash said.

“Is there a chance of injury? A risk as small or great as any day. Unless you wish to hurt or be hurt, you will not be hurt,” said Phoreni. She nodded in the direction of Khyrast who forged his way back to the group. “And here comes the speaker,” Phoreni added.

“Ask if I am pleased with my performance, and I will tell I am pleased to be done for another year,” said Khyrast, sitting down next to Phoreni, his eyes on Dash with an unabashed smile of his own. “And I see we have young peryton among us, ready to take to the joust.”

“Can I just head right in there? Who do I fight?” asked Dash. She bucked the air and gave a little whoop.

“I think perhaps some lessons are in order, first,” said Phoreni, eyeing Dash’s hindlegs.

“Jousting lesson? Hey, are wardens good at this? Sign me up!” Dash said with a cheer.

Phoreni snorted. “Any child can lower her head and charge at someone with intent to harm. Sit and let others joust. Learn before you act.”

Rainbow Dash felt all the energy she’d built up, all the spirit with which she’d charged her body sink down to rest at the bottom of her hooves. “Right. Lame learning,” said Dash, slumping back down to sit.

“First, the challenge, the declaration of intent,” said Phoreni. In the distance, some of the peryton stood up, and both Phoreni and Khyrast did the same. All around them, seated and lying peryton rose to stand on all fours—children and adults—a large portion of all the peryton gathered at the Sunwise Run standing tall as if called by some unheard signal.

“We show our willingness to join the joust. Few of us will joust under this moon, but to stand is to show that desire, to be marked. Is it weakness not to stand? Not at all, but for many it is personal pride. See how many of the young ones rise.”

Phoreni actually smiled as she talked, animated and displaying sharp teeth in what Dash had long since taken to understand was peryton showing they were pleased. Part of Dash found it odd that Phoreni explained when Khyrast was the teacher of the pair, but her thoughts were scattered a second later when the peryton spread their wings.

The sound of hundreds upon hundreds of peryton spreading their wings, though they were neither synchronised nor hurried, was one of the strangest things Dash had heard in all her life. While far from loud, the vast, echoing rustle filled the air in a way that made her coat-hairs stand on end.

“All who are marked,” said Phoreni, her voice low and her eyes straight ahead, “stand ready with conviction in the stories they wish to tell. In the message they wish to send. In the pride they wish to show.”

Rainbow Dash meant to say something, but her words were whisked away by the faint unnatural breeze that the shifting wings sent about her, air displaced by a thousand wings like an earthquake caused by a million shrugs. She meant to stand as well, but she couldn’t make herself break the spell. Nothing moved any longer. She only barely managed to look at her friends and note that they stared at the sea of peryton wings just like her, wide-eyed and breathless.

The peryton rarely spread their wings unless they were flying, but now the ponies were surrounded by brown, grey and white wings, of colourful male feathers, of painted wings touching and overlapping. Wings spread among the trees and in the galleries, wings back-lit by lanterns white and coloured, and wings nearly lost in the darkness, countless peryton all staring across the empty arena. Was this a contest, too? Rainbow Dash could read neither Phoreni nor the huge crowd.

“All of us who stand would joust,” Phoreni said under her breath, more quiet still. “But will we stand for hours until our legs give way? We will cede ground without shame.” Khyrast furled his wings and sat. He was one of the first to do so, but soon, many of the others followed suit. More and more wings packed up and peryton sat or lay down until most of them talked quietly among themselves. Phoreni sat down as well.

“So whomever stands at the end ‘fights’?” whispered Rarity, her gaze still roaming the crowd. Quite a few still stood, but the number of wings on display dwindled.

“Not always,” said Phoreni, taking a drink from one of their water-bowls. Dash shook her head to clear her mind, reminded that food and water were things. She grabbed some leaves from a bowl Phoreni had procured from somewhere while the warden explained. Dash avoided spearing Rarity with her antlers when she made for the food, which was a nice plus. How did the peryton manage to avoid getting stuck everywhere?

“If two who are unfamiliar stand in the end, they are likely prideful, and will joust,” Phoreni continued, though Dash couldn’t tell if that was a yes or a no for Rarity. “If two groups remain, perhaps they will all march for the center and joust. If two who know each other stand, ready to joust as friends, and one lone peryton has the will to joust as well, the lone one will cede ground—look now, this is what is happening.”

At the inner ring, near the very front of the arena, a large grey-white doe stood with her wings spread in full next to a small child with tiny wings flared. Across the arena, and not far away from the ponies, two lithe peryton stood a small distance apart, and one by one, the two lone challengers furled their wings and sat. Only then did the doe and the child step into the arena.

“It will be a story of a storm weathered,” muttered Khyrast. “It is a good opening. With no Brush Games last year, this will be the first joust for many children, and something familiar is wise.” He shook his head slightly. “Sharos places a lot of faith in her youngest, however. He does not have many seasons to his name.”

“He will win, I am sure of it,” retorted Phoreni. “Her fawn is brave.”

“Is… is she going to fight her own colt? Or, her own child, I mean,” Fluttershy asked, clutching her mane with a foreleg.

“It must be some kind of play,” said Rarity, placing a hoof on Fluttershy’s side, though she sounded unsure. “Surely?”

“You are both correct. This is why you will learn before you joust,” said Phoreni without looking at them. If it was a stab at Dash’s eagerness, the comment barely grazed her, and she neither asked nor protested: Dash was busy watching, still riding the high of the energy displayed during the weird and awesome stand-off a moment ago when the joust began.

The little stag was the tiniest peryton Rainbow Dash had seen yet. His walk was unsteady on legs too large for his body, and he kept looking up at his mother as they slowly made their way to the center of the arena. The adult, by contrast, had striking colours for a doe. Her greys and whites were sharp and the colours barely blended at all. She was tall and powerfully built, head held high as she marched the child into the middle of the clear space, only looking down at the fawn when she turned to face him. The size difference was immense. He could’ve comfortably nested in her antlers.

The doe stomped the ground hard. Dash heard Fluttershy’s sharp inhale at the sudden move, and there were scattered gasps among the younger peryton seated in front of them. The fawn stiffened in fright, but he lowered his barely-formed antlers in response. A moment later came the crowd’s reply.

First, a single stomp, and then another. The hooves fell in with each other, taking up a slow beat nearly perfectly in synch. Dash looked around to see if she could spot who had started it, but it came from everywhere. Down in the arena, the doe now walked great circles around the fawn, and he turned on the spot to keep facing her. She completed a half circle, and moved in to stomp again. Thud. She used both forelegs this time. Another half circle. Still he followed her. Thud. She moved closer with each stomp, with each circle, putting more of her body into it.

The rhythm sped up ever so slightly. The steps gained half-steps. Thud thud thud. Thud thud thud. The doe sped up. Did the crowd speed up in response to the doe? Did the doe speed up to match the stomps? Rainbow Dash couldn’t tell.

“He wavers,” said Khyrast.

“He will hold,” said Phoreni.

Soon, the doe could make her circles no tighter, could move no faster. She bounced from forelegs to hind-claws in a mad dance around her child until she came to a stop stood above the little fawn. Rainbow Dash could see his disproportionate hindlegs shaking, but still he kept his antlers facing her. The crowd’s hoof-stomps had become a steady rumble now, still building, impossibly fast, impossibly loud, no longer sound but a feeling, a tide. The doe leapt back and lowered her body to the ground, coiled like a spring.

She charged forward. Her antlers and her legs flashed bright with magic, and she spread her wings. Even from where Dash sat, it made for an imposing sight, and the pegasus sat frozen, barely noticing Fluttershy’s iron grip around one of her forelegs.

The doe halted her charge not in front of, but on top of the fawn. The rhythm ceased. The echo of her hooves slamming down on either side of the child reverberated endlessly. The fawn stood unmoved, and all sound died.

“He held,” said Khyrast, nodding slowly to himself. He leaned down to grab one of the snack-roots.

“I said he would hold,” said Phoreni. “He may take the paint one day.” They sounded far away. On the other side of the crowd, a whistling noise started up, and though Dash saw the open-mouthed stag who made the sound, it took her a second to accept that it was a peryton who… sang? It stirred a memory of something she’d once heard—the hollow sound of wind through a fallen log, but deeper—and he was soon joined by another, this one higher pitched but still wordless, both tones changing in ways that made song even though it shouldn’t have.

In the arena, the doe ran in great circles again, this time slowly and with her head low. The stag followed, running to keep pace. She tossed her head, unfurled and re-furled her wings, all to this strange whistling two-toned tune. After she’d made a full lap, she stopped, as did the stag. The large doe reared up, then lowered herself ever so slowly, leaning forward to touch her antlers to the nubs on the stag’s head, chest heaving with breath as she did so.

The stag flicked his head, awkwardly bumping his snout against her antlers in a pantomime of a toss. The mother pulled back a little to avoid tangling her child in her antlers and reared up again, this time to fall over on her side. The instant her large body crashed to the ground, the song ended.

After a moment of silence, hooves hit wood again, this time in applause. The doe walked away, and the child followed. It was over. Dash blinked heavily. Rarity rubbed at her eyes. Fluttershy was glued to Dash’s side. Rainbow Dash could feel the coat of Fluttershy’s chest against her own with each breath.

Rainbow Dash cleared her suddenly dry throat. “That was... okay, I guess. The ending was lame though,” she said, tapping her one free foreleg on the ground, joining with the last of the applause.

“Very much reminiscent like a silent play,” said Rarity, nodding at her own words before she looked to their hosts, smiling. “You should come visit Canterlot some day and see some of the plays put on at the Royal Theatre. Some of their pieces are almost as intimate as this.”

“But you sounded like you didn’t know how it would end,” Fluttershy said, frowning at Phoreni and Khyrast.

“Was this all preordained?” asked Phoreni, tilting her head. “He could have broken. He could have run in fear. There is no point in acting out what is already decided. Any joust has at least two possible outcomes. Any story has infinite endings.”

Khyrast nodded. “The mother is the storm, raging against the child, but never touching. If the child is brave, she will let herself be wrestled to the ground, but young children often balk at facing down their parents’ fury.”

“Even as an act, that looked terrifying,” breathed Fluttershy.

“Is it an act?” Phoreni shrugged. “She loves her young one, but if trying to break her child’s composure is an act, if there is no sincerity in her movement, there is no purpose.”

“So they actually were fighting,” said Dash, trying to wrap her head around it. “Just not… like, with their antlers and stuff.”

Rarity looked thoughtful at that, saying no more, but Phoreni nodded. “I think you begin to understand. Or, I now understand what it is you did not understand before. I agree with your words, though I find them an inelegant explanation. Watch now, more stand to be marked. We will sit this time.”

Rainbow Dash spotted the two lonely peryton across the arena, both standing with their wings flared again. Groups and single peryton rose, far fewer in number now. A stag next to the ponies and their friends stood, but sat down again almost immediately. This time, the two peryton on the far side did not let themselves be cowed, and after a minute, all others were back on the ground. The drumming of hooves started up even before the two stags reached the arena, both flexing colourful feathers in the multicoloured light of the Run.

“Lovers, do you think?” asked Phoreni, glancing over at Khyrast. “They are young.”

“I remember one as a student,” Khyrast said with a snort and a smile. “Dothast. His fire burns strongest without. If they are lovers, I expect we will see him joust every summer until he learns balance, and if there are any to be hurt this joust, it is him.”

If there was a ‘story’ to be read in these two stags and their joust, Rainbow Dash couldn’t see it at first. They met in the centre, touched their antlers together, and backed off before moving towards each other again, clashing at a slow trot. Their antlers met with a clack. To the slow and steady drumming of hooves, the stags circled each other, making long runs around the oval arena.

“I don’t get it,” said Dash.

“A lovers’ quarrel?” hazarded Rarity.

“They don’t seem to be very angry, or fighting very hard,” Fluttershy said, letting go of Dash’s foreleg. “Thank goodness.”

Slowly, Fluttershy’s words became a lie. Just like the doe and her child, their joust sped up, and their clashes became faster, stronger, harsher. Dash felt Fluttershy’s wing snake around her side and saw Rarity bunch up with Fluttershy too—and in truth, she felt a little uneasy herself. What had began as a slow and boring act of synchronised moves gained an edge of violence. Phoreni shifted to sit up straight rather than laze with a hindleg under her body.

“Jousts between lovers are a good way to find that no petty quarrel is worth fighting over,” said Phoreni, frowning ever so slightly. “No issue is worth losing love to, and the participants are safe in knowing none can tell whether it is a quarrel today or a reenactment of one from the past opened up to new endings.”

“So you can’t tell if it’s a story or if it’s real?” asked Dash.

“How are the two different?” replied Khyrast, but before the pegasus could comment, Khyrast shifted the way he sat as well. Were both Phoreni and Khyrast ready to get up and intervene? The lovers had just run the entire arena lengthwise at a canter before clashing, and now they stood opposite one another again, heads lowered. One of the stags’ antlers glowed bright, magic working its way to hoof and wing.

Dash could feel the tension in the air. The stag who charged himself with magic broke into a run, and a few peryton in the audience stood up. When had the drumming stopped? It didn’t matter. Only one of the peryton charged. The other moved towards the contestant—his foe?—at a slow walk, and the runner noticed when he hit the center unopposed. The aggressive one slowed down, tossing and shaking his head before he lowered it to the ground. Dash let out a breath at the anticlimax.

When the two stags met and locked antlers for the last time, it was at a subdued walk. They tangled their antlers with each other and wrestled without strength. They didn’t push or pull at each other, didn’t try to force the other down. In fact—

“It almost looks like a hug,” whispered Fluttershy breathlessly.

“I think their eyes are closed,” Rarity whispered back. Dash didn’t have much to say, but part of her felt like she shouldn’t be watching this, like she was supposed to be embarrassed at witnessing something private. It didn’t last very long anyway. The two stags disentangled their antlers, and the one who had charged lay down before the other for a moment before the pair headed for the edge of the crowd together. This time, the applause was less immediate, building up slowly to a roar.

“And that was… good?” Dash asked.

“It wasn’t very complicated,” opined Rarity. “But a little drama never goes amiss. I certainly appreciated it.”

Khyrast chuckled with a caw low under his breath as the applause came to an end. “You have a keen eye, or make a good guess. Some would call this cheap or simple drama. Do I enjoy it? At times, but you must understand, Ephydoera missed its last games and are hungry for any story.”

“Alright,” said Dash, bouncing up on all fours. “Anything else I should know?”

“Only one thing: know to sit,” said Phoreni, shaking her head. “The evening is young.”

Time passed quickly as they watched peryton joust. It wasn’t that Rainbow Dash minded watching, but she really wanted to give it a try herself. They saw more ‘stories’, but not all of them were immediately recognisable as such. The ones that had peryton acting out scenes and roles made the most sense, even if they sometimes had surprising ends.

Phoreni explained and narrated as friends and families bonded, grudges were settled, and strangers sought new experiences. Finally they got to see contestants who made serious attempt at wrestling each other to the ground, and they must have seen at least two dozen of the jousts when Dash’s patience wore too thin to keep her down. When the peryton from the previous round were getting seated, Dash stood.

“Still impatient,” said Phoreni, though it didn’t sound like a reprimand. “Perhaps it is time for you ponies to tell us one your own stories.”

Dash grinned. “Stories nothing, I wanna show them my stuff!”

Phoreni nodded and smiled faintly at that. “You saying this does not make us disagree. You come here with a story, that of strangers come to visit from afar. None here know what to make of you, and when you joust, you show us something of yourself even were you to try not to.”

“Works for me,” said Dash with a shrug, but she was the only one of the three ponies standing. She glanced at Rarity, who shook her head before Dash even asked.

“I doubt those antlers would fit around my horn, but I won’t lie, dear. I have no interest, either,” said the unicorn.

“Alright, sure,” said Dash. She took a deep breath before she looked to Fluttershy, finding the other pegasus silent, eyes on the arena and on the crowd rather than her. As they watched the sheer variety of jousts on display, both Rarity and Fluttershy had obviously enjoyed themselves more and more. Nothing had been as violent as the two lovers in the second round, and Fluttershy didn’t cling to her as they watched anymore.

Rainbow Dash had thought on it a little more, too: Fluttershy probably hadn’t gotten two pairs of antlers just in case one of them broke. Dash had probably always known that.

“It doesn’t look that scary any more, really,” said Fluttershy with the beginnings of a smile despite her breathlessness. “Some of them seemed to treat it like a dance more than a fight. Oh, but there are ever so many people watching, though.”

She bought two pairs of antlers just in case, Fluttershy had said. She just hadn’t said in case what. In case she wanted to join, of course. Or in case Rainbow Dash convinced her to join. What was the difference?

Rainbow Dash could tell what would happen, even if she didn’t exactly know why she knew. Maybe it was something in Fluttershy’s voice, her posture, or maybe the way she said those words. Whatever the case, Dash would ask Fluttershy straight up if she wanted to come. Not just because she’d asked Rarity. She’d ask Fluttershy because Dash truly wanted her to come along.

“Hey, d’you want in?” Dash asked.

Fluttershy wouldn’t sound convinced. There were a lot of people watching, and that was a big deal for Fluttershy. Dash knew that. Did she sound like she wanted to give it a go if she could get past that one little fact, though? Maybe she did. In fact, Rainbow Dash would bet on it. Part of Fluttershy did want to try.

“Um, I don’t know,” said Fluttershy, scuffing at the ground. Her ears were half-cocked, and she shrank in on herself a tad as her eyes flitted around, taking in the sheer size of the crowd. Still, she didn’t say no, either, and there was a glimmer of hope in her eyes as she nibbled on her bottom lip.

Next, Dash would tell her that she should do it anyway—

“Hey, that’s cool, whatever you wanna do. If you just want to watch, that’s fine,” said Dash instead, looking away and ahead. “You gotta cheer really loud though,” she added.

No. There was no point. Dash knew how it’d go. She would tell Fluttershy she should come along anyway. Fluttershy would say she didn’t want to. Rainbow Dash would point out that she should do it because Dash thought she did want to. Fluttershy would refuse, Dash would insist, and at some point Fluttershy would either say yes or say no. Fluttershy would be scared out of her wits, at least until she forgot about worrying and started having fun.

If she ever did, in fact, really have fun. If Rainbow Dash was right in guessing she would like to come along.

Rainbow Dash was pretty sure that this moment wasn’t at all like when Fluttershy had refused to join her on the stage in Stagrum, but did that really matter? If they could do stuff like the walk yesterday, or like playing with the snickersnouts—if they could hang out without Dash having to see Fluttershy sad and worried, wasn’t that just better for both of them? They were girlfriends now. Who was to say Fluttershy didn’t go along with all this stuff just to amuse Rainbow Dash?

Was she responsible for all the pain she’d caused Fluttershy?

Rainbow Dash clenched her eyes shut. She lost track of things two or three steps ago, and she knew she was being dramatic. Fluttershy wasn’t in pain over being persuaded to fly a stupid cart over a brook or whatever else, and they’d always been close friends. She obviously wasn’t ruining Fluttershy’s life, but if she could just stop pushing Fluttershy altogether, so much the better and easier.

“Okay,” said Fluttershy, her voice quiet even for her. Her ears were wilted now, splayed to each side. “Good luck,” she added, pushing at the remaining antler-harness. “I think I’ll just watch, then.”

“That’s cool,” said Dash, stretching her neck side to side. “I’ll go alone, I guess.”

This blew. She wanted to try a proper joust, but she also really wanted to see Fluttershy in the arena. Maybe both at the same time. Playing around with Fluttershy would have been awesome, but what kind of pony pushed her girlfriend around to do something she might not want to do?

“A lone stranger with something to prove,” said Phoreni.

“There is purity in a display of skill,” agreed Khyrast. At least, he sounded like he agreed.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and tried to put her mind to the task. All around, peryton stood and spread their wings, but she could barely get her wings away from her body. Dash bit her tongue and tried again. Even if she wasn’t ready to fly, she had to be able to spread the wings to join the joust, at least. Her main joints refused to cooperate. “Come on,” she hissed.

“Let me,” said Khyrast. Without warning, he stood and spread his great wings. In a flash, he furled them again, but the gesture got attention. “That,” he said, “will alert them to your presence. See now that you have many who wish to tell the story of one who meets a civilised stranger for the first time. Stand until one remains.”

Phoreni rolled her jaw, eyes scanning the crowd. “Most are young. They do not know what to make of a stranger. They will think you a child for your size. I will offer this: If you are insulted, sit and let the shadows cool your head.”

Just like Khyrast had said, many more rose up after they were made aware of Rainbow Dash. Dash snorted hot air and remained standing. They could think what they wanted. If they thought size mattered, they had another thing coming. She was used to that.

“Rainbow Dash, do play nice,” said Rarity, and Dash grinned back in response to her dubious look.

“Of course I’ll be nice,” said Dash. “I’m not a sore winner.”

Rainbow Dash’s hooves still itched at the idea that they might think her some little filly, and that the last peryton standing was small-ish didn’t help matters. Her annoyance didn’t last, though. The doe was small only for a peryton, and still stood a fair bit larger than her. Like most of the Ephydoerans, her opponent looked well-built and strong.

Opponent. Partner. Foe. Whichever it was, Dash knew that she herself was going to win. That was probably what the doe thought too, right? If she’d stood still until all others gave up, she must’ve really wanted to face Dash. The tricoloured peryton doe leaned forward, and Dash did the same, their antlers meeting in an awkward tap. The straps held her antlers in place well enough.

“Our meeting will be told in Helesseia and Selyria’s stories,” said the blank-faced doe, catching Dash by surprise. Did they all say something before they went at it? She shrugged, knowing what she’d say in Equestria, at least.

“Good luck. May the best pony win,” retorted Dash with a grin. She pulled back and trotted as far away as she could while the doe did the same. Most of the spats and the grudges had started like this, with a simple clash from a lengthwise run. When she reached the end of the arena, she almost missed her cue to move, startled by how different the drumming sounded from down here. The echo of hundreds of hooves on wood shook the arena ever so slightly.

The doe trotted towards her in a straight line. Was her opening run slower than the others? Was she going easy on her? Dash snorted and moved to match—except faster. She kicked it up a notch or two right off the bat. If they thought she was just a joke, she wanted to dispel that notion right away. She hadn’t won a single game all day, and it was time to change that. She caught a look of open surprise on the doe’s face when Dash lowered her head at the last second and launched herself forward.

Dash felt her brain rattle around inside her head with the impact. All sound was blotted out by the feeling of ramming her head into a wall. Fortunately, she had a lot of experience with that. Rainbow Dash tried to twist her head and drag the doe down, but the peryton expertly disentangled her antlers and pulled back, making Dash stumble and nearly fall. The drumming lost its rhythm for a second, and she could see a few peryton stand up.

Was it a protest? Were they going to try to stop them? Dash looked around in confusion—she hadn’t meant to go at it that hard.

Only when the doe began moving again did the hoof-stomps regain their composure, bundled together in a tight rhythm. Now the doe circled the center of the arena, and Dash didn’t really plan what to do next. She was forced to move by the threat of the doe running behind her, by the rhythm that needed her hoof-steps to be complete. Still reeling, her cheeks burning after her blunder, Dash didn’t have time to think. Like she held strings connected to her hooves, the doe was in control of Dash’s movement.

Was she? Why would she think that? Dash could stop any time she wanted, of course, but when the doe widened her circle and upped her pace a little, Dash had to do the same to keep her eyes on her. There was no magic at play here beyond the rhythm, but there was only ever one move that made sense, and that was to match what the doe did. When she cut through the invisible circle outlined by their moves, Dash did the same thing, and they met again. Clack.

Again Dash twisted her head, and the doe wrestled back. She was strong. Stronger than Dash. This time Dash pulled back, and now she was in the lead. Rainbow Dash widened the circle further, ran a little faster and farther, but when they were far apart, she slowed. She didn’t obey the rhythm any more—the rhythm followed her. Dash moved in again, but she didn’t run straight at the doe. Too obvious. Instead she darted left, right, left, running an obstacle course between the watchers’ stomps.

The doe followed—in her own way. Where Rainbow Dash darted left and right, kicking off the ground sideways, the doe made the moves more sinuous, snake-like, a constant wave, and Dash noticed her own movements smoothing out to match. When they met again, it was slower than Dash had intended, coming in from matching turns. Rainbow Dash tested her strength again, and she was still no match. The doe let her take a step forward and almost pulled her to the ground. Dash took a step back and tried to mimic the move, but she could no more move the doe than she could buck rain from a tree. They pulled apart again.

Someone started singing. One, two, three voices called into the night, a multi-toned coarse whistling that could just as easily have been the wind. Opposite her, the doe turned and Dash had to do the same. They circled counterclockwise now, their eyes still locked. The doe’s small, dark orbs were unreadable and her face expressionless, but her movement spoke, as did the way her chest moved with breath. She upped the speed. Did she enjoy this as much as Rainbow Dash?

And what the hay was this? Were they dancing or fighting? Dash didn’t have room for the question in her mind right now. She kicked off into a gallop and decided for the both of them: this very second, it was a race. Rainbow Dash chased after the doe, grinning in triumph when the doe’s antlers flashed. Her peryton partner had to use magic to keep up, but now they were matched. Once Dash realised this, they both stopped.

Rainbow Dash couldn’t tell whose idea that was. The song continued, but the rhythm had stopped. She’d seen this before. The time had come to end this. They faced each other, and they were close. When had their circles become so tight?

Dash ran at her. Neither of them ran very fast, but when they met, the sound of antlers on wooden antlers kicked the hoof-stomps into action again, a pulse-pounding rhythm that drummed faster and faster. The doe pushed and twisted. Dash let the push slide off her, broke the lock and dashed to the side, meeting her antlers again from a different angle. Dash pushed back, but the peryton dug every claw of her talons into the ground. This was a dance no longer. The doe gave no ground.

Again the doe pushed, as Dash had known she would. Dash knew she couldn’t beat her for sheer strength—but she could let the doe think she was stupid enough to think she could. Rainbow Dash shoved as though she was ready to meet the doe with all her might. The doe responded by redoubling her efforts, her antlers glowing as she pushed back again.

Dash was ready for it. She stepped back as fast as she could without breaking contact. She let the doe push towards Dash’s smaller form, guiding her down to the ground, turning her head and pinning the peryton doe to the floor, overbalancing her. The doe teetered on her left side legs for a moment that stretched on and on. The song halted, the final note echoing, lingering. Finally, the doe fell onto her side with a crash.

The drumming of hooves didn’t stop. It smoothly broke into applause, a rolling roar of stomps indistinguishable from each other. Rainbow Dash felt her heart swell with the noise of her victory. The sound of winning. It lasted all of three seconds, until she looked up into the stands to find Phoreni, Khyrast, Rarity and Fluttershy all applauding as well.

She stood frozen for a moment, her breath slowly settling. The doe got up and said something to her, and Dash replied—she probably said thanks for the game or better luck next time or something stupid. She instantly forgot. Dash made her way back towards her friends, the thrill of the win blunted as surely as if she’d flown into a mountain.

Rainbow Dash swallowed hard and breathed out through her nose as she slipped between the spectating peryton. This time she actually got some curious looks. If they had underestimated her before, perhaps she commanded a little respect now? Dash desperately wished she cared about that. Instead, she failed to understand why it felt so bad to do the right thing. She had resisted pushing Fluttershy to do some stupid joust, and she won. Why didn’t she feel good about that?

Phoreni talked to Dash. Rather, she talked at Dash, but Dash’s mind outraced the words. Would she feel good if Fluttershy headed down for a joust right now?

“You should give it a go,” said Dash, forcing a smile for Fluttershy. She shifted the saddlebag with the other pair of antlers towards her, but Fluttershy shook her head slightly.

“It’s okay,” said Fluttershy with a wan smile. “I don’t think I want to.”

“Yeah. Guess there’s a lot of people down there, huh?” said Dash, and all she received in reply was a silent nod from Fluttershy. She knew with absolute certainty that she could have convinced Fluttershy to go along with it earlier, but now the moment had passed.

“It was an excellent joust,” Phoreni said, her eyes on the far side of the crowd. “I do not think the doe expected such a fierce contest, but she will have been pleased with it as well.”

“You don’t think she wanted to win?” asked Rarity, arching a brow.

“Do I think she would have preferred to win?” asked Phoreni. “Perhaps, but I think you still overstate the importance of winning. In a good joust, both parties are victors. I believe she wanted to meet you, and that she was curious. The ending of this particular story was less important than the way it was told. You both learned much, and taught the Ephydoeran people, as well.”

Rainbow Dash said nothing. The joust with the doe felt wrong, now. She moved closer, sitting side to side with Fluttershy. When Dash nosed in under Fluttershy’s left wing and draped herself in a yellow feathery cloak, the other pegasus didn’t pull back or protest. Fluttershy smiled at Rainbow Dash and nuzzled the top of her head.

With each touch of Fluttershy’s muzzle, the wrongness subsided. As hard as Dash tried to put the joust from her mind, all she could think was that she wished it had been Fluttershy instead. A stupid, selfish thought. There was no way that could’ve happened without making Fluttershy upset, and Fluttershy, for her part, was unusually quiet now. Was she jealous? Was there something to be jealous of? Of course not, but they’d have to find something else to do, something Fluttershy really, truly wanted to do, instead.

The rest of the night passed in relative silence. Towards the end of the games, couples jousted for pleasure, strangers jousted to meet, and strangers became couples, all under the glowing lights of the Sunwise Run and to hoof on wood and bird-like throat-song.

The air turned colder and colder, and in the dark of night, after an inconclusive joust between two large does, the horn sounded from the center of the Glade again. Dash blinked and rubbed at her eyes. That last joust had been particularly boring, and she’d almost dozed off. Fluttershy stretched her wing a little more and after a second, put it back where it belonged—around Rainbow Dash.

“While they may have been your first,” said Phoreni, stacking their small, empty food-bowls and putting them in her neck-saddlebag-thing as she stood, “they have also been good jousts. There are a lot of stories and emotions to be released on the first day of the Brush Games. Judging will be hard, will it not?”

“Perhaps,” was all Khyrast said, yawning hugely. He stood as well, and all around them other peryton got up as well. In fact, every single peryton in view rose, and at a nod from Phoreni, the ponies struggled to stand as well. Fluttershy winced as she finally furled a wing that must’ve been really stiff by now—both wings, in fact. Only now did Dash notice that Fluttershy had lent her other wing to Rarity for warmth at some point during the night.

“Now we stand to be marked, every one of us,” said Phoreni. “Spread your wings, and acknowledge that though we may not all wish to share them, we each have stories to tell.”

Wings spread around the Run once more, twice as many as last time. Dash couldn’t see ahead for the wings spread by the adults minding the children on the front rows. “Yeah, that’s gonna be a problem,” said Dash, growling under her breath at her obstinate wings.

“Then have others spread wings for you,” said Khyrast, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. Dash furrowed her brow, but Fluttershy spread her wings anew, one wing behind Dash, and one behind Rarity. That’d have to do.

“Thanks,” murmured Dash with a glance at her own back. “I’m gonna lose my mind if I don’t get my own wings back soon.”

“I’m glad to help, you know,” said Fluttershy, looking at her steadily until Rainbow Dash met her eyes. Dash expected her to go on, to say something else, but Fluttershy didn’t. They just looked at each other, and Dash didn’t know what to say. Should she say “thanks” again?

“Just focus on resting up, darling,” said Rarity, breaking the spell. “Being annoyed won’t heal them faster.” She rubbed a cheek against Fluttershy’s. “And thank you, dear. I’d be chilled to the bone without you tonight.”

The spread of wings didn’t have the same effect the second time around. However many feathers were spread, the moment soon passed, and the assembled peryton all furled their wings and began to gather their things, hurrying to finish their food and drink. Rainbow Dash could just barely see hints of movement towards the very edge of the crowd, a few of the more impatient peryton pushing their way through.

“There is always one or two who gets hurt trying to hurry off the Run,” said Khyrast with a soft sigh, his eyes on the far edge of the crowd as well.

“The Brush Games can be educational for the reckless,” said Phoreni, nodding slightly. “Will you head for home? I believe I will wait for the rush to subside for the benefit of those among our number who do not love the crowd.”

“I will leave you with our guests, and instead go see if Loriessa is already asleep,” Khyrast replied, rolling his neck. “She has never had the stamina to watch the games in full, and I will rouse her to make sure there is room in our bed for all.”

“Then we wait,” said Phoreni, nodding her farewell to Khyrast and sitting back down, motioning for the ponies to do the same.

It took somewhere between two and three forevers before there was even a dent in the number of peryton atop the Sunwise Run—or at least more time than Dash would’ve liked. When they finally started moving she saw Peryton flying off the edges of the platform, each and every one with wings and antlers pulsing with magic on the liftoff. The walk back to their beds was blessedly short, though, and Dash was thankful for it: the pit of the crater was really cold at night. She even caught a few of the younger peryton shuddering when they stepped out of the wooden tunnel.

Phoreni left them at their doorstep with promises to collect them tomorrow before noon for the next day of games, and Fluttershy found the strength to help her friends up to their makeshift gallery bedroom. In no time at all, they were all snug under their blanket with Fluttershy sandwiched between Rainbow Dash and Rarity. The latter demanded the windows be shut this night favouring warmth over fresh air, and Dash couldn’t be bothered to pick a fight about it. She was beat.

“Well, that was a long day,” said Dash, yawning into Fluttershy’s mane. The one bad thing about travelling was there was no time for naps. She nuzzled her way a little further into the soft tresses of girlfriend-hair and closed her eyes. Fluttershy shifted her wing to touch Dash’s side before she furled it again.

For a while everything was quiet. Rarity lay facing Fluttershy on the other side, trying to warm her hooves against the pegasus, and nopony spoke. Dash couldn’t quite find sleep, though. The only sounds were those of three ponies breathing quietly, with the occasional shivering breath by Rarity. Dash was dead tired, but still she lay awake in the near-complete darkness.

“Did the joust live up to your expectations, Rainbow?” came Rarity’s voice, barely above a whisper. If somepony told Dash Rarity was talking in her sleep, she’d believe it. Dash couldn’t see her at all anyway.

“I guess,” Dash replied. “They like to play rough, that’s cool. Would be cooler if they weren’t so weird, but yeah, this is my kinda party. I guess you liked Orto and Stagrum better, huh?”

“Mhm. If only for the extra opportunities for hygiene. That, and a hundred things more, really, but Phoreni and Khyrast are absolute darlings,” replied Rarity, yawning. “What about you, Fluttershy?”

“It’s scarier than Orto,” Fluttershy replied. “But they’re very nice and good at taking care of us here,” she added. “I don’t really think it’s a contest to try to decide who’s nicer.”

“Mm, I agree with that,” Rarity murmured.

“I don’t know,” admitted Dash with a shrug. “I think I’ve given up on trying to compare them anyway. When we get to Vauhorn, they’ll all be wearing fish on their heads or something.”

Dash couldn’t hear it, but she felt the soundless giggle that went through Fluttershy’s body, making Dash smile.

“We should probably ask Phoreni about that,” whispered Fluttershy. “She seems to understand us a little. Maybe she can tell us what Vauhorn is like.”

“Hey Rarity, if they’re wearing fish on their head, are you gonna wear one?” asked Dash, grinning. “Maybe make a little fish-hat?” There was no answer aside from a soft, incoherent murmur.

“She’s asleep, I think. Sorry,” Fluttershy whispered.

“Oh. Alright,” said Dash, exhaling through her snout. She rubbed her muzzle against the back of Fluttershy’s neck. After a moment, Fluttershy turned around to face her, slow and careful to avoid waking Rarity. Rainbow Dash scooted back to give her a little space. She could barely see the tiniest glimmer of colour, the blue of her eyes shining in a hint of moss-given light from outside. She didn’t know if Fluttershy could see her, too, but now they lay there, staring near sightlessly, breathing.

Dash still felt bad about today, and she couldn’t tell quite why. She had no idea what Fluttershy was thinking, either, but she had no interest in whining about it, not even just to herself. Action spoke louder than words, anyway.

“Hey, can you spread your left wing?” Dash whispered.

“Of course, but why?” asked Fluttershy.

“You’ve been using your wings a lot more than usual. How’re they holding up?” Dash asked. She reached over to hold a hoof to Fluttershy’s muzzle. “Don’t answer that, just let me have a look. You just washed when when we got back yesterday night, right? You didn’t preen?”

Rainbow Dash could just barely see the ghost of a frown in the darkness. She heard the rustle of hair as Fluttershy nodded.

“They’re fine, though, really,” whispered Fluttershy around Dash’s hoof.

“C’mon. I’ll help you out,” Dash replied. Her wings probably were fine, but if an A-grade preening from Dash didn’t cheer Fluttershy up, nothing would.

This time, Fluttershy did move, quietly shuffling around until she had the blanket a little lower on her back without dragging it off Rarity, but her wings were still tightly furled, unyielding and unspread even when Dash gave them a poke.

“Maybe I could give your wings a look instead,” Fluttershy suggested.

“Nah, I got this,” said Dash. “Give me your wing.”

“Really,” whispered Fluttershy, a little more insistent. “I don’t mind.”

“Yeah, well, I mind,” Dash replied with a soft snort. Sure, Fluttershy might do a decent job with a little bit of instruction, and honestly, it’d probably feel nice even if she didn’t do a good job—but it’d be selfish. Right now, Dash really needed to do something for Fluttershy. “Come on, give me some feathers.”

Rainbow Dash heard Fluttershy sigh, and a few seconds of silence later, she finally spread a wing and let Rainbow Dash at her feathers. Dash sat up to better reach the wing, but also to let more of the faint light fall on Fluttershy. If her girlfriend was a little down right now, she’d be smiling brighter when her wings were in perfect order.

Dash didn’t really need to see to do her work, of course. She knew Fluttershy’s wings as well as her own, and she could navigate by the touch of feathers on her snout alone by this point. As gently as she could, and as roughly as she had to, she ran her teeth along Fluttershy’s primaries. She tugged lightly at feathers to get them in order and used teeth and snout to pick out anything that wasn’t supposed to be there, mostly the occasional twig. She almost did the fourth primary from the edge twice, but she recognised it right away and moved on automatically.

That might actually be a little weird, Dash realised. Not for the first time, she thought back to what Rarity had said. It must’ve been weeks ago since their little chat upon reaching the coast past Orto, but she actually let herself consider this whole preening business for a second.

When Tank got sick, or when Dash thought he might be sick, Rainbow Dash went to Fluttershy for help because she knew she herself was useless for anything more than feeding him. Similarly, Fluttershy could probably keep her wings in order well enough to fly and stay healthy, but if she needed proper wing-care, she’d come to Dash. It made perfect sense, right? Normal!

“It’s not normal at all, is it?” Dash said more than she asked, voice muffled by Fluttershy’s feathers.

“Sorry?” Fluttershy whispered.

Rainbow Dash pulled back and wiped her muzzle. “I said, it’s not normal, huh?”

“I heard you, I just… I’m sorry, I’m not sure what you mean,” said Fluttershy, returning a helpless look.

“Wings. Preening and everything. Thunderlane never helps Flitter out. I don’t help anyone else. You don’t preen other pegasus’ feathers. It’s not really… normal,” Dash said, the word rapidly losing its meaning.

“I don’t know exactly. We both moved from Cloudsdale when we were younger than most,” Fluttershy said, shifting where she lay, flexing her wing before she spread it again. “I think it’s common in families, sometimes, but… not really. Mostly pegasus couples, I think.” Her voice trailed off.

Dash puffed out her cheeks. It didn’t mean anything by itself. Who the hay cared if Dash did something weird—if they did something weird? People could say or think whatever they wanted. Nopony Dash felt inclined to care about gave a hoot, and they were a couple now anyway, there was just one little detail.

“So it’s kind of... intimate or something,” Dash chanced.

“I guess,” Fluttershy whispered, barely louder than the faint creak of branches far above. Dash hadn’t even realised they could hear the slight movements of the tree before.

Rainbow Dash frowned. “It’s kinda weird that you let me keep doing it after you fell in love with me or whatever you wanna call it. Right?”

Fluttershy folded her wing and looked up at her. Fluttershy’s eyes were the only thing visible in the darkness now, everything else around it disappearing. She stared at Dash for a long moment before she lay back down again, her gaze straight ahead. There was nothing to see there except some empty shelves.

“I just didn’t want anything to change,” said Fluttershy, and with those words, she looked away.

Dash took a deep breath. The way Fluttershy said that, the words were heavy with meaning, but she couldn’t tell what. “Right. Uh, okay,” she heard herself say. “Isn’t that kind of the point of of being together? Like—”

“Oh! No!” Fluttershy squeaked, clapping a hoof to her mouth when Rarity rolled onto her other side. Only when they both heard the soft sounds of Rarity still fast asleep did she continue, quieter, but even more urgent. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just—I want to keep everything we had, too. I didn’t… I didn’t want you to stop.”

“Okay, yeah,” said Dash, masking a sigh of relief by nudging Fluttershy’s wing and going back to taking care of her feathers instead. There wasn’t a lot to do, really, but she went over each feather with exacting care. She didn’t want to stop preening Fluttershy either, really.

“I’m sorry if it feels like I lied to you,” said Fluttershy. The hurt was plain in her voice. “I didn’t mean to.”

“You didn’t,” said Dash with a snort. She reached over to lay a hoof on Fluttershy’s side, gently kneading her for reassurance or something like that. Fluttershy relaxed a little, so maybe it worked. “I’m just too stupid to notice or think about that stuff,” Dash added with a shrug.

“You’re not stupid,” Fluttershy said.

It wasn’t the words. It was the way she said it. It was no defiant declaration or a reprimand, nor did they sound like a few nice words thrown into the air as random encouragement. Fluttershy sounded almost weary—tired, but she still stated it as a simple fact that Dash had to believe. And so she did.

At some point, Fluttershy fell asleep, and Rainbow Dash continued her work for a little while, sneaking in between Fluttershy and Rarity to start on the other wing. She wasn’t stupid, but she wondered what would’ve happened if she’d dragged Fluttershy along today, pushed her until she agreed to come joust with her. She knew that she herself wished she had gotten Fluttershy into the arena with her, but wasn’t that selfish?

Rainbow Dash wondered if she’d have cared if they hadn’t just become a couple. Maybe she wouldn’t have, and maybe this would’ve gone wrong. Maybe today would’ve joined the list of those memories she wished she could forget—memories that she didn’t even always know she held.

She hadn’t thought about that climb up the mountain and the mess with a slumbering red dragon until recently. Along with it resurfaced the vague recollection of a morning outside of Town Hall over two years ago. She thought she’d forgotten all about it.

Rainbow Dash could do better. She could be better. Rainbow Dash knew all about better. She nuzzled in under Fluttershy’s wing and gently coaxed it to furl. Fluttershy murmured something in her sleep, and Dash sat down next to her, getting started on her own wings, doing what she could without spreading them. Things were definitely mostly good weird, and she couldn’t go around wondering and second-guessing herself all the time, anyway.

So what if she would once have shoved a trembling Fluttershy onto the arena floor in front of a huge crowd? So what if part of her still wanted to do just that? Fluttershy was with Dash now, and Rainbow Dash could be the best girlfriend the world had ever seen.

Chapter 16

Yesterday’s ‘joust’ was quite the thing to behold, absolutely, but now, without the claps and hoof-strikes of thousands of peryton to drown out my thoughts, I can’t help but think. I woke up early and I feel awful, just plain awful.

It is bad enough that I haven’t made any progress on creating something to woo these Ephydoerans. If that were all, I would manage, but add to it the rigors of travel (I am only now feeling rested, this very morning) and my continuing failure to keep up—

I feel I must mention here, I am ever so glad we are staying in Ephydoera for a week. If we were to return to the road today, I would be crushed. Even if we are spending this time doing sports, it is infinitely preferable to traveling. Our last few days on the road were a little better than the first, but still.

My point: The failure to create anything of worth is far from the full extent of my woes, nor are these concerns of my hindering our travels. In addition, I wonder if Twilight would have grasped Khyrast’s spell by now. I cannot for the life of me bring this spell to life, and I know it has nothing to do with horns and antlers.

At least Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash are engaging each other in a romantic something like a romance. I wish I could say I was only happy for them—because I am, of course I am!—it just makes one feel a little more… alone about these problems.

Mine is a four-fold failure, then! I am doomed to forever find no respite from my fashion disaster, no refuge from the weakness of my body, no solace from the tendrils of jealousy, and no shelter in the wonders of magic, thus—

Ah. No, I think I have an idea, actually.

Yes, if these Ephydoeran peryton are so enamoured with their symbols, and if they enjoy my stylised variants on their known patterns, I have some time before I open the doors this morning. I can utilise their own designs, and create an entirely new line… yes. This will work.

It will work, simply because it has to work. I need success right now, more than ever.

-R

Rainbow Dash woke late. She knew she woke late because her first impulse wasn’t sleeping in. She rubbed her eyes and threw off the clammy blanket. Somepony had thrown open the windows before they left the bedroom.

Dash yawned. No Princess Luna tonight either, and this time she found herself thinking it was a bit of a shame. Princessly visitations were alright, if a little weird. She also remembered that there had been something else missing in her dreams, but she couldn’t tell exactly what. Had she had that thought before? Something about these past two nights was missing, and it didn’t really bother her, she just felt aware of it.

Now she really wished Luna was about so she could ask her. It sounded like a question for a dream-expert. Dash trotted over to the lip of the second-floor gallery, testing her wings. They spread almost fully today, but if there was one area of her life where it paid to think first and act second, it was her wings. She hopped down, landing neatly next to the table with a loud thud, some nearby pottery clattering in response.

“Good morning, dear,” came Rarity’s sing-song voice. Dash yawned again and waved at Rarity’s back. The unicorn busily worked away on a peryton stag’s flank, shaving elaborate patterns into his coat with a magic glow shaped into a wedge, chased by short hairs falling onto the ground as a result. The door stood wide open, and a couple of peryton loitered outside.

Rainbow Dash glanced about for something breakfast-like, but found nothing edible unless she wanted to start licking kelp-cake crumbs off the table. She grabbed a drink of luke-warm water from a bowl on the same table and meandered over to Rarity.

“Would you say that Helesseia’s simple variant symbol needs to be just so? I think it would look better if the bottom was a little flared,” said Rarity.

“Is it changeable? What you have already done is admirable,” said the stag. “I will leave satisfied as it is, with thanks for your labour, and honouring the gift of allowing you to perform it.” He slipped off the thin bench and nodded to Rarity, and the unicorn herself curtsied and smiled.

“My pleasure, truly. Tell the next cust—well, the next one to wait just a moment, if you please, would you?”

Rainbow Dash watched the peryton go. Rarity smiled at the next peryton in line and closed the door with an excuse me. All around the bench, white, brown, grey and cream-coloured fur lay in small piles—and by a small shelf, some folded cloth that hadn’t been there yesterday. Rainbow Dash recognised Rarity’s fabrics mostly because the peryton weren’t big on silks and whatever. One piece hung off the shelf with a vaguely familiar symbol—something that she’d seen on some peryton flanks.

“That yours?” Dash asked, pointing.

Rarity’s eyes followed Dash’s hoof. She winced almost imperceptibly. “Yes,” she said, the word stiff as nothing else. “Did you sleep well, dear?”

“Yeah, sure, thanks,” said Dash, frowning. “What are they?”

“An attempt at fashion. Some flank-covering shawl items that did not go over well,” Rarity said. She didn’t sound sad. She didn’t give the requisite sigh. In fact, she didn’t look at them any more, bent over to clean her workspace area of coat-hairs.

“Okay?” Dash asked, but Rarity said no more. “Right. Anyway, why didn’t you wake me?” Rainbow Dash asked, instead. She was still unsure whether she was supposed to be annoyed or grateful, so she decided not to decide.

“Mm, that was Fluttershy’s suggestion,” Rarity explained, finding her smile again. “We’re both very sorry about your wings, and she thought a little rest might do you good. There’s not much for us to do until Phoreni comes by to pick us up anyway.”

“I guess,” Dash said, leaning against the wall. “Okay, thanks,” she added, smiling. “Where’s she at?”

“Your girlfriend—” said Rarity, pausing on that word for a half-second. Dash grinned. It sounded good to her ears, but did Rarity expect her to blush like a school filly or something? “—is out on an errand. While most dining places are down on the ground, my clientele informed me that if there’s anything to help your wings, their ‘healers’ will be the ones to know. I asked her to get food, and she insisted on asking around a little while she was at it. We’ll have breakfast soon, I imagine.”

Fluttershy flying around a strange city all on her own just to see if she could find something to help Dash’s wings? Rainbow Dash didn’t usually care to do maths, but she was pretty sure this clocked in at somewhere around seventy percent awesome, twenty-five percent nice, and fifteen percent something else. Fluttershy might be the nicest pony ever, but this was above and beyond, even for her. Even for girlfriends, right? Fifteen percent weird.

“That’s cool,” said Dash, summing it all up.

“Indeed,” said Rarity. “Well, would you be a dear and tell the next peryton in line to come in?”

“Why’re you working on all this shaving stuff, anyway?” asked Dash, tilting her head. “If you want us to model some stuff, just let us know. I could probably pull off all these games in a vest and a saddle, just hold the skirts.”

Rarity shook her head. “I’m afraid I don’t see the point. They clearly don’t use clothes here, and even if by some miracle a traditional dress goes over well here, who’s to say they will be popular in Cotronna or Vauhorn?”

Dash squinted. “But you love making dresses and stuff. Who cares what the peryton over in Cotronna think? If they love your stuff here, that’s awesome. You’ve gotta try, right?”

Rarity’s snout crinkled. “One, I’ve already tried,” she said, gesturing to the folded fabric on the shelf. “Two, Cotronna is our destination.”

Dash shrugged. “Sure. For the invitation and stuff. So what? You saw the games masters wear those leg scarves yesterday, right? You could make way cooler sashes to go with your dresses, and—oh my gosh, I can’t believe this lameness, you actually made me talk about fashion!” Rainbow Dash grimaced.

“I can probably create a better scarf than the crude things the games masters wore, yes, yes,” said Rarity, waving a hoof. “There is not much point to that, though. No, I must create something perfect.”

Dash snorted. “That doesn’t sound like fun.”

Rarity said nothing more, a painted smile on her face as she gestured to the door, so Dash left it at that. She opened the door just in time to see Fluttershy gliding down to the ground a small ways off. Dash didn’t say anything to the peryton who stared at her, waving the first stag or doe in with a foreleg. Dash was busy.

Rainbow Dash leaned against the doorframe, watching her girlfriend land with fully laden saddlebags. Fluttershy glanced over her back, tucked her newly preened wings tight to her body and leaned low to the ground as she breathed deep. Clearly the little shopping trip had taken something out of her, but when Fluttershy turned and made for the tree-house she held her head high.

Until she realised Dash had been watching her all the while, at least. Now, Fluttershy nearly tripped over her own legs, blushing furiously as she walked past the line in front of their door. None of the peryton seemed to pay them much attention, but when Dash darted in to nuzzle her neck in passing, Fluttershy squeaked and sped up, and Dash couldn’t hold back the laughter any more. She kicked the door shut and stepped back inside.

“Rainbow Dash, if you’re going to bother Fluttershy, at least try not to scare my clients away as you do so,” Rarity said without looking up from her work.

“Bother the Ephydoerans? I don’t even know how to do that,” Dash said, still giggling, but her mood dampened a little when Fluttershy didn’t join in the laughter. Rainbow Dash made her way over to the table where Fluttershy unpacked the food she carried, including a bag of leaves, some roots, and something that was either a cluster of large berries or some very small fruits. What was the difference, anyway? She leaned in for a sniff. They didn’t smell all that bad. It also let her get a good look at Fluttershy to make sure she hadn’t gone too far and upset her girlfriend with a little bit of teasing.

Fluttershy barely seemed to notice her, swiftly setting the table. She didn’t look upset at all. She smiled, in fact, and if anything, she seemed excited.

“Equestria to Fluttershy,” Dash said, frowning. “Well, or, Perytonia to Fluttershy, whatever. You in there?”

Fluttershy finished putting all the food on the table, and fished out one last item from her saddlebags: A low, flat jar closed with fabric and string. She beamed. “I’m sorry, hi Rainbow Dash,” said Fluttershy, leaning over to nuzzle her, catching Dash by surprise. “Are you hungry?”

“Somepony’s feeling good,” said Dash, giggling. “I could eat, but what’s in the jar?”

“That’s a secret,” said Fluttershy, grinning at her. It was almost unsettling to see Fluttershy this happy, but only almost. Dash was helpless not to grin back.

“Alright? Okay, awesome. Uh, is it for me? What is it?” Dash tried.

“You’ll see after breakfast,” Fluttershy said, flexing her wings.

“Oh come on,” said Dash, leaning close to the jar. She sniffed it experimentally, but it didn’t smell at all. “Give me a hint!”

“Breakfast first, surprise later,” said Fluttershy, giggling.

“They accepted gems, then?” asked Rarity from the other side of the room, leaning in to blow away some loose coat-hairs from her customer.

“Yes, but they didn’t really seem to know how much to take, and I didn’t know either, so I just told them what we got for the gems in Stagrum,” Fluttershy replied, sweeping the jar away before Rainbow Dash could “borrow” it for further inspection. She held it up and out of reach from the grounded pegasus. Dash scowled. “They said it was okay since they barter with Stagrum a lot, but I think they’re more used to trading favours,” Fluttershy added.

Rarity hummed. “Excuse me, do you use these Stagrumite bronze slivers at all?”

The peryton stag she worked on nodded softly. “Will we take them? None will turn them away, but if a trade can be made without them, all the better. They are mostly for caravans, are they not? Phostos smiles upon all even trades regardless.”

“That’s the most interesting thing I have heard in my entire life,” said Dash, deadpan. “Rarity! Hurry up and finish, I’m really hungry. Let’s eat!”

“Mhm, I bet,” said Rarity, the soft blue glow of her magic steadily carving patterns into the peryton’s side. “And I assume this hunger has nothing to do with Fluttershy’s little surprise.”

“No,” lied Dash, glaring at Fluttershy’s eye-rolling. “Are you done yet?”

“Now, I don’t want you to get too excited,” said Fluttershy. She cleared some space, moving away the remains of their breakfast to put the jar back on the table.

“Nope, too late for that,” said Dash. Her wings itched until she let them hang a little more loosely on her body. She leaned over the table and squinted.

Rarity wiped her mouth and pushed the water-bowl away. “If it’s dessert, I don’t think I can take another bite,” she said. “Rainbow Dash, you’ve hardly eaten at all.”

“Eating a big breakfast before a full day of games is an amateur mistake,” Dash said, cocking a brow. She cleared her throat and made her voice as flat and stern as she could, mimicking Phoreni’s pitch to the best of her abilities. “Do I look like an amateur? I do not think I do. I look like the pony who’s gonna win big today. Now, what’s in the jar?” She hadn’t stopped wondering, agonising every moment while she waited for Rarity to finish her “carving” and all through the breakfast, too.

Fluttershy undid the jar’s cover, putting the cloth to the side, and a sharp, acrid scent filled the room immediately, let off by the white stuff inside. Fluttershy covered her snout. “Oh my. He said it was strong, but I never imagined—oh goodness, I hope this works.”

“In danger of repeating Rainbow Dash’s words, dear, what is it?” asked Rarity.

“It’s for Rainbow Dash,” said Fluttershy, sticking a hoof into the jar, bringing it back up with a layer of sticky goop. “Could you come over here, please? I need your wings.”

Dash did as asked, frowning at the white stuff and the smell both. “Okay, it’s like… medicine?”

Fluttershy nodded and smiled. “I visited the wardens and asked if they had something that might help you get back on your wings a little faster, like chamomile tea for bed rest, or flushflower for headaches, but they didn’t have anything like that. They said that they like to just get plenty of rest. I think their wings may be a little more fragile than ours.”

Dash shrugged. This was all common knowledge. You couldn’t do much for overexerted wings. Rest up, pack it with ice if the joints swelled, the usual stuff. She hissed and let out an involuntary giggle as Fluttershy started spreading the sticky stuff on her wings. It was cold. Very cold.

“But I did find something. Or, someone,” Fluttershy continued as she slathered Dash’s feathers. “When I was out buying food, a peryton told me that he’d seen me visiting the wardens’ healers. He wasn’t a warden himself, but he asked if I was hurt and needed help. He was ever so nice, and said he used to buy some ointment from travellers from Vauhorn who used it to treat their wings.”

The room lit up as Rarity caught some of Fluttershy’s spill in her magic, putting it back in the jar. “Well, that’s a stroke of luck,” Rarity said. “No offence, dear, but if you’re grounded for one more day, I might go crazy.”

“Nah, that’s fair enough,” said Dash. “There’s a reason I stay in bed when I hurt my wings. Or, you know, crash at Fluttershy’s place.”

“At least you’re aware of how frustrating you can be,” said Rarity, nodding.

“You mean how frustrating it can be,” Fluttershy suggested, grabbing another scoop and applying it to Dash’s wings At some point, the stuff stopped being icy cold—now it felt warm.

“No, dear, I really don’t,” said Rarity.

“Like I said, fair enough,” said Dash, grinning.

Fluttershy rubbed the last of the ointment around the base of Dash’s wings, and Dash closed her eyes, leaning into the touch. It felt nice, really, even when Fluttershy wiped her hooves off on Dash’s side. It was a shame she was finished already. She’d have to bother Fluttershy about a massage again sometime soon—maybe she should try to give Fluttershy a massage instead?

“How are you feeling?” asked Fluttershy. “Any better?”

“It doesn’t feel all that different,” Rainbow Dash admitted. “Hey, can I put these babies back in place yet?”

“Oh, of course!” said Fluttershy. “Sorry. You’re just supposed to keep out of sunlight for at least ten minutes after applying it. You probably won’t notice it helping right away, but maybe you’ll feel better in a day instead of two or three? It’s not magic, but it’s supposed to be very good.”

“Alright. Neat,” said Dash, furling her wings and sitting back down. It might not be magic, but even if it wasn’t even proper medicinal ointment, it was something. She tapped her head against the side of Fluttershy’s neck. “I owe you one.”

Fluttershy bit her lip and smiled. “I’m glad to be able to help,” she said.

With breakfast over, there really wasn’t much else to do. Rarity went over to clean her work-area more thoroughly, and Fluttershy brought the dishes over to the water-pump, giving them a rinse. They agreed that they’d have to leave Uncle Mennau a thank-you note for the use of his place, and luckily, they also agreed Rainbow Dash should probably sit and rest her wings for a little while. It beat doing dishes or cleaning, so Dash did as told.

“Hey, Fluttershy. D’you wanna go see if we can actually find some animals after the joust tonight?” Dash asked on a whim. Fluttershy would probably love that, especially if they didn’t get sidetracked again. Not that Dash’d mind either way.

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Fluttershy after a moment, rinsing the dishes with her back turned. “It gets very late.”

“If you do decide to go, please don’t forget to let Phoreni know ahead of time,” said Rarity, leaning in close to scrub the floor with her magic. “I don’t think any of us want to cause another incident. For Phoreni’s sake and our own.”

“We could ask her about animals here,” said Dash, perking up. “She’s a warden, they run around the forest a bunch. If they don’t know where to go do some, uh, animal-watching, then no one does!”

“It’s okay,” said Fluttershy. “I really think we should really just focus on the games, if you don’t mind too much.”

“Alright?” said Dash. She frowned. Sure, it did get a bit late—and that was about as far as her thoughts got before there was a knock on the door. Rarity opened it without looking up, still scrubbing the same spot on the floor.

“If you wish for an appointment—oh, hello, dear,” said Rarity, smiling up at Phoreni.

The peryton warden took one step inside and sniffed the air. Immediately she furrowed her brow and looked about the room until her eyes fell upon Rainbow Dash. Now her mouth hung open. “What have you done?” she asked, her voice hoarse.

“I don’t understand,” said Fluttershy, her breaths quickened and her voice bordering on panic.

“Nor I. The ointment did this?” asked Rarity, frowning deeply. “Is it a side effect?”

Rainbow Dash carefully stretched her wings, just a little. They felt just like before, achy and stiff but otherwise fine. The ointment hadn’t helped, but it hadn’t hurt either. That’s something, she thought, but they were still undeniably green. Both of her wings and part of her back—plus the occasional splotch on her side—were coloured the very same forest green as Phoreni’s top half, the green of the wardens.

While the ponies gathered around Rainbow Dash and tried to figure this out, their peryton friend said nothing, watching them in silence. The door still stood open, and outside, the peryton who’d stood in a loose line before now crowded around it, staring and occasionally talking in low tones amongst themselves.

“So… I guess this is bad?” Dash hazarded. She stretched her wing as far forward as she could, sniffing it. The wings didn’t smell half as strongly now, and a poke revealed nothing. It didn’t leave any of the stuff on her snout. It must have dried already. “It’ll come off, right?”

“It will not come off easily, or soon,” Phoreni finally said, staring at Dash’s wings through narrowed eyes.

“I still don’t understand,” Fluttershy repeated helplessly, her eyes darting back and forth between Dash’s wings and the empty jar. What little ointment was left in the glass container had turned a light shade of green.

“Now, if I recall, this paint is very important to you,” said Rarity, shaking her head slowly. “We’re very sorry if this is a bit of a social misstep, but I assure you—”

Phoreni cut her off with a raised hoof and a glare. She turned her head to glance over her shoulder, looking at the peryton who waited by the door before she answered.

“Is it a misstep?” Phoreni asked, her voice sharp. “I believe it would be good for you to begin packing your things. You cannot stay.”

“What?” snapped Dash. “Are you serious? It’s just some paint!”

Rarity gasped. “You’re throwing us out? Surely you can see that this was just an accident!”

“It was my fault,” said Fluttershy, taking a step forward. “But I didn’t mean to! If you’re going to punish somepony, it should be me.”

“No. Nuh-uh,” said Dash, up in a flash. She pushed Fluttershy aside and stepped in front.

Phoreni let out a long, drawn-out sigh and held up a hoof for silence again. She glared at Dash. “It is not ‘just some paint’, however much you say this. I have told you this and more. Did I ask much of you? I did not think I had asked too much. First, explain to me the circumstances of this shame. It is your turn to help me understand.” She turned to Fluttershy. “Speak.”

Fluttershy nodded rapidly and swallowed, glancing past Phoreni to the crowd.

“For goodness’ sake, can we at least close the door?” Rarity asked in a hissed whisper.

“May we speak in private? You will speak now, and the door stays open,” said Phoreni.

“I—okay, um, so, I visited the big tree—the Promise—and the health station there, the hospital, I don’t know what they called it—”

Rarity stepped up to stand side to side with Fluttershy, opposite of Rainbow Dash. “Darling, please. Breathe,” she said.

Fluttershy paused and took a deep breath as asked, though Dash could see she still trembled. Rainbow Dash leaned a little closer as well.

“I asked for something to help Rainbow Dash’s wings heal, but they didn’t have anything like that,” said Fluttershy. “When I went to buy some food where we ate breakfast yesterday, a very nice peryton said he’d heard me ask for help for hurting wings. He had a jar in his saddle—well, in his bags. He said he had a spare and sold it to me for a gem. It was supposed to be ointment, I was just trying to help!” Fluttershy bit her lower lip.

“This is not ointment,” said Phoreni, pointedly staring at the empty jar. “This is paint for the wardens only.”

“Yeah, we figured that out by now,” said Dash dryly.

“And this paint would not be ‘sold’ by anyone,” Phoreni added, her expression darkening.

“M—maybe the peryton who sold it to me made a mistake? Maybe he thought it was something else?” Fluttershy stammered. “He said he got it from someone else, please don’t be angry with us just because—”

“None would sell it to another to be sold, either,” Phoreni snapped. “You cannot tell the truth, you—”

“Back. Off!” Dash snarled, taking a step forward. She felt a stab of pain as she flared her wings as wide as she could, shielding Fluttershy and Rarity. “Are you calling Fluttershy a liar? Because if you do, we’re gonna have a big, big problem.” She bared her teeth and pinned her ears flat.

Phoreni took one step backwards, turning her head to one side. Dash had no idea what went into that gesture, but she didn’t care and didn’t move. No one got to talk like that to Fluttershy or any of her friends.

“Please be reasonable,” said Rarity, lowering one of Dash’s wings with a hoof. “Surely you don’t believe we would be so insensitive. We’ve all had a wonderful time together, here. You can’t just throw that away!”

“I was only trying to help,” came Fluttershy’s faint voice from behind Dash.

Phoreni looked over her back to the peryton watching. She shook her head slowly. “Perhaps this is one of the things that do not translate, either. You do not understand the hurt. This is not only offensive to us as a people, but to me.” The painted doe did not even look at them any more. She turned away from them, facing the door. “I will try to look past the hurt in time, but I blame myself. I have not made it clear enough how important the paint is to us.”

“So you don’t believe Fluttershy, then. You believe we did this on purpose,” said Rarity with an unladylike snort. “Why would we?” Dash felt her hackles rise again.

“It does not matter what I believe. It will not come off easily,” said Phoreni. “You are here at my sufferance. At the wardens’ sufferance. Ephydoera will see how callous we are with our tasks and our tools, and we will all be weakened for it.” She walked away, lingering in the doorway where the other peryton now moved aside.

“I ask that you do not harm me further by saying these things do not matter—do you not have things that matter to yourselves? Can those things not be threatened? Are you all so rootless and impossible to harm that you do not see it?” Her voice became impassioned by degrees, but when she finished, Phoreni slumped, slinking out the door with her head low. “I will return soon to escort you north. I will put you on the trade road to Vauhorn, and ask you not to return.”

“Okay, hear me out,” said Rainbow Dash. “If you can find the guy who sold us the stuff—”

“Cease,” said Phoreni.

“Fluttershy, do you remember what he looked like? What was he called?” asked Dash.

“I didn’t get a name,” Fluttershy mumbled into her mane.

“His feather-colours? Anything? There’s gotta be a way to find—”

“Cease!” Phoreni hissed. “Do I care about the details? They are nothing to me, not at this moment.” She gave Dash an intense look. “We will take you to the main trade paths and show you the one that leads to Vauhorn. Do not convince us to do even less.”

“If you would just listen—”

“I will not listen, it is you who must listen,” Phoreni retorted. “You must cease speaking.”

Rainbow Dash exhaled through her nose, making sure to glare at Phoreni, returning her stare. She didn’t look angry right now, but her actions spoke loud enough. It wasn’t the first time Dash had tried to reason with the peryton, and she only kept at it because Rarity seemed to have given up. None of the other five wardens who escorted them spoke at all. They’d been on the narrow forest paths for a while now, and Dash was getting really tired of all the stares her painted wings still earned.

It wasn’t like Rainbow Dash had never been kicked out of a place before. She knew Pinkie Pie, after all, but it was one thing to be banned from Snowmelt’s ice cream parlour for a week. It was something else entirely to be exiled from a city—or a forest? The walk from Mennau’s tree-house to the edge of the Grove was something Rainbow Dash would not soon forget, and Fluttershy had barely spoken since. All those hostile looks from painted and unpainted peryton alike had taken a toll even on Dash, and she was used to a bit of stink-eye in the pursuit of winning.

Dash sighed and tried to get Fluttershy to look at her, but the other pegasus had her eyes squarely on the road, putting one hoof in front of the other. When Dash reached out to touch a wing to her side, Fluttershy didn’t react at all. What was Phoreni’s big idea anyway? She’d made a show of stopping every now and then, announcing what had happened to the curious onlookers. These trespassers have humiliated the wardens. They are being escorted to the Vauhorn trade road without delay. She had flipped from friend to stone-faced warden in an instant.

“Do you want me to take a turn with the cart, dear?” asked Rarity.

Rainbow Dash barely registered the question at first. She glanced over her back at the cart while she thought about it. She’d forgotten she was harnessed to the thing, really, already used to pulling the extra weight and trudging down the endless road.

“I’m fine,” said Dash, shaking her head. “I can’t believe this.”

Rarity said nothing, staring ahead.

“You ever been kicked out of a place before?” Dash asked.

“Unless you count that disaster at the gala, of course n—oh, no, that’s not quite true.” A smile tugged on one of Rarity’s cheeks. “Pinkie Pie and I were… asked to leave once.”

“Snowmelt’s?”

“The very same.”

“Fluttershy?”

“Mhm. It’s a wonder Pinkie Pie gets any ice cream from Snowmelt, ever,” said Fluttershy. She didn’t look up, but she wore a wan half-smile herself.

“I don’t know. I think the mystery is how she keeps that place running. Snowmelt’s just a grump,” said Dash, snorting. “And some things aren’t worth kicking ponies out over, if you ask me.” She hadn’t planned that little stab at Phoreni, but Twilight would be proud of her snark.

Twilight probably would’ve also had a plan that got them not kicked out. Or un-kicked-out. Whatever the case, Phoreni didn’t so much as blink. Dash got a stern look from one of their escorts, though. None of them ran, jumped and ducked in the forest nearby like they had on the way to the Grove. If the peryton walked any closer, they’d be force-marching the ponies shoulder to shoulder.

They were well past the hottest part of the day when the narrow, annoying, branches-grabbing-at-the-cart-wheels-y path spat them out onto a wider dirt road. While it would be a stretch to say that the exact place was familiar, the brown dirt road and the distant clucking sounds of the river Meronna definitely registered.

“Lelyrros, take the flight back on the path two short runs east,” said Phoreni. “We will go on patrol before we make our way back to the Grove. The High Warden will think ill enough of me for letting these travellers roost with us, so let us wander until moonrise. We will discuss the route when we are alone.”

One of the painted stags nodded, tilting his head east. The remaining peryton darted through the brush, disappearing in an instant. The stag alone lingered for a moment.

“I will find you,” Phoreni added. “First, I will give the ponies one final favour in setting them on the trade road to Vauhorn. I was given charge. I will see this to its end.”

The warden-stag nodded again, vanishing into the dense undergrowth without a word. Phoreni stared off into the direction the rest of her patrol had gone, silent for a while.

“I do hope we haven’t caused trouble for you, dear,” said Rarity, her ears splayed. “I feel just terrible about this.”

“It’s okay if we have to leave, but please don’t be angry with us,” said Fluttershy, her voice as thin as Dash had ever heard it.

“You’re not actually in trouble this time, are you?” asked Rainbow Dash. She tried very hard to shut up the part of her that wanted to yell at Phoreni for being so stupid about all of this. The hurt on Fluttershy and Rarity’s faces didn’t make it easy, but she also knew that Phoreni had done a lot for them already.

“Be quiet, be still,” said Phoreni, perking her small ears. Did her horns glow ever so faintly just then? Whatever she was doing, Dash’s sympathy rapidly waned. If she was going to keep being a jerk over an accident, fine. See if she cared.

“Now, follow,” said Phoreni, hopping onto the dirt road and waving them on. She didn’t look half as rigid as she had a moment ago, and not until that moment did Dash realise the difference between the Phoreni they’d met on the road days ago, and Phoreni as she’d been when they hung out at the joust—not that it mattered. Dash pulled the cart between the last of the intrusive bushes and frowned.

“Yeah, we’re not really in a rush right now, thanks.” Dash said, letting out a great snort. ”Just tell us which way to go.”

“Rainbow Dash, there’s no need to be rude,” said Rarity, her heart clearly not in it.

“Oh, I’m the one being rude—”

“The paint is important,” interrupted Phoreni. “It is no joking matter.”

“I get that,” said Dash, glaring at her. “We all get it. We got it when you walked us out of town.”

“As important as the paint is to us, our safety matters more, always,” Phoreni continued. They were getting another lecture? Now? Dash stared in disbelief. “Ours is the task of protecting against the Bow. Ours is the guardianship of not just Khosta Forest, but all of Perytonia.”

“You’ve told us all this before. So what?” asked Dash, her voice steadily rising. ”We said we’re sorry, and Fluttershy didn’t mean to do it, but if you don’t believe us? If you’re so mad at us right now? Just tell us which way to go and leave us alone!” The words hurt coming out of her mouth. She’d really pegged Phoreni as cooler than this.

Phoreni slowed her step a little, letting her fall in with the ponies who walked close together. “Fluttershy, ask me a question,” she said, as quiet as Dash had been loud. “Ask me if I believe you had ill intent. Ask me, do I believe your story?”

Fluttershy shrank back against Rainbow Dash ever so slightly, glancing nervously at the peryton when Phoreni leaned in a little closer. “I don’t understand, why?” asked Fluttershy.

“She doesn’t have to do anything you ask,” Dash said, sneering. “You told her you don’t believe her.”

“I am not sure I appreciate the tone either. If I have to be honest, I think we are past the point of humouring you,” said Rarity with a sniff.

“I do not care what it takes to make you do this,” said Phoreni, blank-faced. “I call upon the sum of gifts I have given you. Housing, guidance and food. I am owed this. Ask me if I believe you.”

Dash shook her head, having no idea what Phoreni was on about, but she sounded urgent, almost desperate. It was starting to unnerve Dash. She reached out with a wing to support Fluttershy, but it didn’t look like Fluttershy needed it. The other pegasus stood a little taller, nodding.

“It’s okay. Well, do you? Do you believe that I didn’t mean it? Do you believe what I told you about the stag selling me the ointment?” Fluttershy asked, raising a brow.

“Yes,” said Phoreni, staring at Fluttershy with unblinking eyes. “Yes, I do believe your story as you tell it. No, I do not believe you would lie, steal or mislead.”

“Then nothing of this makes sense,” said Rarity, shaking her head. It took Dash a moment to register that Phoreni had used the words that they supposedly tried never to use here in Ephydoera. Direct yes's and no’s. Was that meant to be a big deal?

“But you still want us to leave,” Fluttershy said, swallowing audibly.

“I can tell you still do not understand what you did,” said Phoreni, and now she, too, sounded sad. She turned away as she spoke. “Perhaps you never will, but you must believe that the pain I felt is real, and that the insult—the affront to the wardens is real, too, but if you are not to blame, then…” she sighed, still fixed on the trees by the roadside. “Then we will understand and move beyond in time. If you can not understand this because your city is so strange it does not let you see, then I am sorry, too, for I have not been greedy enough in asking and learning of you as you have of us.”

“Fine,” said Dash, stopping on the spot and forcing the others to stop with her. This was getting entirely too confusing, complicated, or stupid for her, and she wasn’t sure which. “Then tell us what to do to fix it. Are we still friends at all? What’s going on?”

Phoreni chewed her cheek, silent for a moment before she replied. “Are you forgiven? There is hurt, but these wounds will heal. If you were believed, one could make your case before the High Warden. There are always exceptions, there are always ways to make right from wrong. We do not wish to wring out apologies, we do not wish to punish. If there is an explanation, who are we to jealously cling to our hurt?”

Fluttershy blinked and stared and Dash tried to wrap her mind around all the stuff Phoreni had said, leaving Rarity to speak up. The unicorn’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

“So what you are saying,” said Rarity, her every word crisp and precise, “is that you didn’t have to escort us out. You are are saying that you knew of a way to make this right, or at least that you could take us before the High Warden to let us explain properly?”

Dash felt her heart hammer in her chest. “Kicking us out was your idea? This is your call?”

Fluttershy shook her head from side to side. “But… but you’re the one who walked us through the Grove and told everyone we were being taken away just now. Did you lie? I thought you just said you believed us—that you believed me, but you didn’t believe me at all earlier! I don’t understand!”

Rainbow Dash heard the rush of blood in her ears, her muscles tensing up, her jaw creaking as she clenched her teeth. She hadn’t been a little wrong about Phoreni, she’d been dead wrong, as wrong as she could be. The peryton who stood in front of them was the worst sort imaginable, and Dash was an idiot for thinking—

“I do believe you, and I am helping you, now walk with me—” Phoreni began.

“Helping?!” Dash shouted. She pushed and tugged at the harness to get herself free, never mind the straps. “How about I help you a little? I’ll show you how helpful I can be!”

“Be still,” hissed Phoreni. The peryton doe leaned in until she was snout to snout with Rainbow Dash, and the only thing that calmed Dash a little was the concerned look on her face. Anger, Dash could have understood, because she was plenty angry herself, and she wanted Phoreni to show regret, but instead she got concern. Worry.

“Walk with me, please.” Phoreni said, urgent. She drew back and glanced to each side, scanning the surrounding forest before she walked down the road without looking back.

For lack of any better option, with her anger blunted, Rainbow Dash followed, and the others did the same.

“I need to leave soon if I am to catch up to my patrol,” said Phoreni. “I deserve some of your scorn, and you deserve all of my gratitude. Not just for the peryton who might have gotten hurt by the hydra you chased off, but for helping me.”

“We don’t seem to have done much good at all,” said Rarity with a huff.

“Do I struggle with questions of self-worth?” asked Phoreni. “I never have, but you still have made me see in myself joy in showing Ephydoera to visitors. This you cannot take back. You have made me a bigger person. But first, before all, I ward. When I am surprised, when I am uncomfortable, I become what I always have been. A warden. A protector.”

“If you’re trying to say sorry, you’re doing a terrible job,” muttered Dash.

“I did as I planned,” said Phoreni. “Fluttershy, you must now describe to me in detail the kin who sold you the paint.”

Fluttershy gave Phoreni a dubious look. “I thought you didn’t care. Rainbow Dash suggested that maybe we should try to find him, but you didn’t want to hear it.”

Rarity drew a sharp breath, her eyes widening. “Fluttershy dear, it may be best if you tell her as much as you remember. I think I’m starting to see.”

“If only one of you yet understand, I am doing a poor job of explaining,” suggested Phoreni. “I thought I had made this clear as soon as we left the Grove. Our safety may be at stake.”

“You think what happened was deliberate,” Rarity said, lowering her voice. “That someone did this to us on purpose.”

Phoreni nodded. “I believe it may, and that someone did.”

Fluttershy said nothing, expressionless. Dash blinked. “Hang on,” she said. “You think the guy who sold Fluttershy the paint was trying to get us kicked out?”

Phoreni nodded, moving the group along a little faster. “None would sell it. None should. Two crimes have happened today, and your use of the paint is not one of them. The first is that the paint has made its way outside the wardens’ keeping. The other, that you were turned away and made to leave the Grove.”

“You did that!” Dash said, groaning with exasperation. “You’re the one who ‘turned us away’. That wouldn’t have been a problem if you’d—”

“If I had let the one who did this know we were on their trail? If I announced that I believed Fluttershy, they would be gone in a moment,” said Phoreni, not missing a beat. “They predicted my reaction to be the reaction of any warden. Who in their right mind would believe strangers—outsiders they have met days before—when they say the unthinkable has happened? We had an audience when I discovered what had happened, and I could not betray that I believed you. Now, because of my subterfuge, the ones who did this believe themselves safe and hidden.” She shook her head. “This only serves a purpose if I am right. If this is malice and not Esorys’ absurd chance.”

Fluttershy looked up at Phoreni, smiling with folded ears. “But you do believe me?”

“I have said this,” said Phoreni, glancing back down at Fluttershy. She took a deep breath before she continued. “Perhaps that makes me unfit to ward. Perhaps I have lost my mind, but I believe you. I have barely met you, but I see an earnestness in your heart that only the greatest of warriors have. I see in all three of you a bond.”

“That doesn’t answer the question of why anyone would do such a thing,” said Rarity, the unicorn’s brow knit in a severe frown. “What could we possibly have done to make someone wish us gone?”

“In looking to solve the mystery of the wayward paint, I hope to find the answer to this as well.” Phoreni sighed. “And now that you perhaps believe me, I may as well say the words: I am sorry for what I had to do. If there is a misguided kin among my people who fears strangers, this is not how one shows it. This wrong will be made right. Perhaps in time I will find someone to carry a letter to tell you what comes of it, but for now, I will show you a clever path to Vauhorn.”

Rarity let the cart catch up to her, rooting around it while they walked until she produced the map Khaird had gifted them. She unfolded it and held it aloft with her magic in front of the ponies. “It’s just the rightmost fork past the river, is it not? Well, the ‘eastern’ fork, I suppose. As much as we appreciate it, I am sure we can find it on our own if you are in a hurry.”

“That is not the path I will recommend,” said Phoreni without looking at the map.

“So you lied—well, misled people about that, too?” asked Fluttershy. “You told everyone you’re taking us to the trade road. Very loudly, too.”

For once, Rainbow Dash understood where this was going. “You think we’re still in danger,” she said. She stared at the trees that surrounded them, but unless they were very afraid of an ambush by bushes, there was precious little terror there.

Phoreni shook her head. “Do I believe you are threatened? I think what happened in the Grove is strange, but I cannot see why anyone would threaten you, unless you have a secret purpose here. If you are diplomats, I see no reason, but safety is my purpose, my calling.” She leaned back to nip at one of her own feathers, frowning when she turned her attention back to the ponies. “I misled everyone, my patrol-flight included, for your benefit, and I will show you a better path just in case. If only for this, you must now believe I care about you.”

“To be quite honest, I don’t know where we stand right now, dear, but I believe you,” said Rarity, sighing.

“I’d like to think we’re still friends,” said Fluttershy with downcast eyes. “Really, I’m very sorry about what happened.”

“I don’t know, sure,” said Dash with a shrug. It was so much easier to believe that Phoreni wasn’t some kind of lying jerk, anyway. “This is still a dumb way to have to leave.”

“Is this the farewell I would have wanted? I lament what has happened, too,” said Phoreni with a full-bodied sigh. “But if we have established trust again, then I now need you to tell me as much as you remember about the stag who sold you the paint. After this, I will give you directions.”

Fluttershy nodded swiftly, Rarity dug around their belongings looking for something, and Rainbow Dash pulled the cart along, keeping an eye out for ambushes from the bushes.

“After… bridge,” Fluttershy said, speaking around the sketching tool she’d borrowed from Rarity. “Marked with red. Straight... ahead. Was that all?” How she managed to write while moving, and on a map Rarity held up for her with her magic, Dash didn’t know, but it was impressive to watch.

“That is as far as my path will take you. You will be out of the Splitwood and close to the coast, close to Vauhorn,” said Phoreni, leaning over to inspect Fluttershy’s writing as though she could read it. “You cannot go astray if you keep to my words. Even should you manage to leave the path or leave the Splitwood entirely, you are trapped between the two trade roads and will know if you have failed to heed my instructions. I am one of few who have walked the Splitwood recently, and my memory is sharp for brush-paths.”

“That was quite a lot of detail,” said Rarity, packing away her writing implements and turning the map around. Rainbow Dash barely looked at it, busy negotiating a particularly bad part of the road. So many rocks.

“If your directions take us all the way to Vauhorn, then this is a very long trip,” said Fluttershy, intently staring at the map.

Rarity chewed her cheek and nodded, lowering the map again to look over at Phoreni. “Exactly how long—or, well, how many statues, I suppose I should ask? They’ve been useful for keeping track of things.”

Phoreni shrugged. “How many guardians of Selyria will you find? It is hard to say. They are not spread evenly throughout these paths as they are on the roads. Do not be shy about bedding early or walking through the night, is my advice. You will be travelling for a week or more.”

“Oh,” said Dash. A week. Or eight days if it’s one of their weeks. Over a week in a forest. “Good. Great.”

“A week,” repeated Fluttershy in a hollow voice. “That means there’s no way we won’t be outside when the storm hits.”

“There is much shelter to be found in the Splitwood,” said Phoreni, squinting as she peered down the road. Dash could see a sharp turn coming up, and the rush of the river was louder now. “Better were you in the Grove and not alone, but you will persevere. Unless it falls early upon next sunrise, you will be in the Splitwood with many places to seek cover. You will find trees, ruins and holds.”

“Ruins?” asked Rarity, her snout creased. “Frankly, one visit to ancient ruins in a pony’s life is one visit too many, and I had mine in the Everfree long ago. Let me guess, some long-lost civilisation, forgotten by time and such?”

“Lost? They are ours,” said Phoreni, her face blank. “Many hundred years old. We roosted in the Splitwood before, but it made sense to move to Khosta from Splitwood. The Splitwood has no strategic importance, no threats. Better to be closer to the Bow and its dangers. I do not know exactly when or how Ephydoera moved from the Morillyn within the Splitwood as a whole. Perhaps I will ask Loriessa now that you have made we wonder.”

Fluttershy made a small humming noise. “You mentioned a Loriessa before. Are they some sort of historian?”

Phoreni inclined her head. “That, as well. She is a song-wright, one who takes an interest in the stories particular to Ephydoera, and one of my dear loves.”

“Wait, love? I thought you and Khyrast were, uh, together or something,” said Dash, raising a brow.

“We are. All three of us. Loriessa finds love in Aoras as well, but I keep to her and Khyrast,” said Phoreni with a sidelong glance at Fluttershy. “I understand that two of you are bonded in love, but for a while I wondered if it extended to all three of you.”

Dash felt a laugh bubble up while Rarity chuckled and shook her head. Fluttershy for her part gave a soft giggle and smiled fondly at Rarity. “We’re all very good friends, but yes, it’s not very common in Equestria for more than two ponies to be together like that,” said Fluttershy.

“This is curious to me,” said Phoreni, losing the fight with a smile of her own. “You all express your love for each other so much as to be embarrassing to me. You are twice as loud in your affections as any Ortosian I have met.”

This time Dash couldn’t keep from bursting into a fit of giggles. “You should meet Pinkie Pie. I’d pay to see that!”

“I would pay more to avoid that,” murmured Rarity. “I think we’ve done quite enough to damage our relations here.”

Phoreni elected not to comment, and Rainbow Dash’s laugh ended in a sigh, Rarity’s comment reminding her of what Phoreni’s stoic demeanour had made her temporarily forget. They weren’t just leaving. They were being shown the door. The sooner they left this place behind, the better.

Past the bend in the road, they soon hit a stout wooden bridge crossing the rushing river. The woodwork reminded Dash of all the platforms and buildings in the trees of the Grove, and both of the long bridge’s ends were nearly lost in the dense forest that hung out over the river. Phoreni stopped before their hooves touched wood, halting them at the threshold. Fluttershy cleared her throat just as Phoreni turned around.

“Before you go, um, do you have a moment?”

Phoreni took a deep breath and exhaled through her nose, nodding as she turned her attention to the ponies once more. “Can I spare another minute? I will help if I can, but my subterfuge is made more blatant with every moment I fail to join my flight.”

Fluttershy opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated, looking to Rarity and Rainbow Dash instead. Rarity nodded quickly, understanding passing between them.

“Yes, well, we wanted to ask if there was anything you could tell us of Vauhorn, and perhaps of Cotronna as well,” said Rarity. “Each time we arrive at a new city, we find ourselves a little—what would one say?”

Right. The asking about absolutely everything thing. “Clueless?” supplied Dash.

Phoreni knit her brow for a moment. “I understand your lack of understanding, but we are all Peryton, kin to each other—”

“Could’ve fooled me,” Dash murmured.

“—and trying to think of what is not obvious, is not easy,” Phoreni finished.

“Anything that helps us not offend anyone else,” said Fluttershy, her ears splayed. “That would be nice.”

“Their favoured Aspects would be a start,” said Rarity with a hopeful smile. “Perhaps if you tell us what they mean, that might help.”

“Vauhornites favour all Aspects,” said Phoreni. “This is not obvious. For one who does not know the Aspects—this is not an easy thing for me to imagine—you cannot speak well with them. Their speech is tied to the stories of the Aspects.”

Dash blinked. “Yeah, so, can you… try that again?”

Phoreni tapped a hoof on the ground. “Where a Cotronnan will demand ceremony in speech, the Vauhornite will share freely stories of the Aspects in speaking. To them it can be speech, not only knowledge.”

Rainbow Dash looked to Fluttershy, who looked at Rarity, who glanced at Dash.

“Okay?” said Dash.

Phoreni shook her head slowly. “You are receptive, flexible, and understanding, more than any I have met. You will adapt, but I do not know how to better explain. Both cities stand on ceremony, both are more fond of their stories than their storytellers unlike we, but Vauhornites more than all, as makes sense. From Vauhorn flows more stories than from any other city.”

“So it’s a city full of that old doe outside of Stagrum,” said Dash with a sigh.

“Phydra,” said Fluttershy.

“Yeah, her.”

Phoreni flexed her wings, sending dirt whirling about. “Is this all?”

“I think so,” Fluttershy said.

“Nah,” Dash cut in. “Fluttershy wanted to know what the animal life is like up ahead, and Rarity probably meant to ask you about clothes.”

Fluttershy did not protest, closing her mouth but looking at Phoreni with hope in her eyes. Rarity tried and failed to look uninterested.

“Well. I don’t want to impose,” said Rarity. “But if you have any insight into what they wear, well, I wouldn’t be ungrateful.”

“Animal life in the Splitwood is richer than the Khosta, and the forest is rarely trod,” said Phoreni, impatience clear in her voice. “Clothes? Wear? I do not know. Vauhornite traders walk unpainted like all kin who are not wardens, and Cotronnans will wear whatever fits their ceremony, I understand. For trade, this is nothing. I must be going, or else be missed and forced to explain.”

“Right. Yeah, you do that,” said Dash. She couldn’t be annoyed at Phoreni specifically any more, even if all the sneakiness and secrecy did her head in. She just kept thinking to all the cool stuff they would miss out on. “Heh, have fun with the joust and all.”

“It will be lesser for the lack of you three,” said Phoreni. They were simple words, but she gave Dash a long, unreadable look before she went on. “Make no mistake, I hope to see you again one day and I think us friends, but we need time apart for the hurt to heal. The paint unearned needs to be gone.”

“If it was up to me, it’d be gone yesterday,” grunted Dash, staring at her green wings and the discoloured splotches about her side. “You sure it can’t be washed off?”

“New feathers or time are the only solutions I know.” Phoreni spread her wings fully, the larger mirror of Dash’s own. “Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, our meeting has been a boon, and your journeys are the journeys of Helesseia, Selyria, Daros and all. Your home city and Ephydoera are one. Joy and luck to you.”

Chapter 17

Warden Phoreni,

The High Warden calls you to the Lodge. You will appear before next sun, or you will give up the rights of the paint.

This relates to the events of the Equestrians recently departed from the Grove.

-High Warden

“This is a load of hay,” said Dash. The cart-wheels rolled against the bridge and the river made river-like noises. Three sets of hooves reluctantly attacked the bridge, and hard steps clopped against wood, threatening to drown out her words.

Dash raised her voice a little. “I said—”

“Yes!” said Rarity, even louder, capping herself off with a sigh. “We get it, Rainbow, dear. You are angry, and we are all upset. This is not how I imagined our visit to Ephydoera ending, either.”

“I’m not angry!” snapped Dash. “I’m annoyed. There’s a big difference!”

“Maybe frustrated?” suggested Fluttershy with a smile. “I’m a little bit frustrated, but I’m ever so relieved Phoreni believed me. I don’t know what I’d do if she hadn’t.”

“I know what I’d do,” snarled Dash.

“Rainbow Dash!” said Fluttershy, frowning at her.

“What?” said Dash, but it was pointless. She dipped her head. “I get that she was trying to help, and yeah, she’s stuck her neck out plenty for us.” Rainbow Dash felt her snout crinkling. “But she could have told us—”

“Girls, please,” groaned Rarity.

“Whatever,” said Dash, taking the cart off the far end of the bridge, putting them back on the dirt road. She glanced along the river. The Meronna ran straight enough that they were afforded a rare and clear look west. They were closer now than they’d been even on that night on the hilltop: Behind the closest mountains that loomed large were more peaks, mountain upon mountain with a touch of dark green at their base that Rainbow Dash hadn’t noticed in the dark of night.

“I think this is the first path,” said Fluttershy. Dash looked up, and saw Rarity and Fluttershy standing by the side of the road, pointing to a partially obscured path that led off the road—and more bushes hungry for cart-wheels. Dash grunted and nodded, forcing the cart through. Once again, the canopy above grew more dense. Though the forest wasn’t quite as bad as it had been closer to the Grove, it was thicker than the eastern edges of the Khosta by far.

“I still feel this is a touch paranoid,” commented Rarity.

“Better safe than sorry, right?” Fluttershy replied. “And speaking of safety, maybe we should look at all the things we have on our cart. We didn’t have time to pick up food—”

“Oh dear,” breathed Rarity, freezing.

“—so we’ll just have to graze or forage. I’m sure we’ll be fine,” Fluttershy finished. She smiled with obvious optimism that Rainbow Dash tried to join in on. The memory of the dry grasses she’d tried on the southern Perytonian plains weren’t pleasant, but they were in a forest now. Something had to be edible here.

Rarity, who now looked around with a critical eye, must’ve come to the same conclusion. She no longer wore the look she’d had a moment earlier, not unlike that one time Dash told her Pinkie Pie had made breakfast in her kitchen.

“I—well. Alright, I hope you are right,” said Rarity. “Let us take stock of all we have, shall we? Help me clear some space.”

Rainbow Dash wasted no time in ditching the cart and enlisting Fluttershy’s help in bending away some nosey ferns and plants while Rarity rooted around the cart. A shadow passed over Rainbow Dash’s head, and she ducked as Rarity’s supply chest sailed past.

“One chest containing assorted fabrics and tools of the trade,” said Rarity with a sour look. “Including a few failed projects, Stagrumite jewellery, three Ortosian scarves, three winter scarves, and four complete—if dusty—dresses that will fit pegasi, and are of no interest to peryton.”

“Maybe the peryton in Vauhorn or Cotronna will like them,” said Fluttershy.

“Perhaps you’re right,” said Rarity, chewing her bottom lip before she turned back to the cart. “I understood what Phoreni said as the Cotronnans maybe being more open to fashion, but forget the dresses for a moment—she also said that they were partial to ‘ceremony’? I don’t know what to make of that.”

“Maybe like the Summer Sun celebration,” Dash said. “That’s a ceremony.” Fluttershy shrugged and eeped as three pairs of saddlebags zipped past her and came to a gentle halt atop the chest.

“Saddlebags!” Rarity announced. “Mostly personal belongings. Mine contain toiletries, basic makeup, my sketching tools and paper, the box with the royal seal, as well as the magical parchment specifically made for use with the dragonfire. Also, my journal.”

“I just have the book on wildlife, the reports from Red Sun Runner we all have, and the traveller’s kit Twilight suggested we bring. Oh, and the two pairs of antlers,” Fluttershy added when she saw the large wooden prongs poking out from the bags, her smile fading for a second.

“Your saddlebags don’t seem to close fully,” Rarity pointed out, frowning at them. Her magic surrounded the butterfly-adorned saddlebags. “Let me fix—oh. My apologies.”

Fluttershy tilted her head and blinked as a small canvas bag fell out of her saddlebags at Rarity’s touch. “Um, that’s not mine,” she said before Rarity could tuck it away. The unicorn frowned and levitated the bag closer to her.

“Indeed? I don’t recognise this either. Rainbow Dash?”

Dash shrugged. “Beats me. I’ve never seen it.”

Rarity looked to Fluttershy again, who shrugged helplessly.

“Well, then… I suppose we’ll have a look?” Rarity asked nopony at all, shaking her head. She opened the bag and peered inside, one brow quirked impossibly high. “It’s… leaves and some roots. They smell quite good—look.”

Rainbow Dash peered inside the bag when Rarity pushed it a little closer, and Fluttershy did the same, though Dash at least was no closer to an answer.

“I guess someone… dropped it?” Dash said.

“Dropped it inside Fluttershy’s saddlebags. Really,” said Rarity with a flat look.

“I think those are the same leaves and roots we ate yesterday, actually,” Fluttershy said. “And the only one who’s been with our things except us—”

“Is Phoreni,” Rarity finished for her.

Dash frowned. “You think she snuck it onto our cart when she ‘helped’ us pack? She said she was just trying to get us out of there quicker.”

“Mm, but we now know she didn’t… well, we know she was just putting on a play, almost,” Fluttershy said. “I guess she was worried we’d go hungry.”

Rarity sighed. “Well, it’s not much, but it’s something. That’s very kind of her.”

Fluttershy nodded. “But we shouldn’t eat it tonight. We should save it. The roots won’t spoil.”

“If you say so,” Rarity allowed, packing the bag away. “But, we were taking inventory. That’s my saddlebags done, as well as Fluttershy’s. What about you, Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Like I said way back, nothing important.”

“Darling,” said Rarity, fixing her with a look. “This is not the time to be coy. If you have anything that might make our journey easier, do tell us. Any ointment for sore hooves? I’ve been thinking about how silly it was for me not to bring any.”

Rainbow Dash very carefully avoided looking at Rarity, or Fluttershy, or anything else for that matter. She cleared her throat. “Yeah, uh. I doubt I have that.”

“You… doubt it?” asked Fluttershy, tilting her head.

Rarity stared at the saddlebags emblazoned with her cutie mark, and for a second, Dash wondered if the unicorn would make a grab for it and open them without asking. It didn’t matter. Dash would probably have to fess up at some point.

“Right, so I have no idea what’s in my bags,” said Dash, kicking at the grass with a hoof. “You got me.”

Rarity stared and blinked rapidly. Fluttershy looked at Dash like she thought she was exactly as crazy as she was. Or, well, crazy might not be the right word, but it certainly rhymed with “crazy”.

“I may have been a little lazy about it. I put off packing until the last moment,” said Dash, flicking her itching ears. “When Twilight told me—uh, yelled at me that we would be late for the train, I tossed everything in my top bedroom drawer into the saddlebags and ran so it wouldn’t look like I hadn’t packed.”

“Wonderful,” said Rarity, rubbing her forehead. “I expect a stale sunflower sandwich and some mold. Moving on!”

“Hey, it fooled you!” said Dash, grinning triumphantly. Neither Rarity nor Fluttershy looked particularly impressed, though. Fluttershy even did that little shake-of-the-head that was full of her own special brand of pity, and Dash decided to drop it.

“Bottle of dragonfire, carefully wrapped in our sleeping blanket,” Rarity went on. She separated the two, folding the blanket atop of the saddlebags, and turned the bottle around in her magical grip before she put it on top. “I think we’d best keep this one as safe as possible. They said it only works once, so we’ll have to save it for when we need to ask for transport back home.”

“What else’ve we got?” asked Dash. “Any of the grass balls left?”

“You ate the last of those days ago, dear,” said Rarity, hovering over the last of the items on their cart in short order. “One sack of gems, one map, a tarp as un-fabulous as they come, the wooden bowls, and those strange water-bags Naressa gave us that I forgot about.”

“I guess we’ll need those now since we left those huge jars behind,” said Dash, not mourning the heavy things in the least.

“Yes, that is a bit of a shame,” agreed Rarity. “I suppose we better fill those bags in the river now while we have a chance.”

“Especially since we’ll be travelling north and leaving the river behind,” said Fluttershy with a quick nod. “Even if it’s a little less hot now, we’ll need plenty of water. There might not be a lot of rivers and streams for us to drink from, so we have to be careful.”

Rainbow Dash stuck a hoof in one of her ears and rooted around for the source of an itch. “Eh, I dunno. If we run out, I can probably grab a cloud somewhere and wring some water from it. We’ll be fine.”

“While that is a good backup plan, I don’t know that I like relying on that,” said Rarity, sounding a little less convinced. “It will have to do. I suppose when this storm hits, water will be the least of our worries.”

Rainbow Dash spread her wings as much as they would let her, sniffing the air. “Yeah, well, it’s not today or tomorrow,” she said. It was hard to tell with all the weird forest-smells about, and there was barely any movement in the wind at all. “Besides, it’s just a storm, how bad—”

“Could we, um, maybe not finish that sentence?” asked Fluttershy.

“How bad can it be?” said Dash, grinning.

As Phoreni suggested, the Khostan paths that the wardens used often stayed close to the roads, and this particular one ran mostly straight—except to dip close to, and run parallel to the road once in awhile. It was perfect for keeping an eye on anyone else travelling on the road proper, and just wide enough for their little cart. Wide enough, and clear enough of overgrowth that Dash happily let Fluttershy and Rarity take their own turns with the cart.

Had the lone peryton Dash saw at their rest stop by the waterfall used these paths? She still couldn’t fully believe it hadn’t been one of the Ephydoerans who supposedly spied on them.

It didn’t matter too much. If there was one thing that worried Rainbow Dash a teensy tiny bit—and nothing did, of course—it was how none of the three ponies had further pushed the idea of not following Phoreni’s advice. Keeping off the road meant that they thought there was even the smallest chance there was something to worry about. If Dash didn’t say anything, did that mean she thought that was possible, too?

“Here’s the first branch,” said Fluttershy before Rarity had even unfolded the map with its instructions. “We’re supposed to keep right until we exit the Khosta, which shouldn’t take long. That’s easy to remember.”

Rarity put the map back down with a quick nod. “Not much room for us to fail, I don’t think.”

Rainbow Dash squinted at the so-called path. She wouldn’t have noticed the off-shoot going left if Fluttershy and Rarity hadn’t pointed it out to her.

“How’re we gonna know when we’re really out of the forest?” asked Dash while Fluttershy tugged the cart to get it moving again. “When we left Stagrum, there were trees everywhere before it really became a forest. It’s not like there’s a border.”

“This path is supposed to hit the main road before it splits in two,” said Fluttershy. “I’m sure it’ll make sense.”

“Alright,” said Dash with a shrug and her eyes fastened upon Fluttershy—on her girlfriend. That word would probably never get old. Also decidedly new, Fluttershy didn’t seem half as bothered by the cart as Dash remembered. Maybe it was the cooler evening air. Or maybe Fluttershy had gotten used to it. Stronger. Dash was more than okay with the realisation.

“Phoreni said we’d have to follow the main road for a short while, if I recall, but right now, I’m more concerned with finding somewhere to sleep,” called Rarity from the front.

The point was well made: Without statues a day’s journey apart, they were forced to keep moving without the promise that they’d eventually find a statue to serve as a natural stop. It had been past noon when they left town, and sunlight faded by degrees. Innumerable bushes, ferns and freakishly large flowers passed by, and suddenly, Fluttershy’s turn with the cart was over. Rarity took over without a word, they moved on, and sundown came all too fast. Rainbow Dash grabbed the cart again a little earlier than her turn, to no protest. Now she brought up the rear of their little procession, trailing in the wake of Rarity’s magical light.

Bit by bit, what Dash considered a comfortable travelling temperature became a pleasant chill. More than once, Fluttershy broached the idea of bedding down in the cover of trees for the shivering unicorn’s benefit, but Rarity wrapped herself in their heavy blanket as they walked and resolutely trudged on. At first, Dash thought Rarity’s walking blanket act was funny, but that only lasted until she felt the nip of the cold herself.

Rainbow Dash was minutes away from stopping their single-file walk dead in its track, planning on enforcing Fluttershy’s suggestion, when Rarity grinned in triumph. The shuffling mound of blanket brightened the light of her horn and pointed ahead.

“I believe I am vindicated, my dears,” said Rarity, indicating a shadow looming too wide to be a tree. Dash squinted as they drew near. The statue—and it was indeed a stone statue—stood a small ways off the path, once again testament to Rarity’s keen eyes. The shape wasn’t entirely familiar, though.

“What the hay,” said Dash, breathless only in part from the strain of pulling their cart through the brush.

“This doesn’t look like the others,” said Fluttershy, halting a half-step behind Rainbow Dash, rubbing one foreleg against the other. The two pegasi stopped by the edge of what could only be called a clearing by the most generous of minds. Not a hoof’s breadth of the area was free of roots, low-hanging branches or other greenery. Well, greenery, green-bluery and brownery. It was a miracle Rarity had spotted the statue itself.

The cracked and worn grey stone hugged lower to the ground than the normal Selyrian statues, and had only two wings rather than two full sets, both thrust forward forward in an arc to provide shelter with thick stone anchored in the ground. The figure of Selyria herself—or itself, Dash wondered?—looked even more monstrous than the others.

For all its lack of detail, and as overgrown as the statue was, Dash got chills from the mad look in the creature’s eyes, a beaked face frozen in a ferocious scream directed at the sky. It didn’t help that the ground around the statue was lined with glowing moss, casting a ghostly purple light that mingled with Rarity’s own blue-white glow for eerie effect.

Rarity let out a derisive snort. “For all I care, it could be a statue of myself wearing one of Short Sleeve’s ghastly spring line of crinoline dresses, so long as it lets me lie down and get my hooves under a blanket before they freeze and fall off. Fluttershy, if I give you light, can you see if any of these leaves look like the ones Phoreni packed for us? And Rainbow Dash, would you be a dear and bring our things inside?”

“Those are definitely not the same leaves,” said Rainbow Dash, grabbing one last mouthful of berries before she put the food and drink away. The large red berries tasted not entirely unlike… was it grapefruit? It was not her favourite, but it chased away the awful taste of the leaves Fluttershy and Rarity had found.

“I’m sorry,” said Fluttershy, eyeing the leaf-bearing branches critically. “I think they look the same, and they didn’t taste that bad, but something must’ve been wrong.”

“Or missing. They must have had some sort of spices or sauce in the Grove,” Rarity suggested, worming her way further in amidst the two pegasi. She lay in between Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash under the blanket, both of them drafted to act as unicorn-warmers while they ate. Dash shuffled a little closer. Once Fluttershy convinced the largest of the spiders to let them borrow their home for the night, and with the moss as a cushion underneath, the stone shelter became downright cozy.

If you ignored the creepy glow from outside, that was. And the many small spiders lurking about. And the creepy bird-beaked face of the statue. And the particularly cold night tonight that made even Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash huddle under the blanket—and their water painfully cold to drink. And most of all, if you forgot the fact that they should be taking part in some awesome games right now instead of camping out in a creepy grove.

Everyone was still thinking about it, and Dash could tell. The second it got quiet, Fluttershy had her eyes downcast, and Rarity stared blankly ahead. For Dash’s part, the recent memories were a roiling frustration in her chest made even stronger when she saw the look on the others’ faces.

“It’s dumb,” said Dash, unable to keep her mouth shut any longer.

“I think it would be easier if Phoreni hadn’t been quite so honest,” sighed Rarity. Dash had been right. They didn’t need to ask to know they were thinking the same thing. “I would have left twice as happy if I did not know we had truly hurt her,” Rarity added.

“I just can’t get all their faces out of my head,” said Fluttershy, pulling a snippet of blanket up to cover her snout and lowering her voice. “All those peryton looking at us like we’d done something terrible, staring at us. Do you think they… hated us?”

“For all that they are so very different from us, surely you can’t think there was hatred, dear,” murmured Rarity. “Disappointment and confusion, perhaps? Anger? I just don’t know.”

Dash shifted under the blanket to make sure she had her rear hooves on a fold of the blanket rather than the moss. There were probably spiders in the moss too. She craned her neck back to look at the stone hanging over them. With no real central pillar like the other stele, the entire inside arcs of both wings were covered in inscrutable writing, chipped and faded to the point where she doubted she could read it even if she understood it.

“I can’t imagine ponies hating anyone over something like this,” said Dash. Hate. Who bothered with that sort of stuff? Who had time for it? The walk out of the Grove had stung anyway. She’d been ridiculed in front of crowds before, mucked up stunts or made herself look bad, but today had gotten to her, too. “Heh, I can’t even imagine other peryton this angry,” she said. “We’ve made stupid mistakes all along, right? Can you guys picture Khaird telling us to leave Orto?”

Rarity shook her head ever so slightly. “No, but then, I couldn’t imagine Phoreni doing it either, up until today.”

“She was a little intimidating,” said Fluttershy, hesitating for a second. “Um, but… no, I don’t know. I don’t like thinking about it, really. She said it would be okay if we just give it time. Maybe we can talk about something else?”

“Yeah. I know,” said Dash, puffing out her cheeks. Rarity dimmed the light from her horn until they lay in the faint glow from the outside only. Fluttershy became a red-tinted outline of two ears, and Rarity only existed as light reflected on her horn-tip.

“I just can’t wait to meet the leader who can speak for all of these crazy peryton,” Dash added.

“Me neither,” Rarity muttered. “The knowledge that they must have someone who can make sense of this is all that keeps me sane.”

All the energy Rainbow Dash had meant to spend on the games today had to go somewhere, and with no jousts, no circles, no other kinds of physical exertion aside from a bit of cart-pulling, Dash lay awake for a while thinking about nothing in particular. There were a bunch of things she could think about, sure, but nothing she wanted to think about.

When she heard the rustle of someone turning around, when she caught the soft intake of breath, she instantly knew what was coming. Fluttershy lay awake as well, staring at her over Rarity’s sleeping form, and testament to how long they’d known each other, Rainbow Dash could’ve spoken in chorus with Fluttershy when she opened her mouth.

“I’m sorry,” whispered Fluttershy. “I—”

“Don’t,” said Rainbow Dash, trying hard not to sound too exasperated.

“I know you were really looking forward to the rest of the Brush Games,” Fluttershy continued, infinitely gentle and soft, but relentless all the same. “I didn’t mean to get us kicked out. I was just trying to help.”

“I know, it’s fine,” said Dash. “And it isn’t your fault.” What more could she say?

“Okay,” was all Fluttershy said.

As quietly as she could, Rainbow Dash slipped out from under the blanket and tucked the side in so Rarity wouldn’t be cold. Taking care not to step on anything or anyone, she moved over to the other side. “Scoot,” she whispered, grateful for the size of their blanket as she lay down close to Fluttershy.

She reached out to touch Fluttershy’s side. She didn’t really have anything reassuring to say, and if Fluttershy really needed somepony to hold her or whatever, she’d ask. The feeling of coat-hairs against Dash’s hoof was nice, though. She ran her hoof slowly up and down her side. The way she could feel Fluttershy’s body relax under her touch was twice as awesome as the warmth.

“I just don’t get why Khaird asked us to come this way,” muttered Dash.

“It’s not his fault, either,” said Fluttershy. Dash felt a light touch as Fluttershy’s feathers hooked around the base of her own wing. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and made a noncommittal noise.

“Sometimes, things are no one’s fault, that’s all,” added Fluttershy in a whisper.

“Sure,” Dash said with a quiet snort through her nose. “I just don’t want to muck up this whole mission.”

Rainbow Dash could feel Fluttershy’s sigh more than she heard it, a puff of warm breath against her face. “The Princesses seem to think we’ll find a way,” said Fluttershy. “They trust us, and once we get to Cotronna and give the sigil over, everything will be alright, and we’ll have made new friends. I’m sure.”

Dash nodded. She meant to say something back. To agree and admit that yeah, knowing all that helped a little, and Fluttershy was probably right. To disagree, to say that Perytonia was impossible to understand and that being tossed out on their butts still hurt. She meant to complain about how annoying it was to think both of those things at the same time, but instead, she fell asleep with her hoof slowly and awkwardly rubbing up and down Fluttershy’s side and chest, soaking in the shared warmth.

It was a dream. Of course it was a dream. Dash knew it was a dream, but while it was obvious to her now, she also knew that she wasn’t always as aware of that as she was in the present moment. Rainbow Dash woke up asleep in the middle of a flight through an endless gorge, green bolts of lightning zapping between sharp crystals embedded in the canyon walls.

She hurtled through the air, dodging her way down the crazy obstacle course faster than her wings should let her—faster than a regular, less awesome pony’s wings would, anyway. She zigged and zagged, but now that she was aware of what she was doing, she lost her focus. She was out of the zone.

A bolt of energy struck the stone wall right next to her, sending rockspray everywhere, and once she slowed down even the slightest bit, another green arc struck her straight in the chest. Rainbow Dash screamed as the force of a hundred lightning bolts hammered into her.

The scream petered out in a confused “AAaaaa… ah?” Dash bit the tip of her tongue lightly and squinted, touching her chest with a hoof as she hovered in place. It didn’t hurt at all, and she was completely fine. Because it was a dream. Rainbow Dash sighed, the tension blunted and her mood crashed. What was the point of flying some daring run without any danger at all?

With a dejected frown, she flew up to land on the flat ground over the lip of the gorge. Wherever she was, there was enough rock to go about: The sky itself seemed to be made of pure stone painted in the colours of night, a mass of purple stars and constellations dominating the dome. As Dash had expected, a bunch of changelings and a particularly large hydra waited for her up top, but she really wasn’t feeling it. Why couldn’t she dream up a game of circles where she beat the high score?

What she did know was that being reminded of today’s events in her dreams was really, really lousy, though. “Thanks, brain,” she grumbled. The Princesses trusted them to find a way to befriend Perytonia, and so far, all they’d found was a way to get kicked out of town. Good going, us. Hopefully their mayor didn’t send an angry letter to the capital or anything.

“Hey, Luna! You around?” Dash called, looking up at the night sky. Maybe the Princess had some tips. Maybe she knew the recipe for a sauce to make the leaves in this forest taste better. Mostly, Dash was bored. “Princess Luna?” she called again. It was pointless, of course. So far, the Princess had shown up at random, but it was worth a shot.

Or maybe it wasn’t pointless. The strange night sky warped and bent, and as it did, so did everything else. Rainbow Dash’s stomach lurched and her eyes widened as a very real and un-dreamlike feeling of sick passed through her. The entire world shifted, yanked away like a carpet pulled from underneath, above, around and inside her. A darkness darker than black slid in to replace it, changing so quickly Rainbow Dash struggled to remember what had come before it.

Rainbow Dash stood on an inky darkness that bled shadow onto her hooves, and above sparkled the most colourful night Rainbow Dash had ever seen. Stars were dotted thick in the sky, but more than just clusters and constellations, there was a constant riot of northern lights and other star-clouds and bits of colour that Dash couldn’t name or explain. Shooting stars gleamed in the sky without end, the spectacle so mesmerising she barely noticed when Luna stepped onto the ground next to her.

“Curious,” said Princess Luna.

Rainbow Dash offered the Princess a quick bow, and when she opened her eyes again after what was no more than a long blink, she saw the glass. All around them were infinite panes of nearly invisible glass, huge frameless windows hovering in the air right above the dark ground. The Princess barely seemed to notice Rainbow Dash, slowly turning on the spot.

“Where are we?” asked Rainbow Dash, her voice hollow and empty, lost in the endless expanse of shadow and glass lit by the multitude of colours in the sky. She rubbed at her own eyes. Did Luna look larger than usual? Larger, and darker? “And what’s going on?”

“We are in your dreams, Rainbow Dash,” said Princess Luna, though Dash could hear a note of doubt in her voice. “I would say ‘do not be alarmed, you are dreaming’, but I suspect you know this still. You called me.” She frowned ever so slightly, the large Princess staring down at Dash. “And I did not sense that I was needed, yet still, here I am. That is not supposed to happen. I am not to be dragged into dreams like this. How has this happened?”

Rainbow Dash’s mouth hung open. “I have dreaming superpowers? Ohmygosh!”

Luna rolled her eyes. “No, Rainbow Dash, you do not have ‘dreaming superpowers’, and for all the love I have for you and your friends? If this was your power, you will find that an annoyed Princess is no ally.”

“Right,” said Dash, nodding her head. “Okay, but I didn’t mean to do it, sorry about that—and I don’t even know what I did, but if nopony has been able to do this before, then that still counts as a power, right? Because I’ll take it—”

Luna’s deadpan stare shut Rainbow Dash up. When the Princess’ horn started glowing, Dash took a step back, but Luna’s magic faded away again without having done anything Dash could see.

“No. It is not you. It is something else,” Luna declared, her horn flaring again while she walked past Rainbow Dash, in amidst the floating glass panes. “Our link as ponies, Equestrians, you as my saviours, as… friends, that is only part of it. If that was the case, then why not the others Elements,” the Princess’ words trailed off into a mutter, and Rainbow Dash could only follow, forced into a slow trot to keep up with the taller pony.

“Okay, can you do the explaining thing?” asked Dash, looking up at her. “Because I have no idea what any of this stuff is. My dream was way different. This happened when you came in here.”

Luna stopped just short of the nearest glass window with an undisguised frown. “You are of course correct. You would not know how to create Halls of Silver, as these are called, and that… makes this mine, not yours, because I see none other.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t bother to ask. She just stared at Princess Luna and willed her to make sense.

“This is a construct of dreams. A place to store memories,” said Luna. “I used these to… store my memories and emotions, long ago.”

“Okay. Why are we here?” asked Dash.

“I do not know,” Luna admitted with a shrug. “I will find out. I refuse to believe there are secrets pertaining to dreams that can remain hidden from me for long. This is my domain, after all.”

“Cool,” said Dash, scuffing at the ground. The inky blackness was hard as steel, but still shifted under her hooves. The combination made her dizzy. “So, uh. What’s in the windows?”

“Those were the memories and emotions I mentioned,” said Luna, her gaze distant.

“Yeah. I figured. Can I have a look? Anything fun?” asked Dash, leaning to the side to get a better angle at the nearby window-thing, but it was transparent and empty. “Any embarrassing filly pictures?”

“No,” Luna replied. She arched a brow. “Perhaps you do not understand the gravity. I used to bottle up my hatred, my sorrow, my joy and… my jealousy. I stored all of it. This place—these places—contained centuries, millennia, but there is nothing left now. I have reclaimed it all.” The Princess let her eyes roam the endless expanse of glass. “This is an empty place, as it should be. Hoarding these emotions led to my becoming Nightmare Moon. In a sense, this is where she—where that part of me—was born.”

“Oh,” said Dash. Her tail and her ears drooped, and she felt very, very small and cold all of a sudden. She was pretty sure that Luna hadn’t moved, but now the Princess stood right at her side, all but touching, large and warm. It helped a little. Twice as much when Luna again spoke, her voice thick with emotion.

“I abandoned this long ago, Rainbow Dash. I speak with my sister and with my friends, and this night, I have shared the memory of a memory with you. It is safer, healthier, and less painful.” The Princess smiled at her, no less bright than Princess Celestia in that one moment. “I learned that you should always face your fears and your frustrations, that you must share your anger and your concerns. I will find out what brought us here, but before I leave—you called me for a reason, unwittingly or no. Is something amiss? Are you in peril?”

Dash managed a weak laugh. “Heh, nah. We’re fine. Wish we had some better food, but that’s about it. My snout’s cold.”

Luna tilted her head. “You do not seem to have any issues remembering this.”

“Huh. I guess not. I’m supposed to have a hard time remembering the real stuff, right? Well, I don’t.” Dash shrugged. She even remembered what Fluttershy had said right before she fell asleep, even if she couldn’t tell exactly when that had been.

“It may be this place,” said Luna, humming. “Regardless, if you are safe, rest assured that Sister and I believe in you. You are our best chance of fostering a good relationship with Perytonia.”

“We’re trying. We kinda messed up a little, actually, but I think we got a handle on it,” said Dash, swallowing a frown. “Don’t worry about it. How’s Twi, AJ and Pinkie doing?”

Luna shook her head. “I do not have details, but I know they are safe and well because the sun still rises. I believe they have matters well in hoof, just like I believe you will come through.”

Rainbow Dash groaned. “If you’re not gonna tell me, forget I asked. I’ve had enough of stupid rules for one day. I don’t care.”

“It is not a rule,” said Luna, affecting a small shrug that became a big shrug on her large frame. “I do not know. Even if I had made efforts to learn of their journeys, the most I could glean without being invasive and betraying trust would be to say just that. I cannot change this, but I might be able to offer relief. What little time off I take every night is coming up. Would you care to fight by my side once again?”

Dash felt a grin budding. “Actually, do you think you can create a track, some hoops, and a discus?”

When Rainbow Dash awoke, it was to a chirping sing-song that she wished wasn’t quite so familiar. She cracked open an eye, groaned, yawned, and kicked the blanket away. It was too early for this, no matter what it was.

“Scarlett says good morning,” drifted Fluttershy’s voice from outside the shelter. That explains it.

“It would’ve been a great morning if she hadn’t woken me up,” Dash called back, rummaging around in the relative darkness for a second, finding only moss and leaves. Before she could ask where all their stuff was, Rarity stuck her head inside and whisked the blanket away with a burst of magic, leaving Rainbow Dash with absolutely nothing.

“Breakfast, such as it is, is served outside, away from all the spiders,” said Rarity with a small shudder, disappearing again.

Dash grunted and slipped outside to where Fluttershy and Rarity waited with a well-organised and packed cart. Rarity bemoaned the state of their blanket, shaking and folding it atop, and Fluttershy offered Dash some of the berries they’d had yesterday whilst snacking on the horrid leaves herself. The red little rooster-wannabe of a bird sat on Fluttershy’s head singing away, and Dash didn’t mind it quite as much now. She felt a little more alive after a quick drink of water. It was already uncomfortably hot.

“You let me sleep in again,” said Dash, not complaining at all. Maybe she could convince one of them to pull the cart while she took a nap, too.

“I think we all slept in a little, really,” said Fluttershy. She held out a foreleg, letting Scarlett hop down to sit there instead. “Scarlett found us by chance and woke us up. Well, she woke me up, and I accidentally woke Rarity up. If not, we’d probably sleep half the day away.”

“Doesn’t sound all that bad to me,” said Dash with a snort and a grin.

“I think I’ve given up on the concept of beauty sleep at this point,” said Rarity, covering a yawn.

“We have a long way to go, you know,” said Fluttershy. She smiled and rose to stand, making for the cart and its harness. “If we’re going to take a day off, maybe we shouldn’t do it in this forest. We should probably leave.”

“Probably,” Dash agreed. She stretched her entire body, forelegs and hindlegs, twisting her neck left, then right. Finally, she spread her wings, noting that they worked just fine. She probably shouldn’t fly just yet, but despite looking weird and green, they didn’t hurt, either. Finally. It did wonders for her mood. “Alright. Let’s do this!” she said.

The forest of Khosta had taken its sweet time in transitioning from a light and sparse woodland in the east to become the tangled mess of moss and dense undergrowth surrounding the Grove. Now, in the space of half a day heading north, it changed its mind again. The path they followed veered further and further away from the main road trying to remain out of sight in a landscape that exchanged thick trees for slim ones, hid ferns and bushes to replace them with grasses, and climbed steadily upwards.

It began subtle enough. Dash pulled the cart right after a short mid-day rest, relishing the hard climb until it didn’t give her a downhill run on the other side. Instead, she got another another long and slow climb as her reward. Sure, every now and then she got a slightly more fun—but hardly thrilling—down slope, but bit by bit, they ascended as the forest grew thinner.

The path they followed had mostly just been a walkable strip cutting between the trees, and now it got harder to make out. After a particularly steep climb that had Fluttershy walking behind her to make sure nothing fell off the cart, Dash could look over her shoulder to see treetops.

“Almost looks like the view from the hill we found the night we got to the Grove,” said Dash, her head turned to look behind her as she slowed down. To the south, the Khosta looked endless. In daylight, it was no chaotic sprawl with a myriad of colours, but rather, an unbroken expanse of the forest’s unique blue-tinted-green treetops. If there was anything to the south of the forest, she could not see it, and unless she imagined it, the mountains curved away from them ever so slightly in the west. The tall peaks like rows of sharp teeth grew slightly less oppressive, fading.

“Can’t see any of those weird flashes we saw, though,” Dash added, coming to a stop. “Remember—”

Fluttershy and Rarity couldn’t have heard her. They stood still further ahead, waiting at what must be the top of the hill, climb, slope or whatever they were supposed to call it. There were entirely too many of the things anyway. One was too many when you couldn’t just fly over and ignore them, really.

“I’m sorry, did you say something?” asked Fluttershy when Rainbow Dash drew near. She tilted her head, and Scarlett tweeted in shrill protest, wings flapping as she tried to keep her grip.

“Nah, nothing big,” said Dash, shaking her head. “Just trying to see those lights in the mountains.”

“Oh,” said Fluttershy with a backwards glance. Her mouth hung open for a second, slowly becoming a smile. “It looks like it did from the hill outside the Grove. Goodness.”

“That’s what I said,” grinned Dash, moving to stand level with the others. “Oh, hey.”

“You asked for a border to this forest,” said Rarity, her brow knit as she stared ahead. “I suppose this is as close as one can get.”

There was no trace of the path any more. In all honesty, Rainbow Dash hadn’t seen anything she herself would trust or follow for a while now, and if Fluttershy and Rarity had insisted they were on some sort of track before, there was no point in even pretending any more.

The last hour had seen smaller trees and sparser growth, but no forest lay over the hill. Ahead and to the left rose a steep, grass-covered mound that climbed until it obscured the distant mountains. To the right, flat and verdant plains that stretched on and on, in one particular place until Rainbow Dash imagined she could see the ocean, or Equestria itself. In other places, the horizon hid behind hills. Small copses of trees or large bushes nestled in dips, in pits and near a tiny lake in the distance, but what truly caught Dash’s eye was the swaying of endless, knee-length grass moving with the gentle wind. Everything was coated in green or yellowing grass.

“I suppose,” said Rarity, her voice quiet as though not to disturb the nothingness ahead, “we should join with the road unless we want to get lost.”

“I think that sounds like a good idea,” agreed Fluttershy in a whisper, staring unblinking ahead. “It should be to our east—our right, I mean.”

“We’ll be fine,” declared Dash, rolling her eyes and pushing past them. She could even see the road ahead, a darker strip that dipped out of sight after climbing a small hill just barely in view. When Rarity and Fluttershy moved to follow, Rarity’s head didn’t turn with her body, still pointing north like the arrow of a compass, or like she was a pegasus herself.

“These are the highlands, then. I wish I could preserve these images,” said Rarity with a wistful sigh. “How silly of me not to pack my colouring tools. I may not be a painter, but I am sure I could do something with this sight.”

“Heh, you’ll probably get sick of it soon,” said Dash. It was just a huge bunch of nothing.

Only, so much nothing looked very different from down on the ground. Even when she flew as high as she could go, past Cloudsdale, past the highest natural clouds at the top—when farms and cities could fit under her hoof—there was always something to hold on to. Something Equestrian in sight.

“Maybe we’d get tired of it if we were taking the road, but we’re not following the highlands, remember?” said Fluttershy, tearing her eyes off the expanse of grass. “We’re going right off the road again.”

“Yeah, I know,” said Dash with a grunt, suddenly feeling a little more fondly towards the plains or highlands ahead. The endless open skies were a welcome sight compared to the oppressive forest they’d left behind.

She gave her wings a slow flap, and the worst she could say was that they felt a little sore, like she’d just landed after a particularly tough workout. Now all that was left was to hope Phoreni’s instructions didn’t take them through nothing but deep forests and caves.

“Y’know, I kinda expected more,” Dash admitted.

“Perytonia’s infrastructure is nothing if not consistent in its disappointments,” said Rarity.

“I didn’t really think there would be a lemonade stand or anything like that, but… maybe a sign would be nice?” said Fluttershy.

They found the crossroads with daylight to spare. The past few hours had passed in silence that was in part pleasant, and in part the inevitable result of baking sunlight with neither trees nor wind to take the edge off. They’d taken many a small break with the cart parked squarely in the middle of the road, catching their breath and drinking water in the shadow of their tarp. Not even Scarlett seemed inclined to say much, the red fluffball’s constant song silenced. During one of these breaks, they spotted some animals in the far distance, but Fluttershy couldn’t tell what they were.

They were the only travellers on the road, Dash felt quite sure about that at least: After the first time they switched cart-pulling duties around, the road and the surrounding area became flat enough that she could see forever. Nothing moved except the swaying grass that now reached all the way up to their bellies, and when they sat still for more than a minute, Dash had to wonder if maybe the grass was actually still, and they were the ones moving from side to side.

That was why she was so glad when they got to the crossroads. That was why she was so infinitely disappointed in the dirt road when all it did was unceremoniously split and carry on. Everything looked the same still. Now to their west and behind them, hills. To the east, nothing. Ahead, straight or to either side, absolutely nothing, made worse by the fact that—

“We’re supposed to just leave the road?” asked Dash. She imagined that the second they stepped into the grass, they’d disappear and never be seen again. A year from now, three rugged and shaggy ponies would part the grass and find themselves in Ponyville.

Rarity already had the map out, levitating it in front of Fluttershy. The unicorn was probably grateful for a break since it was her turn with the cart. “Yes,” said Fluttershy in response to Dash. “At first, we just need to keep heading north—”

“Which I am given to believe we don’t need a compass for, if the two of you can tell where that is,” said Rarity, earning a nod from Fluttershy, who pointed due north without looking up.

“It’s that way. We should just barely pass into the woods before we reach the Morillyn Gorges,” said Fluttershy, holding a hoof to the map when Rarity made to pack it together. She frowned, then squinted, stretching her neck out to look past it.

“Whatcha got?” asked Dash, cocking her head.

“Oh, well, I was just looking at the directions again. The map doesn’t have a lot of detail, but it’s been very accurate with its distances,” said Fluttershy, nodding to Rarity and smiling. “I don’t think I need the map any more, thank you. Um, but, yes, we really should be able to see something by now. Ahead, I mean. Unless Phoreni thinks we can head through the forest for days without any point of reference, these gorges have to be nearby. I don’t understand why we don’t see them.”

“Alright, I’ll fly up and have a look,” said Dash, taking a deep breath. “I’ll be back in a second.”

“Darling, your wings need rest,” said Rarity. “I’m sure Fluttershy—”

“I got it,” said Dash, blowing her mane out of her face. She tested her wings for the umpteenth time today, and they felt better yet. A testing stroke, then another. As much as she didn’t like the green paint for reminding her of their exile—and twice as much for reminding Fluttershy of it—she was almost tempted to believe it did help her wings heal faster.

“Rainbow Dash? I can fly up, it’s no problem,” said Fluttershy frowning at her. “I was just thinking out loud, and it could just be the grass that’s in the way. The gorges aren’t even on the actual map, it’s just—”

“I got it,” repeated Dash, grinning as she put her wings to use. Enough joking around, they were ready for some real wing power. With enough care and a post-recovery, pre-flight routine to make her old flight instructors proud—done in a tenth of the usual time—Dash was ready to go. Wings forward, back, up, down, fold, unfold, test, test again and go. Rainbow Dash launched into the air, her heart soaring twice as high as her body. She carved a few simple loops into the sky as she shot up and up, slow only by her own standards.

The air stood still, there were next to no currents, and already she felt the heat sapping her strength. She didn’t care. Dash herself moved, and so she forced the wind to touch her face and tousle her mane. She built a roar of air rushing in her ears with the effort of her own wings. When she’d gained enough speed, she shut her eyes and let herself drift for a second, basking in the results. It wouldn’t do to get injured right off the bat again. Rainbow Dash glided for a moment or two before she realised she was supposed to be doing something.

Right. Use eyes. Scouting stuff. She looked north, and immediately saw what Fluttershy had been talking about. They were close to a forest that filled the gap between the two roads that split off and disappeared in the grass. North of the fork lay a gorge that looked like a brownish red pit, like somepony had poked their hoof in a freshly baked cake or something.

Or, not like that at all, but now Rainbow Dash was keenly aware of how long it’d been since she’d had cake.

The mountains looked the same as ever. Was there anywhere in Perytonia where one couldn’t see them? She couldn’t make out the coast, anyway, and there was entirely too much grass to see up here. Rainbow Dash dipped her head and sailed towards her friends, spotting Fluttershy coming in to land as well. The other pegasus circled from a spot a little lower down, Scarlett a red speck orbiting her in turn. Fluttershy had probably taken flight to check for herself.

Dash felt a twinge of annoyance. Didn’t Fluttershy think she’d do a good job? No, that wasn’t it. That wasn’t it at all. She was annoyed because she hadn’t asked Fluttershy to come along with her. She forgot. Next time, then. Dash landed and furled her wings, only now realising she was short of breath.

“It’s there,” said Dash between breaths. “Saw the gorge and everything.”

“Yes, dear, Fluttershy just told me,” said Rarity with a bemused smile.

“I’m sorry, you were taking a while,” said Fluttershy, looking halfway to an apology herself, though she didn’t give it voice. “Did you have fun?”

“It sounds a lot like you’re asking me if I’m glad to be able to fly again,” said Dash with a raised brow. “Are you serious?”

Fluttershy giggled and did not press the issue, shaking her head. Rainbow Dash moved over to bump her flank against Fluttershy’s side, and Rarity didn’t say much, her eyes straight north and the cart unmoving.

“Want me to take the cart for a sec?” asked Dash. She tossed her head back and wiped her brow. “I can take it. You wanna run for a bit, too? We could at least trot.” She rustled her wings and leaned against Fluttershy again, the other pegasus giggling and shaking her head at Dash. Dash grinned. She couldn’t be blamed. She had her wings back, and she felt good.

“Hm? Oh, no, I am sure I can handle it,” said Rarity, though she still stayed put, still had hesitance plain on her face. She licked her lips and tapped the ground with a hoof. “This is a thing we are going to do, then, is it?”

“Do what?” Dash asked, reaching up to push her mane out of her face.

“You mean not following the road?” Fluttershy chanced, and Rarity nodded.

“Phoreni said it would be safer, but as I recall, it’s hardly a shortcut,” said Rarity.

Fluttershy nodded in agreement, glancing at the cart where the map poked out, wedged between the supply chest and the cart’s side. “You’re right. The road is nearly straight. Going through the forest won’t be faster, or even as fast, and besides, some of these instructions… um, I didn’t really get a chance to ask her for details, but it doesn’t sound like it’s the easiest path. It’s going to be slower.”

Rarity nodded again, slowly this time. “I feared as much. And we’re doing this because we trust her advice?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Why would she lie?”

“Darling, it’s not about lies,” said Rarity with a weak smile. “I think we can all agree that Phoreni has our best interest in mind. It’s about trusting her judgment. Do we think she’s right? Do we believe we are in danger?”

Dash blew hot air through her nose and turned around in a quick circle. “I’m not afraid of grass, and there’s nothing here but grass. So, no, we’re not in danger of anything but going crazy because there’s too much of it.”

“And those wagons that went missing, that was a long while ago, really,” said Fluttershy, scuffing the ground. To Dash’s ears, it sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than anypony else, her voice trailing off.

“But we’re still going to take this… off-road route?” asked Rarity, relentless with her questions. “We still have the option of the direct road to Vauhorn or Cotronna, or even doubling back to Stagrum to wait for a boat.”

Fluttershy bit her lower lip. “I wouldn’t mind heading back, normally, but even if the Ephydoerans didn’t mind us travelling through the forest again, I don’t know how safe I feel there, either. You know. Because… hydras.”

Dash frowned. “What’s up with this interrogation? Phoreni knows her stuff, and she gave us directions. Why are you making this difficult? What do you think? You think we should turn back now?”

“I think Fluttershy is right in that going back is a poor idea. Also, if there is even the smallest chance of monsters or ruffians along the roads,” said Rarity, “then we definitely ought to take Phoreni’s advice. I just wanted to know we’re all on the same page.”

“Right,” said Dash. “That’s fine. I’m cool with whatever, but I vote we head north. Off the road. I don’t wanna look at all this grass any more than I have to.”

“I think that’s the best option,” said Fluttershy, nodding quickly. “Especially if there’s a storm coming. We can’t be out in the open in the middle of a storm, so I vote we go north, too—unless you mind, Rarity?”

“Not at all,” said Rarity, smiling. “Let us, then.”

Rarity set the cart moving straight ahead in defiance of the crossroads, fording the tall grasses as one would a river, bent stalks springing up again in her wake.

Finally, they were making progress. Dash whooped and took wing. She flew for all of five seconds before she decided against it, landing again with wings sagging and a curse for the dumb heat.

“Anyway,” said Dash, grinning as she fell in step with the others. “If there are gonna be any monsters on this side of the forest, where are they going to be, huh? On the road, or in a hidden gorge?”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Darling, the wagons disappeared from one of these roads, Phoreni said she’s travelled this way before, and,” she said, raising her voice when Dash opened her mouth to protest, ”the one monster we’ve had the misfortune of meeting ambushed us in the middle of a road.”

“Rarity, I’m kidding,” said Dash, rolling her eyes. She looked over at Fluttershy who had her wings tightly jammed to her side, but otherwise hadn’t said anything. Dash reached out to brush against her side with a feather-tip, relishing in having full wing control again. “We’ll be fine,” said Rainbow Dash, just in case Fluttershy was actually worried because of some dumb joke.

“I’m sure we will,” said Fluttershy with the beginnings of a smile, and Scarlett chirped noisily in agreement.

“I mean, what are the odds of running into any more monsters?” Dash added. “Practically zero!”

“I also really, really, really wish you’d stop saying those things,” said Fluttershy, sighing.

If Rainbow Dash had any doubts about the decision to leave the road behind—and she didn’t—they’d be squashed when the monotony of the grasslands gave way to sparse woods with thin trunks and small-leaved trees, bringing blessed relief from the unending fields. As much as forests weren’t great for flying, it wouldn’t be a problem unless it got as thick as the deepest woods of the Khosta.

Those lingering doubts about leaving the road, which she absolutely did not in any way have, would have returned a moment later when the sun crept towards the horizon, and the ground fell away.

If she’d had any doubts.

Which she didn’t.

“So, let’s talk about gorges,” said Rainbow Dash. “I thought I knew what that word meant, and I guess I don’t. Fluttershy? Rarity? What’s a gorge?”

“This is just a really big canyon. Canyons and gorges are the same thing, I think. It’s not not a gorge,” said Fluttershy, taking half a step forward and clenching her teeth when she accidentally knocked a small rock over the edge of the drop. The rock fell, and fell, and fell, the echo of its final impact against the hard ground far beneath completely lost—no, just very delayed, Dash corrected herself. There was a faint clatter in the end, but Rainbow Dash couldn’t see the rock any more.

The height wasn’t the problem for Dash, obviously. It was the suddenness of it all. The rent cut into the forest, a long pit of red rock and brownish earth bared before them in an otherwise green countryside that grew greener and forest-ier by the moment. It wasn’t like Rainbow Dash had never seen a canyon or gorge or whatever before, but the way the ground just disappeared in front of them was unsettling. They stood above a wide cliff-face of a drop hundreds of strides deep, the otherwise jagged and irregular canyon given a sudden start like a trench dug with a spade. Dash squinted. Was it the distance, or did the gorge get narrower and shallower the further it went? She couldn’t tell.

“And the map says we’re supposed to head down there?” asked Dash.

Fluttershy still stared. “Not the map, but Phoreni said we should run the length of the gorges that run north and north-east. The first one was supposed to be just past the crossroads, and this must be it.”

“Walking down there would probably hide us from any prying eyes,” said Rarity, leaning over the edge. “But we’ve hardly been hiding thus far. Do either of you feel it makes a big difference whether or not we actually follow the canyon floor?”

Rainbow Dash looked ahead to the sparsely wooded terrain that surrounded the canyon. Grass under their hooves or rock and dust. Open sky or creepy canyon.

“Show of hooves, everypony in favour of moving along the gorge?” asked Dash, thrusting a leg in the air before she’d finished the sentence, and neither Rarity nor Fluttershy hesitated in joining her. Rainbow Dash set off in a trot before anyone had a moment to change their minds.

“Just as well,” said Rarity. “I don’t see any path or stairs leading down there.”

Rainbow Dash laughed and flexed her wings. “Like that’s the problem.”

“It doesn’t look natural,” said Fluttershy, her eyes still on the sheer drop even as they rounded the corner created by the canyon’s sudden termination and headed north again. She eyed the cliff-face critically. “I don’t know for sure.”

“I don’t think any of us here claim geology as our special talent,” chuckled Rarity.

“Well, that’s the thing,” said Fluttershy, blushing faintly. “I read a book about natural terrain and everything once, I just don’t remember much about it. I wish I did.”

Dash snorted with laughter. “Okay, I know you read some pretty weird stuff sometimes, but a book about gorges? That’s gotta be the sort of book Twilight keeps in the library just because she wants one copy of everything ever written. I don’t think even she would read something like that!”

“Natural terrain,” repeated Fluttershy with an indignant frown, resettling her wings on her back. “Not just gorges and canyons.”

“Okay, okay, natural terrain, you got it,” Dash allowed, giggling still. “As long as this thing is pointing in the right direction, let’s just go,” she said. It was nice to know Fluttershy agreed that the place was creepy anyway.

Without further comment, Dash moved the group a bit further away from the edge. It wasn’t like they had a real path to follow any more, and the coming darkness didn’t help. They trekked across low grasses, small bushes and colourful flowers that poked out from the dry ground, past tall, thin trees with annoying, shallow roots that seemed to pop up under the cart-wheels on purpose.

“Perhaps we could stop here?” asked Rarity before long, pausing to lean against a tree while rubbing at her eyes. “I’m getting used to us pushing onwards in a mad dash for these statues, but I understand we won’t find one here.”

“What, you want to sleep here?” asked Rainbow Dash, halting the cart. She spread her wings a bit and tasted the wind, scowling. There was no cover in sight. “There’s a wind coming from the north-west. It’s gonna get cold for you.”

“Yes, well, that is certainly going to be a bit of an issue,” said Rarity, her brow knit in a transient frown before she smiled brightly back at Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy both. “Luckily, I travel with two warm friends and a blanket. I’ll prepare our bedding if one of you could be a dear and see about finding us something edible that isn’t dry grass.”

“I can go have a look around,” said Fluttershy, emptying her saddlebags and strapping them on. “I’ll be right back. I’m sure this forest has something delicious hiding somewhere.”

“Hey, I’ll come with you,” said Dash, freeing herself from the cart.

Fluttershy tilted her head. “Are you sure? I know a little bit about plants, so it’s no problem at all.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I eat. I’m pretty sure that’s all I need to be able to tell if something’s food.”

Fluttershy giggled. “Well, that’s part of it, but I can handle it. I’ll find us something to eat.”

Rainbow Dash set off into the forest, such as it was, grinning at her. Fluttershy could probably handle a few berries by herself, but she could handle it way better with Rainbow Dash. “Let’s go!” she said.

The southern parts of the Splitwood was less a forest, and more plains upon which somepony had sneezed a helping of trees. A lot of trees, sure, but they rarely touched, so the blue skies above were always in view, and Dash was glad of it. She spotted a small owl sitting on a far-off branch, and more than once she saw something darting away through the undergrowth. Where the Khosta’s animals had rarely been more than faint sounds, here they at least let the ponies get close before they ran away.

They still ran, though.

“I’m starting to feel like the only mare at a stallions-only bar,” said Rainbow Dash with a huff. She’d caught a small family of something that looked like long, antlered cats staring at them, but the creatures scurried away before she got a good look.

“They just need to get used to us,” said Fluttershy, smiling in the general direction of the critters.

“You mean get used to me,” Dash countered, giving her a look. “If you were alone, they’d be all over you.”

Fluttershy squinted at a particularly large and green bush. “Maybe,” she allowed. “But I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time for that. We’re looking for food, remember?”

“Right,” said Dash, nodding and glancing around. There wasn’t a whole lot to look at, and the bushes didn’t bear any obvious fruit like they did in the forests of Khosta. “Okay, so, I got nothing,” she admitted. “Do we just start… digging for random roots? I don’t see any mushrooms.”

“I think the leaves of these bushes can be eaten. See how something larger than a caterpillar has been eating from the top?” asked Fluttershy, trotting over to it. “I think—”

Rainbow Dash darted in and grabbed a few, chewing thoughtfully before she spat them on the ground and stuck her tongue out. “Ech, they’re okay, but let’s see if we can’t find something better. I’d rather have grass than those leaves.”

Fluttershy blinked and stared at her. “Um, so, maybe next time, let’s… wait for a second before we try eating it. Leaves can be poisonous, you know.”

“They didn’t taste like poison,” said Dash, shrugging, and she couldn’t help a laugh, holding out a hoof before Fluttershy could protest. “I got it, okay, fine. I just don’t see any berries or anything. Wanna check elsewhere?”

Fluttershy didn’t reply immediately, looking almost straight up. Rainbow Dash followed her eyes, and saw she’d been wrong. There were definitely berries, but they were nestled deep amidst the leaves of some of the trees. The tallest and thinnest trees around bore pale yellow berries. There was just one problem.

“Who makes trees like this?” asked Dash, gaping.

“I think they’re beautiful in their own way,” protested Fluttershy.

The bushy crowns of the grey-trunked trees bristled with sharp spikes amidst the brilliant green leaves, guarding the berries jealously. Trust the mare who thought porcupines were ‘cute’ to appreciate a tree that wanted to stab you.

“So, because the spikes are hollow,” added Fluttershy, “there’s a good chance that they carry some sort of venom, but that also means the berries should be safe to eat.”

“Makes sense. You wouldn’t put traps around something if it wasn’t good stuff,” said Dash, squinting at the treasure trove of no doubt tasty berries.

“Something like that, yes,” said Fluttershy, biting her bottom lip. “I don’t think kicking the tree is a good idea in case we get showered with needles, but I bet if we were careful enough, we could loosen some of the berries. I’m sure one of us could do it.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash heard herself say. Unless they wanted to eat dry grass, one of them would have to fly up. Someone who could control themselves well in the air. Someone who was elegant and careful enough to harvest the berries. Out of the corner of her eye, Rainbow Dash saw Fluttershy test her wings and clear her throat.

“Do you think I—”

“Alright, you catch the berries, hang on,” said Rainbow Dash. She kicked off, hovering close to the top of the tree inside of a second, pausing in front of the spikes.

“Okay, sure,” said Fluttershy, her voice a little more quiet.

Part of Dash wanted nothing more than to ask, poke, prod and goad Fluttershy into doing it instead, of course. To push Fluttershy into showing her how much better she was at flying than she gave herself credit for. In fact, the more Rainbow Dash thought about it, the more she regretted saying she’d do it herself, but it was easier this way. She didn’t have to be the worst pony ever, pushing her girlfriend around, and she didn’t have to risk Fluttershy being sad—or even failing and hurting herself.

“Ready?” asked Dash, looking down below. Fluttershy nodded, the saddlebags open and held in her mouth. Rainbow Dash flew a little closer and poked at a cluster of berries. With the lack of wind, it was easy enough for the seasoned flier to knock the first few bunches of berries loose, and she only nearly stabbed herself once or twice in the process. Poke. Berries. Poke, more berries. Foal’s play. Minutes later, Fluttershy called up to let her know the bags were full.

“You sure? Both of them?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Both of the bags, and most of my mane,” Fluttershy called back, shaking her head violently side to side, sending berries flying and making Scarlett sit on her back instead.

Rainbow Dash sailed down to land next to her, giggling at all the berries still stuck in Fluttershy’s pink tresses. Scarlett leisurely pecked away, making a meal of cleaning her mane.

“I guess that means they’re good?” Dash asked. “What do you say, bird?”

Peep.

“She seems to think so,” Fluttershy agreed, carefully putting the saddlebags back on, leaning around to secure the straps.

“Move over, fluffball. Let me have a taste,” said Dash, grinning. She leaned in and nabbed a few of the berries stuck in Fluttershy’s mane to an indignant peep from Scarlett. She’d expected a laugh, or maybe a cry of protest when Dash got some of the berry juice into Fluttershy’s hair, but all she got in return from her girlfriend was a faint smile. Fluttershy leaned against her without looking at her, rubbing their cheeks together before she started walking back towards where they’d left Rarity.

“They taste like oranges and pears at the same time,” said Dash after a moment of silence, staring at the back of Fluttershy’s head. “They’re actually really great. Good call.”

“That’s nice,” said Fluttershy, smiling back at her. “I’m sure Rarity will be happy.”

“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy looked fine again, but Dash wasn’t blind—or deaf—to the fact that Fluttershy had gone quiet. “Hey, you’re not mad that I scared away all the animals, right?”

Fluttershy eyes grew wide. “What? Oh! No, of course not, I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head. “Not at all. And you didn’t, really.”

Rainbow Dash nodded once. Maybe Fluttershy had really just wanted to go berry hunting alone? She was about to ask when her when her wings loosened against her body on sheer reflex, and she heard the rustle of Fluttershy’s feathers as well. The two pegasi stopped in their tracks without a word, and Rainbow Dash cocked her head. A second later, Scarlett darted out from the cover of Fluttershy’s mane, a red streak peeping madly and zipping straight south, darting left and right between the trees until she was gone.

“The storm’s coming,” said Fluttershy, her voice breathless.

“You felt that pressure drop too, huh?” Dash asked, grinning. She walked past Fluttershy, dragging the feathers of a wing along her body to set her moving again. Fluttershy returned the touch, but she didn’t look nearly as excited as Dash did.

“How could I not?” Fluttershy asked.

“Hey, I don’t take it for granted. I’ve been in the weather patrol for years,” said Dash with a shrug. “Not all pegasi are as, uh—”

“Sensitive to it?” Fluttershy finished for her.

“Yeah, see, that’s a lame word for it, but sure,” Dash said with a snort. “Whatever, never mind. I know you’re good with the weather stuff, I just wasn’t thinking.”

Fluttershy’s cheeks lit with a faint blush. Dash felt good about that. Even if she couldn’t and shouldn’t bully Fluttershy, she sure as hay could tell her she was awesome.

“Bet you could do a better job than Thunderlane at weather duty too,” Dash added.

“Okay, now you’re just teasing me,” said Fluttershy, shaking her head.

“Seriously? You’ve met Thunderlane, right? If I wanted to tease you, I’d say you could replace Cloud Chaser. She’s crazy, you know. She’s good at her job, and she’s not lazy,” said Dash. “I think she’s the only one.”

Fluttershy blinked, staring at Dash nonplussed.

“Yeah. It’d take you hours of training to get that good.” Dash smirked. “Then you could probably do her job.”

Fluttershy rolled her eyes, her only reply a half smile.

“What?” asked Dash, and even though she was serious, she couldn’t keep from laughing. “You—oh, hey, I think I see Rarity. That’s her magic. Let’s eat!”

Chapter 18

It has to happen in Cotronna.

If there is a way for me to redeem myself in my own eyes, it is by creating something that is more than just good. It must be perfect, and what better audience, what better moment to present an ultimate creation than at the culmination of the efforts of our journey? All that goes before the ceremony—Phoreni did mention the Cotronnans stand on ceremony—may as well not have happened. What is the use in showing dresses to the Perytonian equivalents of Ponyville and Hoofington when we are destined for Canterlot, for Cotronna?

I will create a dress to steal their breaths away, and it will be my crowning moment.

-R

The last thing Rainbow Dash remembered before she fell asleep under the open sky was that the moon had been very bright, but she was almost positive she’d dreamt nothing out of the ordinary, and still there was no storm.

Rarity’s makeshift little shelter consisted of their tarp tied between a tree and their cart with numerous scarves, but as ramshackle as it was, it held up fine against the lame wind. When they woke up, the air pressure was lower yet, but barely any rain fell at all. Now, as they continued their trek along the gorge, the few clouds on approach from the west were insulting to her and Fluttershy’s predictions.

“You’re sure this rain wasn’t the weather you felt coming?” asked Rarity. She’d offered to take an extra morning round with the cart to let the pegasi fly up and check every now and then, obviously nervous about the storm—but this wasn’t it. The “rain” was barely enough to get Rainbow Dash’s mane properly wet and Rarity hadn’t so much as mentioned a want for an umbrella.

“There’s a storm coming. This isn’t a storm. This—” said Rainbow Dash, gesturing at the sky and its pitiful offering of water, “—isn’t even a drizzle.”

The best that could be said of the weather was that the cooler temperature allowed for a comfortable trot, the cart rattling along over the low roots as the three ponies searched for cover.

“She’s right. I’m actually starting to get a little worried,” said Fluttershy, her ears splayed as she looked west. The woods were sparse enough here that with the aid of a small rise, Dash could see almost all the way to the horizon without taking wing. The tops of the mountains in the west were visible, but there were no storm clouds in sight. “I don’t really know what this means,” Fluttershy said. “But I really hope we find these ruins or some other cover soon. There is going to be a storm.”

“And a doozy, too”, agreed Dash. “You didn’t see Fluttershy’s little bird take off. She was outta here.”

“I hope she finds a safe place, too,” Fluttershy said, sighing. “She wanted to get back to her own forest, and that might be for the best.”

Rarity nodded. “Well, if you are worried, then so am I. I’d feel a lot better if I knew exactly what I am supposed to worry about, that’s all. Or rather, when.” She made a hissing noise when the cart bounced off a particularly large root, keeping her head down and her eyes on the ground again.

“Their storms are probably just a bit weird,” said Rainbow Dash. She extended a wing and wrapped it around Fluttershy’s middle, tugging her a little closer. “Don’t worry about it.”

Fluttershy smiled at Rainbow Dash and nuzzled her cheek as they trotted on, and Rarity smiled at the pair. Rainbow Dash let the wing rest there for a moment longer and ground her cheek against Fluttershy’s neck in retaliation. This girlfriend stuff was more than just alright if she could grab a touch here and there without having to make a big deal out of cuddling. She gave Fluttershy another little tug with her wing before she let go, making their coats brush together. Fluttershy hadn’t said anything more about last night.

Under the feather-light rainfall, refreshed by the few drops that made it down to the ground, they quickly ate up distance in the woods, switching the cart-pulling duty as often as they could. They passed colourful little flower-clusters and trees on their left, and to their right, the canyon was barely visible, its edges overgrown. The clouds got a little thicker, but no more rain came, and later, when Rainbow Dash glanced to the side, she couldn’t see any trace of the gorge.

“Hey, I think the gorge turned,” said Dash, though she kept moving.

“We’re still heading north,” said Fluttershy, her brow knit in concern. “We haven’t gotten turned around or anything.”

“I thought you were just taking us a little further away from the eyesore like Rainbow Dash did,” said Rarity. The unicorn was the first one to veer off to the right, and both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash followed.

“Well, I understand why we can’t see the canyon any more,” called Rarity, stopping no more than ten paces ahead. Rainbow Dash raised a brow when the pegasi caught up, Fluttershy picking her way between the trees with the cart in tow.

“What?” asked Dash, giving her a quizzical look.

“Look about you, dear,” said Rarity, pointing south to where the canyon ceased to be.

There was no better word for it; the canyon ceased, became not-a-canyon by degrees, the perfect inverse to the abrupt start to the gorge they’d followed for half a day’s travel. A small grassy ditch pointed straight south from where they were standing, slowly widening and sinking. Further along, it looked like a dried-out riverbed that kept growing larger until it became an open-topped tunnel in the earth, and finally, the vast and gaping maw of the first of what the peryton called the Morillyn Gorges.

And it was only the first. Not long after they resumed their journey north, they found the second gorge. Maybe it was a tiny bit smaller than the last one, but it was still huge by any measure. Dash idly wondered if emptying the whole of Whitetail Lake into it would fill it up. Probably not. Whatever the case, the southern end of the second gorge was another cliff, this one partially collapsed.

At least the weather didn’t change. What had begun as a stressful search for cover—for anywhere to stay out of the promised storm—lost its edge of panic. Though they’d found nothing like cover by the end of the day, they spent another night in the shelter of a tree that provided nothing of the sort. Before noon the next day, just as a light drizzle let up, they stood at the northern end of the third gorge, and Fluttershy halted the cart to ask Rarity for the map and their notes.

“How many of these did you say there were?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“I don’t think I said, because I don’t know,” replied Fluttershy, adjusting the harness with a wince while she waited for Rarity to unfold the map in front of them. “Phoreni said we were supposed to follow the first three, and there’s at least one more we’re supposed to cross over later. I worried that it would be hard to follow her directions, but I guess not.”

“Alright,” said Dash, unable to keep from giving the strange south-facing cone-shape a distrustful look. Fluttershy must’ve caught it, because she did the same, and went on.

“It… I—well, like I said, I don’t remember what I read in the book, but I’m pretty sure that gorges or canyons aren’t something that just happens in the middle of a forest like this.”

Rarity hummed and finally had the map out, sheathing it in her magic to hold it in front of the three ponies. “You two seem rather obsessed with these canyons—or gorges? We really should decide on one of the two, but regardless, is something the matter? Am I the only one who does not mind them terribly much, as long as we’re not down there?”

Fluttershy shook her head, leaning in to study her notes. “Maybe it’s because I’ve spent a lot of time outdoors, but I find them… strange, I guess,” she said, her voice trailing off into distractedness. “We’re on an entirely different continent anyway.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t say much. It wasn’t like she was afraid of the gorges, but maybe she just sensed what Fluttershy had put into words. Different continent nothing, they didn’t belong. The rest of the forest made sense—though the Splitwood bothered her for a very different reason. Rainbow Dash looked up, catching a flock of large birds flying south by south-east.

“While we’re on that topic, any of you feel like this place is really, uh,” Dash hesitated. She tried to find another word for it, one that didn’t sound like such a stupid whine, but she couldn’t think of one, so she spat it out anyway. “Ugh, lonely?”

“There are animals here, just like in the Khosta,” said Fluttershy, stretching her wings briefly. “Not just birds, but there are mammals both big and small, and I’m sure there are reptiles down in the canyons.”

“Yeah, sure,” said Rainbow Dash, frowning. Desolate. There was a better word, but Fluttershy hadn’t really answered her question. Maybe the animals would have helped it feel less desolate if they actually hung out together. Rainbow Dash had asked if Fluttershy wanted to go say hi to some of the local critters earlier in the morning, but Fluttershy didn’t seem to feel like it. There was a first.

“Maybe it’s the lack of roads,” suggested Rarity. “Even without anyone else travelling them, they’re a sign of civilisation, such as it is.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. There was probably some truth to that. Besides, they’d always known the Khosta was populated, and after meeting the Ephydoerans, the knowledge that they inhabited the forest filled it with life. Then again, the first time they’d travelled through that forest, they hadn’t known about the peryton allegedly hiding in every bush.

Maybe it was just the want for a road to follow, then. “So, not just me?” Dash asked. She’d lost track of her own thoughts, but she was pretty sure neither Fluttershy nor Rarity had given her a clear answer.

“I believe I just agreed with you, darling,” said Rarity, one brow quirked.

“I don’t think I could ever feel lonely when there is so much life around,” said Fluttershy, helping Rarity fold the map. “But it’d be nice knowing that there are people around, even if they don’t want to talk to us. Now, we’re following a short trail next. Maybe that helps a little?” she asked, turning the cart slightly left before she set them moving deeper into the Splitwood, away from the gorge and the single tree that sprouted from the very end of a furrow that grew into a vast canyon.

“Lead on, dear,” said Rarity, following in Fluttershy’s wake. “For all that these canyons did not bother me much, I think just about anything will look better than those eyesores.”

“Bet you five bits you’re wrong!” said Rainbow Dash, grinning.

“Because I am nothing if not benevolent: If you don’t have the bits, I also accept payment in the form of modelling services,” Rarity called.

Rainbow Dash barely heard her. She wasn’t annoyed in the slightest with having lost this particular bet. If Phoreni’s secretive paths—paranoid, Dash recalled Rarity calling it—took them through more locations like this, being stealthy and sneaky was fine with her.

It had taken them a few moments of rooting around before they found the three painted trees that marked the beginning of the faint path. Not half an hour later, it led them to gentle hills that a mindless traveller would have yielded to and veered slightly further east. Instead, crossing over the hills, the three ponies now walked in a small secluded valley that had flowers as a beach had grains of sand.

Yellow, blue, red and purple petals on tall stalks tickled Dash’s belly as she ran—and she couldn’t not run. It was as impossible to simply walk as it was not to laugh. Rainbow Dash galloped over to the others, coming to a screeching halt by the cart. Fluttershy and Rarity had parked it by a small brook that passed through the valley.

“Come on, cut loose a little,” said Rainbow Dash, grinning wide.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself, dear,” said Rarity, chuckling as she filled their water-bags to the brim, “but I think I’ll be busy a while. Tulips aren’t just beautiful, their petals are delicious as well. They’ll be a perfect accompaniment to those wonderful berries you found.”

“Tulips?” asked Rainbow Dash, squinting. The flowers did look familiar. “Don’t we have those back home? These are tulips?”

“Rainbow Dash, you’ve seen tulips before,” said Rarity with a deadpan stare. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

“Of course I’m joking, jeez,” lied Dash, rolling her eyes for effect. Maybe she had, maybe she hadn’t. Flowers were flowers. What she knew for sure was that she hadn’t seen an entire valley filled with nothing but these particular flowers, and if they were tasty, that was a double win. She wasn’t particularly hungry at the moment, though. She felt like moving.

“Hey, Fluttershy!” Dash called.

Fluttershy looked up from her efforts on the cart, tossing a few empty bags Rarity’s way. “There you go, Rarity. Those are the bags from Naressa’s box. Maybe you can fill those with petals.”

“Wonderful, thank you,” said Rarity, smiling back at her.

“You’re welcome,” said Fluttershy, turning her attention to Rainbow Dash. “I’m sorry, did you say something?”

“I didn’t, but I was gonna,” said Rainbow Dash, spreading her wings and stretching her neck. “Come on, let’s go for a run!”

Fluttershy winced as she rubbed at her own sides. “I guess that could be okay, but, um, maybe not too fast? I’m still a little sore from all the cart-pulling.”

“Sure, whatever you want,” said Dash, turning on the spot, but she hadn’t even begun moving when her eyes were pulled skywards by an unseen force.

“Did you feel that? Do you think—” was about as far as Fluttershy got. Rainbow Dash was already in the air.

“Let’s go!” Dash called, soaring straight up, but she knew what she would find even before she cleared the height of the valley, even before she flew higher than the trees that surrounded it. Clouds blocked the horizon to the west, and some of them had even snuck overhead, unnoticed because they carried no rain and were so light, they barely hampered the sunlight.

Dash kept climbing, and soon she heard Fluttershy trailing her, steady and familiar wingbeats that moved the other pegasus a lot faster than Dash had expected. She had a tendency to surprise ponies whenever she was excited—or frightened. Rainbow Dash punched through the cloud layer seconds later, and a soft whuff of displaced cloud-matter signalled Fluttershy’s arrival right afterwards.

For a second, the two pegasi simply hovered in place. Rainbow Dash was vaguely aware of Rarity calling after them, but though it made no sound, nothing was half as loud as the storm brewing over the mountains in the west. The roiling dark clouds speared on the peaks of the Bow lit up with flashes of lightning providing a stark contrast.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it,” whispered Fluttershy.

“It’s probably not gonna be half as bad when it hits ground level,” said Rainbow Dash, her eyes affixed to the absurd size of the cloudmass. Her every feather itched. Half of that storm would still be worse than anything she herself had broken—or made. She looked over at Fluttershy and found her ears pinned to her head and her eyes large. “We’ll be fine,” Dash added, forcing a smile.

“It’s moving really fast,” said Fluttershy.

“Yeah.”

“So, um, we should probably get moving.”

“Yeah,” said Dash, again. It was hard to force her eyes away from the sight.

“Rainbow Dash!”

“Right!” Dash snapped, shaking her head quickly and preparing to dive. “Okay, yeah, let’s go tell Rarity, let’s go. Let’s go!”

Rainbow Dash touched hooves to the ground within the same breath she told Fluttershy to hurry up, neatly squashing a few of the tulips Rarity was gathering petals from. The unicorn shot her a half-hearted glare.

“I take it that your weather senses are tingling?” she asked, closing off a bag and depositing it on their cart. “Do tell, what are the news?”

“Storm,” said Dash, her head turning west despite herself. She couldn’t see anything from down here except some unthreatening and dull grey clouds, but still her snout was guided stormwards by an unseen force.

“I can’t believe we didn’t notice sooner,” said Fluttershy, landing right next to Rainbow Dash. “Rarity, we should probably start moving.”

“Sooner? The two of you’ve been talking about this for days now,” said Rarity. She moved towards the cart, but Rainbow Dash slipped past her and strapped herself in as quickly as she could. There was a time for being polite, and there was a time for speed.

“Yeah, well it still snuck up on us,” said Rainbow Dash. “Fluttershy, which way out of the valley?” It was a pointless question. The hills that surrounded them were low, and the path only pointed one way.

Rarity’s gaze darted between the two pegasi, and she bit her lip. “I have to be honest, you’re starting to worry me a little bit now. How dire is it?”

“Let’s drink up, eat a flower or two and get moving,” suggested Rainbow Dash.

“Hours?” asked Rarity, her voice bordering on hysterical.

“Probably,” said Dash. At most. She tried not to break into a full gallop. She’d rather not leave Rarity and Fluttershy behind. They crested the valley, the cart-wheels rattling as they ran. “Fluttershy, where to next?”

“I don’t think—” Fluttershy said between breaths. “—it matters!”

“How can it not matter?” asked Dash, shooting Fluttershy a confused look.

“Because we don’t know where we’re going!” Fluttershy replied. She slowed down, and Rainbow Dash brought the cart to a halt. The leaves on the bushes around them rustled in a wind that hadn’t been there moments before. If there was such a thing as an ominous rustle, this was it.

“After this path, we’re supposed to keep heading north until we find another stream,” Fluttershy explained, hanging her head as she caught her breath. “And we’re supposed to follow it north by north-east until we find another path through a thicket, but none of those will shelter us from the storm, and we don’t know details. We could be following the stream in the open for hours, maybe even days!”

“There has to be somewhere for us to seek refuge,” said Rarity, turning on the spot as though there was the slightest chance they’d missed a sturdy cottage nearby. “We can’t be caught out in the middle of a storm! Where are these ruins? Where is this shelter Phoreni spoke of?”

Rainbow Dash turned to glance at the cart—where was the map? “Okay, so the stuff Phoreni told us is useless, but maybe there’s a cave or something on the map? Can you have a look?”

Fluttershy shook her head, sighing. “It doesn’t have anything like that.”

Dash groaned. “What’s the point of the map if it doesn’t have anything useful on it? No caves? No ruins? We’ve been looking for days!”

“Maybe,” Rarity cut in, her voice a few octaves too high. “Maybe we can have discussions on maps some other time, and focus on trying to avoid getting swept into the sea by the coming storm?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Come on, that’s never gonna happen,” she said. “You’ll get smacked in the face by a flying branch, or maybe blown into a tree or a rock. That’s what you gotta worry about.”

“Not helping,” hissed Rarity. “And we’re not moving!”

“Because Fluttershy’s right!” snapped Dash, gesturing to the other pegasus. “There’s nowhere to hide in this forest, and we’re running blind! The only thing we have is a map that’s so bad, it doesn’t even show a bunch of canyons that could swallow Ponyville five times over and have room for lunch!”

“That’s because it’s not that kind of map,” said Fluttershy, puffing out her cheeks before she continued. “If you’d looked at it, you’d realise that Perytonia is really huge. We haven’t seen a fraction of even the Khosta. It only shows the outline of the Splitwood, nothing more, but maybe if you have a look you’ll see something I don’t?"

“I—guh, no,” Dash waved a hoof. “Forget it. Maps don’t make sense to me. If you say there’s nothing on it, there’s nothing on it.” She stuck out her tongue. “Can’t keep me from thinking it’s a dumb map if it doesn’t have the canyons and the ruins on it though. I bet you can’t find a map of Equestria without the Ghastly Gorge on it.”

“Speaking of gorges,” said Rarity, her brow knit in that very unique way that bespoke an idea. “There was an almost unbroken chain of those. As much as I had hoped we were done with that particular part of our journey, do you suppose there is another one nearby to our east?”

“Well, this is… rather more dramatic than I had imagined,” said Rarity. “Looking at it with the prospect of actually going down there, I mean.”

“Are we really going to do this?” asked Fluttershy, grinding the edge of a hoof into the ground.

“If we stand around thinking about it for long enough, the wind’s gonna make the choice for us,” replied Dash. Every now and then, a powerful gust pushed at them, whipping rain against their backs and sending tails and manes flapping over the canyon’s edge. Either they’d lucked out, or, as Dash was more inclined to believe, there was in fact always a canyon to their east.

Whatever the case, the weather still picked up, and it was getting harder to see clearly. The canyon loomed large ahead, and Rainbow Dash didn’t fancy her chances crossing it with a heavy load in this wind anyway. If they’d ever had a chance to outfly the storm, the moment had well and truly passed—and besides, past experience showed what a bad idea flying the cart around was. Whatever Rarity and Fluttershy talked about now was lost to Dash, so she made the choice for them all and leapt off the ledge.

Rainbow Dash zig-zagged and banked as she shed the height of the drop, but to her relief, the wind lessened the second she dove into the canyon. Funneling a little air under the ungainly cart to keep it right was easier going down. She looked up and around as she descended, spotting the familiar outline of Fluttershy’s wings attached to a larger shape pulling great circles above her. It wasn’t like giving Rarity a ride down was a huge deal, but Dash grinned all the same—a grin that disappeared bit by bit as the world was eaten up by rock.

Every time she made a turn, the grey sky above shrunk. The walls of the gorge weren’t merely sheer, but angled away from the edges. When she landed, it felt for a moment as though there was no air left in the world. The darkening cloud-cover was just a small strip far above. Everything else was red rock and spindly growths poking out of dirt rapidly turning to mud as the rain grew.

The wind whistled and howled madly, and despite the rain-carrying gusts that snuck their way down to the valley floor, Dash’s mouth felt dry just from the sight. She heard Fluttershy touch down next to her, but didn’t really pay much attention. Rainbow Dash didn’t know how long she stood there, feeling the cart’s harness dig into her side until she caught one word that carried meaning, sticking out. Ruins.

“What?” asked Dash, blinking.

“I said, this explains why we hadn’t found the ruins,” said Rarity in a tone that suggested repetition. “Did you not notice coming down?” Rainbow Dash had no clue what she was on about until the unicorn gestured ahead, further south along the canyon.

“Right,” said Rainbow Dash. “No, I was busy trying to get the cart down safe.”

Whether or not they were the ruins Phoreni had mentioned, Rainbow Dash had no idea, but someone had clearly lived here, once. Not too far away, a low wall ran the full width of the canyon. Beyond, built on the canyon floor, hewed and sculpted into the cliffs and connected by bridges arcing from one wall to the other, were buildings and homes that, if they weren’t ruins, were clearly ruined. Dash followed Fluttershy and Rarity, the three moving along the canyon by unspoken agreement.

All was stone in every shade of red imaginable—and a couple more. Curved domes of fitted stone slabs with collapsed roofs, once-tall spires long since toppled and low towers with missing walls. If there was anything that was not rock, Dash figured it must’ve rotted or washed away long since—and no wonder. The rocks themselves looked like they’d tried their best at rotting away, too. A sudden gust of wind from behind spread one of Dash’s wings against her best efforts, hurrying the ponies along.

“I meant to say,” said Rarity, looking to Fluttershy as they approached the ruins’ outskirts. “As much as I appreciate borrowing your wings, will getting out of here be a problem?”

“We could always just walk out on the north side if it comes to that,” said Fluttershy, glancing up.

“There’s plenty of space to gain height, we’re good for getting out unless Fluttershy and I both mess up our wings,” said Dash. She took a deep breath and tried to focus on the truth of those words. Plenty of space, technically, but not nearly enough for her tastes. She, too, looked up again, and every time she did, she wished she hadn’t.

“Well, that’s a relief at least. Now to find somewhere to wait this terrible storm out,” Rarity muttered, stepping over a fallen stone as they mounted the chest-high wall. Rainbow Dash spread her wings to fly the cart over, but another sudden gust made her reconsider. She grunted with effort as she pulled the cart over a particularly low and ruined section instead.

“Anywhere down here is better than anywhere up there right now, at least,” said Fluttershy. The three paused just inside the wall, next to what must’ve been some sort of forum or marketplace, an open space with a lot of large, square slabs too simple to be bothered by time.

“Sure, but I don’t think ‘anywhere’ is good enough,” said Rainbow Dash, twisting around to look every which way. It was hard to get a full view of the place from the ground. Everything down here was partially collapsed and ruined, and much of what had been built into the cliff-side had fallen down, leaving small holes and ledges like pockmarks high up in the stone.

“You don’t think we could just rest against a wall on the other side of this wind?” asked Rarity, frowning slightly. “Not that I wish to settle for being uncomfortable if we’re going to be here all night, mind you.”

Fluttershy shook her head briskly. “The canyon’s going to flood from all the rain-water. We need to get higher up.”

“Ah. Wonderful,” said Rarity.

“And there’s—” Dash began.

“There’s a cross—oh, sorry,” said Fluttershy.

Dash shrugged. “Yeah, that. There’s a crossing wind, too. Didn’t you feel it just now? The wind’s picking up down the canyon too, and when the storm hits in full, there’s gonna be rain coming from every direction, and hard. Trust me. There’s gonna be no place safe from the wind.” She grinned. “I don’t second-guess you when it comes to fashion and stuff looking good, and you can trust us with weather. We want something better than a crummy wall. Best thing would just be hiding out on top of the clouds, really.”

“Yes,” said Rarity, her voice tight. “But as we’ve discovered many times so far, I am not a pegasus, so that’s not an option. And besides, I don’t know that my fashion sense is to be trusted lately, either.”

“Rarity…” said Fluttershy, walking a little closer to Rarity and resting her head against hers.

“Jeez, okay, that joke crashed,” said Dash. “Sorry?”

“No, no. There is nothing to apologise for, and this is not the time for dramatics, I realise that,” said Rarity with a brief sigh, nuzzling Fluttershy. “As for cover, how about there?” she asked, pointing ahead to a building Rainbow Dash hadn’t noticed before. The large, circular structure was built into the canyon wall on ground level, and stood almost untouched in defiance of the word “ruin”.

“It looks like some kind of fortress,” suggested Fluttershy, that last word spoken with an audible frown.

“Guess it’s built to last. Makes sense that it’s still in one piece,” said Dash with a shrug. “Let’s go?”

“It’s just… I thought Phoreni said these were Ephydoeran ruins,” said Fluttershy, hurrying to catch up when Rainbow Dash trotted along.

“Yeah?”

“Well, they didn’t really build anything out of stone, did they,” Fluttershy half stated, half asked, wincing as another strong wind blew past them, sending manes askew.

“I don’t recall her saying they were Ephydoeran ruins in particular, actually,” said Rarity, straightening her soaked mane and scowling at the result. “All the other peryton must’ve had master stonecrafters among them, though. They built their cities out of stone. Consider all the statues and the stele we’ve seen, too.”

“Speaking of, uh—” Dash cuffed the bangs of her mane when they got in her face again. “Okay, yeah, no, I don’t care about that, but before I forget, our manes are getting seriously long. Rarity, can you give me a haircut sometime soon? Because it’s starting to drive me crazy.”

Rarity gave Rainbow Dash’s mane a long look, and soon, she turned her scrutinising gaze unto Fluttershy as well, finally nodding. “I’m no stylist, but you two are getting rather scruffy. Remind me later, will you? I don’t know that now is the time.”

“Got it,” said Dash with a chuckle, her step slowing as they came to a halt in front of the fortress. “Pretty sure we found a good place to stay, though.”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t imagine the storm capable of touching the building in front of them. It didn’t inspire awe in the same way Castle Canterlot’s tall spires did, and it was certainly a lot smaller, but the chunk of red stone looked solid.

It also looked a lot like someone had cut a multi-layered wedding cake in two straight down the middle and shoved one half against a wall. Rainbow Dash was pretty sure she had Pinkie Pie to blame for the way cake imagery kept invading her head, but however she thought of the fortress, they’d come as close as they could by ground with the cart.

“Why would they… I almost want to say they’ve planted all these rocks here?” asked Rarity, frowning at the field in front of the fortress.

“It does look a little bit like a garden, doesn’t it?” said Fluttershy, and Dash could see the resemblance. A full semicircle field of tall, thin rocks separated the building from the hollowed-out houses of the rest of the ruined city. The ones that hadn’t broken off were as tall as a pony. Rainbow Dash slipped out from the harness and flew just off the ground to get a better view, but there was nothing much to see, and the wind kept tugging at her. She had to work her wings to stay steady in the confusing mess of currents that whirled around just above the canyon floor.

“Yeah, it keeps going all the way to the fortress entrance, but we can walk between them just fine. I don’t get it,” she said.

“Very well. Where is the entrance?” asked Rarity. “Can you see?”

“Uh, there’s one straight ahead, but it’s really narrow. I don’t think the cart fits there either,” said Rainbow Dash. The entire ground floor, the first circle—layer of the cake, whatever—didn’t have a lot of entrances or windows, only a few narrow gaps, but the layered design meant the second level had wide landings clearly intended for fliers. “There are some wider doors higher up,” she said, coming to an awkward landing. “Jeez, this wind—anyway, yeah, I guess the people who built this could fly, so maybe it’s a peryton fortress after all.”

“We still don’t have a real solution,” said Rarity, nibbling on her lower lip.

“Huh? Sure we do. We just walk up to it. If we can’t get inside down here, we’ll just hop onto the landing. I’m sure we can get you up there.” Dash shrugged.

“And the cart?” asked Rarity. She ducked when a sudden burst of wind slapped them with a blast of rainwater, dirt and dust, wet and dry at the same time. “Ack! It’s getting worse!”

“Oh. Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash. “Carrying all the stuff inside is gonna be a pain.”

Fluttershy nodded quickly, raising her voice against the storm that started to find some purchase even down in the canyon. “We can’t just leave the cart out here in the storm, either! If the wind picks up much more, it could get damaged. Maybe we can find a safe place to hide it?”

“You couldn’t just fly it up to there?” asked Rarity, pointing to the landing beyond the field of stone pillars. “It would be much easier if we could just pull it inside.”

“Uh, so,” said Dash. “The wind that’s coming through the canyon is a mess.” It wasn’t even close. Flying the stupid cart in wind or rain? Annoying by itself. Wind and rain at the same time? That’s how stuff fell off the cart last time. With unpredictable explosions of wind coming from every which way? It was one of the rare kinds of reckless that even Rainbow Dash didn’t find tempting. Maybe if there was some fun to be had in failing, or if there was a real reason to do it. Hay, maybe on a really good dare, but not—

“I’m going to try,” said Fluttershy.

Rainbow Dash wondered if she’d heard wrong. Her mind went blank for a moment while Rarity hurried to double-check the straps that secured their tarp to the cart. Before Dash knew what was going on, Fluttershy had the harness secured, and Rarity stepped aside to give Fluttershy a clear run.

“I—uh, okay,” was all Dash managed. Fluttershy locked eyes with her, and though the wind blew her mane in her face, Rainbow Dash caught a smile amidst the mess of pink hair.

“I think I can do it,” said Fluttershy, simple as that.

Except it wasn’t simple at all. Everything about this was confusing to Rainbow Dash, and the wind was only a small part of it. Fluttershy took off at a gallop and launched into the air with the cart steady behind her. She lowered her head, and when the first sideways gust hit her, she banked and compensated, handing it perfectly. Fluttershy looked over her shoulder, and it wasn’t to check the cart—she sought Rainbow Dash, and Dash stared back.

She couldn’t not. She couldn’t help staring. Fluttershy had leapt at doing something even Dash herself wasn’t keen on, and Rainbow Dash felt her own wings spread in wordless support. A blast of wind lifted the cart, threatening to toss it over Fluttershy’s back, and Fluttershy hurried to follow it up. She was halfway across the stone garden already, and Rainbow Dash’s face hurt from the grin she wore. If there was a part of her that wanted to feel jealous—a part of Dash that wished she’d jumped at the opportunity to do this herself—it was trampled by the urge to cheer.

Fluttershy flew straight, again, all her usual grace transformed into power. She kept looking back at Rainbow Dash, and briefly, Dash wondered why. Did Fluttershy think that she had to do this? She couldn’t. She wouldn’t. But then, Fluttershy also wouldn’t usually leap at something this dangerous. Rainbow Dash’s wings swayed with the wind, and she furled them to stop them flapping about. When the next sideways gust hit, Fluttershy struggled to right the cart again before she had to bank the other way.

Did she think she had to do this because Rainbow Dash wouldn’t? That didn’t make sense. That couldn’t be it, but maybe Rainbow Dash pushed her to do it, even if she hadn’t meant to. Had she said something without thinking? Fluttershy couldn’t actually want to try this. If she did, Rainbow Dash didn’t know what to do with the way her heart hammered in her chest. She was excited in the same way she got excited any time she’d bullied Fluttershy into doing something she didn’t want to. How was that okay? What if Fluttershy did this despite not wanting to, somehow still because of Rainbow Dash?

Was that wrong? Why did that matter? Had these things mattered before? And what if she lost control of the cart and failed?

Rainbow Dash swallowed bile. “What if” were the two stupidest words she knew. They had no place in her vocabuwhatever. In her head. She loathed those words now more than ever, but suddenly, she couldn’t watch. She caught Fluttershy cast another quick glance over her shoulder, and this time, Rainbow Dash looked away, gritting her teeth.

“Oh dear—look out, darling!” cried Rarity a moment later, and Rainbow Dash caught a flicker of green light in the corner of her eye.

Rainbow Dash tossed the harness onto the floor, panting and wiping her dripping mane out of her face. “I don’t know if we need that any more, but there’s nothing more out there,” she said, shaking wet off her wings and planting herself on the ground with a sigh. “The rest’s just… pieces of cart, and I don’t think we can fix it. I’m not Applejack, but I can tell it’s gonna need more than just glue and nails or whatever.”

Rarity nodded and smiled her thanks, depositing the loose cart-harness over by the rest of their supplies, everything neatly sorted and drying where relevant. Thankfully, there was an excess of dry to go about for once. Where the ground floor of the fortress was dark, cold and utterly empty except for water trickling in through the slim door-like portals, they occupied the next floor up, which was a little more pleasant—if you liked dry rock.

Thick walls of carved stone created an antechamber that might’ve once been used for mustering. Or song practice. Or lunch. Rainbow Dash didn’t have a clue about military stuff, but whatever they did here couldn’t have required a lot of props. Stubborn stone furniture still survived, stone cider-racks resting along weathered walls. Or maybe they were scroll-case holders. Who knew.

Beyond that, a single stone table stood by the stairs they’d come up, and three of the walls had dark and doorless portals they’d left alone so far, more concerned with getting everything inside. It hadn’t taken very long. Rarity took stock, Rainbow Dash carried their stuff inside, and Fluttershy… well. The soaked pegasus sat leaning back against the stone guardrail of the stairs, pointedly looking everywhere but at Rainbow Dash whenever she came in with a new load of stuff.

“You’re sure you’re okay?” Rainbow Dash asked, not for the first time.

“I’m fine,” replied Fluttershy, the exact same answer as last time, but Rainbow Dash didn’t know what those words were supposed to mean. She walked up to her girlfriend and reached out to gently run a hoof along her body, putting a little pressure here and there. Ribs, side and front. Wings. All the parts she tended to bust when she herself crashed.

“Any of this hurt?” she asked.

“No, I’m fine,” said Fluttershy again, sighing softly, her eyes on the air between her eyes and the ground.

Rainbow Dash believed her easily enough. It hadn’t been a particularly dramatic crash—the wind smacked the cart against the fortress wall, and Fluttershy didn’t fall very far. Besides, Fluttershy was made of tougher stuff than that. She poked Fluttershy’s wings again and checked for any indication that Fluttershy was in pain, but she got even less of a reaction than she expected. Fluttershy’s face was utterly blank.

“Darling, you need to collect yourself,” said Rarity, getting up and walking over to stand in front of the dejected pegasus. “No pony’s perfect. Please don’t beat yourself up over this any more.”

Fluttershy looked up, offering Rarity a smile so brief it might as well not have existed.

“What’s the problem? We didn’t lose anything important,” said Dash, leaving Fluttershy’s wings alone for now. She let her hoof rest on her side for a second longer before she withdrew. Fluttershy had no cause to be mopey about this. If it was anypony’s mistake, it was Dash’s own for not stopping her. For being too awestruck to do so. For enjoying it until right before the crash.

“Some of the berries are berry paste now,” Dash continued, shrugging. “We’re down a bag of water in the middle of a rainstorm. Big deal!”

“And the dragonfire,” said Fluttershy, shaking her head. “The bottle of dragonfire broke, too.”

“Okay, yeah, that’s a problem, but eh,” said Dash, shrugging. She’d almost forgotten they had it, and they could probably just buy a boat or something when they wanted to go home, right?

“Yes,” said Rarity with a huff. “We lost the dragonfire, and that may be a bit of an issue, but we’ll cross that bridge when we reach it. Fluttershy, darling dearest, you must understand that we don’t blame you.”

“I know that,” said Fluttershy, reaching over to wring a few drops of water from her mane.

“Please don’t think—wait, you… do?” asked Rarity, blinking.

“Then what’s the problem?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Of course I know. I don’t think either of you would be that mean to me on purpose, but I am very sorry,” said Fluttershy, clambering to stand on all fours and puffing out her cheeks. She glanced over at Rainbow Dash, inscrutable for a second. “And there’s no problem.”

“Well, ah, then… I suppose all is well? And your apology is both accepted and unneeded,” said Rarity, walking back towards their belongings in the middle of the room. “We will have to figure something out with regards to all my supplies. The chest will hardly fit in my saddlebags, and I want to bring as much as possible with me—and, if you are feeling better, let us find somewhere less drafty to sleep.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about packing your saddlebags for a while, at least,” said Rainbow Dash. Along the far wall, a wide portal led to the landing on the roof outside, rain whisking past it in huge drops blown almost perfectly horizontal. If not for the light of Rarity’s horn, it would be pitch black now, and the wind howled, whistled and roared, multiple voices in concert with each other.

“Fluttershy! Your services are required!” called Rarity. The unicorn stood by one of the room’s many exits, nervously tapping a hoof on the floor, and Fluttershy hurried over. Rainbow Dash made her way towards them as well, finally starting to feel a little tired after all the running, flying and thinking. It had been a long day. Another day of almosts. She was almost sure that Fluttershy was fine. Fluttershy wouldn’t let something as silly as a little accident break her, and if she felt bad about the crash, Dash was sure Fluttershy would feel better once they found something to do that the other mare really wanted to do.

“These are ferralopes?” asked Rainbow Dash. “I thought you said they lived in the forest.” She squinted at the slim, pointy-snouted, six-legged and antlered creatures as they ran in little circles around Fluttershy’s legs, sniffing and touching with unabashed curiosity. More than a dozen of them inhabited the first chamber they’d explored, and where Rainbow Dash stood as close as they’d let her, Rarity stood half-way outside the room.

“Usually, but they’re very adaptive,” said Fluttershy with a faint smile, ducking her head a little as one particularly inquisitive ferralope climbed up her mane to sit on her head, peering at her upside-down. It made a chittering noise, and Fluttershy shook her head in reply.

“Whatever they are, I hope they don’t mind sharing this place with us,” said Rarity with a barely-suppressed frown. “And that they don’t like the taste of my fabrics.”

Fluttershy shook her head again and bent low to the ground, letting the creature hop off her head. It rushed over to Rainbow Dash in the blink of an eye, rising to stand in front of her. It barely reached her knees when it stood on the hindmost set of legs. Dash leaned close to it, tilting her head. It tilted its head to match, sniffed her, and ran back to the others.

“I’m sure they won’t bother us or try to eat our things,” said Fluttershy, giggling at the resulting chorus of chatters from the ferralopes. “They mostly eat roots and dead beetles.”

“Ah. Dead beetles,” said Rarity with a strained smile. “Charming. If you say they are no problem—”

“And that they don’t see us as a problem,” Fluttershy interrupted.

“—then I am sure we will be the best of friends,” Rarity finished, smiling faintly. “Let us move our belongings into one of the other chambers.”

Rainbow Dash cocked a brow. “What, you just wanna grab the first empty room we find? I’m as tired as the next pony, but we have an entire fortress to explore!”

The three ponies filed out of the room, and Rainbow Dash could already see that the neighbouring chamber was much like the one the ferralopes inhabited: a narrow room with some stone shelves and nothing much else. Rarity and Fluttershy paused at the entrance, Rarity tapping a hoof on the ground.

“I think Rainbow Dash has a point,” said Fluttershy, glancing at Rarity. “Maybe we’ll find something better if we keep looking. Aren’t you cold?”

“Freezing, in fact,” said Rarity, frowning with clear annoyance. “I’ve become entirely too used to that, but no, perhaps you are right. There are stairs up in one of these chambers, and one of these openings has to lead to something other than a glorified supply closet full of animals, surely.”

“Okay, but before we get mad at me, I’m not saying I think we’re gonna find a bedroom with fluffy pillows,” said Rainbow Dash, gesturing to the other doorless portals that led away into shadow. “Just that this place looked a lot larger from the outside.”

“Of course,” said Rarity with a small sigh. “I would like to complain that I feel done with walking for the day, but frankly, my body is not the only weary part of me this moment. Let’s go see what we can find, at any rate. You’ll forgive my complaints.”

Rainbow Dash wasted no time picking a room at random, moving towards it with Fluttershy and Rarity in tow, the blueish white light from the unicorn’s horn blending oddly with the red stone.

“I don’t think you’re complaining,” said Fluttershy while Rainbow Dash squinted. The leftmost portal led to a hallway—more like a tunnel, really—with tons more openings in each wall. Boring. She headed back out and checked the next one over instead.

“You don’t have to try to make me feel better, dear,” said Rarity.

“That’s not what I meant,” Fluttershy replied. “I just mean, well, we’re all a little tired after running all day, but that’s normal. If you don’t mind me saying, I think you’re doing a lot better now.”

The next room showed a lot more promise, a small chamber containing a broad set of stairs in good repair.

“You’ll forgive me if I don’t relish the idea of ruining my figure.” Rarity let out a half-hearted snort and shook her head. “I’m sorry. You may be right. I don’t mean to be rude.”

Rainbow Dash paused her ascent, already on her way up the stairs. She was half-way to tuning their conversation out, but no way could she let that slide. She snorted with laughter as she stuck her head up to the next floor. “Ruin your figure? Rarity, you look great!”

“Not if one is trying to maintain a certain look, dear. We’ve been over this,” replied Rarity from below, the other two mounting the stairs and the light following. Rainbow Dash couldn’t see anything much without Rarity, so she hopped up and waited on the landing.

Whatever “look” Rarity was going for, she was certainly more toned now than she’d been when they boarded the airship weeks and weeks ago. She’d always kept in shape, sure, but a long gallop through a building storm hadn’t knocked her out like Dash had expected. At worst, the unicorn was a little crankier for it.

The journey had even kept Rainbow Dash in shape despite missing her usual training sessions, and Fluttershy? Rainbow Dash couldn’t keep from grinning to herself. The outdoorsy pegasus had never looked better, and Dash nuzzled her in passing just because she had to. Fluttershy smelled of rain and—Dash scrunched her snout. Of rain and of the apparently rather strong-scented ferralopes.

“Did you notice these symbols outside, too?” asked Fluttershy. Apparently she’d not noticed Dash’s little gesture, staring at a nearby support column. Now that Rarity brought the light, the room revealed itself. Two rows of large parallel pillars cut the room in three, and on each of the stone pillars were two symbols repeated amidst row upon row of peryton script, one a triangle with a jagged halo, the other four wedges in two rows.

“One of them is Helesseia, I’d recognise that one anywhere,” said Rarity, moving closer to inspect one of the stone pillars. “The other one I don’t know, and if I’m not mistaken, the letters are different.”

“Different?” asked Rainbow Dash. She peered at the unintelligible letters, but they looked like a flock of crows had gotten into the apple cider and danced around in wet mud, just like all the other peryton writing. “What do you mean? How can you tell?”

Rarity cocked a brow. “The many hours I spent helping Ephydoerans with their markings, for a start.”

“If you’re right, I guess it’s not all that surprising that their writing changed,” said Fluttershy moving to the next nearest column. “Old Equestrian is so different from how we write now that Twilight has to use magic to translate old books.”

“I recall her saying that, yes,” said Rarity, pursing her lips. “What confuses me is that I should at least remember seeing this other symbol, given that I am fairly sure I shaved most, if not every one of the forty-nine Aspects onto someone’s flank during those two days. It must be related to one of the Aspects that allow for virtually unlimited artistic freedom—though then I wouldn’t expect to see the same symbol twice.”

“Does it matter?” asked Rainbow Dash, shrugging and moving towards the only door leading further into the fortress. The room only had the one exit—not even a single way out to the landings outside—but it was also the first actual door they’d seen, the rows of pillars terminating in a stout double door.

“I don’t suppose it really does, no,” said Rarity, returning the shrug and following.

“Aren’t you at least a little bit curious?” asked Fluttershy, her eyes lingering on each of the columns as they moved past them, endless reams of unreadable script.

“Sure I am,” said Dash. “But if we can’t read it, we can’t read it. Wait, Rarity, do you know Twilight’s translation spell?” she asked.

Rarity shook her head and sighed. “No, and quite honestly, it doesn’t even make the list of things I regret not picking up before we left. Or, well, it didn’t before now. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” said Fluttershy, leaning against the unicorn as they walked. “Rainbow Dash and I couldn’t cast the spell in the first place anyway.”

“Don’t even worry about it, I was just asking,” said Dash, more concerned with how the door ahead kept growing. She had to count the columns to make sure they were actually still moving towards the set of wood and metal doors.

Rarity let out a shivering breath. “Translation spells or no, I would still give up half the dresses in my boutique for a spell that created warmth right now. Or for Twilight to be here.”

“Me too,” said Fluttershy. “Or, well, I mean… I think I’d really like to see something familiar now. This really isn’t the coziest of places. I miss my couch. Snuggling up with Angel in my cottage would be wonderful.”

Rainbow Dash decided that the great hall they were in must’ve taken up the majority of this floor. In fact, it was larger than it should be. Were they inside the cliff wall, now? Underneath the earth? Dash shuffled her wings when they came to a stop in front of the two massive doors, ancient wood with bands of metal. She gave one of them a cursory shove, but it didn’t move.

“Alright, so we’re not going through here. I guess we gotta try the tunnel below,” said Rainbow Dash, frowning at the thought. She started moving towards the stairs again. “Weird that there are no stairs up. Unless I forgot how to count, there’s what, three or four more floors?”

“I know what you mean,” said Rarity with a sigh, and Rainbow Dash was confused until she realised she wasn’t talking to her, but to Fluttershy still. At least they followed while they talked. “I could go for a glass of warm vintage cider and a moment to myself in my workroom. Work would be relaxing compared to this, I feel,” Rarity added.

Rainbow Dash hopped down the last few steps of the stairs. There were more doors—or portals, really—another floor down, but even from here she could see a thin layer of water covering the ground floor already. Tunnel it is, then.

“I’d also like to see Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie Pie again soon—and Spike and all the others, of course,” Fluttershy went on.

“Oh, definitely. I’d want a moment to myself first, to collect my thoughts, but right now, nothing sounds better than a quiet evening with just us girls,” Rarity replied. “And then—heavens, re-socialising after this journey will be quite the task, I hadn’t even thought of that. What if I forgot to tell someone of my leaving, and they don’t see the notice on the Boutique’s door?”

The tunnel loomed before Dash. It pierced straight into the raw stone of the canyon wall, and when Rarity finally brought her light close, infinite shadows played with the rows of doorless opening. Metal hooks carried rusty, empty lanterns and miniature alcoves lined the walls containing stone statues much more delicate than anything else in the fortress—and thus, each and every one of them were broken.

“Rainbow Dash?”

“What?” asked Dash. She stopped by the first set of rooms, glancing left and right. Identical chambers with low stone frames and alcoves—no, shelves—carved into the walls. Bedrooms?

“I asked you what you miss the most,” Rarity said, studying one of the rooms intently as she spoke. “Parties at Sugarcube Corner? A good nap?”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Dunno. Don’t think about it much,” she said. “Okay, I guess these are all bedrooms.”

“The hallway turns up ahead. Maybe there’s something else around the corner,” said Fluttershy pointing down the hall, though she waited for Rainbow Dash and Rarity to start moving before she followed.

Their hoof-steps sounded entirely too loud without the backdrop of Rarity and Fluttershy’s conversation. Hooves on solid stone shouldn’t make this much noise, but their passage echoed, muted only partially by a layer of dust. Every time Rarity took a step, the light bobbed and the shadows shifted to match. The ever-present roar of rain and wind from outside receded slowly.

The hallway wasn’t that long, but it felt like it went on forever. Rainbow Dash wished Rarity and Fluttershy would keep talking. She was stuck actually trying to answer Rarity’s question, deciding if there was anything she missed. Their friends would be fine. Ponyville would be there when they got back, and Tank would be happy to see her. What did she actually miss? No particular place. Nopony she wouldn’t get to see again soon, relatively speaking.

If she missed anything, it would be Fluttershy. Not Fluttershy herself—that very pegasus trod on her tail and whispered an apology even as Rainbow Dash finished that thought, the three ponies clustering together as they walked down the eerie hallway. No, she missed doing stupid fun stuff with Fluttershy, which was a big part of what they did. Or, used to do, before Rainbow Dash realised how much her bullying had hurt her.

“Hey, so, Rarity. Can’t you use magic to keep your body warm?” asked Rainbow Dash. It’d be something to talk about. Anything was better than thinking about things she’d thought about before, problems she’d already solved by deciding to be a better girlfriend, problems that thus weren’t problems at all.

“I told you, dear. I can’t,” said Rarity, her words a little more crisp than usual. Clearly she was touchy about that.

Dash rolled her eyes. “Well duh. Not a heat spell or anything, but the magic Khyrast taught you. Wasn’t that supposed to make your entire body stronger?”

“Stronger, not warmer,” said Fluttershy, stepping over the shattered remains of a lantern.

“Sure, but we don’t know exactly how it works.” Rainbow Dash scratched her snout. “Maybe it’s like getting a good workout, or like when you’re ready to go and the adrenaline’s flowing. Being tired makes you cold, so being not tired’s gotta help keep you warm, right?”

Rarity gave Dash one of those smiles that weren’t a smile at all. “Ah yes. Perfect logic,” she said, immediately shaking her head at her own words. “No, that is unfair of me. I will admit I don’t know how it works, so maybe it would be worth a try if I knew how to do it.”

“I’m not a unicorn, and I don’t know how magic works, but I haven’t even seen you try,” said Dash. Finally they reached the corner, and she bit back a groan. More of the evenly spaced doorways. It ended in a larger room ahead, though.

“Maybe you’ll have better luck now that there isn’t quite as much pressure?” suggested Fluttershy, offering Rarity a smile. “If you think you can do it, that is. I don’t know if keeping the light on wears you out and you’re tired from that. Your light spell is very helpful.”

Rainbow Dash briefly imagined how the evening would look without Rarity’s light. Specifically, how it wouldn’t ‘look’ at all. She turned over her shoulder to lock eyes with the unicorn. “What she said,” said Dash. “If we only get one of the two, keep the light on. I don’t want to have to feel my way out of here.”

Rarity let out a soundless snort through her nose. “Any unicorn foal can create a light, it’s hardly impressive. But, very well. If it will please you, give me a moment to try the spell Khyrast taught me.”

The three ponies halted in the middle of the hallway while Rarity closed her eyes and focused. The light from her horn dimmed a little, then flickered, and Rainbow Dash swore she could see a faint glow around Rarity’s hooves.

“Focusing on the lower prongs. Prongs my hoof,” muttered Rarity. The light dimmed further, her horn now barely more than a tremulous candlelight. Fluttershy took a single step towards Rarity and glanced over her shoulder. Again there was a soft glow around Rarity’s hooves, but it was gone before Dash could think of something encouraging to say. Rarity opened her eyes again, and the light brightened until Dash had to shield her eyes.

“If there’s warmth to be had from that, it is from frustration,” said Rarity, her ears flat and her voice nearly dropping to a growl. “I am sorry. Let us continue this little exploration effort and find our way back to our blanket. Curiosity is not worth catching a cold over.”

Rainbow Dash nodded and gave Rarity’s side a poke. “Hey, you’ll get it next time.”

“You did better than last time, too,” said Fluttershy, nodding enthusiastically.

“Hey, can you turn the light back to… uh, ‘normal’ I guess?” asked Rainbow Dash as she headed the group further down the hallway. She looked inside each room they passed, but the most interesting thing she’d seen so far was a room that had two bed-frames rather than one. “Does your horn-light have settings?”

Rarity chuckled. “My horn does not, in fact, have settings. Surely you’ve noticed that I can control the light however I like.”

Fluttershy giggled as well and shook her head. “Maybe you can turn it back to the way you had it a minute ago?”

“Hm? This is the exact same spell, and the exact same amount of magic I put through my horn most of the time, dear,” said Rarity, giving Fluttershy an odd look. “What do you mean?”

“Quit messing around, there’s definitely something… odd.” Dash’s voice trailed off, and her step faltered.

At first, she thought Rarity was showing off because she didn’t manage to do the body magic spell—that maybe she just kept her light as bright as she could to prove a point or something. Slowly, Rainbow Dash realised that was not the case. The walls were not brighter because of Rarity’s unicorn magic, and the stone was the same red stone as it had always been. Except for the small matter of the way it gave off a glow of its own.

“Um, is it just me—”

“No,” answered Rainbow Dash, stopping in the middle of the hallway for the second time, Rarity and Fluttershy each bumping into her flank.

Light emanated from the walls down the hall. Not from the walls themselves, Rainbow Dash noticed, but from the empty lanterns, and in one case, from right below the hook from which a lantern had no doubt once hung. When she blinked, she swore she could see a simple, unpainted wooden door in the corner of her eye, but when she turned to look, there was nothing but an empty portal to an empty room. Rainbow Dash spread her wings in a flash and glared down the hall.

“What the hay is going on?!” Rainbow Dash called. “You guys are seeing this, right?”

“I don’t know what I’m seeing, but I’m definitely seeing it,” said Rarity, her voice quavering.

“G-ghosts,” Fluttershy stammered.

“I don’t know about that,” said Rainbow Dash, turning around to face Fluttershy. She meant to say something reassuring, something confident and cool to reassure her girlfriend—and herself—but Fluttershy looked the other way, staring behind them. When Dash saw past Fluttershy to the shape walking towards them, there was really only one thing to say.

“Okay, that does look like a ghost.”

It was already upon them, and there was no time to scream. The whole thing happened without noise except for a sharp intake of breath from Fluttershy when the translucent peryton passed straight through them. The large ghostly shape flickered, only parts of its body visible from any angle, and continued down the hallway without a care in the world. Fluttershy dropped her tail and curled it around one of her hindlegs and Rarity took a distressingly slow breath in.

Rainbow Dash packed her wings away and finally worked one of the seeds from their morning meal free from between her teeth. The citrus-berry seed had driven her crazy all day.

“Okay, so, let’s follow it,” said Rainbow Dash. She managed two steps before her walk was arrested by something hooked around her hindlegs and a sharp tug on her tail. Rarity grabbed her with her forelegs, and Fluttershy bit down on her tail, both of them staring at her.

“What?” Dash asked.

“Can we maybe not follow the ghost?” suggested Fluttershy, spitting out Dash’s tail-hairs. “I vote we run. Running and maybe screaming sounds really good right now!”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “It didn’t hurt us, and I’m bored. Let’s see what’s going on. Come on, I’ll keep you safe!”

Rarity’s eyes were large as they flitted between the ethereal lights and Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow, you cannot be this crazy. Fear of ghosts is perfectly normal if they are in the room with you.”

Dash nodded. “Sure, but these aren’t really ghosts, because there’s no such thing as ghosts, right?”

“About that,” said Fluttershy, hyperventilating quietly by herself. Rainbow Dash didn’t look. She touched her side with a hoof for comfort instead.

“If you’ve ever listened to Twilight for more than a minute at a time, you’ll know that’s circular logic,” said Rarity, frowning at her. She sounded more annoyed than afraid, now. “You can’t say they’re not ghosts because there are no ghosts.“

“Sure I can,” said Rainbow Dash. “Want more proof? Ghosts are supposed to be scary,” she said, sticking her tongue out as she tested the waters. Further down the hall, she saw a flickering shape pass from one room into another. “Nope. Still not scared,” she said.

“I have no single name. I am every echo.”

“What does—ah,” said Rarity with a sigh. “Yes, that wasn’t your voice, Rainbow Dash,” said Rarity.

“Nope,” said Dash.

“That was another ghost,” whispered Fluttershy.

“Lovely,” said Rarity.

Rainbow Dash turned to face the peryton stood behind them, and though it was hard to make out detail with all the shimmering and see-through-ness, she got the distinct impression it was looking straight at them—or through them. Dash didn’t feel like admitting that she wasn’t not a little uneasy right now, so she didn’t.

When a pulse of light shot from the peryton, washing down the hall and leaving half-unreal doors, lanterns and other peryton shapes in its wake, she was perhaps a little creeped out, too.

One moment they’d stood in a dead and desolate stone hallway playing tricks on them, and now it was filled with transparent life. Peryton walked up and down the hall chatting amicably without words, two peryton lay next to each other on a bed inside an open room right next to them, and all kinds of junk rested along the walls. A peryton tripped over a ceramic vase and it shattered without a sound, the spectre running along quickly with a backwards glance.

“Can we talk about my plan again, please? The one with the running and maybe screaming?” said Fluttershy, pleading, though she sounded decidedly less panicked now.

Rainbow Dash frowned and leaned down to poke her snout against Fluttershy’s feathers. “You’re going to hurt your wings, you know. Let them loose a bit.”

Fluttershy glared at Dash. “Those wings are staying just the way they are, and so are my ears, and my tail.”

“Fine,” said Dash, rolling her eyes. “Be scared.”

“I am!” Fluttershy snapped.

“Okay! Jeez!” said Rainbow Dash. She wrapped a wing around Fluttershy’s back and tugged her close, stroking slowly with her feathers. “Better?”

“A little,” said Fluttershy, deflating a tad and leaning back against her.

“Well. Hello,” said Rarity, who had been staring at, and been stared at by the peryton shape for a while now without a word. The peryton—the ghost, probably, Dash grudgingly admitted to herself—hadn’t done much, but the occasional flicker gave it definition. It carried large saddlebags across its back, and another bag around its neck, right over a scarf that billowed in an unseen wind. Ethereal ribbons hung from its antlers, and its tail-feathers were tightly bound.

“We are not a ‘you’, but I will speak,” replied the peryton in a sharp voice that rang true and clear where all the other ghostly proceedings around them were faint echoes at best.

Rainbow Dash cocked a brow. “What does that mean?”

“I am Rarity, and these are my friends, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. What—ah, with whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?”

“We do not know what a Direclaw is.”

“Pleased to meet you?” asked Fluttershy. The ghost said nothing. “We… we don’t know what that is, either, I’m sorry.”

Rarity cleared her throat. “Well, since we are speaking, may we call you ‘Echo’, or do you have—”

“I am pleased to meet you,” said the ghost, its tone shifting suddenly, warmer and friendlier by far. “This is Burning Stone Redoubt, the home of hundreds of peryton. Here—.”

“Here what?” asked Dash. The creature stopped mid-sentence, but none of them had spoken to interrupt it.

“Rarity, could you try moving?” asked Fluttershy, chewing her bottom lip. She moved aside, forcing Rainbow Dash to move as well, making space for Rarity.

Rarity did as asked without so much as a questioning look at Fluttershy, taking a few steps sideways. The ghost didn’t turn to follow, its shimmering face still on the spot where Rarity had stood.

“It’s not—” Fluttershy said.

“Those are many questions. I do not know what an Aspect is,” said the ghost.

“It’s not talking to us,” said Fluttershy, shaking her head. “I don’t think it knows we’re here.” Rainbow Dash could feel the other pegasus’s rapid breath against her side, and she couldn’t keep from feeling a swell of pride. Dash herself hadn’t noticed, but her girlfriend, though scared out of her mind, had.

“Then who is it talking to?” asked Rarity. She brightened the light from her horn further, looking all about. “Is there someone else here? I don’t see—”

“I do not know—” the echo interrupted in its monotone voice, this time cutting off when it flickered, disappearing like a snuffed-out candle. The thing—or another one that looked just like it—faded back in a second later, its voice changed again to a higher pitch. “Of course, I am happy to help a visitor. What do you need? Of course. Follow me.”

Rainbow Dash swallowed. “Okay guys, I’m gonna tell you a secret, alright?”

Rarity raised a brow. Fluttershy looked over at her with concern.

“I’m definitely starting to get creeped out.”

“I do not know anyth—” the echo said, once again interrupted by its entire form flickering.

“Please say something else,” hissed Rainbow Dash, doggedly trailing the ghost-creature as it retraced their steps, marching out of the hallways.

“We could always… not follow it,” suggested Fluttershy. “Doesn’t that sound nice?”

“I don’t know which is the safer option at this point,” said Rarity, and if anything, Dash agreed that there were a lot of questions. She would’ve preferred that they faced a real ghost who would talk to them even if it scared her mane off her head. Anything would beat the slow pursuit of a bright shape that shed no light, a trek through what had plainly once been the fortress dormitories, rooms filled with peryton rooting around their ethereal belongings, talking and laughing without sound.

“I wonder if the doors are real. Or, well, if we can—” Fluttershy began. Before she’d even completed the sentence, Rainbow Dash stuck a hoof through a door in passing. It went right through the pointless and ineffectual un-door that failed to hide a sleeping peryton beyond. The only real reaction was Fluttershy stiffening in fright.

“Nope. They’re not real,” said Dash.

“Maybe you should be a little more careful,” said Rarity, frowning at her. “What if it had been dangerous?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Wasn’t.”

“And now I guess we know that,” said Fluttershy, sighing. “Please don’t do that again. We don’t know what’s going on.”

Rainbow Dash’s return quip got stuck in her throat. She was going to say that she knew that whatever was going on exactly, it was probably just some spooky ghost-like thingy who was playing tricks on them, and that they were worrying about nothing at all. Well, maybe not nothing, but not worrying was definitely on the agenda.

She hadn’t thought about what to expect beyond the hallway, though. When they finally passed through the doorway onto the main room of the floor, Rainbow Dash hadn’t expected so much life.

See-through peryton of all shapes and sizes milled about the large chamber, and despite how hard it was to make out details that shifted and shimmered on colourless bodies, she still was struck with the realisation that she’d never seen a more varied group of peryton.

Some wore ribbons in their antlers, some wore sashes and other garments, some walked with their wings half spread. Some clusters of soundlessly conversing peryton resembled each other, some were a mix. In the center, a small queue formed by a large table staffed by five peryton who looked nothing like each other. The stone table looked more real than the rest of the stuff—because it was. The table had been there when they first got here, and was still there.

“I do no—” the echo said yet again, flickering and reappearing, the most solid of any of these ghostly apparitions.

“Oh,” said Fluttershy.

It was a soft “oh”. The sort of noise reserved for details or asides that meant nothing in the greater scheme of things. An “oh” Rainbow Dash would use when someone told her she’d eaten the last cupcake that was meant for Applejack. “Oh. My bad”. The word and the intonation she’d use if Pinkie Pie told her the party had been moved forward half an hour, or Fluttershy mentioned that she was out of green tea.

“Oh” was Fluttershy’s reaction when she glanced past Rainbow Dash and out the portal that led to the roof of the floor below. A ghostly door stood half-way open, and beyond, the city had changed.

“Huh,” Rainbow Dash herself managed to squeeze out, seeing what she had seen.

The storm raged on, the wind roared, the rain hammered down on unyielding stone, and the inhabitants of whatever this town was called paid it no mind. Domes, half-domes, spires and towers that had fallen when they found the gorge now also stood complete with their holes mended by ghostly light. Peryton lived, laughed, and ran down the streets heedless of the weather. Two large peryton hugged each other by a street-corner below, only the top halves of their bodies visible through a very solid and un-ghostly stone block that had toppled over. The darkness of the storm hid most of the town, but as far as Rainbow Dash could see, the city was both alive and in ruins.

“I do not know anything about that,” said their companion-ghost.

“That makes two of us. Or, four,” breathed Rarity. “Where is it going?”

“Upstairs?” Dash chanced, looking away from the madness outside. It hurt her brain to try to keep the two worlds separate. It was far easier to keep her mind on the task ahead, even if it she had no idea what they were doing, following the spectre as it carefully made its way between the other peryton. “Heh, it’s like the world’s creepiest tour guide,” she said with a snort of laughter.

“I don’t think the others can see him, either,” said Fluttershy. “No one’s looking at him.” She walked around the other ghostly shapes, scrambling away when one nearly collided with her. Dash just walked right through them.

“I wish we had some actual answers,” said Rarity with a nervous glance to each side. “No, I wish we had questions, actually—hey! Do mind where you’re stepping!”

Rainbow Dash cocked a brow. Three peryton stood right on top of all of their supplies. The smallest one actually sat down on the floor, right on their food.

“I don’t think they can see, or even touch it, Rarity,” said Fluttershy, smiling at her.

“It’s the principle of the thing,” Rarity retorted with a sniff. “That’s just plain rude. Haven’t these ghosts heard of manners?”

“I do not know anything about that,” said the echo, mounting the stairs.

“And I thank you for that concession,” said Rarity.

“You really need to stop talking to the ghost,” said Rainbow Dash, leading the way after it.

“Oh please.” Rarity rolled her eyes. “I know they can’t hear us. Or, should I say, ‘I don’t know any—’”

“Please don’t,” said Fluttershy, shuddering.

Nothing much had changed on the next floor up. No more ghostly furniture appeared, and there was precious little clutter. The only real addition to the great chamber with all its pillars was a huge number of peryton, many of whom walked in circles around the columns, reading or talking with their mouths moving in unheard speech. Or was that mostly unheard? Was there a whisper at the edge of hearing? Rainbow Dash twitched her ears to try to dispel that notion. She wanted none of that.

“Of course,” said the echo in an amicable tone. “What would you like me to read?”

The three ponies exchanged glances, but none of them said anything. It would have been pointless either way, of course, but the waiting took on a decidedly nervous tone. When the echo started moving towards one of the nearby pillars, Rainbow Dash could swear she heard its hoof-and-claw-steps, the distinctive peryton walk muffled but audible. Had the echo always made sound when it walked?

“This? This is a tale of the creation of the Morillyn Gorges—”

Again it cut itself off, flickering.

“Why does it do that?” asked Rarity. “Why the half-sentences?”

“Why don’t you ask it?” Dash retorted, grinning.

“No, it’s… I actually wonder, too,” said Fluttershy, pre-empting Rarity’s response. Her brow was knit in thought as the three followed their guide. “When it flickers, it doesn’t ever continue where it left off. It’s like it’s being interrupted.”

Rainbow Dash tilted her head. “Well, yeah. It’s being interrupted—”

“No, I mean like someone or something is interrupting it.” Fluttershy held a hoof to her mouth. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt you. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like we’re just getting half a conversation. Like there’s someone else telling the poor ghost to be quiet all the time, like they’re asking questions and then telling it to be quiet.”

“There’s obviously another part to this conversation,” said Rarity, nodding.

“Okay? What do you think that means?” asked Dash, scrunching her snout.

Fluttershy shrugged. “Maybe nothing? It means that the other person is asking a lot of questions this poor thing can’t answer, that’s all. And that there are a lot of things they don’t want to hear about. I’m sorry. I’m just thinking. There’s not much to do except think and listen right now, is there?”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Fair enough. Me, I’m wondering why the door isn’t all ghost-like.”

“This is a tale of the first visit—” Again the echo stopped.

“What do you mean, dear?” asked Rarity.

“The door’s closed, but if the… the other door, the ghost door is closed, why isn’t this door all ghost-y and stuff? I saw a little bit of ghost-stuff on the cider racks and the table down below, and they’re there. Uh, I mean, they’re here, too. Why can’t we see the ghost door like we can see the ghost table?”

“Maybe the door opens inwards, and is open for the ghosts?” Fluttershy suggested. “I don’t see any hinges.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Yeah, I don’t know.”

The echo tilted its head sideways. “The Longing? Of course, follow me,” it said, and so the ponies did, following it across the floor to one of the furthest pillars. “This is a record of the events following The Longing.”

“Did any of the peryton we’ve met so far mention a ‘longing’ so far?” asked Rarity, humming.

“I don’t think so?” said Dash. “Like… a long thing? Or wanting something?”

“Phoreni said that she at least doesn’t know what happened here except that they migrated peacefully,” said Fluttershy, chewing on her cheek.

“I don’t kn—” Another flicker.

“Back to that again, huh?” asked Dash, but the spectre went on right away, quickly popping back into existence.

“In the wake of The Longing, the decision to leave was made together, and all council members are agreed. The pillar was etched tonight, the story was written as it happened. Tonight, The Ever Soaring will lead the peryton people—” another flicker. “—this is the truth as it happened tonight. Aholari Minds the Field, Tender Orybissa, First Cl—” the shape flickered yet again, and this time it seemed that it wouldn’t recover.

The white glowless light that formed its body blinked rapidly and winked out, and Rainbow Dash held her breath for long seconds before the ghost reformed as though it had never been gone.

“—will lead our people away, and we are excited. The five expedition leaders will forge our many paths. Our stories. The Ever Soaring has made his promise, and so have the others. This is a time of opportunity and promise, and the peryton people will leave their homes, will leave the gorges. Few are those who do not see the wisdom of this, and the Tenders have tried to reason with those who disagree.” It paused for a second, head forward and nodding slightly as though listening attentively to something Rainbow Dash couldn’t hear. Now more than ever did it feel like half a conversation.

“If you wish for me to tell you these specific things that are not true, you may wish to employ a different spell. I can not tell you these things. I can not read them from the pillars. I can not make them truth. I can not make this a memory.”

“A spell,” Rarity said, her eyes widening. She repeated the words as though she’d never heard them before. “Maybe this isn’t a ghost after all?”

“I would very much like to believe that. I like that. That is a nice thought. I’m going to believe it,” said Fluttershy, nodding so quickly her mane flew about.

Rainbow Dash scratched one leg with the other. “Wait. But—”

“I am not sentient. I am memories. I am echoes,” said the peryton, as though it spoke in answer, in explanation to the ponies. “If you dissolve this spell and make another spell, you may have greater success.” A short pause. “Yes.” Another pause. “Yes. If you dissolve—” a brief flicker. “I will wait until I am awoken. Yes. I will repeat. I will wait for magic that belongs to peryton sworn to none of the five tribes. I am an echo. I am memories. I am gone.”

The ghost faded. All around them, the peryton circling the pillars began to disappear, fading all together and ever so slowly.

Chapter 19

Cally, dearest.

Soon, the amber passes on to you. I can not be the Guide forever, and it is you who next will stake out the course for our people. There has not been a summer-born child in our family for a long, long while, and I think it is a sign.

I know you will do great things. You must do great things. I, your mother, and your mother’s mother, we have all done what we can, but if someone is to do something truly wonderful for our people, then I think it must be you.

I believe that during your Guidance, our people will be happier than ever. You will uncover the path for us to follow. Under your light, we will see clearer than ever. Your summer’s warmth will illuminate us all.

Quiet finally settled upon the hall. Only when all the ghostly stuff had gone did Rainbow Dash manage to make up her mind: the apparitions had in fact made sound. Not a sound, but a low persistent susurrus noticeable only by its absence when it died along with the disappearance of the last of the spectral peryton.

“So,” said Rainbow Dash, a single syllable to shatter the deafening silence. This far inside the large fortress chamber, the storm outside existed only as a faint roar.

“Yes,” said Rarity. The three ponies stood in a half-circle facing the spot where their unwitting peryton guide had disappeared, clustered uselessly next to one of the great pillars whose letters were arcane to them.

“I’m still going to go with ‘it was a spell’”, said Fluttershy, rubbing a foreleg against the other and clearing her throat. “And I’ll be very happy if you don’t try to convince me I’m wrong, thank you.”

“I’m honestly sure of that, as well,” said Rarity, nodding slowly. “And I’m not just trying to comfort you. Let’s all agree we’ve seen Twilight do… stranger things with magic.”

“Well duh,” said Dash, rolling her eyes. “There’s no such thing as—”

Rarity scoffed. “Oh you do not get to pretend you didn’t think they were ghosts for a while.”

Rainbow Dash tried to keep a straight face, but laughter spilled forth anyway, brushing away the last of her lingering uneasiness. She made for the stairs. “Okay, who cares, I’m starving. Let’s go get some cold berries, flowers and water. Yum.” Dash made a face, though in truth both the berries and the petals were tastier than they had any right to be.

“So, what happened here is a little bit like Hearth’s Warming Eve in reverse,” said Rarity, her brow furrowed in thought as she followed after Rainbow Dash.

“I guess so,” said Fluttershy, a little more quietly. Her head hung low and her eyes darted between the pillars as if she expected the shadows to jump at them any moment now. Rainbow Dash slowed down a little to let her and Rarity catch up.

“What, you think they all lived together here?” Rainbow Dash glanced back at her. “Like… Ortosians, Ephydoerans, Stagrumites and everything?”

“You heard what the gh—ah, what the… magical construct said,” Rarity said, quickly correcting herself with a self-conscious frown. “Peryton tribes looking for new opportunities? ‘Many paths’? They looked very diverse down in the chamber below. Maybe they all came from here, or places like here?”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “If they all lived together, why’d they want to split up? That’s stupid and backwards!”

“I believe that is part of the point I was making, though without quite as much vitriol,” Rarity tersely replied.

Fluttershy shuffled her wings on her back. “I don’t think that they have to be stupid to do that. We don’t know—”

“What, you think that’s a good idea? Pegasi, earth ponies and unicorns packing up and splitting off?” Dash asked while she thought. If anything, the peryton should do the opposite. They would be much better off it they weren’t so far away from each other, right?

“That’s not at all what I said,” Fluttershy replied, narrowing her eyes. “I’m saying that we don’t really know what they were thinking.”

“They don’t seem to know what they were thinking, either,” Rarity murmured.

“Yeah, what’s up with that? I probably know more than Phoreni about their history right now!” Dash laughed when she realised it. “I could go teach in the Grove! Miss Dash, history teacher.”

Rarity chuckled. “That’s one peryton. She said one of her ‘loved ones’ was a historian of sorts. Surely it’s not quite so dire.”

“Yeah, I guess,” said Rainbow Dash, scrunching up her snout. “Besides, I don’t think I wanna be a history teacher anyway. I feel like a more boring pony just for having said it.”

They were nearly across the great hall, approaching the stairs. The constant backdrop of the drumming rain got louder.

“I don’t see why that’s so wrong, anyway,” said Fluttershy, her eyes on the floor as they went. “If they don’t worry too much about their past, I mean. If that’s their decision.”

“Well, of course,” said Dash shrugging.

“And besides,” Fluttershy went on. “The only reason we really remember the story of the pony tribes is because of the Hearth’s Warming play—”

“Sure, but—” Dash tried, but Fluttershy didn’t stop.

“—because I don’t know anypony who cares about really old Equestrian history except Twilight. If it wasn’t for the play, I don’t think we’d know how Equestria was formed either, and the play is tradition, not history.”

Rarity nodded as though Fluttershy had said something profound. Rainbow Dash wasn’t so sure. She paused with her front legs on the first step of the stairs down, waiting for Fluttershy to pass her. “I have no idea what you’re getting at,” she admitted.

Fluttershy stopped as well and gave Rainbow Dash a long look. “I’m just saying that maybe they had good reasons to want to be a little apart, just like we had good reasons for coming together, but we don’t know.” She took a deep breath and let it out while turning away. “I just don’t think we should jump to conclusions.”

“Alright. That’s cool,” said Dash, tapping a hoof on the hard stone of the stairs. It still didn’t sit well with her. “Actually, I’m still gonna go with ‘that’s stupid’, but okay.”

Fluttershy sighed and closed her eyes, shaking her head before she moved down the stairs, Rarity and Rainbow Dash following close by.

“What’s the difference between Hearth’s Warming traditions and history anyway?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Can’t it be both, and about all about hanging out with friends and the spirit of Hearth’s Warming and everything?”

“If you ask me, it can be both—or neither,” said Rarity with a wry smirk. “And ‘the spirit of Hearth’s Warming’? Really? This from a pony whose appreciation for the holiday mostly stems from tearing through any wrapped gift in sight.”

“Hey, somepony has to appreciate the presents, too,” said Dash, grinning back at her.

Rarity shook with a soundless laughter. “Of course, dear. You just want to make sure the presents are cared for, too. I forgot how deeply you care.”

Rainbow Dash would’ve laughed if she wasn’t still mulling Fluttershy’s words over. She didn’t have a return quip ready anyway—not that she’d have time to make one. Fluttershy turned at the bottom of the stairs.

“Rarity, that’s not nice at all,” said Fluttershy, her eyes narrowed.

Rarity breathed out through her nose, putting on a languid smile. “Darling, I—”

Fluttershy cut her off, her frown deepening and her voice raised a touch. “You know Rainbow Dash cares a lot about all her friends even if she doesn’t always show it!”

“Fluttershy! It was a joke!” Dash said, giving her a quizzical look. “Jeez, relax.”

Rarity blinked, looking between the two pegasi, to Fluttershy, then to Rainbow Dash, and then back to Fluttershy again with confusion plain on her face. “I’m sorry, but Rainbow is right. We were joking, I promise—are you alright, dear? I didn’t mean to upset either of you.”

Fluttershy’s mouth hung open for a second, a faint blush visible under the glow of Rarity’s horn.

“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy finally squeezed out, her ears splayed. “I guess I misunderstood—I, um, the sound in here is a little strange, it’s a hard to hear everything right. Sorry.”

“Of course, think nothing about it,” said Rarity, smiling brightly. “It was probably in poor taste given the gravity of what we just witnessed. Again, I apologise. Shall we see about that meal? We still need to decide where we’ll bed down, too.”

Rainbow Dash said nothing, following in their wake. Even if Fluttershy had missed the laughter and the tone of her and Rarity’s voices, Rainbow Dash didn’t know what to think about Fluttershy leaping to her defense like this. Fluttershy wasn’t really one for overreacting—well, not these kinds of overreactions, at least. Of course it was just a joke, and of course Rainbow Dash cared about her friends. Who was Fluttershy trying to convince?

They made their bed in the innermost chamber of the first floor. Past all the once-again-empty bedrooms they found what must have been a common area of sorts. A large room with stone furniture: Benches, tables, and a rudimentary stoveless kitchen. Washrooms and storage rooms branched off it, but that was about it. Everything they found was in well-worn stone, and all else was gone, the room unadorned and undecorated except for simple engravings along the walls. They reminded Rainbow Dash of peryton antlers in gold.

With their tarp as a noisy cushion to make the hard stone floor a little more bearable, the three lay down to sleep after their meal. It couldn’t be terribly late, but no one, Rainbow Dash least of all, seemed inclined to pretend they weren’t tired.

Rainbow Dash yawned. Rarity’s hooves were cold. She locked eyes with Fluttershy, the two staring at each other for a moment. Dash didn’t have much to say, so she smiled a weary smile. Fluttershy smiled back and turned around, probably to lend Rarity more of her warmth. The light from Rarity’s horn dimmed with a whispered good-night, and sleep claimed Rainbow Dash almost instantly.

“Cocoa,” said Rainbow Dash, “or, hot chocolate. What’s the difference? Isn’t chocolate cocoa? Same thing, right?”

“Pardon?” asked Rarity, one brow quirked.

“Hot chocolate is chocolate and milk,” said Fluttershy, smiling at her. “Cocoa is cocoa powder, and you use that to make chocolate. You like hot chocolate. That’s what I usually make for you, at least.”

“Alright, hot chocolate then,” said Rainbow Dash. She tilted her head a little more, grinding lightly against Fluttershy’s neck, and she felt Fluttershy nuzzle her other cheek in return, leaning over her, breath warm against Dash’s coat.

“Hot chocolate what?” asked Rarity, still looking confused.

“I could go for hot chocolate right now,” said Rainbow Dash, shrugging.

They’d let Rarity have the blanket. The two of them had a good pair of wings each, and both blankets and wings were just for show anyway: it wasn’t all that cold. The daytime heat warred with the chill of the raging tempest, and it was almost cozy watching it all from their spot near the stair room, a good distance from the open doorway to the roof with its occasional rain spatter.

Rainbow Dash didn’t know exactly what time it was, but Rarity insisted it should be mid-day. Despite the dark clouds, they could see all the way to the canyon wall opposite of the fortress sometimes, light ever changing, rain never falling the same way two minutes in a row. Lightning strikes sharply outlined the abandoned city beyond.

“Personally, I’d ‘go’ for a window between myself and the storm,” said Rarity, pulling the blanket tight around herself with a glow of magic as though she was actually cold. “They didn’t say for how long this storm would go on, did they?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “They didn’t, but it can’t last much longer. It’s moving so fast, it has to pass soon.”

Rainbow Dash scratched at her snout and nodded absent-mindedly. Fluttershy was right. It should pass soon, but she felt compelled to watch it nevertheless. Keep an eye on it just to make sure the storm obeyed the rules that she’d so rigorously been taught—the rules she’d learned by herself, tasted and felt through years of weatherwork.

That was definitely the reason she suggested they move their lunch out to the first floor chamber. It had nothing to do with preferring to be out from under the tons upon tons of rock overhead in their bedroom-cave.

“I just hope the scary magical peryton don’t come back,” said Fluttershy, stifling a yawn. “Even if it was just a spell, I’m glad it’s just us here, now.”

“You didn’t get much sleep at all yesterday, did you?” asked Rarity, frowning with concern even as she yawned as well. “Well, I’d say I’m sure we’ve seen the last of that whole mess, but I don’t know. We don’t even know what caused it in the first place.”

“The echo-creature said something about that,” said Fluttershy. “A spell ‘not of the five tribes’, I think.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Yeah, and it happened right after Rarity tried casting the peryton body magic spell. It makes sense. For magic, anyway.”

“I’m afraid it doesn’t,” said Rarity, shaking her head ever so slightly. “There are five cities, and they mentioned five tribes with five leaders following this ‘Ever Soaring’. Don’t you think they correspond? If the Ephydoerans are one of these, the body magic spell I cast was definitely of the five tribes.”

Rainbow Dash blinked, flicking one ear. “Uh. Okay, maybe, I hadn’t thought of that. I just figured, hey, you tried to cast some peryton spell, but you’re not a peryton.”

Rarity appeared to consider that for a moment. “That… well, it may be that simple. I don’t know, dear, but I will say I won’t be trying that particular spell again until we’re well clear of this place.” She crinkled her snout as she looked around, distaste slowly transforming into amusement.

“And, speaking of things being simple?” Rarity continued. “Yesterday we were discussing why they would split up—if that is indeed what they were doing—but I think we may have missed the simple fact that you’d be mad to wish to keep living in a horrid canyon like this. Maybe they woke up one day and realised that anywhere else would be better.”

Fluttershy giggled, and Rainbow Dash just grinned in response.

Rarity tired of staring at the storm at one point. She brought her dressmaking supplies from their provisional bedroom, and as the unicorn whiled away at her sketches and plans for some outfit or other, Fluttershy spent time with their roomies.

At times, there was precious little of the other pegasus visible beneath the long weasel-like antler-beasts that played with her at the other end of the room. Rainbow Dash’s attention was thus divided between keeping an eye on the storm, and stealing glances of Fluttershy playing with her animal friends. Because she only kept half an eye on the outside, it took her a while before she saw it.

At first, she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. Next, she thought it must be a branch or a bush she’d missed before, but she already knew this was no branch, bush or tree. The open portal that led to the landing didn’t afford her a good view of the approach to the fortress, but finally her eyes caught sight of a tall shape disappearing behind a corner. It was unmistakably some sort of creature.

Rainbow Dash looked over to Rarity and Fluttershy, both of them busy in their own way. She opened her mouth to speak, but she didn’t even know what to say. She’d had nothing more than a brief glimpse, and the only thing that stuck in her mind was how strange it was that whomever it was hadn’t been blown away by the wind.

“So, uh,” she said.

Rarity didn’t look up, busy with paper and sketching tools. Fluttershy made a soft, inquisitive noise, looking over at her—and a half-dozen ferralopes stared with her, their game instantly halted and their bodies frozen.

“I think there’s someone outside,” said Rainbow Dash. She’d barely finished her sentence when she heard noise from below, splashing in the water pooled on the ground floor barely louder than the lapping against the walls and stairs.

“Or inside,” Dash corrected herself. She rose, stretched out every muscle in her body, tested her wings, and looked to the staircase, wondering what sort of creature would brave this kind of weather, and for what.

Rainbow Dash could hardly imagine a less threatening sight. She couldn’t help staring, and somehow she knew that behind her, Rarity and Fluttershy did the same. No doubt their eyes were as wide as Rainbow Dash’s when the strange creature took the last step up the stairs. The scratch of quill against sketching paper ceased, and the ferralopes scurried back to their den.

The large bird’s two legs were fully half of its height, and their steps made less sound than the steady drip of water from the feathers of great sky-blue wings wrapped about its body. Its white neck curved forward, back, then forward again, an S-shape ending in a long beak and two unblinking eyes that regarded them in relative silence. A string dangled around its body, a necklace of pouches in place of pearls.

“Food. You have it, but you do not offer it.”

It took Rainbow Dash a second to realise that the harsh croak had carried words, and that they had been spoken to her as the closest of the three. She glanced over her shoulder at Fluttershy and Rarity for help, but they looked just as confused at the bird who now paused in front of them as if on an afterthought.

“Egocentrism. Covetousness,” the creature said, loud despite its beak barely moving. “The arrogance of four-legged species, to think only they have the capacity for speech.”

“I—uh, hey?” said Rainbow Dash. She didn’t catch all of it, but she was pretty sure that had been rude. “What’s that supposed—”

“Oh, no, this is hardly the first time we’ve met civilised two-legged species,” said Rarity, stepping past Rainbow Dash with an affable smile. “But that doesn’t mean much either way, does it? We’re far from our home, and I imagine we’re just as strange to you as you are to us. I am Rarity, and I am pleased to meet you,” she said, gesturing to the two pegasi in turn. “This is Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Might we know your name? Oh, and would you like some berries?”

Rainbow Dash was grateful for the unicorn’s poise, shaking her head and taking a deep breath. It wouldn’t do to blow up within ten seconds of meeting someone new.

“Berries? No. If all you eat are berries, you are useless and your offer is an insult to me,” the bird declared, brushing right past Rarity and Rainbow Dash with long strides, making for the stairs that led up to the pillar room.

Rarity went from a polite smile to nonplussed to a dangerous frown in half a second. “I see that courtesy is lost on your kind. Among ponies, it is considered polite to say thank you, even if that’s a no thank you.”

The creature, easily half again as tall as any of the ponies, paused at the entrance to the stair room. Its long neck twisted around, expressionless with unblinking eyes staring right at Rarity, then Rainbow Dash, and finally looking over at Fluttershy. The other pegasus had sat silent by the entrance to the ferralopes’ den-room, saying nothing, but now she quailed under the brief look it afforded her.

“Do you eat tulip petals? Do you want some clean water? Are you cold from the storm?” asked Rarity, softening a tad. She cleared her throat. “Let us start again, shall we? You have our names, what is yours?”

The bird stood silent and still while Rarity’s smile became more and more strained. Upon closer inspection, one question bubbled to the surface in Dash’s mind. The thing was all feathers, fluff and twig-like legs. A strong gust would blow it over.

“And how’d you get through the storm?” Dash asked. Obviously it wasn’t going to answer Rarity.

“Ankle-guards of lead,” the bird replied immediately, almost before Dash had asked. “Glue on my feet, and ten strong others to hold me down.”

Rainbow Dash squinted. There was nothing on its feet, and she’d couldn’t see anyone else ‘holding it down’. “You don’t have any of those things,” she said, scrunching her snout.

“Then you see only what is before you. There can be no storm,” said the bird with a tone of utter dismissal. “Or there is a storm that does not wish to touch me.” It turned around and disappeared upstairs without a backwards glance, leaving the ponies alone once more.

There was definitely a storm, and it finally abated. The wind still howled and the rain fell in great drops adding to the flooded valley floor, but Rainbow Dash could tell it would soon pass. She stuck her head outside and looked up, getting her first taste of sky in a full day. The clouds weren’t quite as dark. If it was up to her, they’d already be moving.

“Okay, last item,” said Fluttershy, pointing to a small bolt of fabric. “I think this one fell out of the chest when I crashed. There’s a little bit of mud on it. Should we leave it?”

“Oh, no! No, I need that one,” said Rarity, a note of panic in her voice as she opened her saddlebags. “Are we quite sure we need all this water?”

Rainbow Dash chuckled as she walked back to the site of their packing efforts. “You’ve said that about everything.”

“I have not,” said Rarity with a huff. “This particular orange will go well with peryton who have a lot of brown in their coats. I left the navy blue, did I not?”

“No, that one’s in Rainbow Dash’s saddlebags,” said Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash took her word for it. She hadn’t really paid attention to what they gave her to stuff her saddlebags with. The only things they left behind were the majority of their gems, the wooden bowls, and the supplies Rarity didn’t need—which wasn’t a lot, all stashed in their chest. Fluttershy refused to leave behind their antlers for whatever reason, and Dash didn’t protest. They were cool. Rarity managed to pack their old dresses away without wasting too much space, too. When Dash shook her body, her saddlebags clattered with tools and supplies.

Rarity sighed. “Alright. Rainbow, be a dear and take this water-bag instead of the navy blue. I’ll carry this bolt.“ She meticulously unpacked and began swiftly repacking her saddlebags again. “I don’t know which is the bigger miracle: That the dragonsfire didn’t burn up everything in my saddlebags, or that I’ve managed to get all the glass shards out. I’ll count us all lucky that I packed it in the paper the Princesses sent with us and that nothing else burned up—now, if you don’t mind, I’ll just tie our blanket and our tarp on top of one of our saddlebags. They’re much too large to fit inside.”

“I’ll carry those,” said Fluttershy, nodding. “I think that’s everything. I’m sorry we have to leave the chest behind. It’ll be hard enough for all of us to carry full saddlebags and all our water. You’re sure you can’t leave any more of your fabrics behind?”

Rarity shook her head resolutely. “I’ll carry them all myself if I have to. I don’t know what I’ll need for my future designs exactly, but I know now what I must do.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful,” said Fluttershy, smiling bright for a moment. “But, wait, um. Phoreni didn’t say a lot about Vauhorn and Cotronna and their fashion, how will you know what to make?”

Rarity flashed an ingenious grin. “Darling, you’ll just have to wait and see. In fact, I will have to wait and see myself, but I know that I’ll have to make something for when we meet their leader in Cotronna.”

Rainbow Dash laughed. “You’re gonna surprise yourself, too? Have you been taking lessons from Pinkie Pie?”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Very funny, dear. I don’t know the specifics yet, but it feels good to finally have a direction. A plan!”

“Well, I’m happy for you,” said Fluttershy, leaning over to nuzzle Rarity.

“Oh, it’s not just for me,” said Rarity, resting against Fluttershy for a second. “It will be a moment to remember. Imagine it, the Equestrian delegation meeting the Perytonian ruler for the first time. All eyes will be on us, and they will be blown away by the wonders I’ve created, a display that will be a revelation to all!”

Rainbow Dash raised a brow. Rarity coughed.

“Well, aim for the stars, at least,” said the unicorn. Her ears lay flat. “And besides, hyperbole is among the many tools in the fashionista’s toolbox. You don’t woo the crowd by saying you’re going to be ‘acceptable’.”

“Now you’re talking my language,” said Dash, grinning, stretching out her legs. “You guys wanna get moving?”

“It’s still a little stormy outside,” said Fluttershy, but Rainbow Dash didn’t miss the glance she’d tossed towards the stairs down. Neither had Rarity, it seemed, the unicorn openly staring at the staircase leading to the flooded ground floor.

“Make no mistake, I’m eager to leave as well,” said Rarity, chewing her bottom lip. There was no “but”, no further protest. They were obviously all thinking about the same thing.

The strange bird had returned from upstairs not long ago, pausing by the entrance to the dormitories where the ponies had their beds. It had stared at them wordlessly for a full minute before apparently deciding against entering the dark tunnel. Instead, it disappeared downstairs, the occasional slosh of water echoing with its passing. Rainbow Dash had no idea what it was doing—unless it was trying to creep them out. It managed that part spectacularly.

“What is it?” Dash asked nopony in particular, barely bothering to lower her voice. “Have any of you ever seen, or even heard of anyone like that?”

“Not ever in my life, and between Canterlot High Society soirées and the hubbub of Ponyville, I like to think I’ve seen a lot,” Rarity murmured in reply.

“It’s not like any bird I’ve ever seen,” Fluttershy added in a whisper. “It looks like some birds I’ve met but… it’s not. What do you think it’s doing here?” whispered Fluttershy.

“Aside from being rude beyond belief?” asked Rarity, her muzzle crinkled with obvious distaste. “I haven’t a clue. I’m surprised that neither Phoreni nor any of the other peryton mentioned sharing this land with others.”

“I dunno, do you think it lives here?” Dash said, tapping a hoof on the ground, eager to get moving instead of standing around talking about it forever. “It’s probably just passing by or whatever, just like us. Let’s go?”

“I suppose, but then, this is hardly a likely place to run into other people by chance,” said Rarity, not budging. “You should ask your animal friends if this place is always this busy,” she added with a half-hearted grin at Fluttershy.

“Oh, it isn’t,” said Fluttershy, smiling back at her.

Rarity blinked. “That was a joke, but now I have to ask. How do you know that?”

Fluttershy tilted her head. “Hm? Oh, I already asked them. I usually ask any animals I meet about anything scary going on. For both our sakes. They said it’s been a long time since the last time anyone came here, years ago. Rover was just a pup back then!”

“Someone came here a few years ago? You think that was Phoreni?” Rainbow Dash asked. She adjusted her saddlebags and scratched her side before taking a demonstrative step forward.

“I don’t know, maybe,” said Fluttershy, shrugging. She took a few steps towards the stairs down and stretched her neck to look down below. “Maybe we can just go now?” she suggested in a whisper. “It’s probably a little rude of me to say, but I think I’d rather get rained on than stay here.”

Rarity looked lost in thought for a second before she replied. “No, I—” she began, lowering her voice further. “It is more than just annoyance. It, he, she, they—whatever it is, it feels wrong.”

“Hey, I wouldn’t want to invite them to my birthday party either,” said Rainbow Dash with a shrug. “Come on, let’s go.”

The murky water was more a full hoof’s breadth deep, exactly the most annoying depth it could be. Trying to wade without lifting her hooves looked stupid and was slow going besides. It was too shallow to wade, but too deep to make it easy lifting her hooves out of the water with each step. That, and the water was heavy with mud.

They passed through the ground floor of the fortress in silence. Rainbow Dash thought she saw the creature’s shadow moving about in a room adjacent to the front chamber, but she decided to put it out of her mind. Soon they were out, squeezing through the narrow openings, picking their way through the flooded stone garden and the waterlogged city beyond. She spotted a cluster of dark beetles on a large rock, moving about to stay always downwind and above water. Had they been doing that all night and day?

Whatever the case, the storm was releasing its grip. Every time the wind shifted, the next gust was weaker. It was worse above, outside the canyon, but the rain poured down at a steady slant. Thunder rolling in from above reverberated endlessly between the rocky walls, but she knew it came from the far east. The storm would pass towards the coast, and then beyond.

Maybe it would hit Equestria? She’d never heard of storms that hit any Equestrian shore like clockwork every year, and besides, the airship had taken them not just west, but south for days. It would hit some other foreign land. A desert? A tropical forest? An icy waste populated by some other people even weirder than the peryton? Hard to imagine.

Maybe the storm headed for the home of the bird who’d intruded upon their little sanctuary of probably-not-ghosts. Had the Princesses sent ponies there, too? She’d forgotten which way the rest of their friends were headed. Maybe Twilight, Pinkie and Applejack were there. She hoped they had somewhere better to shack up than a crummy canyon.

“I’m glad we’re all here together,” said Fluttershy. It took Rainbow Dash a second to realise they were Fluttershy’s words and not her own thoughts. In fact, she still wasn’t sure. Fluttershy’s tail dragged along the dirty water, and her eyes were ahead.

“Yeah, me too,” said Rainbow Dash. She wanted to say something more, but she didn’t know what. She settled on a smile for Fluttershy and Rarity before she looked up, not for the first time. It didn’t matter that it still rained and that the weather was still a little rough. The further along they went, the more the canyon opened up. Less rock, more dark-grey clouds.

“I—ack!” Rarity stumbled, nearly slipping on a rock beneath the water. Fluttershy hurried over to steady her, and Dash herself walked closer to Rarity in case she slipped again. The unicorn glared at the muddy water and the dripping tail-end she’d failed to keep dry. “Right, as I was trying to say: I agree. I can’t imagine what it must be, doing something like this alone.”

Finally they passed the outskirts of the drowning city. Rarity called for a halt to make sure their saddlebags were properly shut so the rain wouldn’t ruin any of their belongings, and when she was satisfied, the three paused to look behind them, past the city’s outer walls poking up through the lake that was the canyon floor and to the fortress that had sheltered them through the storm.

“Speaking of alone and other dreadful things, when I said this bird made me uneasy,” said Rarity, tilting her head slightly to one side. “I didn’t want to say anything in there because there’s rude, and then there’s just plain—well,” she sighed, tapping one hoof in the water to no sound at all, making little waves lost in the splash of rain.

“What?” asked Rainbow Dash, frowning. “I thought we all agreed the bird was creepy and rude.”

“I don’t know,” said Rarity, briskly shaking her head. “It’s not just that. I don’t wish to go on about this forever, but did you not feel something more? I felt… uneasy.”

Fluttershy lay her ears flat. “I feel uneasy around a lot of people.”

Rarity sighed. “Never mind. I am probably over-thinking it. Our last interactions with other people have not exactly been the best, have they?”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Yeah, no. Let’s keep moving. The sooner we’re outta here, the better. I’ll eat grass and sleep under creepy statues for a week if we don’t have to come back here.”

Grass underhoof. Rainbow Dash couldn’t remember the last time she was this happy for something so simple. Even more than nestling up in the bed of her cloud-home at the end of a long day, stepping onto the grass felt like a well-earned reward.

It had taken hours to clear the canyon. In their hurry to leave the fortress behind, they had consigned themselves to slogging through murky water, burdened with saddlebags too full to comfortably fly with and heavy enough to press against her wings when she furled them. They could probably have flown topside earlier somehow, but back then, the wind was still too harsh for flying around with a passenger.

Now the rain let up, and the wind could do no worse than tug at their manes and sodden tails. The walls to their sides shrunk, and they made their way out of of the waterlogged canyon, up a slippery overgrown slope to flat ground. Rainbow Dash spotted the dark blue sky in a gap between clouds that did not last. It was already late, but it hadn’t yet gotten properly cold.

Rainbow Dash had expected destruction, a forest flattened with toppled trees and uprooted bushes everywhere, but there was nothing of the sort. Outside of the multitude of leaves plastered to the ground everywhere, there was no sign that there’d been anything but very heavy rain.

“Everything’s fine,” said Rainbow Dash, frowning at a nearby tree, a thin trunk with light grey bark. She frowned at the entire forest, really. At the oddness of it.

“I think your last spring storm caused more damage, honestly,” said Rarity, humming appreciatively as she looked around. The trees were a little bare, and many of the colourful flowers had been stripped of petals, the smaller plants and their berries washed away. Hardly ravaged, the forest had been cleaned.

“It wasn’t my spring storm,” said Rainbow Dash.

“It was your scheduled rain that accidentally got upgraded,” Rarity retorted.

“Yeah, well—” Dash paused and grunted. “Then call it my upgraded rain,” she finished, letting out a snort of laughter. “If I wanted to make a storm, I could do better than that drizzle.”

“Regardless, the ground is still uncomfortably squishy,” said Rarity, huffing as she inspected a dripping hoof. “My hooves are pruny.”

Dash cocked an eyebrow. “Did you really expect it to be dry up here? This is where the storm was at its worst! Or, well, that’s what I thought, anyway.” She gave the nearby forest another good look. She saw the occasional torn branch upon closer inspection, but nothing like what she’d expected.

“I think the plants here have adapted,” said Fluttershy, a small smile on her lips. “Their roots are deep, and the trees are flexible. Maybe the soil is different, too?”

Rainbow Dash blinked twice. “Different how? Dirt’s just… dirt, right?”

“It’s not really that simple,” said Fluttershy, shaking her head.

“Okay, Applejack,” said Dash.

Fluttershy giggled. “I’m just thinking. Maybe the earth here takes to the water in a different way. If it didn’t, the roots wouldn’t help the trees much. Some flowers are still okay, even if their petals are gone. Their stalks should have broken. I don’t know exactly what this means. I’m not an expert on this, after all.”

“Relatively speaking, you are exactly that,” said Rarity with a lopsided smile. “The premiére botanist of this forest. I don’t suppose you have any thoughts on our chances of finding somewhere dry to rest tonight?”

“It’s not a tree, is it?” asked Rarity.

Rainbow Dash shook her head and laughed. “No, Rarity. It’s not a tree, jeez. Give me some credit. You already asked that.”

“Is it… thorns?” Fluttershy asked, pointing at a spiky bush as they passed it. “Or tubers?”

“Nope!”

“Very well, unless you’re cheating and making something up, I give up,” said Rarity, shrugging. “What is it?”

“Thunderberries,” said Rainbow Dash, grinning as wide as she could. “That’s a point for me!”

Fluttershy blinked. “Thunderberries? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of those.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Dash admitted, pointing to the side of the path. “But it’s a good name for those blue berries that keep popping up on every tuft of heather we see.”

Rarity sighed. “Darling, that’s a perfect example of cheating. You can’t just invent new names for things in a game of ‘I spy’. In fact, that is the exact thing I told you not to do, not twenty seconds ago!”

Rainbow Dash was not so easily cowed. She simply smirked at Rarity and cocked a brow. “Really? I’m inventing stuff? Okay, so what are they ‘really’ called?”

Rarity opened her mouth, but closed it again with no word spoken. The only thing Rainbow Dash got in return was a low-effort glare.

“Exactly. Thunderberries,” Dash declared, giggling.

She could do this for days, and not just because Rarity refused to play by Dash’s more fun and creative rules. After the storm, they were unlikely to ever run out new things to put names to.

Yesternight’s soggy nap had threatened to put them all in a foul mood. After a short walk, cold and wet, the freezing wind forced them to bed down early. Still raining and with the ground wet, they had huddled together wrapped in their blanket, again packed in their tarp, falling asleep in a group hug to keep Rarity warm.

All thoughts of complaint were washed away when they woke up in a different place entirely. The sun shone down on their faces, and on a forest in full bloom. Trees and bushes budded with green nubs, berries and flowers they’d never seen before poked their heads up, and mushrooms had seemingly sprung up overnight—and they were still springing. Last time they’d taken a break, Dash watched leaves and petals unfolding before her eyes while she had a drink. Every hour, the forest grew greener.

“Are these the trees you collected those delicious citrus berries from?” asked Rarity, looking almost straight up as they passed beneath a particularly large tree.

Rainbow Dash tilted her head to look at the spiny tree. It had fewer thorny bits now after the storm, but it certainly looked similar—except that the tiny berries that grew under the protection of the spikes were deep red, and budded in rows rather than clusters. “I think so?” Rainbow Dash hazarded.

“I’ve never heard of anything like it—like this,” said Fluttershy, bumping into Rainbow Dash when she, too, looked up. “It’s an entirely new season. I guess this is why the peryton kept talking about early summer and late summer like they are two different things altogether. They even called them ‘first’ and ‘second’ summer.”

Rarity nodded her agreement. “I just hope those particular new berries are half as good as the old ones were. I appreciate the variety of new fruits and mushrooms—if they are safe to eat—but anything light and refreshing is sorely needed right now.”

“At least we’ve still got water left,” said Rainbow Dash. “I wouldn’t like being stuck drinking out of puddles or trying to gather cloud-water or whatever.” She strained her wings against her saddlebags out of habit. She could work them free if she wanted to, but the fact that there was pressure on her wings annoyed her.

Carrying water was heavy work, and decidedly un-fun. Despite this, they’d all become keenly aware of how precious water was during these first few hours on the morning after the storm: The heat had changed character entirely, becoming humid and cloying. Breaks were called for early and often. Almost as often as Rarity had suggested she’d love a bath to wash off this ‘ickiness’.

Six times since this morning, if Dash’s count was correct. Despite being used to the long walks by now, the unicorn did not deal well with sweat. Matters weren’t helped by her bringing out her fabrics and her sketches every time they stopped, never truly resting.

Rainbow Dash was vaguely aware that there had been a time when they’d actually argued about taking breaks. She didn’t remember exactly what had been said, but pushing ahead under the merciless sun didn’t just feel like the past, it felt like a different reality entirely. A reality where Dash thought she could beat the heat by running faster.

She paused and reached up to scratch an itch on her snout. Another difference was that in this alternate reality that may have been the past, she cared how fast they were moving because they had some sense of progress.

Sure, Fluttershy had found the overgrown trail they were looking for and gotten them back on track. The forest trail climbed and fell, twisted, turned and ran straight for an hour, but what came next? How many more days? At some point, they would hit Vauhorn and hopefully meet some friendly new faces, but then what? They’d get to Cotronna and give them the sigil, invite peryton to party, yadda yadda, but what then?

Dash snorted to herself. This was why she didn’t usually think ahead. You either ran out of space, or you hit a wall. You eventually hit nothingness, or, in this case, the lack of a ticket home.

“So, about getting back to Equestria when we’re done with all this,” said Rainbow Dash as they finished the trail’s latest punishing climb. Cresting the peak of its ascent, the path led down into a small flooded valley and disappeared into the water.

“I had forgotten about that,” said Rarity, frowning deeply. “I suppose we’ll need a plan of sorts.” She braced herself, carefully picking her way down the hill, obviously afraid of slipping on the wet grass.

“I’m sorry I ruined the bottle,” said Fluttershy, digging her hooves into the earth with each step to keep from falling. “I really am.”

Rainbow Dash pushed the saddlebags further back on her body. The blanket on top was still a little moist, refusing to dry completely—and thus heavy. Still she managed to spread her wings to glide even if it was awkward. She sailed past Fluttershy and Rarity, landing at the edge of the little lake. Even beneath the shallow and still water’s surface everything looked vibrant and green, like a very cheerful foal’s caricature of a swamp.

“In the absolute worst of cases—” said Rarity, sticking her tongue out as she navigated the final few steps, halting next to Rainbow Dash on a thin strip of flat grass around the rim of the tiny lake, “—I imagine the Princesses will send someone to look for us and bring us home if they don’t hear from us for much longer.”

Fluttershy leapt the last little bit of the slope, gliding down to join the others. She squinted as she looked across the lake, pointing ahead. “I see the trail on the other side. Let’s go around, it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.”

“I don’t like that scenario, I must admit,” Rarity continued, following Rainbow Dash, who in turn followed Fluttershy, the trio walking single file on the narrow edge of the lake. “I suppose I take some comfort in knowing we likely still have enough gems to purchase passage if we can find a captain willing to take us across the sea. It can’t be that far from Cotronna to … hm.”

“Las Pegasus should still be closest,” said Fluttershy, her wings spread for balance. “If we could ask someone to take us east, I think it’s maybe a week by boat.”

“Yeah, ‘hello, captain. Here’s a sack of gems, can you sail straight east for a week please?’” said Dash, cackling.

Rarity raised a brow in question, silent for a moment. “Do you think that’s unreasonable?”

Rainbow Dash’s laughter petered out. Now she, too, was given pause. “I—er. I… I have no idea, actually. Is it?”

“I don’t know either,” admitted Rarity, shaking her head. “That’s why I ask. I have never hired a boat in my life, but it looks like we have no choice in the matter.”

That was where this conversation was always going to end up. The wall of them not knowing, of “we just have to see”. Except, it wasn’t really true. Dash had an ace hidden in her mane.

“I could ask Princess Luna.”

Fluttershy glanced over her shoulder at Rainbow Dash, one brow raised, and Rarity tilted her head in question.

“And how would you do that?” asked Rarity. “We lost the dragonfire. That’s the entire reason we’re in this situation—and Fluttershy, I can hear you waiting for me to finish my sentence so you can apologise again,” she went on, raising her voice slightly. “I will not have it.”

“I wasn’t going to, promise,” said Fluttershy, shaking her head without looking back. “But I do feel bad about it, sorry.”

“Yeah yeah,” said Rainbow Dash, cutting through what threatened to be a very uninteresting aside. “Anyway, I’ve been talking to her in my dreams. That’s what she does, right? Dreams and stuff.”

“Twilight said she’s supposed to be the guardian of the dream-world or some-such,” Rarity mused, curiosity plain in her voice. “Do you suppose that if one of us tried, we might reach her that way?”

“I don’t think it’s that simple,” said Fluttershy, angling her wings about to keep balance. Rainbow Dash tried to get a good look at how her feathers were doing until she realised she was getting distracted. She shook her head to clear it.

“Uh, yeah it is. It’s totally that simple,” Dash said. “At least if you’re as awesome as I am.” She hopped up to walk on the slope so she could see Rarity and Fluttershy both at once.

Now, Fluttershy’s ears perked up. “Well… It sounds like something Luna might be able to do, maybe. I think I had a dream like that, once, where she helped me, but—”

“You’re not listening. I’ve done it!” Rainbow Dash said. “I’ve talked to Princess Luna!”

Rarity blinked. “You’ve talked to Princess Luna about getting us back home?”

“Well—no,” Dash admitted, deflating a little. “About other stuff. I bet I could, though. They’re not dreams—or, they are, but they’re not just dreams.”

“I really hope you’re right,” said Fluttershy, biting her lower lip. “But some dreams feel very real, sometimes. I’ve had a few dreams like that.”

“If you’re right, could you ask her tonight? Or, couldn’t you have done so yesterday night?” asked Rarity, frowning slightly. “I suspect it will take them a while to prepare an airship, especially if we want them to land in a different city.”

It was an effective one-two punch to whisk the wind from under Dash’s wings. Support that allowed for doubt, and a very good question. Rainbow Dash sighed, letting out a long breath until she was empty.

As clearly as she tended to remember her dreams when she woke up, as sure she was of everything she had said just now, her memory wasn’t perfect. The last dream in particular was a bit hazy. Was it just forgetfulness? Whatever the case, she vaguely remembered Luna being reluctant to help the last time they’d talked, and one extra detail bothered her.

“I haven’t seen her for a while, actually,” Dash admitted, her wings sagging for a moment. “I don’t know what’s up with that. Last time, stuff got weird with all these… uh, she was talking about memories and how I dragged her into a dream and stuff.”

Rarity and Fluttershy exchanged glances, and now Dash received a set of worried looks. “I… okay,” said Fluttershy, her voice soft as could be. “I don’t know either, but I believe you, at least. It sounds different from any dream I’ve ever had, but I trust you.”

Rarity smiled and nodded her assent. “I don’t think I understand it myself, but you’ll let me know if there is anything I can do, won’t you?”

“Yeah, sure, thanks,” said Rainbow Dash, having little more to add. They finally circled around the lake that resembled an overgrown puddle more than anything else, and as Fluttershy had suggested, the trail continued on the other side.

If Fluttershy and Rarity believed her, that helped, but Rainbow Dash wasn’t looking for support. She’d hoped to be able to reassure them that they had a way back home. Now, all she could think was that she had no idea where Princess Luna had disappeared off to. How many days had passed since the last time Dash saw trace of her? Weren’t Rarity and Fluttershy worried about being trapped here? Rainbow Dash wasn’t worried, either, of course. She never worried.

She was just aware of it.

The valley led to another. The trail met a small cliff-like wall of rock and climbed it in narrow zig-zags, one particular zag nearly warranting an aerial rescue operation when Rarity stumbled. Rainbow Dash didn’t really pay attention to all the climbing, to all the up between their frequent breaks, with a lack of down. She blamed Rarity for their inattentiveness anyway. The unicorn started a debate on their evening meal plans that lasted a good while.

That discussion ground to a halt when the shrubs and ferns that had formed the left side of their path—an opposite to the cliff on their right—disappeared, a lapse in vegetation affording them a clear view, a green window-frame to the west. Again the mountains of the Bow came into view.

Rainbow Dash was tired of them, now. They were far in the distance, curving away, ever smaller whenever they saw them, but still they dominated the inland view. Part of Dash wanted to tell the others to wait, to fly over there as quick as she could—whether it took hours, days or weeks—just to see them up close. To get it over with and stop wondering what they were about.

“I wonder what it’s like, living in the shadow of those mountains with all the monsters Phoreni mentioned,” said Rarity, levitating one of the water bags over for a sip. She rolled her shoulders and stretched her neck side to side.

“Are you kidding me?” asked Dash. “Like… living next to the Everfree Forest? You can ask Fluttershy, here,” she said, reaching out to rub her girlfriend’s side. “Or literally anypony in Ponyville. You live way closer to the Everfree than they do to the mountains.”

“The Everfree isn’t that bad,” said Fluttershy, her ears splayed. She leaned against Rainbow Dash and sighed. “Applejack’s farm is just as close, anyway.”

“I don’t know that the two can be compared,” Rarity said.

“Yeah, because we’re not chasing monsters back in there nearly every week,” Rainbow Dash said, laughing.

“Maybe every month…” Fluttershy added, her voice nearly lost.

“Even so,” Rarity said, raising her voice a little, glaring at Rainbow Dash. “I’m not trying to claim which one has it worse, what I mean is that it’s clearly affected the peryton more than the Everfree has affected us, and I wonder if it’s due to the shadow of those awful mountains.”

“It hasn’t, really, though,” said Fluttershy her lips pressed together in a thin line as she stared at the mountain chain in question. “It’s only really affected the Ephydoerans. The Stagrumites and the Ortosian peryton barely even mentioned the Bow.”

“Uh, yeah,” said Dash, quirking a brow. “Because they’re too busy making coins and trading or, uh, having parties or whatever they do in Orto—”

“Farming, wasn’t it?” Rarity interjected.

“—to help out. That’s unfair, if you ask me.” Rainbow Dash snorted and shook her mane out, nuzzling Fluttershy on the flank to prompt her to move.

Rarity shrugged and followed, lifting a low-hanging branch out of her way. They walked in silence for a few minutes, the tall hill quickly shedding its height.

“It doesn’t matter, anyway,” said Rarity, glancing to the side as though she could still see the mountains through the forest that eagerly swallowed them up again. “We’re heading for Vauhorn, and they’re likely unaffected by this all.”

“Yeah. We’re heading for Vauhorn,” Rainbow Dash repeated, stepping over a muddy puddle that hadn’t yet dried completely. It was hard to picture what civilisation looked like anymore. They’d just walked for a single day since the storm, but it felt like forever owing to all the breaks in the sweltering heat, all the shifts in terrain. The bangs of her mane were slick against her face. “Heading to Vauhorn, whatever it’s like, some day.”

“We’ll get there,” said Fluttershy. “When this trail ends, we should be close to a small river running north by north-east.” She exhaled noisily. “But I’m a little frustrated, too. I really, really wish I had a proper map for this forest instead of looking for landmarks blind like this.”

“While I sympathise and agree, I hope you realise that you’re doing a wonderful job at navigating,” said Rarity. “Thank you, dear.”

“I’m just trying to do my best,” said Fluttershy dipping her head. “It’s not much.”

“Not much,” Rarity echoed, raising a brow with a wry smile. “Little miss ‘one week to Las Pegasus by boat’. You have a talent for working with maps and distances.”

“Yeah, what she said,” Dash added, grinning at Fluttershy’s smile, and at the faint blush that warmed not just Fluttershy’s cheeks, but Rainbow Dash herself, too. “I couldn’t do that at all. It’s basically magic.” With every word spoken, Fluttershy glowed a little brighter, an earnest smile on her face that made Dash feel fuzzy and good.

They reached the bottom of the hill a little later, and the ground gave them all of a single step of flat ground before it climbed again. The heat relented a tiny bit, but the wind died to compensate, keeping it unpleasantly hot even while they kept an eye out for a place to bed down for the night, right up until it suddenly turned freezing.

“We’ll get there,” Fluttershy said again, her voice a mere whisper barely caught by Rainbow Dash who now walked at her side. Fluttershy looked at her while she spoke, the glow in her cheeks long since faded and the smile faint as she repeated herself. No more words had been spoken since they’d descended the hill.

The terrain ever shifted. The peryton had called the Khosta just by that single name, but it had been an endless expanse of forest. The Splitwood, despite having wood in its name, contained a lot less wood and a lot more everything else. Peryton names were weird.

Sure, the Splitwood was mostly an endless variety of trees and plants that bloomed in this strange second summer, but they’d seen deep and dramatic dells, large lakes, great glades, flower-filled verdant valleys and the occasional—and ever smaller—canyons.

Fluttershy’s frustrations with Phoreni’s loose directions slowly morphed into appreciation. They crossed streams or rivers frequently, finding fresh and clear water every day. They’d even taken to lightening their load a little, one water-bag empty—now that they followed a river, they didn’t need to carry water at all. It put them all in a better mood. It put Rainbow Dash in a better mood at least. She’d let herself fall to the rear of the pack for the moment, staring at her friends’ backs.

Staring at her girlfriend. She still liked the word. Thinking it. Saying it and watching Fluttershy’s reaction—which wasn’t much, these days, actually. It set Rainbow Dash thinking. Had nothing really changed? The only thing that was notably different was that cuddles were on the table, so to speak.

Rainbow Dash watched Fluttershy’s tail swaying from side to side, the end dancing about. She saw her stretch out her wings and neck as they all moved along at a steady walk, as slow in the heat as the river that flowed rather than rushed at their side.

No, if that was all that had changed, Dash would be happy with it. Rainbow Dash didn’t know if this was what she herself had hoped for when she convinced Fluttershy to give the girlfriends thing a shot, but she liked the sound of it. Snuggling, to be around Fluttershy even more, and an exciting feeling of not knowing what else might happen later. An open sky ahead ready to be filled with just about anything.

Dash scrunched her snout in disgust at her own dramatics. They still had that. As much as planning was a chore, as much as the future was never half as exciting as what one could make of the present, the present was the problem. Fluttershy acted weird. That was what Dash meant to think about, not some idle day-dream.

Ever since the last night in Ephydoera, and even more so after they’d taken up in the fortress to hide from the storm, Fluttershy had been stiff compared to her usual self. Wooden. No longer could Dash make her blush just by looking at her. She’d never wanted Fluttershy to be some quivering puddle of a fan-mare, but this felt just as wrong.

What could she say, though? That Fluttershy wasn’t her usual self? Fluttershy was never peppy in the same way Pinkie Pie or any of her other friends were, and she’d asked her if she was alright. If something was wrong, Fluttershy would tell her.

“There’s another one. Oh, no, there’s more than one this time, actually,” said Fluttershy, slowing down a little, indicating their left.

On their side of the river, the woods were comparatively sparse, but the trees that grew here were the largest they had seen in the Splitwood. They didn’t hold a candle to the giants in the Khosta, or even Equestrian oak, but they were still appreciably thicker than the wispy trunks common in these woods—and thick enough for someone to build their homes in them.

“I think this is the biggest tree-house ruin we’ve seen yet, it’s almost like a small village,” said Rarity, sidling up to Fluttershy’s side. The closest of the houses didn’t look entirely unlike the houses Rainbow Dash had spotted among the tallest reaches of the Grove. Perhaps ‘house’ was the wrong word for some of them. Nests, maybe.

“I wonder why they haven’t fallen apart,” said Fluttershy. She pointed to a particularly large building that straddled a cluster of trees, almost like the Sunwise Run—except barely larger than the ground floor of a Ponyville home.

“Well, that one has,” said Rarity, scratching one leg with another. “But they must have treated the wood with something. Surely there are many ways to make wood resistant to water, wear and tear. I suppose somepony who knows a thing or two—” she paused, leaning over to the side to let out a great sneeze. “Ack, pardon me. As I was saying, somepony who knows architecture might tell us why they haven’t been blown away by the storm. To me, that’s the bigger mystery.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Wind’s a little less here. There could be a hill between us and the mountains, but that’s all I got. I guess you still don’t think it’s a good idea to sleep in any of these?”

Rarity shook her head briskly. “Just because they’re still standing doesn’t mean we should push our luck.”

Fluttershy nodded. “I agree. I wouldn’t even feel safe sleeping underneath them. Not that it makes a lot of difference now without the rain.”

Rarity gave a lopsided smile and snorted. “Listen to us. This is what our standards have come to, hm? ‘Why, no-thank-you, we’d rather sleep under the stars’.”

“Well, under a tree, really,” said Fluttershy, giggling. Her eyes roved between the house-nests, nibbling on her bottom lip. “We could always see if there’s something inside. Maybe they left something behind? We’d have to be very careful, of course, but I—”

“Good call! I’ll be back in a sec,” Dash declared. Her saddlebags were already on the ground, and a second later, her body was in the air, shooting away towards a large tree-house nearby.

What had she been thinking about? Right. She knew she’d caught on to Fluttershy acting “different” before. She also knew she’d come up with some unsatisfying half-answer about time. About newness. Truth was, despite spending all day together, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash didn’t do half as much stuff as they used to do.

Rainbow Dash ducked her head as she hovered in through an open window of sorts. The entire tree-house was simple wood. No door, no shutters, and next to no contents. Piles of wood that had rotted, unlike the walls. Further inside the house, something lay on the floor next to some wooden pulp. She landed and picked up the a stone statue that lay on its side. It was smaller and more delicate than any stonecraft Dash had seen so far, a rearing peryton no larger than the width of her hoof. She tucked it away in her tail for the moment, shifting it around until it snagged on her hairs and lay safe.

Of course, they were travelling in sweltering heat, slowly cooking, half of their time spent drinking water to stay safe and sane. They were in a forest. How much more could they really do together? Rainbow Dash couldn’t exactly ask Fluttershy to dinner.

On second thought, that part would always be true, really. She didn’t want to subject anypony to her own cooking, least of all Fluttershy, but what could one do in a forest? There was nothing to do.

Rainbow Dash tilted her head and perked her ears. What was that sound? The creaking? It sounded almost like—

Dash turned around, watching the world beyond the missing door go from showing the branches of nearby trees to pointing to a tree-trunk, then to grass. The world tilted. It’s almost like the house is collapsing. Great.

Her wings were out in a flash, the green-painted feathers a blur at the edge of her vision as she shot towards the doorway, curving to match the pitching house. A loud snap, then another. Pieces of wood whisked past her, broken off—and then she was out. Rainbow Dash hovered in place at a safe distance, watching the house tumble and collapse to the ground with a loud groan.

“Uh. I—” Rainbow Dash yelled, interrupted by another thunderous crack. The fallen building folded in on itself one final time, punctuated by a desultory snap. “I’m fine!” she called, waving at Fluttershy and Rarity. Fluttershy hovered right next to Rarity, covering her muzzle with a hoof.

Her eyes lingered on Fluttershy for a moment longer. No, there was nothing to do here in the forest except explore dangerous, collapsing ruins, fly up high to check their course or swoop along the occasional gorge to scout out dark stone buildings—and she was very aware that she did these things alone now. Rainbow Dash headed for another likely house nearby.

She remembered Fluttershy with her flight goggles on, flying her heart and wings out inside the wind-walls of a tornado. Her heart soared with the memory, and so many like it. She recalled how she’d felt when Fluttershy seized the initiative and flew their cart across the stone garden, adjusting and accounting for every shift in the wind, like she’d been born in a hurricane.

Rainbow Dash slipped inside another one of the houses. This one was even emptier than the last, but one of the walls were unusually smooth and had symbols vaguely reminiscent of the pillars in the fortress. They meant nothing to Rainbow Dash.

Of course Fluttershy could handle herself. What did it say about Rainbow Dash, though? What did it make her, who was so eager to ignore how much the day before the hurricane effort earlier this summer had cost Fluttershy? What kind of girlfriend brushed past the fact that Fluttershy had crashed the cart in the end? Rainbow Dash made for the next house. She’d check out one or two more, but it wasn’t half as fun by herself.

“Nothing at all?” asked Rarity.

“Nah,” said Rainbow Dash, rejoining the others. She slipped into her saddlebags, grunting and frowning at the extra weight, then reached around to retrieve the tiny stone sculpture hidden in her tail. “Found this, but that’s all. All the houses were empty.”

“I suppose it matches what Phoreni said about a migration. You wouldn’t leave much behind if you didn’t have to,” Rarity mused, starting them off at a walk down the river. “It’s a lovely little sculpture, though.”

“I guess. If the Ephydoerans lived here, shouldn’t the statue thingy be wood instead of stone?” Dash asked. She looked to Fluttershy for her thoughts, but the other pegasus simply shrugged.

“There was no shortage of stone sculptures in Ephydoera, as I recall,” Rarity said after a moment. “Mennau had quite a few, at the very least.”

“Mh,” Dash hummed, curious now, despite herself. “Okay, forget Ephydoera for a second. Do you think Khaird knows about any of this? Or Phydra? Mirossa and her mom?”

Rarity pursed her lips. “I suppose it is possible? I don’t know. Khaird said Orto had a library, and Phydra was some variety of author, but also a guide of sorts? We asked neither of them about the history of their people.”

“Yeah, we didn’t,” Dash agreed.

“Maybe we should have asked, but we didn’t know it’d come up. I still don’t know that it really has come up,” Rarity absent-mindedly added, her eyes on the river. “We’re just speculating, and I don’t suppose we tell new acquaintances our history when we first meet them, either.”

Dash chuckled weakly. “Eh, you’re right. We could have asked boring questions then, or be really curious right now.”

The river had more stamina than they, keeping up with them for the rest of a day cut short by the cold. Every day, the temperature drop was a little more abrupt, so when the sun sought the treeline, the three ponies started looking for somewhere to sleep. This particular evening, the sun bled into a pink and orange blob that partially hid behind clouds in the far distance, lending a reddish tint to the entire forest around them.

They’d found another cluster of three tree-houses, barely spotted across the river and well hidden, but these were all in various states of decay. Again Rainbow Dash seized upon the chance to check them out, and again they found little. Now, as the darkness slowly fell upon them, they hit a particularly thick patch of forest, and Rarity’s horn once again lit the way. The light flickered as Rarity sneezed.

“Bless you,” Fluttershy said, her face fraught with concern. “You’re not coming down with something, are you?”

“I doubt it,” said Rarity, sniffling. “Maybe I’m allergic to something in the air, I couldn’t tell you.”

“As long as it’s just sneezes,” said Dash, frowning. “You feel okay, right?”

“I feel just fine,” said Rarity. “And I’ll feel even better if you don’t mind us stopping for the day.”

“Already?” asked Rainbow Dash, biting back a grimace. Sure, it was getting late, but it wasn’t that cold just yet. She knew why Rarity asked, anyway. Every day she had her fabrics and papers out before they’d even eaten, lost in her work.

“I am sure we can continue for another minute or two,” said Rarity, sighing. “I just have an idea or two I wish to expand upon.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t protest. They walked on in the deepening dusk for a little while longer, and just as Rarity opened her mouth, no doubt to declare that their extra few minutes were up, Dash spotted a faint, purple-red glow deeper inside the forest.

“Hey, turn off the horn for a sec, I see something,” said Dash.

Rarity blinked. “How are you going to see without—”

“Just do it,” said Dash.

Though the sun hadn’t given up on them just yet, not having Rarity’s light shining in her eyes helped. “I see it too,” said Fluttershy, pointing off the path. “Look.”

The coloured glow seemed vaguely familiar, somehow. Fluttershy gently pushed some bushes aside and made her way through the undergrowth, and Rainbow Dash uttered a wordless protest, but Rarity followed after her. It was a group investigation, then. Dash jumped through and trotted after them.

It took no more than twenty steps before Rainbow Dash realised where she’d seen this light, and half a minute later, her suspicions were confirmed when they entered the luminescent glade.

“It’s the moss from the Khosta,” said Dash, frowning at the hanging glow-growth. “What’s it doing here?”

“The moss, and the statue from—oh, no, I take it back,” said Rarity, correcting herself. “Huh.”

“The trees,” was all Fluttershy said. Her contribution was two disconnected words spoken breathlessly, and Dash saw that she was right. It wasn’t just the moss, but the trees, the ferns and the dark grass too—everything in the grove looked transported from the Khosta and straight to here—to whichever part of the Splitwood they were in.

Large, thick-trunked trees sprouted blue-green leaves, glowing moss hung overhead and snaked around great roots, and in the center stood what Rainbow Dash thought was another variant of the Selyrian shelter-statues. Past the first glance, she wasn’t quite sure. This was no monster.

The stone creature reared up on its hind-claws, but compared to most peryton, its forelegs were too large and its wings too slim. Rather than a pair of antlers, it had a single one on its left, with no indication that there was a matching one that had broken off. Moss crawled up its legs and haunches, and there was no peryton script anywhere, no base pillar. Despite this, the stone was rough, pitted in places. If stone aged, then this was old stone.

“I don’t think this was built to be a place to sleep,” said Fluttershy, walking past Rainbow Dash. She craned her neck to look up at the large statue, her mouth open as she stared. “It’s very beautiful, though.”

“Yeah,” said Dash in unplanned, but honest agreement. “I’m not big on statues, but… yeah.” She cast a skywards glance, one of her wings itching. “It’s gonna rain a bit tonight, by the way.”

“Then let’s appreciate this statue, aesthetically and functionally,” said Rarity, levitating her saddlebags off her back with some effort and placing them under the statue. “The wings won’t do much for wind, but they’ll keep the rain off my fabrics. Would one of you be a dear and fetch water from the river?”

Dash reached behind her, fetching the statuette from her tail. Easier to keep the sharp and pokey thingy there than in her saddlebags. She held it up against the larger statue. “Heh, they look a lot alike,” said Dash, putting it back. “Alright, yeah, I’ll get the water.”

“I think the blue berries taste—”

“The thunderberries,” Rainbow Dash interjected.

“Okay, I think the thunderberries taste the best,” Fluttershy allowed, smiling at her and reaching for the water.

“If you like them, you should probably put them in your mouth,” said Rainbow Dash, chuckling. She reached over to poke Fluttershy’s muzzle. “You got some blue on you, there.”

“Oh,” said Fluttershy. She licked the coat of her foreleg and rubbed at her muzzle. “Better?”

“Yep! All clean,” said Dash, still laughing. “You’re a super messy eater.”

Fluttershy giggled. “The juice is the same colour as your coat. You probably have juice all over you, too. Besides, it’s a little hard when we’re just eating them from the ground. I wish we’d kept the bowls.”

“Yeah. Makes it harder for anypony without cheating magic,” Dash said, shooting Rarity a grin.

Rarity didn’t look up, bent over a piece of paper with a sketching coal, one end of the blanket wrapped around her.

“Rarity? Nothing?” Dash asked, again to no answer. The unicorn stuck her tongue out and drew a big cross over her sketch, flipping the paper over to the other side with a sigh.

Fluttershy shook her head, putting a water-bag away after a sip. “She’s busy, I guess.”

“Yeah, what else is new, heh,” Dash said, stretching. The rain she’d predicted finally came down, light as could be, barely enough to make a sound against the leaves and the grass. Still, there was some comfort to watching the drizzle from the umbrella of the strange statue’s wings.

Still, she wouldn’t miss this forest when they got out. In this particular glade, it felt as though they sat in both the Khosta and the Splitwood all at once. They were in every forest, and she couldn’t wait to leave them behind.

“Oh. There’s another one,” said Rainbow Dash, spotting a tiny set of eyes peering at them from the edge of the glade, hiding in a dark spot unlit by any of the luminescent flora.

“Mm, that’s a hare. He’s been watching us for a while now,” said Fluttershy. “He followed us from the open forest.”

“Cool,” said Rainbow Dash. “Wait, since the huge grove of spine-trees, or before we hit the river?”

“Just the last half of today,” Fluttershy said. “I think he’s trying to find a new place to stay.”

Rainbow Dash nodded as though that made sense. As though walking for half a day was a short distance barely worth mentioning. She doubted she’d look at the train to Canterlot the same way ever again. How much ground could she cover if she took wing and flew as fast as she could for as long as they’d walked? How long would it take to fly back to Ponyville from here?

She looked at Rarity, engrossed in her work, impatiently tapping the side of her cheek with a stick of charcoal, not noticing the smudges she made. She looked at Fluttershy sipping water while she watched the grove’s edge, her mane long and shaggy, the muscles of her haunches a touch more defined than they used to be.

Maybe Rainbow Dash could fly across the world if she put her mind to it, but she’d sooner leave her wings behind than her friends.

Dash frowned at the stupid, invasive thought. She’d do neither of those things. What she could do, and apparently did, was cross half the world with two ponies who were very close to her.

“Should we go say hi or something?” asked Rainbow Dash, letting out a nervous chuckle. “You’re kind of getting a lot of attention and it’s freaking me out a bit.” She noticed a grey fox-like creature watching them from behind another tree. Maybe it was an actual fox. Maybe a fox and a hare sat within ten strides of each other. These things happened around Fluttershy.

“It would be a little rude not to,” said Fluttershy, getting up on all fours, slow and unthreatening, her eyes not directly on any of the creatures lurking about.

Rainbow Dash stood up and stretched out her wings. She yawned and put a hoof forward, trying to make it as slow as Fluttershy had once taught her. Tried to teach her, anyway.

“It’s okay,” said Fluttershy, touching a hoof to Dash’s chest. “I think I can handle this.”

“Well, duh,” said Dash, rolling her eyes and pushing forward lightly. Of course Fluttershy could “handle” introducing Rainbow Dash and herself to some local animals. What was gonna happen? A stampede?

Fluttershy’s hoof didn’t yield, gentle but insistent, an apologetic look on her face. “Really. I think it’s best if I go say hello by myself. You don’t have to worry about it, promise.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t sit down again. She watched Fluttershy go, confused by the languid smile she put on, the easy smile that she reserved for these kinds of occasions. She was indistinguishable from the Fluttershy who nurtured birds in her own home while Rainbow Dash sipped her cocoa—or was it hot chocolate? The expression contrasted with the tighter, more strained smiles she gave Dash whenever Rainbow Dash returned from one of her solo flights to check something out.

Maybe it wasn’t all that strange. Fluttershy always acted easier, more relaxed around animals. Fluttershy was so much more, contained more than the way she behaved around animals, but it was a part that Rainbow Dash felt like she understood, or that she should understand. What she didn’t understand was why Fluttershy didn’t want her to join in this time.

Fluttershy disappeared into the bushes. Dash could see her mane and a snippet of her tail, a little movement here and there by pink hair made deeper red by some hanging moss nearby. She caught the occasional word spoken in hushed tones.

“So, what’re you up to?” asked Rainbow Dash, moving over to Rarity’s little makeshift studio—an island of fabrics spread out all around her, barring entry.

“Hm? Planning,” said Rarity, stifling a yawn.

“Need any help?”

“Mm, no, I’m not quite at that stage, but thank you ever so much,” said Rarity without looking up, her tone breezy.

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Alright. Making anything cool?”

Rarity shook her head slowly. “No, dear. I’m making—or rather, planning something… redefining.”

“Meaning what?” Dash squinted, leaning over to try to see what she was drawing, but there was nothing coherent she could see. Rarity didn’t answer.

Rainbow Dash had nearly fallen asleep when she felt something move behind her. Her sleep-addled mind hadn’t heard Fluttershy join Rainbow Dash and Rarity in bed, but there was no mistaking it. She recognised the movement, the grace ruined by an overdone effort to be careful and quiet. She recognised her by touch when she felt cold and rain-moistened hooves against her.

She didn’t move, and she didn’t say anything, too close to falling asleep, too comfortable under the warm blanket to do anything at all. A moment later, Fluttershy’s forelegs wrapped around her lower neck lightly, hooking around her chest and hugging her from behind. One hindleg rested atop her, and a wing awkwardly wrapped around to touch her belly, ensnaring Rainbow Dash in the larger pegasus completely.

Rainbow Dash didn’t know if Fluttershy knew she was awake. What she did know was that it wasn’t cold enough for a pegasus to need her warmth, but nevertheless, when Fluttershy drew her closer and squeezed her tight—when Fluttershy rubbed her muzzle against the top of her head—she heard Fluttershy’s breath shudder.

Chapter 20

There comes a time in a mare’s life when one declares ‘never have I been this frustrated before in my life’. Never mind earlier today, or last week, or any of the other times I may have said this: I have never been this frustrated before.

Every time I’m part-way into designing something I think wonderfully combines form and function, whenever I find a stunning way to blend common peryton colours with wing holes, ways to part cloth around their tail-feathers, or reach some revelation on how the presence of antlers and their shapes may influence geometry use—every time, I stop and realise that they are still dresses, forced to discard my work.

Yes, I am a fashionista, and if something can be considered fashionable by anyone of note, I have duty and an obligation to know and master it. When Salad Fork somehow managed to make those awful little ear-clips in vogue, I had to figure out how to incorporate them into my work. But first and foremost? I am a dressmaker. I make dresses. I brought supplies to make—

I’ve made my point, and made my source of frustration clear. I sit down to enjoy the challenge of producing these designs only to throw them away because Perytonia and dresses don’t mix.

My purpose here in Perytonia is to dazzle their princess-person with my designs, but if it cannot be done with a dress? Or rather, if it is not to be a dress...

I need to think. My brief foray into accessorizing in Ephydoera yielded nothing, either, but there is, there must be a path to this ceremony that waits for me in Cotronna, the crowning moment that will surely make up for all this horridness. Perhaps I am not taking enough creative liberties. Or perhaps this is less a process of creativity, less about my own vision.

Those words do not sit well with me, but perhaps it is the only way.

I would ask Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash for some input, honestly, but I understand if the two of them wish to spend some more time together, instead. Indeed, how prophetic is it not that the cart, a cart with two wheels, broke apart? There is no room for a third wheel—and in fact, had we two blankets, I should wish to sleep apart from them, as is only proper. What is romance if not friendship elevated? Why should they wish to keep somepony such as I about?

...Alright, Rarity. I shall admit this only to myself: That may be a touch dramatic. Regardless, I feel I must afford the two a little more time to themselves. I will not descend into petty jealousy just because we have technically become a two plus one. I must not.

-R

Despite what she expected, Rainbow Dash did not find herself mid-kick when she came to, nor was she surrounded by malicious monsters to fight. In the space of half a heartbeat, she went from knowing nothing, to a keen sensation of having her nonexistent expectations upset. After all, that was how things usually went. In fact, hadn’t she had a dream like that earlier? When was earlier, and when was now?

All she knew was that instead of having a blast fighting some creature or other, a presence left her. She felt the touch of feathers not her own, and then she was alone, which probably meant she had one of her rare, un-awesome dreams. That didn’t explain why the one dream fled, chased away by another.

She tried to take in her surroundings, but they disappeared before she could understand them. This, too, had happened before. She recalled glass, a pitch-black darkness and a pool of colours all blending, but there was no time or room for remembering. These things, the glass and the colours, they were here, and they were now. They hurtled towards her as if called by her attempts to remember.

Infinite panes of glass shattered in her face without sound or impact, spraying drops and not shards. A rainbow sprayed in her face like Pinkie Pie squirting multi-coloured frosting at her—except it had only colour and no substance. A jet of utter-black spilled like hot chocolate into air or ground or both or neither. Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to gasp, but her reaction was too late. It had already happened. It was over.

No, not over. Stopped. A single square of glass hovered mid-air, the only object left in existence. Now she knew for sure she remembered this. There had been another dream like this one—and the way everything froze was known to her too. The stillness was more familiar than the chaos by far.

“I’m… dreaming again, okay, that I get,” said Rainbow Dash, words spoken to the void though she knew she wasn’t alone. “But this is still weird. I’ve seen this before, right?”

“You sound uncertain tonight,” came the reply. A perfectly calm and even voice with a clear presence, filling the place entirely despite coming from nowhere at all. “Tell me, Rainbow Dash. Do you remember where you sleep?” Luna sounded part curious, part amused.

Rainbow Dash flicked her mane and snorted. She opened her mouth to tell her yes, to say that of course she—of course what? Of course she was asleep? The only reason she knew that was because she knew she dreamt.

There was another Rainbow Dash, another her, an equally awesome pegasus who slept… somewhere, but she couldn’t recall where or how. She remembered perfectly now that she had talked to Luna in her dreams before, twice—no, three times. The third time was hazy.

“It goes without saying that these are more of mine,” said Luna. She stepped out of the nothingness to Rainbow Dash’s right or her left. The princess glanced at the single pane of glass and blew at it like one would a birthday candle. The only fixed point in vision disappeared, leaving only the two of them. Dash widened her stance, fearing for a moment she’d fall over.

“Yeah. That’s what I meant. I think I remember this,” Rainbow Dash said. The memory of that last dream with Luna slowly came back to her, of a place of glass and a vivid sky, but tonight’s earlier dream remained elusive—as did everything else outside of it. “We’re still in the forest. A big forest,” she finally remembered, clinging on to thoughts that eluded her.

“Clearly your clarity last time was an effect of my dreamscape. I may have collapsed this one when I… reacted,” said Luna, pursing her lips. “With it, the bridge is lost.” She stared off into the distance as though there was something to see beyond the black.

Rainbow Dash shook her head slowly. “I don’t get it. What’s going on this time? Can you take it from the top?”

Luna smiled ever so slightly, inclining her head. Her horn took on a silvery sheen, and rather than glow like other unicorn horns, hers resisted spreading light like it should. It drew Dash’s attention for a moment, and that was long enough to miss what had happened. Now they stood in a night-swept glade of great oaken trees under a full moon, fireflies thick in the air.

“There. This should be easier on the eyes for you,” said Luna. She didn’t wait for an answer before she went on. “As for what is ‘going on’? Less than you might think. The last time you dreamt, you were in the shell of my discarded memories. Do you remember this?”

Rainbow Dash nodded slowly, her eyes on the fireflies as they danced. “Sure.”

“I have yet to figure out how that happened, but I have been… alert, ever since,” said the Princess, shifting her weight from one set of legs to the other. “I have been waiting and watching for anything out of place.”

“Is something’s wrong?” asked Dash. She frowned and spread her wings.

Luna shook her head slowly, though she smiled. “Do not worry. Nothing is wrong. I am merely curious despite myself, and tonight, my vigil was rewarded when the shells—the echoes—were touched again.”

“Okay,” said Dash, scratching at her own neck. “So, be honest, am I being awesome or just really annoying? Because I’ve no idea how I’m making this happen.”

“It is not your doing. It is not you alone who find yourself in these halls,” said Luna. “I was mistaken last time. All three of you wander. I speak to you because you are more lucid in your dreams—even if your connection to the waking self is not perfect.”

Rainbow Dash blinked, her every muscle tensing up. “What?”

The Princess raised an eyebrow. “I just told you. You likely remembered things related to the waking world better last time we met because of the dreamscape you borrowed. This one is gone.”

“Not that!” Dash said. “What do you mean all three of us ‘wander’?”

Luna shrugged. “If you worry about Fluttershy and Rarity, they are quite alright. They dream in this place, too. Or rather, in similar places, but dreams are often confusing, usually forgotten, and these are harmless, as dreams almost always are. Is this something you would rather not have known? I thought it inconsequential to tell you.”

“I don’t know,” Rainbow Dash admitted, puffing out her cheeks. There were too many words, too many details that she didn’t know what to do with. Even hearing that her friends had similar dreams to hers right now was confusing because part of her wondered if they were really asleep. Her brain rejected the fact, because she didn’t know it. “Jeez, I don’t know about any of this! I don’t know what to do with any—”

“It is unimportant,” said Luna, cutting her off with a shake of the head. “And I did not mean to intrude unannounced, either. I am still looking into this business of these dreamscape shells on my own, but to tell you the truth, chances are greater that you will unravel this mystery, rather than I. I hope you will let me know if you discover anything that explains this. I am very curious.” She hummed. “Curious. I repeat that word often because it is true. I am even a little bit annoyed at this point, I must admit.”

Rainbow Dash nodded quickly. “Hey, sure. Count on me. Well, on us. We’ll let you know what we find out, but I don’t even know where to start. Uh, and besides, I wouldn’t be able to tell you, would I? I don’t usually remember stuff when I go to sleep, that’s half the problem.”

“Sometimes you do. Even without the aid of one of these dreamscapes, it waxes and wanes,” said Luna, shrugging. “You remember some things if you focus, surely, but if nothing else, you may tell me when we meet in the waking world. It is no matter. This is not urgent.”

“Alright. Cool. Yeah, you’ve got a deal. I’ll keep an eye out for… stuff that explains stuff,” said Rainbow Dash.

The Princess nodded again in return, her eyes drifting. She turned on the spot and took a few steps towards the darkness beyond the trees as though to leave. “You said you are in a forest. All is well?”

She tried to remember, she really did, but all Rainbow Dash remembered was that she was really frustrated with the forest. The Splitwood, it was called; She’d cursed the name a fair few times, so it stuck.

“Eh, the place is pretty much the worst, and it’s really hot, but yeah, I guess,” Dash said. Luna nodded, but did not move, hesitating. The silence hung between the two of them for a moment, wobbling.

“I would offer to stay—perhaps ask if you would let me join your battles tonight,” said Luna, her brow creased with the smallest of frowns, “but I have much to do, and besides, I see no foes of your design. Your night is spent in another kind of battle.”

“Yeah, I get it,” said Dash, not getting it in the slightest. She waved a foreleg and grinned. “We’ll catch up some other time.”

“Catch up,” said Luna with a wry grin. “Yes, I suppose we will.”

Yet still, the Princess did not move. She looked at Rainbow Dash as though there was something still unsaid, expectant. She turned about to face her again.

“So… uh, why are you still here? No offense or anything,” asked Rainbow Dash. “You said you were busy and everything. If you have to go, that’s cool.”

Luna nodded slowly. “I am indeed busy. It is the deep of night, and the dreams are my domain. That means I am on duty, guiding dreamers through the waters of their terrors.”

“Yeah. I guess you’ve got a lot to do,” said Dash. “And you came by here just to…” she trailed off, thinking. What had Luna really said in their conversation so far? Not much. “To tell me to keep an eye out?” That wasn’t much of a reason for a busy Princess to come visit.

Luna smiled, a lopsided and languid thing to go with another nod. “While I was here, I wished to let you know to ‘keep an eye out’, yes, but those who know me, know that I show up to help soothe those who are in distress. To extend a hoof in assistance. I come to help those who fight battles they cannot win alone.”

“Right.” Dash scrunched up her snout and her brain both, thinking. “But all three of us are having the same dream. Why’re you here and—”

“You are in the same place in your dreams. You do not dream of the same thing. It is only the stage upon which you dream tonight, and it matters very little in the grand scheme of things.” Luna shook her head. “I do not consider a dream within empty memories very terrible. As I have said, it is confusing at worst.”

“So...” Dash began again, trailing off into silence when Luna arched a brow precariously.

“Need I speak plainly?” Luna asked. “I came here to see to you, because you may need me.”

“I’m not some little foal having a bad dream,” Dash retorted, rolling her eyes, but even as she spoke, memory rushed back to her. She knew what she had dreamt before Luna’s arrival, and with the realisation came a stab of fear—no, confusion and frustration, maybe.

“You are not,” said Luna, simply. She walked back past Rainbow Dash, into the little forest clearing she’d made. The Princess sat down at its center, plopping down her haunches unceremoniously, her forelegs straight. “But then, to have fears and concerns is not the sole domain of the youngest. You are wise enough to understand that sometimes, we all need a little help.”

Rainbow Dash swallowed and nodded. She couldn’t deny it. That didn’t mean she had to like it.

Luna smiled at her. “Distress can be many things. In our dreams, we sometimes try to work through that which we cannot grasp when awake. Tonight, it seems your dream has fled from you. I cannot help much without knowing what troubles you, but I have two good ears, and I can listen.” She tilted her head to the side. “Do you remember your dream now? Will you let yourself think of it?”

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes, sparing a second to consider how ridiculous that act was—closing eyes that were already closed. Back in the waking world, Rainbow Dash slept tightly entwined with Fluttershy, and she knew that only because it was a contrast to the dream where the other pegasus was unreachable.

She didn’t know what that was supposed to mean. Fluttershy wasn’t going to disappear or anything. Thinking about that made her heart feel cold, but it only lasted until she realised how utterly ridiculous it was to think that they should move apart, scatter like—like what? Like the Perytonian tribes? Another memory recalled at random. A tidbit of recent events she could not place.

Wherever it came from, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash weren’t like that. They weren’t two Perytonian tribes who would suddenly declare they had nothing in common, like two cities built far apart.

“Are we?” asked Rainbow Dash of nopony in particular, frowning deeply. “We’re not that different, and even if we are, who cares?”

Luna blinked. “Who? Is this the source of your anguish? Are you still concerned with the differences between Perytonia and Equestria? You mentioned something of this when we spoke some time ago.”

“Eh, yeah, sure, that,” said Rainbow Dash, shrugging. It was way faster and less lame than having to explain all her thoughts about Fluttershy to Luna, and besides, to do that, she’d have to know what those thoughts were in the first place.

“We’re so different,” she said, sighing. Just like the cities. “But I don’t know what to do about that. It didn’t use to be a problem. I still don’t know if it is.”

The Princess pursed her lips. “Matters of culture can be challenging. We knew this when we decided it was time for Equestria to reconnect with her neighbours. I am sorry if this causes you distress. The task still falls to you, of course, but I have no desire to be neglectful. Perhaps I may offer some simple advice?”

Rainbow Dash snorted, disturbing a firefly who strayed too close. “I’ll take anything I can get.”

“Often, we think we are at the center of all things. I am perhaps more qualified to say this than most, and I can tell you that we are always wrong. If you seek to understand a people that think differently, compromises must be made.” She tilted her head skywards, stretching her neck to each side. “Broadening your understanding does not mean you have to abandon the ideals upon which Equestria were built. Seeking the center for the sake of understanding does not mean you have to always dwell in it.”

Dash ran the words by herself twice, trying to understand what Luna said. Compromising and seeking center. Compromise. It was a word Dash associated with accepting second place, with saying “good enough”. It was an awful word, but perhaps there was something to it. Never mind Perytonia right now—was this what Rainbow Dash had been doing wrong all along?

Once she realised that pushing Fluttershy hurt her, Dash had tried to make sure Fluttershy didn’t feel pressured into doing the stuff Rainbow Dash wanted to do, but trying to do the stuff Fluttershy herself wanted to do didn’t work out either. The answer was obvious. They had to find something that belonged to neither of them. Neutral ground.

“Alright, hey, that… actually helps,” said Rainbow Dash, trying not to sound too surprised. “I’ll be fine, but thanks, really.”

“Truly?” asked Luna, slowly standing up. She let out an indignant snort, stretching her wings out. “Do you know, many—ah, some have said my words tend towards the cryptic and obtuse, but I never believed it myself, hmf.”

Rainbow Dash let herself fall, the narrow walls rushing past her for no more than a second before she spread her wings to arrest her dive. Ducking under a rocky outcropping, she collected the end of the dangling rope in her mouth. There was barely enough space to fly down here, and she took some solace in that. It couldn’t really be called a gorge or a canyon. If anything, it was a ditch full of sharp rocks.

Rainbow Dash tied the rope off on the wooden post at the opposite side, just like she’d done with the other one. Of course, it didn’t really make for a rope bridge. All the wooden bits were shattered and lost among the rocks below.

“Ta-daa,” Rainbow Dash announced, bowing to the complete lack of applause.

“Wonderful,” said Rarity with a bemused smile, standing no more than ten strides away, on the other side of the ditch. “Granted, were I to be critical, I would ask how this helps us, but perish the thought.”

“Eh, it doesn’t, but maybe someone will see it’s broken and fix it. We nearly missed it, and the bridge’s supposed to be a landmark,” said Rainbow Dash, shrugging. Mostly, she’d seen a challenge, and she’d taken it. Thinking back, she probably could have pulled the ropes up by their other end and thrown them across.

She hadn’t asked Fluttershy to help her out, of course, not just because she knew she probably shouldn’t, but also because she now knew it was fine not to. They’d find something else to do. A compromise.

“That’s a very nice thought, at least,” said Fluttershy, running a hoof through her mane as she smiled. “Though I guess if the peryton are the ones who use these trails the most, they could probably fly across, too.”

“Speaking of which,” said Rarity, leaning to peer over the edge.

“I got you,” said Dash, zipping across the gap and bending down. “It’s barely a jump, but I’ll take you.”

Rainbow Dash peered over her own back as the little ditch receded behind them. It was easily the least remarkable feature of the Splitwood, a papercut to the Morillyn Gorges, a footnote amidst colourful or flooded valleys and collapsing ruins. It became exciting for one tiny little fact, though.

“So, that’s it?” asked Rainbow Dash. “That’s the last thing on the list?”

“Yes, that’s the last of Phoreni’s directions,” said Fluttershy. Where Rainbow Dash looked all around, trying to find some proof that they were about to leave the woods, Fluttershy seemed calm and collected. Dash tried to follow her example, but it wasn’t easy to stop looking for proof that the forest released its grip on them. There’d been bare patches in the middle of the woods, too. Tree-less groves and clearings the size of small plains that made meaningless the way the wood grew sparse past the ditch.

Hopefully they’d catch a glimpse of Vauhorn sometime soon. Rainbow Dash hadn’t seen anything the last time she flew up high, and it was a hassle to get the saddlebags back on now that they had to carry water again. She’d even settle for the monotony of the road now. Even if they were down to a crawl in the terrible heat, she’d take anything to speed things up a little—and that was as far as she got in thinking ahead before she realised something else.

“Aw, come on,” Dash said, groaning.

“What is it?” asked Fluttershy, looking over at her, eyes filled with concern. “Are you alright?”

“Something the matter?” asked Rarity.

“I forgot to tell Luna that we need a ride back home,” Dash admitted, sticking out her tongue. “I just realised.”

Rarity raised a brow. “You had one of these… seances with the Princess?”

Rainbow Dash snorted with soundless laughter. “You make it sound weird. I just remembered I had saw her in my dreams last night. She wanted to have a chat about the dream—” she paused for a split-second. “About the place we all dreamed about.”

Fluttershy made an inquisitive noise. “What do you mean? I don’t remember dreaming anything, really.”

“Nor I,” said Rarity.

“Yeah, I know,” said Rainbow Dash, shrugging. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Worry? I hardly worry, but all this dreaming business sounds stranger every time you mention it,” said Rarity, shaking her head.

“Uh-huh,” said Rainbow Dash, adjusting the straps of her saddlebags. The cloying heat made her want a break even though they’d just had one. Thinking about it now, would it get worse when they found the road and lacked the cover of the trees? “Hey, Fluttershy? D’you know where we are on the big map at all?” she asked.

“I have an idea, but I was actually thinking of going up for a look,” said Fluttershy. She forced the group to a stop in the middle of nowhere. They’d just been heading due north-east since the ditch anyway. Fluttershy loosened her saddlebags.

“Hey, I got it,” said Dash, trying to wriggle out of her own. Fluttershy didn’t slow down in the slightest, already shaking her wings out, her head moving side to side in disagreement.

“If you’re uncomfortable with maps, you probably can’t check what you see against the map we have. I want to have a look, anyway,” said Fluttershy. She took off and hovered in the air with slow wingbeats. “We can always go together, you know.”

Rainbow Dash nodded slowly. Of course they could. It was hardly a pulse-pounding activity for them to share in, but it was something, especially after all the times Dash had struck out on her own lately. On the other hoof, there was something else she needed to do right now. “Right, yeah. Uh, you go ahead, actually. I’m gonna take it easy.”

Fluttershy hesitated for a moment, her mouth half open. She then nodded quickly, flashed a smile and took off between the treetops. Rainbow Dash watched her ascend until the trees hid her from view.

“So, yeah,” said Rainbow Dash, clearing her throat. “Rarity, you got a second?”

The chat with Luna had cleared stuff up for Rainbow Dash. She knew what to do about Fluttershy, and that was great and all, but at the same time it felt a little silly to talk to Princess Luna about it—well, listen, really—when she had friends right by her side. Maybe she should tell Rarity the full story, really.

Except, Rarity wasn’t really reacting at all. Rainbow Dash should’ve seen it coming. The moment they stopped for even a second, Rarity had her sketches or her fabrics out. This time, she inspected the contents of Fluttershy’s saddlebags while taking notes.

“Hey, Rarity,” Dash tried again.

“Hm? I’m sorry?” asked Rarity. She locked eyes with Dash briefly, smiling at her before she went back to her work, now sitting down with a charcoal stick and a fresh sheet of paper.

“You busy?” Dash asked. It wasn’t that she needed help, but Rarity knew tons of stuff.

Silence. Rarity said nothing.

“Hey, Rarity!” Dash said, a little louder. “You got a minute?”

“Huh? Of course, dear,” said Rarity without looking up. “We can talk while I work, surely.”

Rainbow Dash sighed and shook her head. “Nah, never mind, whatever. What are you up to? Making dresses for Vauhorn?”

Rarity nodded absent-mindedly, leaning a little closer to the paper. “Yes, in fact, but the dress is really rather unimportant in the grand scheme of things. I would suggest you wear the same dresses that I made for Orto or Stagrum, but they’ve gotten dirty, so I may as well put something together while I learn more about them.”

“Okay?” said Dash, trying to ask every question she had with that one word.

“Whatever they like or don’t, I’m sure there’s one thing that they are proud of, one essential element that makes them… them,” said Rarity, as though that explained everything. “I’ll explain when I finish this creation.”

“Okay,” said Dash, again, nodding emptily. She glanced skywards, shading her eyes with a leg to see through the harsh sunlight that pierced the canopy. Already she saw Fluttershy on the descent.

“The road’s right to our east,” said Fluttershy before she’d even landed. The pegasus wiped her forehead, out of breath—and it was no wonder. The sun had not yet set, and the heat was merciless.

“Right to our east, as in, a stone’s throw away?” asked Rarity, packing her papers away. “Or right ‘right to our east’ as in, we’ll get there before Hearth’s Warming?”

“Right over there,” said Fluttershy, beaming. “We’re really close to Vauhorn now. I think I saw the city—the coast’s a lot closer, and the Spokes are mostly behind us, so I know where we are. We can cut straight east to the road and follow it north.”

“Awesome job, Fluttershy,” said Rainbow Dash. She grinned and leaned over to nuzzle her girlfriend, and Fluttershy leaned past her, holding her in a hug while still breathing heavily.

“Yes, assuming we want to do that,” said Rarity. Dash squinted. Rarity sounded—and looked—dubious of the prospect.

“Hit me. Why wouldn’t we want to?” asked Dash.

“I guess the sun is a little worse, but the canopy’s lighter here, so we don’t have a lot of shade anyway,” suggested Fluttershy. Rarity nodded at this.

“There is that. I’m just thinking back to Phoreni’s warnings, that we might not wish to use the roads,” said Rarity, shrugging. “On the other hoof, walking along the road will doubtless be faster.”

“Alright, yeah, and we know Phoreni wasn’t kidding around, but I still don’t know if this isn’t a little paranormal,” said Dash. “It’s weird to keep thinking we have to hide all the time.”

“Paranoid,” said Rarity. “You mean paranoid.”

“Well, um, after the things that happened in the fortress, maybe both,” said Fluttershy, smiling weakly.

Rarity sighed and nodded at Fluttershy. “I will give you that,” she said, turning to Dash again. “Again, I’m just presenting our options as I see it. I have no pony in this race. I’m not even calling for a vote, I’m just mentioning it for completeness’ sake.”

“I don’t think it really matters,” said Fluttershy with a pointed glance to the sky. “The sun won’t be up for much longer, so maybe we can at least get to the road before we decide if we want to talk on it or beside it? Oh, and I’d also like a drink first.”

“Yeah. Snacks, water, and let’s go!” said Rainbow Dash.

They found the road at sunset, and it was all Rainbow Dash could think that the broad, rock-strewn strip of dirt had waited for them forever. So familiar was the Vauhornite trading road—as a continuation of their path from Orto forever ago—that though she’d been desperate to find it for a week now, she was tired of it the second they stepped onto it.

Of course, it wasn’t the dumb dirt road’s fault. Much of the problem was that Fluttershy had been right about the heat. As the Splitwood unceremoniously thinned out into nothing, the sun bore down on them twice as hard, and now Dash was a puddle of regrets over not suggesting they follow the Splitwood a little further north.

Now that the sun disappeared and the wind picked up, the sweat that clung to her body and refused to evaporate instead froze. Though she couldn’t see it, Rainbow Dash smelled the sea on the wind. The coast must be near, further to their north, past the shrubs and rocks in the distance. If Rainbow Dash found the wind annoying, that meant Rarity would be in for a hard time.

“Wanna find a place to sleep right away?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“I think that would be best, yes,” said Rarity. Her lips tugged in a mirthless smile. “On the bright side, all these water breaks make for a lighter weight to carry.”

“I’d actually worry about running out of water if I didn’t think we’re close to the city,” said Fluttershy. “It should be just over the ridge ahead, past that hill.”

“Speaking of which, maybe that’s our stop for tonight,” said Rarity, squinting as she looked ahead. Rainbow Dash raised her head to try to get a good look, too. It was too tempting to let her head hang while they walked.

The hill stood out more and more the closer they got. The landscape around was a far cry from the monotony of the plains near the Splitwood’s southern edge, full of crags and rocks in the east and generously green to their west, and the hill at the top of the long climb ahead blended the features to each side of the road, a natural green tower. Now that the dark threatened, Rainbow Dash saw light from the very top. A fire, probably.

“Looks like there’s someone there,” Rainbow Dash said, exhaling loudly through her nose. “Jeez, I almost forgot that was a thing. Other people. And no, the creepy bird doesn’t count.”

“I’m sure he wasn’t all that bad,” said Fluttershy, biting her lower lip. “Maybe we should have tried harder to be welcoming and nice.”

“We did try harder,” said Dash. “And besides, you’re only saying that because he’s really far away now.”

“Anyway,” said Fluttershy, shaking her head and smiling. “I guess these are traders leaving Vauhorn, or heading to it. I hope they’re friendly.”

“Leaving Vauhorn, I should—” Rarity said, pausing to let out a sound somewhere between a cough, a sneeze and a bark. She stopped and grimaced, levitating out a handkerchief from one of her saddlebags. “Pardon me.”

“I thought you were done with that coughing and sneezing business. You’re actually getting sick,” said Dash, frowning deeply. “That’s not cool at all.”

“I’m sure I’m—ack,” Rarity cleared her throat noisily. “I am fine, thank you. I just got something in my throat.”

“Rarity.” Fluttershy said nothing but her name, the one word spoken with sympathy. She moved a little closer to the unicorn, leaning against her for support while they walked.

“As I was saying,” said Rarity, shaking her head briskly, blinking rapidly. “They’re leaving Vauhorn, because otherwise, they’d have risked being caught out in the storm like we were. Unless they’re travelling from some other town nearby, that is.”

“Yeah, one of the small peryton villages we’ve seen so many of,” said Dash with as much sarcasm as she could scrounge up. “I thought they weren’t supposed to travel this road, though.”

“They said single wagons had their goods stolen. This looks like a caravan,” said Fluttershy, pointing ahead.

The hill grew only steeper the closer they got. Three large and fully loaded peryton carts stood parked in its shadow by the road, near a path that led up the side of the hill. A chorus of distinctly peryton laughter spilled from the top, and Rainbow Dash saw a familiar-looking stone shape by one of the edges, Selyria’s more common shape barely visible between verdant green growth that covered the height. Rainbow Dash took point, brushing a much-abused low branch aside. Circling the hill three quarters of the way around, they reached the top a minute later.

A large fire burned in the middle of a packed dirt clearing, blindingly bright now that the sun fully set, and a full dozen peryton sat and lay at rest in a space circled by trees at the edge of the hilltop. The Selyrian statue stood to the side, identical to the ones on the road to Stagrum, and at its side rested a large flat slab of rock reminiscent of the Ortosian stele, rife with inscriptions.

“We have visitors!” announced a stag with purple wing-tips, turning to face the ponies who paused at the very edge. The raucous laughter and chatter petered out while all around, heads turned. Some gave them curious looks, some were dismissive, many offered mere glances and polite smiles or nods—and from all of their antlers glittered silver, gold and gems in the light of the fire, bangles around their legs. Stagrumite traders, then.

“Hey,” said Rainbow Dash, waving a hoof. She glanced at Rarity, but the unicorn said nothing, rubbing at her eyes. “Mind if we take a nap here?” Dash asked, not really sure what else to say.

“Selyria’s embrace has room for all who wander,” said the stag, dipping his head.

“Let Selyria have a nap herself, along with all the others,” said a doe sat next to him with a warbling laugh. “Every time I visit Vauhorn, I can happily go a season without hearing her stories told again.” Her words were met with scattered laughter and a few shakes of the head—and one case of a sharp jab in the side by a stag. This seemed to be a signal of sorts, the peryton turning to each other, talking and by and large ignoring the ponies again—excepting one, who turned away from the group. The doe stared intently at Rainbow Dash.

“That is a curious shade of green,” she said, her face unreadable.

Dash had to look at her own back before she remembered what the doe meant. The green covering her wings and splattered across her back didn’t stand out that much, and especially not in the partial darkness. She’d tried to forget about it—and nearly succeeded, travelling with only Fluttershy and Rarity for company.

“Yeah, real curious,” said Rainbow Dash, flashing the inquisitive doe a stiff smile. She pointed to the statue and nudged Fluttershy and Rarity into motion around the peryton, stopping right in front when it became apparent that the shelter-statue was, for the lack of a better word, full.

“Well, this is disappointing,” said Rarity, yawning and tilting her head as though if she just looked carefully enough, another stone wing ready to house three ponies would appear. Blankets completely covered the space inside.

“I… guess maybe we should head back down?” Fluttershy suggested. “We could find a nook in cover from the wind, but the best thing would probably be to head back into the forest.”

“It’ll take forever to find something better than a tree or two in there,” said Dash, sighing.

“Have we been greedy and unfair?” asked the voice that had greeted them. The stag moved to stand at their side with the faint rustle of silver chains in his antlers. He leaned down, head slightly askew as he inspected the interior of the statue. “We must fix this. Clear some room from yourselves, and we will take what is left. Leave to me the task of explaining.”

“Hey, thanks a bunch,” said Dash, smiling back at him.

“Actually, do you think we could borrow—well, that you could make a little room around the fire? We think our friend is getting sick—” Fluttershy said, but once that word was out, she got no further. The stag drew back, a frown plain on his face.

“Thalereia!” he called.

“Yes, Tholmoss, star of my sky?” came the reply, loud above the chatter of the other peryton.

“Bring from our carts the dregroot for a tea!” the stag yelled, turning quickly after to Rarity, squinting at her. “You have blankets for warmth? And you are not allergic to dregroot?”

“Really, this is all unnecessary—” Rarity protested.

“We have a blanket, and I don’t think we’ve ever seen dregroot,” was as far as Fluttershy got.

“Also a blanket, if you can find one!”

“All that you ask!” the other voice replied, a mono-coloured grey doe with glittering antler-pride darting out from the group by the fire, leaping off the hill’s edge and sailing down.

“Well, there’s a side of the Stagrum peryton I hadn’t seen before,” said Rainbow Dash. She pushed one of the peryton blankets a little more out of the way, spreading theirs in its place.

“Mirossa told us,” said Fluttershy. “She said they cared for each other a lot in Stagrum.”

“But they ‘show it differently’, yeah, I know, I remember, I get it,” said Dash, shaking her head. “It’s not that I didn’t believe it, it’s just still a little weird seeing it.” She peered outside the shelter as she spoke, just barely spotting a snippet of the yellow cotton blanket the peryton had wrapped Rarity in. The unicorn rested by the fire, sipping tea.

“And a little funny. Where’s their whole fair trade thing now? They’re being really nice,” Dash added.

“They did say they’d help in exchange for a story,” said Fluttershy, nudging the peryton blanket partly back in place, diplomatically halving the bed-space Dash had made for them.

“If Pinkie Pie could get a cake for a story, every shop in Ponyville would be bankrupt,” said Dash with a giggle. “Whatever, I’m glad they’re being so nice, even if Rarity’s fine. Ish.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “She’s alright now, but she’s definitely coming down with a cold. I just hoped this would make her rest a little.”

Rainbow Dash nudged their saddlebags further against the center of the statue, next to all the peryton’s personal belongings. All their stuff was settled. They had a place to sleep for the night, and everything was squared away. They’d had a drink, and she’d grab a light snack before bed—could those apple-like things they found yesterday be grilled? ”Wait, hang on a minute,” she said.

Fluttershy tilted her head, looking up from her efforts rooting around in Rarity’s saddlebags. “Hm?”

“You hoped? You planned this?” Dash asked, and from the way Fluttershy lay her ears flat and nervously glanced over towards the fire outside, she knew she’d been right.

“Not so loud, please! And, um, okay, not really?” Fluttershy said, sighing. “I just hoped that if I told the peryton Rarity was sick, she’d have to take a break. If that didn’t help, I don’t know what I’d do.”

Rainbow Dash scratched at her snout and nodded. “Okay, I guess you got a point. She never leaves her dresses alone any more.”

Fluttershy nodded. “I’m happy if she’s enjoying her work, but she really does need rest. I just hope we make it to Vauhorn before she gets worse.”

“I don’t know she’s really enjoying all the dress stuff that much, either,” said Rainbow Dash, frowning.

“I tried asking her about that, but it’s a little hard to talk to her about it,” Fluttershy admitted.

“Yeah,” said Dash. When Fluttershy stretched her wings out, so did she, like a yawn transmitted from one to the other. Another burst of cawing laughter from outside. The near-full moon and the reflected light from the fire lit up their faces. Rainbow Dash looked at Fluttershy, and Fluttershy looked back, both of them quiet for a moment.

“Your mane’s really long,” said Rainbow Dash, as though it had ever been anything but. Of course, her bangs didn’t usually look like they tried to reach for the ground, and these days, her tail dragged. “I like it,” she added, helpless to hold back a smirk.

“Thank you,” said Fluttershy, lowering her gaze as she smiled back. “You should try growing out yours one day, too. Is it getting in your way now?”

“Yeah, it kinda is,” replied Dash. She didn’t really have the option of not looking at her mane now. It fell in her face no matter what she did. “Rarity said she’d take care of it, but she’s been busy.”

“Mm,” was all Fluttershy said.

Rainbow Dash tapped the ground. “Hey, she has a pair of scissors left somewhere, right? You already have her saddlebags open, can you check?”

“I think so,” said Fluttershy, one brow cocked. “Why?”

Dash shrugged. “You’re good at that sort of stuff. It would be awesome if you could get rid of the hair that gets in my eyes.”

Fluttershy’s hesitation was so brief and so swiftly quelled that Rainbow Dash didn’t really have time to think about whether or not she should’ve asked. Perhaps it was a stupid impulse, the sort of question old Rainbow Dash would’ve asked, something that began as a simple issue and would evolve into daring Fluttershy, into pushing her on.

Then again, they were talking about a simple mane cut. Before she could reconsider, Fluttershy had her snout deep in Rarity’s saddlebags again.

“Most of her tools are for unicorns, but I think she had a razor of some sort, somewhere—oh, here it is,” said Fluttershy, resurfacing with a folded razor in her mouth. With a little hoof-work, she unfolded it, eyed it critically, and folded it again, tucking it under a wing. “I’m sure it’ll do fine. I’m not good at mane styling, though, but we can try together?”

“Uh, if you’re not sure, it’s cool,” said Rainbow Dash, but Fluttershy already made for the gap in the shelter’s wings opposite of where they’d come in. She stuck her head outside and waved Dash over before she left.

“What, are we hiding, now?” asked Rainbow Dash when she stepped onto the small space between the statue and the eastern edge of the hilltop. From the higher vantage point, the moonlight fell upon craggy hills for as far as she could see.

Fluttershy nodded. “Kind of? What do you think Rarity will do if she sees us doing this?”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Probably try to take over? I don’t know if she’s the same way with hair styling that she is with fashion or—”

“She’ll feel bad because she said she’d do it,” said Fluttershy, sighing. “And she’ll think we’re upset with her when she should really try to get better instead of worrying about our manes.”

“Oh. Okay. And that,” said Rainbow Dash, splaying her ears.

“Come on, sit,” said Fluttershy, patting the ground and smiling at her, and when Rainbow Dash didn’t immediately comply, she brushed at the grass with her tail. “There. Better?”

“Jeez, relax,” said Dash with a laugh, taking a seat. “I don’t need you to do much, I just want to see where I’m going.”

Fluttershy nodded. “I’ll just trim the front a little. It really looks the same right now, just longer.”

“Well duh, I’ve had the same style since forever,” Dash replied, grinning.

“For as long as I’ve known you, at least,” Fluttershy replied. She wiped her hooves on the grass and moved Dash’s mane about a little, as if trying to decide where to begin, but Dash didn’t worry too much. She had already decided they were going to do this. It’d work out or it wouldn’t.

“Did I ever tell you why I keep my mane like this?” asked Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy paused. She put the razor back under her wing, having just grabbed it. “No? Is there a story?”

“Oh, nah,” Dash said. “No—or, well, kinda. Mom and dad used to do my mane. Mom told me that she’d cut it to look like a lightning bolt so I’d fly faster.” She grinned at the memory. “Guess it works, huh?”

“I guess so,” said Fluttershy, giggling. “It does look a little bit like that with the one long bang you like to keep, but um, you’ve kept it the same ever since? That’s a lot of pressure.” Her laughter petered out, and she took a deep breath.

“Come on, relax,” said Dash. She reached out to touch Fluttershy’s chest with a hoof, smiling at her. “You’ll do fine. As long as you get the hair out of my face, I’m good.”

Fluttershy looked her deep in the eye, drew breath again and nodded, smiling back. “Okay. Can you bend down a little lower for me, please?” she asked, and a moment later, she went to work on Rainbow Dash’s mane.

Dash didn’t know where she found this calm. She should insist Fluttershy stop in case something went wrong and she got upset—not that there was a lot to get upset over. Anyway, this time she just couldn’t work up the energy to worry herself.

Maybe it was the comfortable knowledge that she had a new and better plan. Once they got to Vauhorn, she’d figure out something to do that worked for both of them. Right now, Fluttershy would do her best with her mane, and she’d probably do a great job. Rainbow Dash looked up as much as she could without moving her head.

“Doing good,” said Rainbow Dash, though honestly she couldn’t tell. She had slightly less hair in her eyes. More hair on her snout, though. She blew away a few coloured strands.

“Mh nearly donh,” Fluttershy replied.

“Awesome,” said Dash, though she was disappointed to hear it. With every cut, Fluttershy tugged at her head a little, every one of her moves deliberate, measured. The peryton on the other side of the statue sounded distant, a world apart. Right now, it was just the two of them, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. When Fluttershy put down the razor and wiped some hairs away with a gentle hoof, it was entirely too soon.

“Is that better?” asked Fluttershy, her eyes on Rainbow Dash’s forehead, fidgeting.

Rainbow Dash tossed her head about, shaking it left and right. When she stopped, she could only see a snippet of her mane that she knew she’d forget about in a second because it’d been there for years upon years.

“Perfect,” Dash announced with a huge grin. She leaned over to grab Fluttershy in a tight hug. “I owe you one. Hey, actually, d’you need me to give your mane a look? As long as you don’t mind ending up very, very short?”

Fluttershy giggled and hugged her back, one leg around her neck. “No problem at all, and, um, that’s… a joke right? You won’t be offended if I say ‘no thank you’?”

Rainbow Dash laughed and pulled back. “Of course I’m kidding,” she said, running a hoof through Fluttershy’s mane. “If you’re my girlfriend, that means this mane is at least like… forty percent mine, and I’m not trading it for anything.”

“Maybe you would trade some of it for a little preening?” asked Fluttershy, nodding to Dash’s wings.

Rainbow Dash spread her wings and gave them a quick look, one by one. Sure, she’d been thinking about that a lot lately, and it’d probably feel good, but Fluttershy had already done her a favour. She shouldn’t push her luck. Or, push her pushing, as it was. She shook her head. “Nah, I’m fine. Haven’t been flying a lot lately or anything, right?”

Fluttershy’s smile waned a bit as she nodded. “I guess we haven’t, really.”

Of course, wings still needed cleaning. Rainbow Dash rolled her jaw as she thought. Maybe she should offer to give Fluttershy’s wings a quick look? “What about yours?” Dash asked. She already knew what the answer would be.

“I’m fine, too,” said Fluttershy, looking over the edge of the hilltop. “I can clean them myself tonight.”

“Right, yeah,” said Rainbow Dash. She took a step towards the edge, standing side to side with Fluttershy. At first she thought there was nothing to see but rocks and darkness, but Fluttershy squinted and leaned forward.

“What’s up?” Dash asked. She couldn’t figure out what Fluttershy saw until the other pegasus pointed ahead.

“Down by the large boulders right across the road,” she said. “Do you see them?”

“Oh, yeah,” said Dash. A group of small, thin creatures rested on a rock, their features lost to the night. Even as they watched, a dark shape flew in from above and took up position next to them.

“They look a lot like our nightfishers,” Fluttershy whispered. “I’ve never seen this many in one place.”

“Our what?” asked Dash.

“Equestrian Nightfishers,” Fluttershy repeated, giving her a look. “You haven’t seen them before? They’re rare birds who stay up all night to hunt bugs that only come out after sunset. They’re wonderfully social.”

“Uh, I don’t think I’ve seen them, no. I haven’t really looked,” Dash admitted. “Wait, are these the ones who hang out on your roof all summer and make a fuss if I pop by in the evening?”

“Mm, no, they stay away from light,” said Fluttershy. “They’re actually very pretty, but it’s hard to get a good look.”

“Oh. Huh.” Rainbow Dash could see how. Or rather, she couldn’t. They were too far away, and it was far too dark.

She stole a glance at Fluttershy, and she caught Fluttershy looking back. Fluttershy didn’t offer to show her the nightfishers up close, but then, Rainbow Dash didn’t ask, either. When the silence held, Rainbow Dash moved around the hilltop’s edge. Were those lights in the distance? Circling the far side of the trees, more and more lights came into view.

She sat down against a tree looking north, catching the first real look at the coast in what, weeks? The lights glittering far away had to be Vauhorn, an indistinct glow more than anything else. Fluttershy sat down next to her, but not nearly close enough. Rainbow Dash scooted over and draped a wing around Fluttershy’s side. They smiled at one another.

What was it Rarity had said, way back when? Rainbow Dash had asked her a question, and Rarity said something about how in Equestria, they called coming together “harmony”, just like the Elements. Extending a hoof. Meeting halfway. Luna had said something of the same, and Rainbow Dash just had to find a way towards it, and to hope that wherever Dash and Fluttershy met would be half as good as the stupid little minute they’d spend together fixing Dash’s mane. Half as perfect.

“What do you think it’s like?” asked Fluttershy.

“I dunno,” said Dash. She reached up to make sure her mane lay right, but thought the better of it, leaving it alone. “Phoreni said they talk weird in Vauhorn, and coming from her, that could mean anything.”

Fluttershy giggled and nodded. “I guess so. As long as we get along, I’m sure it can’t be all that bad.”

“Yeah. It’ll be even better if they have hot meals. And beds,” Rainbow Dash said with a lazy grin. She tugged Fluttershy a little closer. They were already close, touching, but it wasn’t enough. She rested her head against Fluttershy’s neck, making the taller pegasus rest her head atop hers. “Maybe something to drink besides water,” Dash added in a murmur. “Someone who can make sure Rarity’ll be fine.”

“She just needs rest, but staying out here in the wild wouldn’t be good for her,” Fluttershy said, nodding so that her cheek rubbed against Dash’s head. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and tried to pull Fluttershy a little closer still.

Chapter 21

By raven for all cities and all kin,

After deliberation, the council concurs with Ephydoera and their letter earlier this same spring. This task falls to Orto, who will best take their measure. We find in our stories that Orto served this purpose upon our meeting with Cotilla, and we will ask that they do so again.

By raven, Orto will tell what comes of this meeting, and what concords are struck—and otherwise, Orto picks what path best aids all kin in meeting these Equestrians.

-By the Quills of the Council of Cotronna

“Seeya around,” said Rainbow Dash.

“And thank you ever so much for the tea. Are you sure you don’t want your blanket back?” asked Rarity.

“If you have not noticed, it is not the season for blankets.” Tholmoss cawed with laughter as he strapped himself to one of the wagons. “And you have repaid us with stories and a fine gem.” All around the roadside, peryton did the same as he: A pair pulling each of the three wagons, with another three pairs trailing.

“Your generosity is appreciated all the same,” said Rarity, glancing at her back to where the blanket lay tightly folded.

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yeah, thanks and all, but hey, if you stop by the Autumn Hymn in Stagrum, tell them we said hi!”

“I do not know of it, I am sorry,” said Tholmoss, the stag’s head tilted quizzically.

“But I do,” Thalereia said, craning her neck in a small head-only bow. “I will tell the proprietess that ponies of Equestria send their greetings. Helesseia’s mercy and Selyria’s cloak on your back.”

“Good luck,” said Fluttershy. She waved, as did they all. Three great peryton wagons rolled onto the road and moved southwards, a small cloud of dust in their wake on roads that had long since forgotten all about the storm and its rains—even if the grass had not. Even if the air had not. Already Dash felt clammy again, and they hadn’t even begun moving.

“On the road again,” said Rarity, rubbing at her eyes. “This sun is awful. I really wish I had thought to bring something with which I could make a hat for each of us. Ah well. At least this time our goal is in sight. Figuratively and literally speaking.”

“Yeah. It’s right down there,” said Rainbow Dash, inspecting her straps to make sure her wings were okay. The saddlebags were still entirely too full to let her flap her wings properly—unless she pushed them way back, maybe. Dash gave them a nudge, then shielded her face from the sun with a wing.

“I guess we should get there sometime today if we start moving now,” Fluttershy added. “Are you feeling better? Did the tea help any?”

“Well, I’m not feeling worse,” said Rarity, but Rainbow Dash didn’t buy it. The unicorn looked tired. Still, she was the one who took the first step, and soon they were all moving.

“I wonder what they were trading,” said Rainbow Dash, glancing over her shoulder. The peryton wagons were hidden from view now. The towering hilltop with the Selyrian statue stood at the absolute highest point in sight, and now they began their descent on the other side, down a long and straight slope.

Fluttershy tilted her head. “Why didn’t you ask?”

“Because that’s rude, duh,” said Dash. “Remember I told you about the other traders between Orto and Stagrum? They don’t like talking about what they’re trading.”

“We touched upon it last night,” said Rarity, stifling a cough. “They mentioned they carried a full load of cargo for Vauhorn to Ephydoera, but it wasn’t trade as such. They called it tribute. We heard someone say something like that before, and I still think it’s a strange word to use.”

“They said they liked to forage,” said Fluttershy. “But they didn’t have any farms. Maybe it’s food.”

“Probably something like that,” said Dash, though she’d already lost interest in the topic. Far more interesting was the way the road sloped. “Hey, this is a really steep climb going the other way, huh?”

Fluttershy looked down at the dusty path they walked as though seeing it for the first time, and three sets of pony eyes ran its length. The road ran from the rise they left behind and all the way down to an indistinct grey blob partially hidden by hills near the coast. Green grasses lined the road’s flanks, and part of Rainbow Dash fervently wished for winter. This would be the biggest, most awesome sleigh ride ever.

A few trees dotted the western side, and there were some rocks further to the east where the slope curved like a leg shielding the distant city, but most of the landscape ahead was a broad and immense downwards slope, perhaps steep enough—

“It makes sense, really,” said Fluttershy, glancing to their right. “The Spokes to the east are supposed to be very tall cliffs, and I guess this is the beginning of the northern coastline.”

“I’m still pleased we don’t have to make this climb in the heat,” said Rarity with a backwards look. Already the road behind them looked daunting. Rainbow Dash felt thirsty, and they’d barely started moving. Of course, she didn’t really care about what the slope felt like to walk.

“Sure,” said Dash. She stopped, making the others do the same. “Kinda not what I’m talking about. Fluttershy, can you carry both our bags?”

“I—um,” Fluttershy hesitated. “I guess. Why, though? If you’re tired, maybe we can take a break instead? I—”

“Could you fly with both our saddlebags?” Dash asked. “Push yours further back, put mine on top but leave your wings free? What if we dump most of our water?” It wasn’t impossible. Ignoring the stupid water-bags, Dash had seen Fluttershy carry more before.

Rarity tapped a hoof on the ground. “Darling, what are you on about? Can you just tell us?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “We can get there in no-time if we hit the air.”

“This has been true every day,” said Rarity, her frustrations stymied by obvious curiosity. She glanced down the road. “You two have told me it’s not really an option. Why now?”

Fluttershy already had her saddlebags off and started draining the water. “Because she’s not talking about flying, exactly. We can glide all the way,” she said, catching on. “If you’re thirsty, you might want to take a drink now.”

Rarity cocked a brow, but it was Rainbow Dash who spoke, and she couldn’t hold back a chuckle. “Wow, uh, okay, I guess that means you’re in?”

Fluttershy nodded quickly. “I’d like to get Rarity to a bed as soon as possible. Could you maybe start getting rid of the water you’re carrying, too?”

Rainbow Dash gave Fluttershy a wing-salute, grinning wide. “Yes ma’am.”

“You’re overreacting,” said Rarity, somewhat undermining her words with a hoarse-sounding cough. “Besides, I don’t relish the idea of hanging onto your back for hours—”

“Try minutes,” said Rainbow Dash, cackling. “And that’s just because I don’t want to mess up my mane.”

“If we’re gliding, I think it’ll be closer to an hour,” Fluttershy interjected, shaking out her wings.

“Well duh,” said Dash, pushing the empty water-bag back into her saddlebags before giving the whole thing over to Fluttershy. “And hours are made of what?”

“Please don’t,” was all Rarity said, shaking her head and bringing out her handkerchief for a sneeze.

“That’s right. Minutes,” said Rainbow Dash.

Vauhorn rushed to meet them. Where the other cities had patiently waited in the distance as though they didn’t care whether or not the ponies came to visit—or snuck up on them, in the case of the Grove—the city by the sea quickly grew. The the last few minutes, it had gained detail faster than Rainbow Dash could really process it.

The air pulled at Dash’s mane, Rarity’s grip tightened around her neck, and the road was a blur right below legs tucked in for speed. The occasional tree, shrub or rock whisked past them, as did a number of stele surrounded by miniature gardens. Already the great sprawl ahead was too wide to take in all at once. She flapped her wings once. Fluttershy did the same to keep up, but it was awkward going. Best just to keep wings spread and glide.

The city stretched out under the morning sun, greedier for the shoreline than the other coastal cities. The majority of Vauhorn rose as a thick band of stone buildings, stouter and of a grey stone a few shades darker than the memory of Orto’s—reminiscent of Stagrum’s square architecture, but without wood in sight, and familiar in its tendency to sneak in curves and domes atop, wherever they would fit. A few farms dotted the surrounding hillside, and some large buildings crowded around the rocks to the right, hugging rising cliffs that took shape further east.

“I think we need to land!” Fluttershy called. She let herself fall a little bit lower. She’d touch the ground if she set her hooves down.

“Why? This beats walking!” Dash shouted back, grinning. “We’ll hit the city in a minute!”

In a sense, they’d already reached the city. The first few farms were at their side—now at their back as they sailed along. Large plots of land growing rye and less-familiar grains, bowl-shaped houses uniquely placed outside the city in small clusters deep in the sloping fields. Lacking anything like walls or a river to form a natural boundary, the road itself served as a marker separating large two- or even three-story buildings from smaller buildings and the inland farms. Already, Rainbow Dash could make out the first of the Vauhornite peryton and more detail still.

Two peryton stood close together at the top of one of the few flat roofs in view. Large, coloured banners hung from horizontal flag-poles. A group of young peryton raced down a street next to a wall painted with the outline of an antlered head, and at the crossroads ahead stood a cluster of peryton with bright red sashes, all facing their way. Looking straight at them, in fact.

“Right, because of the greeting party,” Dash said, mostly to herself. Did they think they could block their path? They stood in the middle of the road, like Rainbow Dash couldn’t sail over them with a single stroke of her wings.

She didn’t. Instead, she broke her speed, and both she and Fluttershy landed in synch a small distance down the road from the peryton group. Rarity slid off Rainbow Dash’s back with a groan, stretching her legs out one by one. For a long moment, she stood still with her eyes closed, simply breathing. Dash frowned while she put on the saddlebags Fluttershy returned to her.

“You gonna be okay, Rarity? You don’t look so good.”

“Even if I were okay when we took off,” said Rarity, leaning back as far as her neck would let her, “I wouldn’t be now. I think I’m sea-sick from air. Air-sick. Is that a thing? I never had that during those rare few chariot rides home from Canterlot, but it’s definitely a thing now.”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Yeah, well, if you got complaints about my flying, you can ask Fluttershy to carry you next time,” she said. “Not that it was flying. We glided. Big difference.”

“I… don’t think she asked at all, you’re the one who—” Fluttershy tried.

“Next time,” said Rarity, glaring at Rainbow Dash. “The next time I consent to clinging to your back for an hour while I’m under the weather? I don’t see that happening. My underside hurts like you wouldn’t believe.”

“Aha! So you admit you’ve been getting sick all along?” said Dash, grinning in triumph.

Rarity rolled her eyes and let out a dramatic sigh. “Was there ever any doubt about that, dear?” She coughed as if on cue, accepting a drink of water from Fluttershy, downing what little water the pegasus had refused to pour out. When she’d drained the water-bag, she let out a breath and wobbled slightly. Dash reached out with a hoof to steady her. While they waited for Rarity to collect herself, she took in the city beyond the peryton arrayed just ahead.

All the streets were spaciously wide, the path turning from hard-packed dirt to proper roads. If proper roads were supposed to be paved with large stone tiles, anyway. Starting with the wide street that separated the outskirts from the city proper, most of it was stone, but any pretense that the larger buildings past the paved road formed anything like a wall was ruined by the sheer amount of variety.

No two facades looked alike. Paintings of peryton and of other creatures, scenes and vistas, banners, signs and scraps of cloth with peryton script hanging from metal poles or the lip of a flower-pot, subtle variations in the stone used, cracked, mended or haphazardly turned into a work of art—it all made every single building distinct and unique, bonded only by the general architecture and stonework.

"I still think this was a better idea than walking,” said Fluttershy. “Walking for hours and hours could have been even worse for you.” She shielded herself with a wing when Rarity coughed again and shook her head. “You poor thing, we need to get you some rest right away!”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” said Rainbow Dash. She meant to complain that an hour of gliding with a passenger hadn’t exactly been comfortable for her, either, but Rarity sagged and looked far more tired than she had when she got on her back. Dash pushed away a tiny twinge of concern and flexed her wings one by one, her eyes on the very ineffective but demonstrative roadblock ahead. Less worrying, more progress. “If they’ll let us in, anyway,” she added. “Let’s see what’s up.”

Even as they approached their little sash-wearing welcome committee, the sounds and scents of the city outskirts came to meet them halfway, muted and quiet in the morning hours. Vauhorn rubbed sleep out of its eyes. Dash sniffed. It smelled like sea salt, unfamiliar spices and a host of other stuff she couldn’t name.

“Now, I can tell this is one of those situations where a good first impression is important,” said Rarity, clearing her throat and fluffing her mane. “Let’s be our best and try to act with some restraint.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged when she noticed Rarity looking at her in particular. “I have no idea what you mean. I’m the most restrainful pony ever.”

“If you’re tired, you don’t have to do all the talking,” suggested Fluttershy with a sideways glance. “Not that I don’t think you’ll do a great job, but…” She trailed off as they made their approach.

They were almost at the crossroads, the seven or eight bulky peryton staring at them, flanked by tall houses. The street was easily wide enough to let them pass, but somehow Rainbow Dash doubted it would be that simple. At the same time, it wasn’t like they were staring down a group of Canterlot Castle Guard after accidentally ruining a window or twelve.

Quite the opposite, really. The peryton were as varied as any seven peryton—she’d counted now—could possibly be. One wore a mask that covered his face. No, her face, probably. Short tail-feathers. Two of them had jewellery in their antlers, reminiscent of, but different from the Stagrumites, and a large stag had a length of coarse rope tied around his barrel, his wings tied to his body. Their red sashes looked the same, though.

“What the hay,” Dash muttered. “Is this some sort of circus?”

“To your question, Fluttershy, dear: I’m sure I am capable of stringing a few words together,” said Rarity, switching gears and raising her voice a moment later, addressing the peryton. “Hello there! Is there a problem?” It came out a little hoarse, but accompanied by a radiant yet expectant smile the likes of which only Rarity could pull off.

“We observe and tell again,” said a tall brown-white peryton doe with an eyepatch, her tone conversational, “the story of when Morrashon stood upon the sunlit shore and faced the two-stalked companions who left not a mark in the sand. They bore no flag, they revealed no intent, and Morrashon would not let them pass.” She turned her head to the side and tilted it ever so slightly, peering down on the ponies with her one free eye.

“Morrashon was wise beyond time,” said a stag with blue-tipped wings, shifting the sash on his body with a shrug. “Though he was born forever the year after tomorrow, his wisdom is ageless.”

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes, her gaze blankly ahead. She knew there had been words, but she very much struggled to attach them to anything inside her head. She was halfway to a “what” when Rarity beat her to it.

“Pardon?” asked Rarity, fluttering her lashes. “We’re here on a peaceful visit—a diplomatic visit, in fact. May we enter the city?”

“Well, um,” said Fluttershy, raising a foreleg as if to protest, but she apparently thought better of it when some of the peryton turned to look at her, shrinking back.

“You would enter Vauhorn. On what pretense?” asked the doe.

“Pretense?” echoed Rainbow Dash, frowning. “What, d’you have to have a pass or something?”

“We promise we won’t cause any trouble,” added Fluttershy.

“There is no ‘pretense’ to be made,” said Rarity smiling still. “We’re simply here to visit, and then we’re passing through. If we may see your mayor or whomever is in charge of your city, that would be wonderful, too. I believe they have been notified of our coming.”

The doe who had first spoken narrowed the one eye slightly, clearly not impressed. “Heard has been the tale of the the Unclawed, of Eakus of All Graces, who watched strangers soar with shadowed hearts and warded us from their anger.”

“No, seriously, what?” said Dash.

“Ah,” said Rarity, nodding quickly as though anything they had said made sense. “Well, I assure you, our hearts have no anger in them, and if our… arrival was a little unorthodox, then I apologise. We were in a bit of a hurry.”

“What? You have a problem with us flying?” asked Rainbow Dash, snorting. “Why?” She turned to Rarity. “And when did they say that?”

“Furthermore, I believe we just revealed our intent,” added Rarity, ignoring Rainbow Dash. “We’re here on a diplomatic mission. Now, if that is a problem, I am sure we can come to an agreement if you would tell us exactly what the issue is.”

“Like Rarity said,” Fluttershy added, stepping up until she stood in line with Rainbow Dash and Rarity. “I think there’s been a letter. Maybe you could ask your mayor?”

Most of the peryton exchanged glances, the sash-wearing stags and does muttering among themselves and nodding. A few of them even took a step or two to the side, but the doe to first have spoken simply stretched her neck out, glancing at Rainbow Dash’s sides—to where her wings poked out, only half-hidden by the saddlebags. After a moment, she turned a baleful gaze on her companions.

“Remember also the stories not as often told,” said the doe, her tone dire. “Remember well the gift of the Ever Soaring, who turned covetous in his quarrel with Phostos. Remember one who sought to gain his gift of colour and was cast down.”

Now all eyes turned to Rainbow Dash, and the peryton crowded around their leader again, staring. She could feel her discoloured wings burning under all the attention.

“Wait, you’re talking about us? What the hay does any of that have to do with us? Who is the ‘Ever Soaring’, and what does that have to do with me and my wings?” asked Dash, her voice cracking on that final word. “Can we please talk normal?”

“Their heart was found false and foul,” said the doe with an air of finality. “They were asked to leave, and never return. Consider this.”

“Who was asked to leave?” Dash asked. She was nearly yelling at the incomprehensible doe, now.

“I… I don’t think—” Fluttershy stammered.

“Listen, if you’ll just—” Rarity began, covering her muzzle to cough. “If you’ll give us a moment to explain—or rather tell us what it is that we need to explain, I am sure we will come to an understanding,” she said, but even as she spoke, the peryton shook their heads and muttered among themselves again. Rarity drew a hissing breath. Rainbow Dash ground her teeth. What were they on about?

“Do explain the perfidy you suspect these poor people present.”

The loud and clear voice silenced the whispering peryton and forestalled whatever icy comment Rarity had been about to make, the unicorn’s mouth shutting without a word uttered.

Even before he came into view, Rainbow Dash knew that he was hurt. She heard his steps, a curious clop clop-clack, clop clop-clack, which made sense when the sash-wearing peryton parted to reveal a stag, slight of build and with a missing hindleg. His left rear knee ended in a stump, and otherwise he was unremarkable enough with green and purple tail-feathers and wingtips both.

“If you would take the time to consider the strangers’ unwrapped words,” said the stag, “You would know their truth. They are indeed expected, and even were they not, I always thought most of Morrashon’s stories were of overzealousness.” He smiled even as he approached—or wore what Dash had come to think of as a broad peryton smile anyway—hobbling his way through the peryton ranks to stand steady on three legs between the two parties.

“And the Quarrel of the Secret?” asked the doe, looking rather unimpressed. “What is it that you make of it?”

The stag nodded slowly, appearing lost in thought for a moment. Rainbow Dash was about to ask someone to explain what was going on when she caught Fluttershy giving her a look, as though she read her mind. Fluttershy shook her head ever so slightly and Dash sighed internally, keeping her silence in this standoff or whatever it was.

When the stag spoke up, he didn’t sound like he partook in a conversation any more. His voice took on a sonorous timbre, as though he recited a poem or spoke a song without music.

Came the claw-bearing beasts gleaming beaks bringing words,

Shed no blood on the sand, not a tail-feather fell,

Came the two-legged un-horned beast without teeth

Ask the one who did open the gate what he’d sell.

“I ask you,” he added, barely pausing for breath and staring at the doe not unkindly. “How you understand it. Does it not temper Morrashon’s wisdom? I do not question your authority—”

The doe shook her head quickly, and with a faint glow of magic shifted her eyepatch onto the other eye. “There is no authority to be questioned. You are correct. Their measure is not possessed by me, and our—no, mine was action out of concern this morning when I saw their approach from afar and no others thought to consider Morrashon’s stories.”

Rainbow Dash leaned a little closer to Fluttershy. “Do you think they remember we’re here?” she asked. Fluttershy made no reply, but Rarity hushed her very quietly, making Dash sigh yet again.

“Travellers, I have done you injustice,” said the doe, facing them and tilting her head forwards in a deep bow. “Consider Morrashon’s story my defence, but I lay my errors in your shadow.”

“Right,” said Rainbow Dash, frowning as the other peryton stepped to the side of the road in groups. Only the doe and the three-legged stag remained in their way. “Okay. So, we’re cool?” she asked.

The doe blinked. “Your… your words, they carry no meaning for me to grasp, but if you ask if you may enter the city, I am not, have not been a barrier, only a watcher. Are my errors passed by in your shadow?”

“Are your... “ Dash mouthed.

“All is forgiven, dear,” said Rarity, smiling at her. “Thank you for your consideration.”

The doe nodded at that and moved towards one of the groups by the road-side, smiling at the stag as she passed by. “Your insight is welcome, and your actions credit tales of Helesseia’s golden tongue.”

“We all have our passions,” the stag replied, smiling back and returning a slight bow.

Rainbow Dash puffed out her cheeks. “Yeah. We’re cool, apparently,” she declared. “I don’t even know what’s going on.”

“Don’t you remember what Phoreni said?” Fluttershy whispered. “She said they talk of—or maybe in stories.”

“Well, duh, I remember that,” said Dash, who had in fact not remembered. “I just don’t get why—and is nopony else bothered by how this is the second time in a row we get stopped trying to just get into a town? What the hay?”

“We all speak in stories in one manner or another, do we not?” asked the stag. While the red-sashed peryton slowly dispersed in amicably chatting groups of twos or threes, he remained with them, standing at their sides facing the city as though he, too, sought entry.

“No?” asked Dash, though she could already tell her protest would be ignored.

“And besides, Eirissia made clear that she never meant to bar your passage,” the stag went on, watching the last of the peryton disappear around the corner. “Rather, she merely meant to learn your purpose. Was this not clear?”

“I am afraid this was neither clear nor obvious to any of us,” said Rarity, shaking her head slightly. “I got the impression she would not let us enter.”

Fluttershy shuffled her wings. “We, um… we were warned, sort of. You just use a lot more anecdotes than we do, among other things. It’s a little hard to understand. We’re not really from around here—but I guess you can see that.”

“But why?” asked Rainbow Dash, squinting at the weird stag. “You’re talking just fine now,” Dash added.

The stag let out a small warble, as short and sharp as Rarity’s coughs. “Why do you ask questions? Why this obsession with clarity and simple words? How does one ignore that even these strings of common words are not unstoried and each of them come with their own history?” He glanced at Dash for a second, but nothing more.

“Because—” Dash tried, sighing when she couldn’t think of an answer right away. “Well, those are different questions, you can’t just answer my question with a question! I think.” She looked over at Fluttershy, desperate for any kind of support.

Rarity levitated out her handkerchief and wiped her muzzle. “Rainbow Dash, dear, could we please focus for a moment?”

“If it helps,” said Fluttershy, frowning ever so slightly as she thought. “Maybe you can just always think that they’re talking about us when they tell a story. I think that might make it a little easier to understand, but yes, we should probably, um, well—” she paused when the stag turned awkwardly on the spot with two hooves and a single hind-claw, coming about to face them.

“Maybe we could introduce ourselves and try again,” suggested Fluttershy, smiling up at him. “Hello, I’m Fluttershy.”

“Rainbow Dash,” said Dash, stretching her neck from side to side. “Hi.”

“And I am Rarity, a pleasure,” said Rarity, nodding.

“And so began the longest of journeys with the spreading of wings,” said the stag, inclining his head very slightly. “And the longest of discussions, the heartiest of debates with a single syllable—hello. Ah, no. That’s two syllables.” He frowned. “That’s embarrassing. Hi, then. I am Neisos, and you must be the ponies from Equestria.”

“You’ve heard of us?” asked Dash. “That helps.”

“That’s a relief,” said Rarity, sighing. “And something of a first.”

“Well, second,” said Fluttershy, tilting her head. “Someone told you about us? Was that… Khaird? Do you know him?”

“Hm? No, that name is not familiar to me,” said Neisos. “I only remember reading some missives seasons ago, that is all. It was a guess, but a very strong one.”

Fluttershy nodded and lay her ears flat. “Oh. Okay. I just thought I would ask.”

“Red Sun Runner was a name on the letter, a visitor of your kind who heralded your coming, I understand. Red Sun Runner, Rainbow. Your names are very curious,” added the stag, tilting his head to one side.

“You’re the guys who have names that don’t mean anything,” said Dash, snorting. “What is a ‘Neisos’, huh?”

Neisos arched his brows and nodded very, very slowly. “What is a Neisos? Now, you ask very impressive questions.”

“Well, be that as it may,” said Rarity, raising her voice a smidge. “You seem very well informed compared to some, and that is an absolute delight. Do you know this city as well? May we ask you for directions to an inn or a hotel—one of the places you call resting houses?”

“It would be my delight to help. My day is not taken or planned as of yet,” said Neisos, and no sooner had he spoken than he led the way into the city in his hobbling gait, left foreleg first, then his two right-side legs. “And if I am well informed, it is because I have perhaps a greater interest in the stories of yesterday than many. I am as Orsshur when she dusted off the stories of yester-season with the reverence of the primal stories that echo but are never told.”

This time, Dash took some solace in the fact that Fluttershy and Rarity looked as lost as she did.

“Could you… try that again?” asked Rarity. “Do you mean… no, I am sorry, could you rephrase?”

“Orsshur, the Aspect of greater understanding sought through new angles of that which is not yet set, she who molds the clay in the oven?” The stag cast a curious glance over his back as they walked. Every building around them was two or three stories tall, grey stone tiles made unoppressive by the width of the streets and the generous alleys, and the monotony shattered by an infinite display of… was it right to call it all art, all the cloth and paint that ran rampant everywhere? It was almost impossible to spot unpainted stone on the building walls.

“My head hurts,” said Rainbow Dash. “No, that doesn’t make any sense, how is that an answer? I don’t even remember the question now!” The visual chaos of the city didn’t help with trying to focus on understanding the cryptic peryton.

Neisos stopped, turning with some difficulty to look upon the ponies with obvious concern. “I sought to explain that Eirissia meant no harm. She and the others took on the sashes today to keep watch on Vauhorn, but they doubtless have other work, too. They do not have the luxury to mind the affairs of yesterday.” He shrugged. “They were doubtless told of your coming in a communal meeting, but it may have slipped their minds. I also sought to tell you that I myself have kept an eye on the roads due to having taken an interest ever since the missive arrived.”

“Then why couldn’t you just say that?” asked Dash. She didn’t know how many ways she could ask that question, and how many more times she could stand not getting an answer.

“Are there such challenges in my words?” asked Neisos. He looked between the three of them, and neither Rarity nor Fluttershy denied it, at least.

“It’s, well...” was about as much as Fluttershy said.

“Yes!” said Dash.

“We obviously use the same words,” said Rarity. “Nearly, anyway, but all these stories are new to us.”

“Oho,” said Neisos. “Only this? Most peryton will relate to the stories, but then, I suppose these are not stories you have been taught.” He twisted his head around to scratch his lower neck with an antler. “Much better. Now, these are Peryton aspects. You will have other functions in place, Aspects or tools of your own—”

“If I may interrupt,” said Rarity, smiling affably. “Even without that, I think your use of similes is a touch excessive compared to what we are used to, and that is the real challenge. But please, we respect your customs, of course—”

“Not customs! Tools and habits,” said Neisos, shaking his head briskly. “Tools I may put down if I wish. I will trade in unstoried words as much as I can. I understand that those who deal with trade caravans and visitors face similar… if I call them complaints, do not take offense.” He grinned at that, moving along again, gesturing down the street with his head. They were coming up on a plaza nearly empty in the morning hours. In the center stood a fountain whose waters glittered in the morning sun.

“For now? Come. Fountain. Drink. These words must be universal, and after you have had your fill, you must explain one word that I overheard in the rudeness of my eavesdropping. To which story does the word ‘mayor’ belong?”

The plaza was more of the same in that little was the same. In a corner, a group of peryton erected makeshift stalls for some kind of market, but opposite of them, young peryton played with a ball. Dozens of houses and a couple of sign-marked shops faced the open space, but the vast majority of them were so lavishly decorated—and no two of them in the same manner—that the signs almost disappeared in the visual noise. Rainbow Dash tried to imagine Ponyville if every house celebrated a different holiday. Hearth’s Warming wreaths on one house, Summer Sun stuff on the next.

At least the water didn’t taste any different. Fluttershy filled one of their water-bags for Rarity to drink from, and the others drank right from the sparkling waters. Two other peryton had a drink, and children rushed past them, a few pausing to stare unabashedly. Dash gave it a five out of ten on the curious-peryton scale, which ran from something to Orto. Stagrum to Orto, probably?

“Do you all get your water from the fountains, or do you have some other way to get it?” asked Fluttershy. “Should we fill up here, or do the resting houses here have their own water?”

“Yes,” said the stag, tapping a hoof on the ground, his gaze distant for a moment. “A need for a place to stay was mentioned. The resting houses will be filling up with the first caravans from Cotronna soon, and while it is certain that you will find a bed somewhere, I have a better idea.” He brightened in an instant, gesturing wide with a foreleg while he leaned against the fountain, smiling. ”Come stay at my house!”

“I dunno, sure?” Rainbow Dash said, more a question for the others than it was an answer. She looked at Fluttershy, who looked to Rarity, who in turn shrugged and looked at Rainbow Dash.

“It’s very nice of you to offer,” said Fluttershy, dipping her head in thanks.

“If you have the room, it would make things simpler,” said Rarity, covering her mouth with her handkerchief to cough. “We would be grateful if it is no imposition.”

“Imposition? Not at all. Room for you and more besides is had at my house,” he said, shaking his head. “My dearest and our children are all away for some days. It is just around the corner, and then two more corners. Come.”

Neisos took off at a quick walk, faster than Dash expected. Every now and then, he shifted his weight with his wings as he walked to keep his balance on three legs, and the ponies followed. They’d barely caught up to him when he spoke up again without looking back.

“It is you who do me a favour, to tell you the truth. An empty house tells a poor tale, and to fill it with life is auspicious. Twice as much when the life is strange and new.” He laughed a sharp trill. “It reminds me of the earliest stories of Pelessa. A blinding omen faced with open eyes—”

Rainbow Dash hadn’t meant to groan quite so loud, but Neisos stopped mid-sentence all the same. Before Rainbow Dash could consider whether she’d been a little too rude, wondering if she should apologise, the stag laughed again, twice as loud.

“Or!” he said, “To use other words for you: A pinch of sense is enough to tell that anyone who travels across half of Perytonia—and perhaps half the world—braving storm and strangeness to come to Vauhorn bearing green wings and curious questions, they are capable heroes, and I would not give up the chance to meet you were my wings in a vice.”

“Right. Sorry, I just… stories are gonna get old, and fast,” Dash muttered. “And please don’t ask me how my wings got like this,” she added, making Fluttershy wince.

Neisos nodded. “I will respect that wish, but I am still confused by your refusal of stories. There is nothing that does not have a story—my home is just around here,” he said, turning down a spacious alley, taking them out of the baking sun and into cooler shadow.

Rainbow Dash cast a backwards glance. Rarity lagged behind a little, and Fluttershy walked at her side. She waited for them to catch up while Neisos walked up to a nearby two-story building with a curved roof, a wooden door painted in children’s hoof-paintings flanked by windows with open shutters, multicoloured curtains drawn inside. He leaned against the wall for balance while pushing the door open. Normal doors. One point for Vauhorn.

“I don’t suppose you have hot water?” asked Rarity, pausing before the door. “And perhaps… I realise we ask much, but do you have more than one room? I believe I’m coming down with something, and I’d rather not pass it on—or keep my friends up all night.”

“I am not blind, and I did think you may have fallen ill. I simply did not want to make assumptions.” Neisos preceded the ponies inside, lost in the relative darkness for a moment while he talked. “Do your people also get colds, then? My sympathies, and apologies for not expressing them sooner. Everything about your appearances is strange to me, and I have so very many questions—”

“I’m a girl, a she, not a ‘stag’,” said Dash as she entered, waving the others inside as well. “Not a guy, okay? Cool? All of us: girls.”

“And now, though it matters little in the greater context, I have one less question,” said Neisos, smiling toothily.

Neisos’ house—or his family’s house, Dash supposed—was every bit as spaciously designed as the city outside. One part of the large chamber she stepped into was clearly some sort of living room area with a low table that would seat ponies comfortably, and another area was cordoned off by thin wooden screens painted with scenes that meant nothing to her. Beyond stood some contraptions Dash didn’t know, a small oven, and a bunch of paints, while the rest looked living-roomy enough. Shelves and cupboards all over, stacked with scrolls, books, statues and knick-knacks.

“Rooms for you will be found upstairs,” said Neisos, gesturing to stairs set along the far wall. “You may take my children’s rooms. Or, if you are not comfortable sharing beds and want for three bedrooms rather than two, I will find elsewhere to sleep, and you may take my bed also. While you get settled, I will heat some water and find an oil that may prove soothing for you—Rarity, is it?”

“Yes. Rarity the unicorn—” said Rarity, splaying her ears and letting out a wracking sneeze followed by a groan. “—who right now is rather annoyed that she is not Rarity the pegasus, since pegasi apparently can’t get colds.”

“Hey, we can still get the feather flu. That’s like, ten times worse,” said Rainbow Dash, frowning.

“Um, I don’t know about that,” said Fluttershy, glancing over at Rarity. “Colds look pretty bad. But you’re right. We can’t get colds, so we can probably share a bedroom, you know.”

Rarity looked to the two pegasi in turn, her snout covered with her handkerchief. At length, she shook her head. “No, I think we’d all rather have some privacy for our parts in my being sick, really.”

“Either way, let’s get you to bed,” said Fluttershy, nosing Rarity on the flank to herd her towards the stairs. “Thank you again,” Fluttershy added, smiling at Neisos. Rarity already had her saddlebags hovering at her side in her magical grip.

“A little extra cleaning around the house is no price at all. I will have my reward in plenty through your—”

“Stories,” Dash finished in silent chorus with the peryton, mouthing the word as he spoke it. She saw Rarity and Fluttershy’s tails disappear up the stairs, instead following Neisos towards the open portal that presumably led to a kitchen of sorts, pausing only to put her saddlebags away by the large table when they passed it by.

Despite the sheer amount of space in the few but large rooms, it was full of life even in the absence of Neisos’ family—some of the signs familiar, some of them confusing. Wooden shelves overflowed with scrolls and a few books, a stack piled at its base. Paintings crowded the walls, the table bore half-eaten food, and the corner with the oven Dash pegged as a potter’s workshop was a mess.

“You still have not explained this word,” said Neisos when Dash stepped into the kitchen which consisted mostly of stone counters and a small stove, strange smells drifting in from a half-open door to a pantry. Someone had either discarded an attempt at baking, or simply not put the flour, butter and all other things away. That, at least, was some relatable chaos, an understandable mess less foreign than all the tapestries and paintings.

“What?” asked Rainbow Dash, shaking her head quickly. “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention, what word?”

“The missive,” said Neisos, tossing some wood into the stove and hovering over a long match and a rock, lighting a small fire. “As I said, all I know is that Equestrian diplomats would visit Orto, and to see you here so soon is surprising unless I missed another letter. Regardless, you come here speaking of wanting to see a ‘mayor’. What is this?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I don’t know, the person in charge here. The leader of the city, you know? Like, uh, we have Mayor Mare, and I guess she handles anything that’s boring? She was the one who told me I couldn’t move my house to right over Ponyville. That sorta stuff.”

Neisos nodded thoughtfully, levitating over a kettle and filling it with water from a small pump by a faucet. “Now I have more words I do not understand, and I do not know we have someone like that.”

Dash raised a brow. “Okay? Who got the letter, then?”

“The Raven-Tenders attached it to the Ravenwall. None and everyone received it, but I imagine the council read it as they do all things, no matter how inane.” He paused and let out a little cackling caw. “Protect those poor peryton from their burden. And to your example, they would decide in a case such as you describe. They certainly handled Ohrinna’s takeover of this house.”

“Alright, so you have a ‘council’. That works, I guess,” said Dash, shrugging. She’d questioned their decision to visit all these peryton who worked like mayors ever since Stagrum anyway, but it helped to know if they had a city council. “Can we meet them? I think we really just wanna say hi; introduce ourselves and everything before we head over to Cotronna.”

Neisos leaned over the kettle, then dipped a hoof in the water, sighing. He opened the stove and lit another match. Clearly the fire had gone out. “Yes?” he said, making it a question, leaning halfway into the stove and surfacing with a muzzle tipped with soot. “Yes, you may, of course. This kind of situation, I believe it is what the council should do. Decide on things.” He coughed and closed the door to the stove, smiling now. “They do many other, more important things. When it comes to these things you say your ‘mayor’ does, I am perhaps no more informed about my council than you are about yours.”

Dash nodded and grinned. The smile was infectious, and when he spoke plain, he seemed cool enough. “Hey, that’s fine,” she said. “I guess we got that in common. Thanks again for the assist earlier, really.”

He shook his head briskly, turning to sweep some flour off a counter, absent-mindedly cleaning as he spoke. “No, your thanks are misplaced. As I have said, they never meant to bar your way, only to question, as is their right. Questions must always be asked.”

“Pft, you didn’t like my questions earlier,” said Dash, leaning against the counter.

“I did not reject your questions about why we accept the storied nature of the world,” countered he. “I questioned your questions, and you gave up.”

Rainbow Dash blinked. “Uh. Okay, right. No really though, I don’t care if you don’t think it was a big deal, we appreciate the help. Are you some kind of guard captain or something?”

He laughed again, a sharp rattling laughter that he quickly stifled. He shook his head and made a show of wiping the toothy grin off his face. “I am sorry, no. I did not mean to laugh—”

“It’s fine,” said Dash with a shrug.

“—but no. I am captain of no one and nothing, and in case it is still not clear, they were not ‘guards’. They were concerned citizens who take on the sashes to act as patrollers some days of the week,” he continued, his mirth mellowing by degrees. “And my authority over them was only the authority of reason. All peryton will listen to reason, and the doe to whom I spoke is exceptionally reasonable, if protective.”

“Yeah, I’ll say,” muttered Rainbow Dash.

“Of course,” he added, “you must ask yourself, were you slighted because of her conduct, or was your pride too far extended? I will say it was both, but let me apologise for her all the same.”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “You still haven’t answered. If you’re not a guard, do you go around town looking for ponies to talk to every day?”

He shook his head as though that had been a fair suggestion. “I mind my family’s children and teach them our stories for now. If anything, I have designs on becoming a teller of stories, but I suspect I may join my love in some craft when all our young are of age.”

Dash nodded at that. Her eyes wandered about the room, but next to the visual noise of the main chamber, the kitchen was plain and familiar-looking, excepting its size allowing for the larger peryton. Neisos made a hobbling turn, putting some stacked bowl and utensils away.

“You stare at my leg,” said Neisos, stretching his neck to put something on top of a tall shelf. “Or rather, at my lack of one.”

Rainbow Dash splayed her ears. She hadn’t thought he would notice, but clearly he had, even when he didn’t look at her. “Sorry about that,” she said, looking away.

“Why? I am not offended,” he said, giving the kitchen a quick once-over. Apparently satisfied with what he saw, he smiled a touch. “However, the room is pregnant with your desire to ask me why I only have one leg—and you just asked me if I have something like a profession, to which my answer was not clear. Maybe you understand there is a connection. Maybe you wonder why.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. The last bits only hit her as an afterthought, but now that Neisos had suggested it, it was hard not to wonder. “Right, okay, I’m curious, but it’s rude to stare. At least for ponies. I didn’t mean to do it.”

Neisos inclined his head. “Then ask me, how did I lose my leg?”

Dash squinted. “Okay, you’re being weird about it. Are you gonna explain it by telling me some story with a bunch of people or Aspects I’ve never heard about? I’ll pass.”

The peryton clucked his tongue. “You are astute. I would in fact share it through a story, but I understand this somehow frustrates you. You have expressed this more than once by now.”

Rainbow Dash grunted. She hadn’t really thought about it that much, and now she kind of had to. “Frustrated? I don’t know about that. I like stories just fine, I just—ugh, you’re talking about one thing, and then suddenly you’re talking about something else.” She frowned. How else could she explain it? It made her feel stupid.

Neisos nodded, simple as that. “Then I will instead say that I lost my leg in an accident at the amberstone quarry where I worked. As a result, I discovered a new purpose.” His antlers glimmered as he scratched his nose with a touch of magic. “To me, these events, these summaries are insufficient. By telling it through the story of Daros’ rebirth through his simple duties, I can better explain the transformation that took place, the sense of renewed purpose.”

“You were… transformed?” Rainbow Dash asked, raising a brow.

“See?” asked Neisos. “Now you are interested. Yes, transformed, but in a way that resists such simple explanation. Drawing upon other stories lets me embellish and flavour the events, of course, but they also allow me to share the depth of an experience.”

He poured the boiling water from the kettle and into a large bowl, mixing in a little water from the pump and levitating it by Dash’s side. “Moving is a little more troubling now, as you may understand, so I turned hedge-storyteller, and my life has become richer for it. It is a good story, Daros’. Mine? Not by itself. Take this water to your friend. I will be along with towels and an oil in a moment.”

Chapter 22

Acacia

I don’t know when you’re back from your leave, but since our shifts don’t collide until I’m done covering for Soft Strides, and I don’t have your home address, I’m leaving this for when you get back.

One of the other attendants found this scrap of paper clearing the Day Lounge and brought it to me. I’ve been debating with myself whether or not to bring this up to the Princesses, as they’ve been very busy lately. This is no normal detritus. The attendant in question would’ve thrown it away if not for noticing a magical aura about it.

Now, I don’t have a horn myself, as you are well aware, but I can clearly recognise the enchanted paper keyed to the lounge. This is the same paper used by Princesses for urgent messages, but it bears no message. I haven’t crossed paths with either of the Princesses today, and hope maybe you can bring it up if you think it seems important.

-TA

“Is there anything else we can do?” asked Fluttershy, leaning a little closer with her ears pinned to her head.

“I have hot water to wash my face with, cold water to drink, some quite frankly horrid… smelling oils? And, I have a soft bed,” said Rarity with a little chuckle. “Darling, I’m doing fine enough, though I expect I’ll get worse before I get better. My throat hurts a little, but it’s hurt for days.”

“You should have told us sooner,” Fluttershy scolded. “All those nights sleeping in the cold—”

“I didn’t feel very cold under the blanket,” said Rarity with a scoff. “Excepting my hooves, perhaps. It’s not your fault, dear.”

“No, it’s all of our faults,” sighed Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy, it’s a cold. She’ll sneeze it off or whatever it is other ponies do,” said Dash, rolling her eyes at the dramatics. Besides, the idea of a “cold” felt laughable in the daytime heat, even though peryton houses kept relatively cool compared to the outside.

Rarity had gotten the bigger room, a double bedroom with smooth stone walls, an abstract tapestry, and two soft beds not much different from any other. Here a toy wagon, there a few books, and by a wooden shelf, some puzzle items that probably required magic to solve. Dash had no idea.

She’d poked her head inside the single bedroom opposite a minute ago, and the floor of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash’s designated room was covered in metal samples, scraps and tools. They’d had to meticulously clear a path to the bed just to put away their saddlebags without incident.

“Anyway, you just need to stay in bed until you get better,” Fluttershy said. “And you’ll let us know if you need anything, won’t you?”

“Yeah, and while you’re working on that getting better thing,” said Dash, scratching her snout. “We’ll… do what?”

“Whatever do you mean?” asked Rarity. She leaned over the edge of the bed, scooting her saddlebags a little closer with her magic, levitating out her papers and her fabrics, then dusting off the floor before arraying them at the foot of the bed. “I don’t need you to wait on me.” She paused at her own words. “Well. Not every hour of the day, anyway, but there are things to be done.”

Fluttershy nodded in agreement. “If Neisos manages to get us an audience with the council, we should probably go as soon as we can.” She puffed out her cheeks. “I really don’t like the idea of going without you. I don’t know what we’ll say.”

Rarity snorted. “Oh don’t be silly, dear. The only reason we visit them is to be polite. Just tell them ‘hi’, I suppose. No, when I say things to be done, I mean a quite different kind of work. I will create a new set of dresses, and I need you to find some way to show them off. Some venue or other to see what the Vauhorn peryton think. They seem to have a far more varied approach to fashion than any of the other cities we’ve visited so far.”

“Hey, no fair,” Dash called. “If I can’t fly when my wings are busted, why do you get to do all your dressmaking stuff when you’re supposed to rest?"

“Oh for goodness’ sake, Rainbow, recovering is not a contest,” Rarity huffed.

“She’s right, though. You really shouldn’t overexert yourself,” Fluttershy chimed, narrowing her eyes at the nascent dresses in front of her. To Dash, it was a warning look, like she might take them away any moment.

“You either get the Rarity who does a little work to keep herself busy, dressmaking being second nature to me,” said Rarity matter-of-factly, lying still in her bed as her magic unrolled a small bolt of white silk, “or you get the Rarity who lies in bed with nothing to do and constantly complains about this fact.”

“Good luck with the dresses!” said Dash, grinning.

“I… I guess it’s nice if you have something to do,” Fluttershy sighed.

“Yes, it is,” said Rarity, nodding sagely. “And thank you, Rainbow Dash. Did you like the half-length skirt of the first dress, or the second one? Perhaps you would prefer a saddle? I have two designs, and I could fit both to either of you.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I don’t care as long as it doesn’t touch the ground.”

“Very well,” said Rarity. “Now, if you’ll graciously allow me to do work—”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” said Fluttershy, her tail drooping.

“—then honestly, if the two of you wish to go see the sights of the city, I will be fine by myself here,” Rarity continued, smiling at Fluttershy. “I know you didn’t mean to upset me, and you didn’t. I didn’t mean to be quite so rude either, but I can not lie here with nothing but incomprehensible books for company.”

“Well, if you’re fine,” said Dash, turning to Fluttershy. “Wanna go see if there’s anything fun to do here?”

Fluttershy chewed her bottom lip. “Can we at least wait until Neisos comes back from the city council? I don’t want to leave Rarity completely alone.”

Rarity shook her head, not looking up from her work. “That’s—”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Dash declared. No argument there. She walked over to one of the room’s high windows and pushed two layers of curtains aside, one heavy, one light as gossamer. She had to rear up on her hindlegs to look out at the city. The sun scorched the rooftops now, but compared to Stagrum, Vauhorn still slept. Rainbow Dash remembered Stagrum as a forest of antlers. Maybe it was just the narrower streets. Orto had been busy, too, but they’d visited during a festival. The Festival of Mironna, was it? Myrtella?

What the view from the second-story window didn’t remind her of was Las Pegasus, but a world apart, it still made her think of the view from the hotel room. The elaborate scrollwork, the tapestries and banners became the magically fluorescent signs of the Equestrian city. The streets were now cobblestone, the windows had glass, and the few peryon in sight became a throng of ponies excited to visit the City of Games.

Did she miss it? Not Las Pegasus. She missed half her friends, a world apart. They’d be fine. She also missed someone else, someone who wasn’t quite as far.

“Hey Fluttershy, you know what we should do while we’re here?” asked Rainbow Dash. She let the curtains fall back into place. “We should go on a date!”

“A date?” Fluttershy returned the words with a note of panic.

“Yeah! A date!”

“I—um, okay,” said Fluttershy. At length she nodded and spread her wings a touch, even smiling ever so slightly. “Okay, I guess that might be nice, actually. What did you have in mind? Maybe… maybe we could take a lovely evening flight together?”

Rainbow Dash grinned back at her. “I don’t know, maybe. If we’re gonna be around for a few days anyway, I’ll think about it for a bit. I just wanna look around today, but we should totally go on a date someday.”

Fluttershy nodded, her smile earnest now. “If Rarity doesn’t mind us taking a little time together, that sounds wonderful.”

At first, Rarity simply shook her head without looking up. “Mm, no, I told you I would be fine just a moment ago—oh, but I am happy to hear it, that’s wonderful,” she added, tilting her head. She put down the fabrics she matched together. “I’m curious, now. Is… flying considered a proper date?”

Rainbow Dash cocked a brow. “What do you mean proper?”

Rarity shrugged. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I know you have restaurants in Cloudsdale. Going on a walk together is hardly a romantic date, is it? Not that everypony necessarily enjoys the romance itself, I understand.”

“Okay, first off,” Dash said. “Walking and flying are totally not the same.”

“I don’t know if I understand what a ‘proper’ date is, either,” Fluttershy said, rubbing one foreleg against the other. “I know many earth ponies are fond of picnics.”

“Isn’t this the kind of stuff you should know?” Dash asked, pinning Rarity with a look.

“Why?” asked Rarity, frowning. “Just because I enjoy romance doesn’t mean I know everything. Besides, I’m a unicorn, and one who knows her tastes very well. A date in my mind includes very specific things. If flying is a date to you, then that’s wonderful. Anything can be a date if you wish it to be, I imagine.”

Fluttershy nodded and smiled at that, apparently satisfied, while Rainbow Dash’s attention drifted, and had been drifting for a while already. Fluttershy was down for a date, and that was really all she’d been asking. She moved over to inspect some open books on the floor, squinting at the curious scrawl while Fluttershy and Rarity talked about something or other concerning coughing and sneezing and being sick.

The book had pictures, too. Stylized peryton with exaggerated wings and antlers. Beautiful scenes of peryton with feathers spread in front of the rising sun or elaborate landscapes. Another one was mostly graphs and rows of similar signs repeated. She turned the page just as she heard the door on the ground floor open, movement at the edge of hearing.

“Am I interrupting?” a familiar voice called from below, steps halting at the bottom of the stairs.

“It’s your house, dear,” Rarity called back, covering her snout just in time to catch a sneeze, followed by a disgusted noise and a hastily applied handkerchief.

“That means come on in,” Rainbow Dash added. A few moments later, Neisos stuck his head in from the hallway.

“I return,” he said, twisting his head around to look across the hall. “And I see you have settled in there as well, good. These two rooms will do, but this state of Deimesa’s room, I apologise. She aspires to work as a water technician.”

“A water technician?” Dash asked, failing to see what all the junk in the other room had to do with water. “Like, with rain?”

Neisos tilted his head. “With the tools of the water technicians. With pipes and pumps, of course.”

“Right, never mind,” said Dash, shaking her head, instantly bored.

“It’s fine anyway,” said Fluttershy, smiling at him. “We’re the guests, and it’s not a problem at all. Did you find the city council? Did they want to see us?”

“Find?” Neisos asked. “There will always be one or more of them at the council-house. That is their duty, and there is not much of a formal audience to be had. They will see you at any time you desire, as though were you citizens. It is as I suspected: they had read and still remember the missive at the Ravenwall, and the council is right next to it, easy for you to find.”

“If you tell us where the Ravenwall is, whatever that is, probably,” said Dash with a grin.

“This, yes. Of course,” Neisos agreed.

“What is this Ravenwall?” asked Rarity. “I assume it is analogous to the… what did they call them in the other cities? Raven house? House of ravens? One of those things. Something of a post office.”

“I do not know what a ‘post office’ is, but if that is where your council communicates with other cities to share stories, and where the other cities chime in on our business—and where urgent matters are delivered—then yes, it is a post office,” he said, stretching out one of his wings half-way and scratching his belly with it.

“So, kind of a post office,” Dash concluded, mostly to herself. “Kinda but not.”

“To give you the full tale as I saw it,” Neisos added, almost as an afterthought. “The council member I spoke to seemed very pleased to hear of your arrival, delighted to hear you decided to visit.”

“D’you wanna get it out of the way right away?” Dash asked, glancing at Fluttershy.

“Maybe,” said Fluttershy, biting her lower lip.

“We could just go say hi or whatever, just like Rarity said,” Dash suggested. “If they’re as impossible to understand as the peryton we met at the edge of town, that’s fine, we can just leave. We don’t really need to ask them anything, like how to get to Cotronna, right?”

Fluttershy shook her head quickly and giggled. “No, not at all. It’s just along the coast, not very far away.” She looked over at Neisos, and the peryton raised a brow.

“When one calls the journey to Cotronna ‘not very far’, you stand before a traveller,” he said, dipping his head slightly. “She is our closest neighbour among sister-cities, and along the coast as you say. If you manage to lose your way there, you have closed your eyes.”

“It’s a little more than half the distance from Ephydoera to here, but we’re not going through a forest this time, so that’s something,” said Fluttershy.

“Yay for that, I guess,” said Dash. With the mention of Ephydoera, she couldn’t not glance back at her discoloured wings, swishing her tail quickly from side to side in annoyance. Just as she did, there was a small thunk. Dash whirled around, backing off a step. A small stone statue lay on the floor, and it took her a second to realise she recognised the statue of a rearing Selyria.

“Oh. I forgot I still had that tangled in my tail, jeez,” said Dash, wincing at the crack the surprisingly solid statuette had made in the floor. “Sorry about the, uh... It’s just a little hole. I’ll just put it back.” She pushed a tiny piece of tilework that had been chipped off back into place, patting it for good measure. “The rock. Not the hole. All good now.” Fluttershy gritted her teeth and sucked in breath between her teeth, and Rarity sighed.

Neisos didn’t really seem to pay attention to the chipped stonework. His eyes were on the creature that lay on the floor. “May I?” he asked, pointing to the dark stone statue with a hoof, momentarily balancing on two legs.

“Huh? Sure, go ahead, you can borrow it,” Dash said with a shrug.

“It’s not really ours,” said Fluttershy, shooting Dash a glance.

“Oh. Yeah,” Dash admitted, grimacing. “I guess we found it in some of your ruins. You can have it if you want. Heh, I thought my tail was just heavy ‘cause it was getting long.” She flicked her tail about some more, relishing in how much easier it was now.

Neisos shook his head slowly, turning the statue around in his magical grip before putting it down on the floor upright. “The statue interests me a little, yes, but the stone moreso.”

“The stone?” Rarity asked, cocking a brow. She hung over the edge of the bed, and the statue took on her particular magical glow, whisked over to her side. She squinted. “It’s just stone. It’s no kind of gem I know of.”

“Oh. Right,” said Dash. “You said you used to work at a quarry, and that’s like… a stone… place?”

Neisos nodded. “An amberstone quarry. This statue is not made from our local source of stone, but I know Perytonian stone all the same, and this strikes me as curious.”

“We found it in the Splitwood. It’s probably from there,” Fluttershy suggested.

“As far as I know, neither peryton nor quarries hide in there,” Neisos said, frowning. “But it is no matter. The stone is not from there, either, nor is this Ortosian, Stagrumite or Cotronnan stone. We trade samples by caravan every once in awhile.”

“Alright,” said Dash, nodding. “Cool. What the hay does that mean?”

Neisos smiled. “Nothing. The stone is not from Perytonia. This is curious, that is all.”

“D’you wanna keep it?” asked Dash. “We found it in some peryton ruins, and it is a peryton, so I guess it’s yours.”

“You think?” asked Neisos. He walked over to the nightstand where Rarity had left the statuette, leaning in close until his snout nearly touched the thing. “To me, it does not look like a peryton at all. It is strange stone, and a strange creature. I can do nothing with it. Thank you, but keep it.”

Rainbow Dash blew her mane out of her face. “Alright, it’s all the same to me. I’ll use it as a bookend or something—no, hang on, Twilight’s gonna love it! Strange and mysterious old artifact? Right up her alley.”

“It’s not magical, dear,” said Rarity. “I think we can rule out ‘artifact’”.

Neisos’ belly made a gurgling sound, and the peryton cleared his throat. “Speaking of mysteries, you mention the Splitwood, and I am eager to learn how your people commit events to story, to memory. If I were to ask how your journey here was, would you answer? Preferably over some…” he paused, tapping a slim hoof on the ground as he stared at a curtained window for answers. “Lunch? Dinner? I will start making food at once if you will tell me your preference—and offer a helping hoof or two, perhaps?”

Fluttershy nodded and smiled at Rainbow Dash. “I’m sure we can keep you company, at least. Maybe we can eat up here when we’re done?”

“Eating on a bedroom floor? Don’t be silly, dear,” replied Rarity. “Those traders we met last night were a little too insistent in their generosity when they shared their food, and I’m not particularly hungry. Besides, I’d like to get a little more work done. I’ll be here if you need me."

Rainbow Dash squinted at Rarity, but she didn’t really have any protests ready to go. She headed for the door. “As long as we’re not making kelp cakes, I’m in.

“I have spoken to Stagrumites on occasion,” Neisos said with a nod. “And yes, the hill you rested upon is known to me as well. It is the Northern Crown. If you look to the south at sun-up, the stone of its western face can be seen from Vauhorn.”

“That’s neat,” said Dash. She reached for the ladle, helping herself to an extra quarter portion of Neisos’ vegetable soup. He called it vegetable soup, anyway, but Rainbow Dash only recognised half the ingredients. Whatever the hay a fennel was, it tasted good. “So yeah, Rarity got all sneezy, so we flew all the way down here, end of story,” Dash said.

“Not the end,” said Neisos, smiling. “Never the end, and even where those exist, ends interest me little. In your case, some other pieces of the story are far more engaging than the chase for a conclusion.”

“Alright?” Dash asked, taking a sip of soup. Had she forgotten to leave out any of the embarrassing details beyond the wings? She was glad Fluttershy had headed up to check on Rarity. It let her omit certain near-disasters involving collapsing Splitwood treehouse-ruins, too.

“The ‘bird’ you say you met in the ruins,” said Neisos. He flipped his own bowl upright and placed it on the center of the table, then poured what little soup was left in Fluttershy’s bowl into the kettle again. “The defaced stele so far south. Your meeting with Khaird. Different things will stand out to every individual. We learn different things from the same stories.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t say anything to that, busying herself with her soup. Hooves on stone announced Fluttershy’s return, the other pegasus taking her seat next to Rainbow Dash. “She’s asleep,” Fluttershy said. “I put the water next to her bed, but she looks fine, and she’s breathing okay.”

“Mostly the bird,” Neisos repeated, his face blank.

“I’m sorry?” Fluttershy asked, looking a little bewildered.

“Dunno, he’s thinking about the bird,” Dash said, shrugging. “The creepy one in the ruins. I told him the rest of the story real quick.”

“Oh,” said Fluttershy, pinning her ears back. “I’m sorry if we sounded very… mean. I’m sure she’s a great bird and everything, whatever her—or his name is.”

Neisos shook his head. “You tell stories clearly and without prejudice. I respect that it is hard to share so many suns’ worth of travels and experience simply and quickly, but this part in particular seems to me an omen.”

“Great,” said Dash, finishing her soup. She flipped her bowl around and put it on top of the others just like Neisos had done. “So what’s the bird an omen of?”

“I do not know,” Neisos admitted, smiling. “Omens do not reveal their true purpose until they are fully illuminated.”

Dash raised a brow. “So basically, it’s completely useless.”

Fluttershy frowned. “Rainbow Dash, that’s not very nice.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “I’m not saying he’s useless, just that if you say something that means… that something means something, but that you don’t know what it means, what’s the point?”

Neisos nodded slowly. “Your words are not unwise. My reply is that stories have different meanings at any one point of their telling—but! This was not a dinner and philosophy. This was a dinner and a question of how you came here. I have my answers, and you wish to see the council, I understand.”

“Yeah, that’s the idea,” Dash agreed, getting up and stretching out her entire body. She tapped Fluttershy on the back with a wing even as the other pegasus rose to stand as well. “You wanna get going?”

Fluttershy nodded and smiled back at her, though her tail drooped a little. “I guess we’d better get it over with.”

Neisos grabbed the stack of bowls in his magical grip and stood. “I would offer to join you, but I understand you would like your friend to not go unattended.” He took a few steps towards the kitchen before he paused. “The council goes nowhere, mind you. Would you not like to wait for your friend to get well? You say you are diplomats, and it is not my purpose to pry, but if you would have word with Vauhorn, are these proposals too urgent to wait?”

“We don’t really have any ‘proposals’ or anything,” said Rainbow Dash with a short laugh. “Nah, we’re just gonna say hi, really, because… that’s polite and everything?”

“Khaird seemed to think so, at least,” said Fluttershy, nodding along. “It’s a nice thing to do.”

Neisos nodded at this. “Then I have received more answers than I even asked for. You remember the directions I gave you, yes?”

“I remember. We’ll be fine, thank you. Your streets are very organised, at least from what we’ve seen,” said Fluttershy.

“And we can always just fly up,” said Dash grinning. “But yeah. Right, then left, and straight ahead or something.”

“Um, right, then right again,” supplied Fluttershy.

“Same thing. Like I said, we got it,” Dash concluded.

“He seems really nice,” said Fluttershy, casting a look over her back, down the street. At least it wouldn’t be hard to remember which house on this particular street was Neisos’. Every one of them looked plenty distinct.

“Yeah. I want to say ‘but he’s a little weird’ too, but… you know. Peryton. So, duh,” said Dash with a grin.

Fluttershy shook her head slightly and smiled. “I don’t think you’re wrong, they’re just… different, and he’s a little more different. I guess we’ll find out if most of the peryton here are more like him, or if they’re like the peryton with the sashes who stopped us on the road.”

“I’ll take kooky peryton over angry peryton any day of the week,” said Dash, crinkling her snout as she thought. “I think.”

Fluttershy giggled. “Well, they probably don’t have to be one of the two,” she said, and Dash nodded her agreement at that.

If she had to guess, though, the peryton of Vauhorn were probably weird by default, simply because they didn’t look suspicious or skeptical in the least—nor did they look as intensely curious as the Ortosians. They came up on the end of Neisos’ little by-street, and a peryton watering some plants stared at them as they walked by, nodding to herself as though she drew some meaning from their passing. Two stags chatting by an open doorway followed them with their eyes, their conversation twice as animated when the ponies had moved past.

When they hit the larger street and took a right down the thoroughfare, there were more peryton about, but not by much. The few people out and about rested in shadow, or crowded around fountains and roadside water pumps. Most of them wore something, be it a sash, a tailband, a mask or something weird in their antlers. One in particular caught Dash’s eyes, her entire body coloured red from snout to tail-feathers. Other peryton stared at her, too.

“I guess they mostly stay inside during the middle of the day because it’s even warmer here,” said Fluttershy, her eyes skywards for a second. “I wonder if that’s because we’re further north, or if it’s the second part of the summer.”

“Hm? Eh, maybe both,” said Dash with a shrug, but she felt it too. They’d been on the move for mere minutes, and already she felt icky. At least there were some clouds out today. The sun would pass in shadow soon. The red doe passed from view, obscured by another peryton. “Jeez, it’s like everyone’s playing dress-up here. It’s like a costume party just without something... ” she trailed off, sticking out her tongue as she thought.

“Without a theme?” Fluttershy suggested.

“Yeah. They’re all just wearing different stuff.” Rainbow Dash watched as two peryton made a lie of her words, a pair of does wearing identical feathered half-masks talking in low tones in the shrinking shade of a building. Their heads turned to follow the ponies as they passed, faintly smiling. “Almost everyone,” Dash added, lamely.

Fluttershy shuffled her wings and smiled. “Maybe they think we’re just peryton in costume, then.”

Rainbow Dash laughed. “If I was this good at costume making, I’d be—uh. Well, I guess I’d be Pinkie Pie.”

“I guess so.” Fluttershy giggled.

“Maybe I am wearing a costume,” Dash suggested with a smirk. “Maybe I’m wearing the coolest costume imaginable: a costume of me. It’s got a newly cut mane and everything!”

Fluttershy snorted with laughter and flushed for a second, probably as surprised as Dash was at the sound she’d made. She covered her muzzle with the nook of a leg. “Well, I like it,” Fluttershy said, swishing her tail over to touch Rainbow Dash. “And I’m sure that if you had help with the mane, the pony who helped did her best.”

“It’s great,” said Dash, simple as that. She extended a wing part-way, just to touch Fluttershy’s side. It was too hot to wrap a wing around or bother her otherwise, but she kept a feather in contact with her girlfriend just because. The broad street sloped gently down as it forged straight ahead. In fact, she could see a pier and the water far ahead. Clear blue water sparkled in the sunlight, almost half as bright as Fluttershy’s eyes in the corner of Dash’s vision. She wasn’t one for mushy stuff, sure, but she couldn’t not notice.

Of course, that also meant she noticed Fluttershy wasn’t looking ahead, trying to find the Ravenwall—whatever it was—that supposedly bordered on this road. Fluttershy stared right at Dash. Normally that’d be fine. Normally, ponies staring at Dash was awesome, but Fluttershy’s smile was stuck at three quarters. Dash tilted her head and fixed her with a look.

“What’s up?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Fluttershy didn’t startle or panic or any of the other things Dash might have expected her to do when caught staring. Instead she let out a breath so deep she must’ve held it all the way from Ponyville.

“I think we need to talk,” said Fluttershy.

“Alright?” asked Dash. “That’s… cool? Because, y’know, we’re talking right now. Like I said, what’s up?”

“No, we need to talk about being together,” said Fluttershy. She looked to each side of the street, her ears wilting. Peryton watched them lazily as they passed.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Yeah? You got an idea for the date? Maybe you can decide what we do the next time, but I got a plan for this one.”

“Um, that’s great, but that’s not—” said Fluttershy, pausing when one of the rare few peryton who walked the streets passed by them, the other pegasus’s eyes following the doe until she was gone. “Actually, maybe we can talk about it later, when we get back. I’m sorry for bringing it up.” She flashed an uneasy smile. “There’s a lot of people around.”

“Sure thing,” said Dash. She cocked a brow when she felt Fluttershy’s right wing wrap around her body. So much for it being too hot. She didn’t say anything, though, nuzzling Fluttershy’s cheek in return. Talking now, talking later—no difference. They crossed over another one of the plazas Vauhorn placed squarely in every intersection, this one crowded not just by tall three-story buildings surrounding it, but by peryton occupying it. Rainbow Dash set course for the central fountain without thinking, thirsty already.

“What do you think is going on?” asked Fluttershy, watching the one half of the plaza busier than the rest. There had to be at least five dozen peryton involved, and for a moment, Rainbow Dash thought most of them were wingless. At a second glance, she saw that they just had their wings bound tight with cloth the same colour of their bodies.

Rainbow Dash watched between sips, the scene changing every time she resurfaced after dipping her muzzle in the fountain. The wingless crowd parted to reveal four peryton with thick swaths of cloth bound around each leg. The next time she looked, a perfectly mono-coloured doe stood in the center with an ornate golden beak affixed to her muzzle. On her back were not one, but two sets of wings spread, the second one an elaborate pair of cloth or paper feathers.

Rainbow Dash wiped her muzzle and nudged Fluttershy softly in the side. “C’mon, you should drink a little too.”

Fluttershy didn’t say anything to that, just like Rainbow Dash didn’t really answer her question either. She had no idea what the hay was going on, and she liked to pretend that no one else did, either. It made the whole thing funnier, anyway. On the other side of the plaza, Vauhorn seemed an almost normal city. A friendly-looking stag sold tomatoes to a family of four from a stall not yet set up. Three peryton with strange tools worked on the stone steps of a storefront. A couple touched their antlers together on the opposite side of the fountain.

“Let’s find out what this Ravenwall thing looks like,” Dash said, casting one final look at the peryton throng. Where the wingless peryton had danced a moment ago—hopping from forelegs to hindlegs—now they talked amongst each other as though the performance was over, but the mood seemed serious. No one Dash could see laughed or smiled.

“Let’s,” Fluttershy agreed, nodding, though both their eyes were on the performers until they left the plaza behind.

They crossed another plaza, then another again. Each plaza and every length of the main street proved that Vauhorn didn’t lack in normalcy, many of the peryton who defied the baking sun doing very regular things in streets dressed up for a dozen different festivals. And then there were the peryton who didn’t do regular, normal, everyday things.

“Consider the auspices of the laughing bird,” said a doe walking past them. She wore a gauzy thin saddle-like cover in fiery reds and yellows and no expression at all. Her antlers were painted bright orange.

“Uh, I’m good, thanks?” said Rainbow Dash. She glanced at Fluttershy who looked equally helpless and turned back to the doe expecting a follow-up or an explanation, but she’d already left. A couple of paces behind them, she saw and heard the doe repeat the exact same words to a stag, who merely smiled and nodded, carrying on down the street.

“This really is a lovely place,” said Fluttershy, casting a worried look behind them, “but I am looking forward to getting home soon.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t know whether to laugh or solemnly agree, so she did both. “Heh, yeah. I could go for a nap in my own bed right now.” She scratched at her snout. “Or outside your house. My place doesn’t get cold enough in summer. I really need to make more windows.”

“You’re sure you’re not just saying that because it’s hot right now?” asked Fluttershy, tilting her head. “You’re welcome at my cottage anytime of course.”

“Maybe. I don’t know. Right now I don’t remember what feeling cold is like,” Dash grumped.

“Well, you should come visit anyway, and once you’re visiting, you really should come inside. I’ll make some tea,” Fluttershy added, smiling faintly, her eyes on the ground as they walked. Dash closed her eyes for a moment, pretending she was back home.

“Sure. Hey, make that lemonade, maybe. Anything cold,” said Rainbow Dash, but the thought soured immediately. “Or cocoa if we don’t get back before winter. I’m not gonna bet against that—but hey, I don’t have to help set up the winter snow, so go us.”

Fluttershy frowned and bumped against her. “Don’t say that! We’ll be home with plenty of time left for fall, too!”

“Did you just… hip check me?” Dash asked, blinking.

“And you mean hot chocolate. It’s hot chocolate you like, not cocoa,” Fluttershy added with the tiniest huff possible.

Rainbow Dash felt her cheeks heat up a little, but it was eclipsed by the growing grin on her face. “No seriously, did you—”

“I think we’re here,” Fluttershy said, interrupting her.

“Here where?” Dash asked, but she had her answer when she followed Fluttershy’s gaze to the right, to where the various stone buildings disappeared in a large road-side square.

It wasn’t that it was really a wall. It wasn’t a raven either. Not actually, but nothing had ever quite been so you’ll know it when you see it as the jagged boulder almost as tall as any of the surrounding buildings. It cast shadow from feathers carved into its top half, stylized and sharp towards its tips, gradually less distinct as they merged to become one with the rock. The only other feature on the barely-a-sculpture was the polished square on its own shadow side, affixed with dozens of scrolls and the residue of glue evidencing hundreds more taken down.

The ravens perching upon the rock were another, less subtle hint. Black-winged birds sat wherever there was space, with many more hopping around on the ground below, where a peryton with a feed bag doled out birdseed. One of the ravens warked, and another replied.

“Oh. Yeah. That’s probably what a ‘Ravenwall’ looks like,” Dash said.

The two ponies paused by the roadside. Rows of ravens sat next to each other, one rustling its wings and taking off. The large message board upon the Ravenwall drew the eye, but it took up only a corner of the large, tiled plaza placed almost haphazardly in the otherwise structured city.

“If the city hall thing was supposed to be right next to the Ravenwall,” said Rainbow Dash, eyeing the large building set deeper into the plaza. Large, wide, and all columns and empty space, it reminded her more of a gazebo than a house. A small and shockingly green lawn guarded it, out of place amidst all the stone.

“That has to be it,” Fluttershy agreed, nodding her head, and Rainbow Dash set course for one of the entrances at random. It was hard to pick one. The building had more open arches than it did walls. A peryton left one of the far portals heading for the Ravenwall, a scroll clutched in her magic. The bird-feeder walked to meet her.

“I wish Rarity was here,” said Fluttershy, her ears drooping as they neared the council-house. Her head tilted back as they walked the narrow path through the little lawn, as though her eyes were stuck on the tallest point of the building, where the outer columns met the roof. “And I wish we’d asked what the council is like.”

“Relax, jeez,” said Dash, batting at her side with a wing, a feather-light prod. She stopped at the foot of the low stairs that circled the building. From here, they could see peryton walking to and fro inside the building—and straight through to the other side, too. Rainbow Dash exhaled. “Yeah, and me too. I don’t know what we’re gonna say.”

“You did say we should probably just say hello,” said Fluttershy. She smiled, trying to encourage Rainbow Dash with her own words. Dash snorted.

“Yeah yeah, I know.” Dash tossed her head to make her mane lie right. “But all the other times, we’ve needed directions, and we’ve had other stuff to say. We wanted to ask about the roads, or check about a boat or whatever, but Cotronna’s just down the road, right? This is small talk. Without Rarity.”

“Not right down the road, but we know where we’re going this time,” said Fluttershy, not sounding entirely convinced by her own words. “But… maybe not? We don’t know if the roads are safe, or if there’s anything wrong, so I guess we should ask about that. Goodness, are we getting careless? There are all sorts of things that could be wrong—”

“There we go,” said Dash, cutting her off and grinning as she mounted the stairs. “Exactly what I was looking for. Now there’s a reason to talk to these people. Come on, let’s go!”

“A reason?” Fluttershy asked, trotting a few steps to catch up.

“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash. “Like… if we’re gonna keep doing this whole ‘meet the mayor’ thing. Council. Whatever.”

“I always thought we were doing it because we promised Khaird.” Fluttershy slowed down as they passed between two massive stone columns, then an arch. They walked inside a large chamber, segmented off by large, solid walls with doors to either side. The ceiling was tall and painted in the colours of the sky, making Dash shift her wings to make sure she couldn’t feel a breeze that hadn’t been there a minute ago, ensuring that they were, in fact, inside. Their hooves echoed, loud on the hard stone floor.

Three peryton with simple, white face-fitted masks sat around a low table in the middle of the chamber, colourful pillows almost lost in all the space. Two more peryton conversed over by a column across the hall, and one walked past, seeming not to notice them. All of them wore the same masks, not a single one without.

Fluttershy’s mention of Khaird—and relating the tale of their meeting to Neisos earlier this morning—brought back the memory of that evening chat with the kindly consul and his map weeks ago, before leaving Orto. One particular thing he had said stuck out in particular.

“This was his ‘agenda’?” Dash asked, her voice low.

“I’m sorry?” Fluttershy whispered.

“If we’re here because of Khaird, like you said,” Dash whispered back. “And he just… wanted us to say hello and stay in each city, I mean. What kind of master plan is that?”

“Master plan? I… don’t think that’s what agenda means,” Fluttershy said, blinking. “Or, that’s probably not what he meant by it. He’s not some evil—”

“I know he’s not Ahuizotl or something!” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “I just mean… I thought he barely knew these peryton. Why would he want—”

“Generous tidings and fresh winds!” a sharp voice declared. One of the masked peryton by the table looked their way, and his two companions did the same. As though the entire room woke from a trance, every set of eyes was on them.

“Right, showtime,” murmured Dash. “Uh. Hi,” she tried, waving a hoof. “We’re… here to say that. Hi. From Equestria.”

“They visit gently upon our shores. Their steps must be seen like Alargis’ first—” one peryton began, only to be cut off.

“Aw come on, not this again,” Dash muttered under her breath.

“No, pack away the tired words, this must be seen in different context,” said another. The three by the table stood, and while Dash wasn’t exactly scared by the confusing and chatty peryton who converged upon them, the white masks didn’t help.

“Do not see, listen only,” said a third. “Suppose—”

“Suppose nothing, that is my exact point!” said the second. The peryton furthest away hurried to catch up, and another one rose to stand from behind a column, clearly awaking from a nap. He, too, moved in their direction. Scattered peryton became a semicircle, slowly constricting around them.

“All that which is, is once something that has been—”

“You must give the present the space to become before it can connect—”

Rainbow Dash tuned them out. It wasn’t really something she meant to do, but Fluttershy’s silence was far louder than the confusing chorus of voices. The yellow pegasus shrank back against her.

She’d always known that unlike her, Fluttershy didn’t enjoy the attention of crowds. Right now, she remembered the vivid description Fluttershy had offered her long ago, trying to make Dash understand how an excess of attention made her feel. She didn’t want to—what was the thing Dash had suggested Fluttershy should do? An aerial trick for Dash’s parents?

Something dumb. She didn’t remember that part, but she recalled the words, just like how as of late, every pained admission—every doubt and fear Fluttershy confided in Rainbow Dash when Dash tried to push her to do something—she recalled it all with crystal clarity. Like a wall pressing in on you until you can’t breathe, Fluttershy had said.

As much as she tried to pretend otherwise, there were moments Rainbow Dash knew that feeling. Right now? She didn’t feel a scratch of that. Instead, the memory, coupled with the chaos of the chattering peryton called forth two simple thoughts.

One was that she wished Fluttershy wouldn’t feel this way. Dash wondered if she could help. It’d be cruel to step aside, to try to force Fluttershy to deal with this—she’d never do that. But at some point, everything she tried to do to help Fluttershy became just as cruel in her mind.

By comparison, the other thought, the other impulse was easier to act on. A relief, almost.

“Hey!” she said. Her second thought came out a shout. The peryton were crowding them, crowding Fluttershy, and they needed to back off. She stomped a hoof for effect. “C’mon, give us some space!”

To their credit, the peryton did. The noise died down, not immediately, but by degrees. Two masked does continued their discussion in lower tones, moving away from the pack. Where a moment ago, Fluttershy’s side had pressed against Dash’s flank, she now stepped to the side and took a deep breath.

“The ponies, of Equestria. We were reminded of your potential visit by a citizen,” said a stag, stepping forward—which brought him almost chest to snout with Rainbow Dash. “And we are as Khylari upon drawing the first line.”

“Some of us,” said a doe, raising her snout a tad. “Will rest in the shadow of Chorossa’s auspices for the time being, but your arrival will ripple pleasantly, Orsshur’s waters flowing over all.”

“Great,” said Rainbow Dash, her ears twitching in annoyance. Fluttershy didn’t have a lot to contribute right now, and Rarity wasn’t here. She tapped a hoof on the floor as she thought. “Hi, again. I guess I’m ‘like’ Rainbow Dash when she had to listen to a lot of names and stupid words she didn’t understand.”

Masked faces glanced at masked faces, the sudden silence a bigger question mark than any hidden expression could convey. Rainbow Dash took a deep breath.

“I—we don’t know half of those names. Can we just… talk normal?” Dash suggested, puffing out her cheeks. “No Chorossa this or Selyria that. I’m Rainbow Dash, and this is Fluttershy.” She grimaced. “I told you my name already. Whatever.”

“It is as I said,” spoke a brown stag with rust red wings following another pause, and Rainbow Dash instantly took a liking to him when he extended a foreleg to push the closest peryton back a step. “See this first freed from context, and understand it later. Or!” he said, raising his voice a tad to forestall protests. “In favor of a maskless day? They do not know the Aspects. Consider this for a brief moment.”

Another stag shrugged. “Then we must relate the stories in full, for a fuller understanding to be reached. What Aspects favor they in their Equestria?”

“I have only distantly heard of Equestria,” said a doe. “Do they call their Aspects by name—”

“They—”

“Silence, please!” the defending stag called. His antlers glowed, magic surrounding his simple white mask to remove it. He looked unremarkable enough save for a small scar on his lower lip.

“But… but it is reflection day,” protested a stag on the other side of the semicircle, sounding positively indignant. Others murmured their agreement, but a doe took off her mask, and another one followed suit. Soon all the peryton were unmasked, blank and expressionless masks replaced with the confused and annoyed faces of people. Dash let out a sigh of relief.

“It is reflection day,” the kindly stag agreed. He bent down until his head was level with the ponies. “Which is six days out of every week. It is rare that we have visitors. Who here remembers the last time we had guests? The zebra visitor how many seasons past? Who here were in council then?”

A few hooves raised off the ground. Less than half.

“Enough to share in this knowledge: let us not repeat the confusion of that visit. Wear no mask on your face or in your mind for now, and let us do as they ask.” The brown stag smiled at Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy in turn. “Please understand the nature of your welcome here today, as it is reflection day. Welcome, ponies of Equestria. I am Orssus.”

Rainbow Dash looked to Fluttershy. Fluttershy looked back at her and blinked. “Okay, thanks,” said Dash. “I still have no idea what ‘reflection day’ is.”

“Then we must explain,” announced a brown-white doe with a full-bodied shrug and a glance at the stag with the scarred lip. “I am Theissa. That story of what reflection day is, is one of three, maybe four turns. Will you allow such an extravagance of words?”

“Oh, do put away your bruised true self,” Orssus retorted. He pointed to the central table, a few of the peryton already drifting towards it. “Come sit. Voices will be calmed if you will tell us this one thing first; will you permit your story to be reflected upon?”

“Again, no idea what you’re talking about,” said Rainbow Dash absent-mindedly. She followed—and made sure Fluttershy followed her in turn—but amidst all this strangeness, the craziest thing of all was the only thing that wasn’t. She watched two of the peryton quarrel over an extra pillow, a supremely mundane squabble in a setting where nothing else added up.

“Maybe you can try to explain it… in a different way?” asked Fluttershy as they approached the table.

“Oh! So you do have a voice as well,” said Orssus, looking at her for a moment with genuine surprise. “Yes, hm. The irony is, you have answered your own question. What I ask is, when you leave, may we discuss the meaning of your visit? There will no doubt be much to reflect upon, no matter how few words are traded.”

“Uh, why wouldn’t that be okay?” asked Rainbow Dash, dearly wishing they had brought Neisos along as a translator. “I give up. Fluttershy, help me out here.”

The stag scratched a flank with his wing as he sat his hindquarters down on a pillow, gesturing for them to do the same. “Meanings change over time. Even that which is written in stone will not be read by the same eyes forever.”

Fluttershy sat down next to Rainbow Dash and rubbed a foreleg against another, chewing on her lower lip for a second. “Okay. That’s fine, I think. If you’re asking if ponies have a problem with that, I mean? I think the answer is no. You can talk about us as much as you’d like.”

“Sure,” Dash agreed, shrugging.

“You are generous, and we are off to a good start,” said Orssus, nodding at that, but Rainbow Dash wasn’t quite so sure. The chaotic debate that had met them at the entrance persisted. At least now the majority of the peryton were busy talking to each other rather than at them. Only two peryton gave the ponies their undivided attention, the rusty stag called Orssus and the skeptical doe, Theissa.

“Right. You just said words I understood, so I guess that’s good,” said Dash, nodding in return. “Let’s, uh, keep that up. I’ll bite. What the hay is ‘reflection day’?”

“It is the six days of Orsshur’s ascendancy,” said Theissa, her face and voice impassive. “Six days, in sets of three, twice every week, it is the council’s task to wear the masks to consider every story without judgment. It is also when we settle disputes.”

“So you discuss all the stories about the Aspects with each other?” Fluttershy suggested, saving Rainbow Dash from a headache. “You… discuss philosophy, and try not to let your personal feelings get in the way when you make decisions?”

The doe frowned and did not reply immediately, and all around the table, ears had perked up when Fluttershy spoke, though they did not offer comment either. They were clearly listening, but not partaking in the conversation. Orssus looked pensive for a moment, then nodded.

“Your frame is not the one I would choose, but I understand you are not entirely wrong. When we do not mediate conflicts, ours is not a work of philosophy, though. Philosophy is idle work. We gauge the value of stories that pass through this room.” He looked up at the tall, sky-blue ceiling. “We share our reflections, the links between stories, and the possible wisdom to be understood from them. Our words travel to every city by raven and by letter when kin seek answer.”

“So you are all claw-priests?” asked Fluttershy, tilting her head. “We met someone who used those words.”

Theissa’s stoic demeanour cracked at that, a tiny smile showing. “No, we are not claw-priests. They deal in the First Stories, and we deal in what comes after. That makes us storytellers, not claw-priests—but are we not all storytellers in the end? The word means so little.”

“Some more radical storytellers hold that belief,” retorted another doe across the table.

“Some less ‘radical’ kin,” said Theissa with a huff, “would do well to remember Selyria’s encounter with Morrashon.”

Nope. There was the headache in full. Rainbow Dash groaned out loud and threw her head back. “Can’t you guys say anything without using all these other stories?”

The peryton around the table didn’t look quite as bewildered as they had at Dash’s first outburst. If they argued all the time, maybe they were used to that sort of thing. Whatever the case, they mostly continued chatting amongst themselves, but the stag at their side nodded slightly. “We can and do, but let me try to explain.”

“I don’t even know if I want to hear an explanation,” Dash admitted with a sigh.

“You can tell me, at least,” said Fluttershy, smiling at him.

“Then you will have an example. I will tell you how this story relates to your question. Or, how it relates to our discussion on what a storyteller is,” said Orssus, shifting his seating a little to get comfortable.

“Morrashon is the Aspect of stalwart guardianship, the stone, the one who never blinks. I will give you the shorter, less florid tale. When Selyria came across him in her eternal wandering of all realms, he cried.” Orssus leaned a little closer, lowering his voice a touch. “You see, he was fraught with doubt and fear, because his entire life was spent guarding the gates—guarding every gate, the conceptual gates-of-gates themselves. When he came face to face with Selyria, the most travelled of all, he feared that he would have no story to tell.”

Rainbow Dash nodded along as he spoke. She tried to envision this happening, but it was hard when every statue of Selyria looked different, and she had no idea what this Morrashon was like.

“He shared these concerns,” the stag went on. “And bared his heart to Selyria, for such is her burden and her delight, to listen to the deepest fears of everyone, for all are kith or kin to those of the First Stories, and she is one of the two. He told her that he worried that when he opened his mouth to speak, he would have nothing to say, that he had seen so little compared to she who wandered the forever-paths. What stories could he tell, he who had stood rooted to the spot since his birth, he who had neither leg nor wing to move him?”

Dash felt one of Fluttershy’s wings touch against her side. She responded in kind.

Orssus closed his eyes and smiled. “Selyria did not offer him pity, but she instead asked him what he had seen. She asked him, where had his mind wandered? What did he dream? Who had he met—for the only way one meets no one by sinking root is if everyone does the same, and Morrashon was unique. She told him that she herself can never be Morrashon, she can never have sunk deep those roots of stone. She told him that for knowing what she does not, his stories are as large as hers, and she would not be the only to want to hear them.”

“And then what?” asked Rainbow Dash when Orssus had been quiet for a few seconds.

“Then Selyria left,” said the stag, his smile widening. “As she did, always does and never does.”

“That’s it? That’s the whole story?” Rainbow Dash asked, tilting her head. “That’s a lame ending.”

“That is their first meeting,” said Orssus. “And since then, the story has been told four times eight thousand times, again and again—until it was referred to today. Until today, Theissa invoked it to suggest to Cholaussa that, is it not an interesting juxtaposition? Is it not curious that we use this title of ‘storyteller’ to suggest that our stories are important, when we all have stories to tell?”

Orssus let out a long breath, shaking his head slowly from side to side. “But at the same time, are we not Morrashon, attached to this building where we discuss and decide on how to advise other storytellers to help people become sharp of mind? At least—” he said, looking askance at the doe. “That is how I understood Theissa.”

“You are ever keen,” said Theissa. “But there is more to be said and thought about it, I feel. Perhaps later.”

“A story told again and again,” Orssus repeated, turning back to the ponies. “Until finally today, I told it to the two of you to explain how we peryton use these stories in our debates. How the Aspects can aid in our growth. Tomorrow, perhaps I will use the story of the ponies of Equestria who were told the story of Morrashon’s first meeting with Selyria, if it is relevant. Or perhaps I will indeed tell the story of the Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy who understood not a word that was spoken, but listened with open ears despite. This, I think, would be a story of diplomats of a very kind people.”

Fluttershy smiled. “Thank you. We met people who explained the Aspects and the stories to us before, but it’s very nice to have an example of how you do it, too.”

Rainbow Dash nodded slowly. If she thought she understood it a little better now, she didn’t want to admit it. Someone would tell her she didn’t, that she was wrong, and she’d rather just pretend at this point.

“But, this has been a very large digression to a question,” said Orssus with a suppressed laughter that came out a muted cluck. “The short answer is yes. We are all storytellers who advise others, but we are also the council when we need to be, and in this radical old claw’s opinion, far too rarely do we get to act as the diplomatic branch of the city. What may Vauhorn do for you, and what can you do for Vauhorn, Equestrians? Would you like some water, or perhaps food?”

“I’m good,” said Dash, flicking her tail. She exchanged a look with Fluttershy. After all those words, it felt super lame to admit that they were really here to say hi.

“We just wanted to introduce ourselves, really,” said Fluttershy, her ears pinned back sheepishly. “I guess we’ve done that and more. We’re sorry if we disturbed you, or if you were busy.”

“Disturbed,” Orssus repeated as though the word held no meaning to him. “Disturbed… no, I do not think you understand. We are as—ah,” he paused with a toothy grin. “In simple words, our purpose is to debate, to discuss and disagree. This is restful to my ears by comparison.”

“I think I’ll stick with wrangling storms,” muttered Rainbow Dash.

“You say introductions, however,” Orssus said. “Does this mean you will be staying for a while and return to us, perhaps upon next sunrise?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Fluttershy admitted, her brow furrowed. “Rainbow Dash?”

“Yeah, no idea,” said Dash. “We’re waiting for one of our friends to get better, but we’re not really sticking around town for a very long time.”

Orssus tilted his head to the side. “Now I admit to some puzzlement. We are glad for the ripples you cause, but I understood the missive said you were diplomats of some sort. A delegation from Equestria.”

Fluttershy nodded. “That’s right,” she said, a half-smile tugging on her lips and her eyes on the table. “At least, that’s what we’re supposed to be.”

“Then,” said Orssus. “Do you carry no words for Vauhorn? Is your visit here not your intent?”

“Sure. We meant to come here, kinda,” said Rainbow Dash. It wasn’t like they’d ended up here by accident. “We’re just visiting, really. We’re obviously heading for the capital, for Cotronna for all the… can you say ‘diplomacy stuff’? Rarity would probably say, uh—”

“To handle all the diplomatic affairs?” suggested Fluttershy, shrugging helplessly.

“Let’s go with that, yeah,” Dash agreed. “Affairs. We figure we’re gonna talk to the princ—uh, the... head councilperson there, I guess you call them.”

Orssus nodded slowly, his gaze distant. The chatter around the table was a little less, now, ears perked all around. “Well,” he said, his voice a little lower at first, but it soon picked up, his smile returning—and with it, the noise in the room picked back up. “Then we are glad to guest you for as long as you stay. If you are not certain you will return to this house, perhaps you will tell of your home city of Equestria before you leave? There is sunlight still, and we love to listen.”

“Sure,” said Rainbow Dash when Fluttershy didn’t protest. “We can tell you about Equestria. It’s not our ‘home city’ though. That’s Ponyville, and we’re actually both born in Cloudsdale.”

“Then tell us of your Ponyville,” Orssus said, hovering over another pillow. Theissa shrugged and shuffled a little closer as well, and another peryton put a pitcher of water on the table.

Chapter 23

Rainbow Dash was right. In hindsight, walking all day was, in fact, getting easier before I came down with this awful cold, so I suppose I won’t be needing yoga for a while when I get back.

At least I have something to keep me busy. I doubt these dresses will go over well, but I relish the challenge of my limited materials remaining. Working on new designs is always pleasant work, especially when I know my friends will like them.

Friends. Now, I know my isolation here is my own doing, but what else can I do but give them room to grow as they’ve become so much more than friends?

Ah well. I should enjoy making these dresses while I can, even if that enjoyment is rather tempered when I realise I’ve failed before I even tried. Remember, Rarity, these are mostly just to test a theory.

-R

“I hope Rarity hasn’t worried too much about us. That took a lot longer than I thought it would,” said Fluttershy, glancing skywards. It was already well into the evening hours, and though the moon was large and bright, the added glow of magical street-lamps faded the stars. “They really enjoyed hearing about home,” she mused.

“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash, shaking her head even as she laughed. ”C’mon, just try and tell me you don’t think that’s weird. I’ve never met anyone who was so excited to hear us talk about Ponyville.”

“They would probably love to get a copy of all the friendship lessons. They’re all stories, too,” said Fluttershy. She pointed down a side street. “Oh, it’s this one, I remember the masks hanging from the corner wall.”

“Probably, but they ate up all the normal boring stuff, and didn’t care about some other things,” Dash countered, following as Fluttershy led the way. The streets were nearly empty in the mounting cold, and only the cover of the buildings shielded them from the wind. Finding their way back was quick and easy enough, though. She could see Neisos’ house ahead, just past the house with all the landscape paintings on its walls.

“Like, okay, I get that not everyone’s crazy about trains and stuff, but they were creepy silent sometimes,” she added.

“I don’t think they didn’t care, I just think they didn’t understand,” said Fluttershy, shifting her wings on her back. “I don’t know for sure, but they don’t move a lot, remember. It’s got to be strange and exciting for them to hear about someone who moved from one city to another. They didn’t really seem all that interested in Cloudsdale, though, not after we told them that Ponyville was ‘our city’.”

“Moving cities. Not exactly the thing I want to be famous for,” Dash said, laughing. “And besides, how’s that crazy compared to travelling here all the way from Equestria? We should’ve asked how they feel about the Bent Feathers. Shouldn’t they be excited about peryton who travel a lot, too?”

Fluttershy pushed the door open slowly, nodding to herself and giving it a shove when they both heard familiar voices inside. “That would make a lot of sense, but we don’t actually know they were excited, exactly. They just listened closely,” she said, holding the door open for Rainbow Dash. Inside, the room was warm and bright, owing to magical lights along the ceiling and a fire burning in the small fireplace. Heavy drapes hung in front of the shuttered windows, and Rarity sat swaddled in blankets by the table, playing some sort of board game with Neisos.

“Oh, you’re awake,” said Fluttershy, smiling at Rarity. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m just fine, darling, but thank you for asking,” replied Rarity, sounding a lot more nasal than earlier this morning. Next to a stack of small wooden game pieces lay a collection of well-used handkerchiefs. “Well, I’m managing, at any rate,” she added, following Dash’s eyes to the little cloth-pile. “How did it go?”

“Hey, before we answer that,” said Dash, kicking the door shut, “Neisos, what do you think of the Bent Feathers?”

“Weren’t they called the Broken Feathers?” asked Fluttershy, taking a seat by the table.

“Nah, Bent Feathers, I’m sure,” said Dash.

“They are curious and rootless kin, and I say this without much judgment,” said Neisos, still staring at the game board—a richly painted miniature world with intricate pieces to go with it. He frowned and placed a tiny wooden house on an island, nodding to Rarity. “Your turn,” he said, looking up for the first time since Dash and Fluttershy returned. “Why this question?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged and sat down next to Fluttershy. “Just wondering. We talked to the council a bunch, and they really wanted to hear about Equestria. Or, well, about Ponyville, anyway.” She rubbed her forelegs together for warmth. It was cold outside for how early in the evening it was, and pegasus or no, she appreciated the fire in the hearth right now.

“We do have the advantage here,” said Rarity, sniffling into a handkerchief. “We’re in their lands. We can see how they live with our own eyes, but they have to ask. It’s natural they’d be curious to hear about us.” She levitated a wooden ship onto a dotted line between two islands on the game board and placed a tiny cube next to it. Neisos scowled.

“You built up to seizing that trade route all along,” said the stag.

“Of course I did, dear. It’s a game of business, as I understand it, and business rewards meticulous planning and attention to detail.” Rarity rubbed at her eyes. “How many points is that?”

Neisos collected a mound of small wooden chips from his side of the board, sweeping them up with his magic and dropping them into a tiny bag. “Enough to win the game. Uncanny.” He shook his head and flashed Rarity a smile before he turned to the pegasi. “I am sorry, my head was in another place—you say your dealings with the council bore fruit?”

“I don’t know about fruit. We just talked a bunch,” said Rainbow Dash.

“I see,” said Neisos, tilting his head slightly. “Was this your intent?”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “They asked that too. Or, they were all… I don’t know, ‘is that all’ and stuff. What gives?”

Neisos drew back, silent and with his mouth slightly open for a moment before he replied. “I… did not mean to cause anger. I do not know what a diplomat of Equestria, a foreign delegate, an ambassador—whichever of these titles you hold—actually does, or is supposed to do. I ask for my own sake.”

“Right,” said Dash, flicking an ear. “I’m not angry, I’m just, eh. I don’t know. Whatever. Like I said, we just talked a lot about Ponyville, really.”

“It was very interesting, but a little exhausting, too,” Fluttershy added, blowing her mane out of her face. “I think my throat is a little sore.”

“You better not be getting sick, too,” said Dash, shooting her a glance. “But yeah, you guys make a little more sense now, so that’s cool. We forgot to ask about all the crazy masks and the dances and stuff though, ugh. Fluttershy, you were supposed to remind me!”

“I’m sorry,” said Fluttershy, sighing. She, too, looked to Neisos. “But if everyone in the city does it, it can’t be a big secret. We saw a very strange dance in one of the squares here. A lot of strange dances, actually, and… I think I understand some of it, but it’s still really confusing.”

“It’s a reenactment of sorts, dear.” The answer came not from Neisos, but from Rarity. The unicorn stacked all the pieces and folded the game board while she spoke. A large group of islands painted on sea-blue bent once, then once more, neatly squared away. “They get closer to the Aspects’ stories by dressing up like them. Like an interpretation. We discussed it before you came in, actually.”

Neisos nodded. “The word ‘reenactment’ strikes me as clumsy, but the rest is correct enough. Forty-nine Aspects by count, but more stories by far, and for all those stories, it is easier to remind one of them and to understand their purpose with paint, mask and other trappings.”

“So it’s like a play?” asked Rainbow Dash. The image of the Ephydoeran jousts sprang to mind immediately.

The stag furrowed his brow and made a clucking sound. “I… the answer to that question is complicated. My first answer is ‘no’, that it is not a play, but it is life, history and potential futures. Maybe I can give you a longer answer later if that is not sufficient—”

“But right now, Neisos, dear,” Rarity interrupted, “you are running late.”

“You are right,” said Neisos. The stag rocked himself to a side before he stood up, balancing on his single hindleg. He hobbled over to a wooden cupboard, producing a small collection of tiny jars which he put into a bag slung about his neck.

“While you were at the council, an acquaintance visited to remind me that I had promised to mind their children while they did some work,” said Neisos with an apologetic smile. “There is still soup left—you will not think me unkind if I leave you for the night?”

“You should’ve left long ago, I would have been fine by myself,” said Rarity, waving a hoof. “You’ve been very kind, please, don’t worry about me or us.”

“Thank you for taking care of Rarity,” said Fluttershy, dipping her head.

“You do what you gotta do, we already owe you one,” Dash said, waving as well.

“I will return deep in the night, I expect. Crossing town is a little slower for me, as you may see. Make yours my house,” said the stag, making for the door as swiftly as he could.

“If walking’s hard, why don’t you just fly?” asked Dash on a whim. “Not all the time, but it’s not too hot out when the sun’s down.”

Neisos paused in the doorway, gazing into the open air for a second. “Another good question. The heat is certainly part of it.”

Rainbow Dash tilted her head and waited for an actual answer.

The stag sighed and returned a helpless smile. “I could, but I have not flown much since my work at the quarry ended, that is the simple truth. For now, I am late.”

“Alright, good luck,” said Rainbow Dash. She didn’t protest. There were limits to how much she could badger someone they just met anyway. Neisos disappeared out the door without another word, and Dash arched her neck, stretching and yawning. She got up and walked around a bit rather than risk falling asleep where she sat.

All the decorations of the room seemed different in the aftermath of their visit to the council. Were all the little paintings, the masks, the shawl hanging on a wall—was all of this connected to some story or other? Even the wooden cupboard by the stairs had engravings on it.

The idea that nothing in the living room could be simple and exist just for itself made her head spin. Suddenly she appreciated the creepy blank masks the council wore a little more. With everything else so steeped in meaning, the white masks were the only thing they had seen that she knew for sure didn’t have to mean a bunch of other stuff. Rainbow Dash shook her head to herself and walked further into the room.

“Have you been up for long? Did you talk to Neisos all evening?” Dash heard Fluttershy ask. She herself slipped into the kitchen proper and opened a cupboard with some effort. Cups and bowls of varying sizes, nothing else.

“A while. He was happy to explain some things about Vauhorn that we wished to know, but I expect you’ve heard most of it from the council by now,” came Rarity’s reply. Dash tried another cupboard, and found only cloth and a few scrolls. She slammed the door shut and snorted. Who kept that stuff in their kitchen?

“Oh. Um, well, we didn’t really listen so much as we talked, really, but we learned a lot about how they use their stories,” said Fluttershy.

“Mmm, I understand there is nuance to it, but as I think I said earlier, it helps to think of it as extended simile.” Rarity’s voice sounded hollow and distorted when Dash stuck her head inside a closet. Nothing edible here either. “They just place a lot more value on it, and their indirect take on history is fascinating,” Rarity went on. “Did they tell you about the waterfront here?”

“No? Why?”

“Oh, just that they, like all the cities save for Ephydoera, have ships of their own, and Neisos has family in trade,” said Rarity. She paused to blow her nose and made a sound of obvious disgust. “Ugh. Where was I—yes, he said that we might actually be able to catch a ship back to Orto if we wish. One of his brothers has a trading ship that recently left for Cotronna, and it’ll head back here soon to take some cargo there.”

“We still don’t know that we need to go to Orto,” Fluttershy pointed out. Even from the other room, Dash heard her clear her throat in that barely-audible way she did when she was nervous. “We don’t really know how we’re getting back home at all.”

“I just need to remember to bring it up to Luna!” Dash called. She opened the stove’s door and frowned. She could probably re-heat the vegetable soup, but starting a fire was a chore.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out, dear,” Rarity’s voice drifted in from the living room. “But yes, anyway, it’s an option if we think it’s a better idea to wait for the airship in Orto in case they return to where they left us. Apparently this relative of Neisos will stay in Cotronna for a while, so I don’t think we have to hurry too much, but I hope to get well soon.”

“I hope so, too,” said Fluttershy.

Rainbow Dash took a step back and gave the kitchen another look. Without her head stuck in cupboards and drawers, she realised why she didn’t find any food. She rolled her eyes at herself and groaned. At the other end of the long chamber stood the door to the pantry. She pushed the door, but nothing happened.

“I’m glad you’re taking some time to rest. It’s good for you,” Fluttershy said, her voice a little more quiet now. “Does that mean you’re done with the dresses, or are you just taking a break?”

“Hm? Oh, no, dear, I am nowhere near done with the dresses I’ve planned for Cotronna, but I am all but done with the ones I wanted you to model for me here in Vauhorn,” said Rarity. “In fact—Rainbow Dash? I wanted to talk to you about that. Both of you. Could you come in here?”

“Yeah yeah, give me a minute,” Dash shot back. The door didn’t have any handle or knob. Many of the Vauhornite doors did, just not the drawers or this one particular, and very important door. She pushed it a little harder, but drew breath through clenched teeth when all it got her was an ominous creak. A sliding door, then. Rainbow Dash put a hoof to it and pushed sideways, finally getting it open.

The pantry was full of fruits, vegetables, unlabelled jars and much more, a full family’s worth of food. She spread her wings a bit, nosing some stuff off the shelves and into the keeping of her feathers. Some fruits she recognised, some she didn’t, but soon she had a collection of edibles all nestled safely on her back between her wings, noting once again that she’d almost forgotten their colour.

“D’you think the reason they didn’t say anything about my wings is because they thought I was playing dress-up like the rest of them?” asked Rainbow Dash, rejoining Fluttershy and Rarity. She let the fruits spill loosely onto the table and sat, grabbing a strange yellow thing. A probably-fruit of some sort.

“Maybe?” said Fluttershy, glancing at Dash’s painted feathers. “We haven’t seen anyone get very upset over it, but you did get a lot of looks when we walked to the council.”

“Wait, really?” asked Dash.

Fluttershy tilted her head. “You didn’t notice?”

“I was busy looking at other stuff!” Dash flicked an ear, wincing when Rarity loudly cleared her snout. Louder than was strictly necessary, she was pretty sure.

“So,” said Rarity, sniffling. She shuffled the items on the table around, separating the fruit from the game board and its pieces, re-stacking the stuff Dash had knocked over. “Another interesting little tidbit Neisos shared with me—because he was excited for it, I think—was the event the day after tomorrow. Did the council mention it?”

“No?” said Dash, cocking a brow. The yellow fruit resisted eating. It was like biting down on rubber.

“I think one of them mentioned that they would not be working, or not reflecting two days from now. I thought that was just something like their weekends,” said Fluttershy, grabbing an apple for herself.

“They have this custom—” Rarity began.

“Do they even have weekends?” asked Dash. She finally managed to bite off a piece, but it didn’t taste anything at all. She spat it out and stared at the yellow chunk. Maybe not food after all?

“They—huh. I don’t actually know,” said Rarity, scratching at her snout. “I never thought to ask. They clearly think in terms of weeks, even if they are a day longer than ours, but...” She shook her head. “We’re getting off topic—”

“I don’t think we ever got on topic, actually,” said Fluttershy, laying her ears flat when Rarity groaned.

“They have a custom,” Rarity started anew. “Called the Alluvium, or the Rippling. Both of those, apparently. I think the Alluvium is a Rippling, or the Rippling is the Alluvium, I honestly didn’t catch that, but as far as I understand, it’s something of a… contest?”

Rainbow Dash perked her ears.

“Or, no,” said Rarity her snout crinkled. “Not a contest, a… judgment? It sounded to me like a fireside gathering of sorts where they share stories—”

Dash exhaled and grabbed a grapefruit, discarding the stupid yellow rubbery thing.

“—except they cannot, for that one day, be old ones. Or, how did he put it? ‘Only stories not told, though certainly stories experienced, lived or heard’.” Rarity furrowed her brow. “How a story can be heard without being told I couldn’t tell you. It’s about telling new stories.”

Fluttershy nodded and smiled at that, apparently pleased. “I think that sounds very nice. They spend a lot of time with the same stories, discussing them and interpreting them in different ways.”

“So what you’re saying is that they’re just looking for new stuff?” Dash chanced.

Rarity graced them both with a tired smile in turn. “Something like that, yes. I think you two have summed it up better than I ever could.”

“But… it’s not a contest?” Dash asked, eyes narrowed.

The unicorn let out an exasperated sigh, making a big show of rolling her eyes and all even though she still smiled. “No, darling. There are no prizes, no pedestals, no medals, and no—well... alright, I will grant you this, I don’t know that there is no cheering, but Neisos emphasised that they just listen to stories and decide for themselves which stories they add to their canon of stories, so to say. The storytellers of their council have a lot of sway in this, but it’s really for peryton to decide for themselves.”

Rainbow Dash let out a yawn, making sure to be as loud as possible about it.

“Charming,” said Rarity.

“If it’s just a sort of story festival, that could be wonderful,” said Fluttershy, swallowing the last of her apple, scrutinizing the remaining fruits on the table. “If it’s more like… ghost stories, then, um, maybe not so much.”

“I didn’t ask for specifics. I don’t know if there’s a big stage or anything like that,” said Rarity.

“Mh-hm,” hummed Dash, spitting out some grapefruit skin. “What does that have to do with us?” she asked.

“I’ll definitely have the new dresses finished by then,” said Rarity. Her horn lit up, and the discarded grapefruit peel floated over to a corner of the table. “I hope I’m well enough for us all to go, but if not, would the two of you mind attending? All I need is for you to wear the dresses I’ve made, ask a few of them what they think of it—if they can think of a dress as a dress and not a mere costume. Mostly, I’d need you to see if they wear anything else, if there is anything that isn’t specific to certain stories.” Her brow furrowed in thought. “Perhaps there’s something that more than most of them wear? Some nugget of what they consider fashionable like the jewellery in Stagrum, even if they don’t think of it—oh, or one part of the dress that does stand out to them, something they appreciate.”

Fluttershy looked over at Rainbow Dash, smiling expectantly. “I’m sure we could try our best.”

“Sure,” said Dash with a grin, grabbing a cluster of grapes. “If they’re gonna share poems or anything, I’m gonna fly back to the Splitwood and do something fun instead, like… sit in a canyon or something, but listening to people tell stories when that’s the point? I’m down for that.”

The path to bed was still a minefield of metal parts and tools, and the lack of light didn’t help. With neither magic nor a clue on how to otherwise light the globe hanging from the ceiling, the room stood dark, and Rainbow Dash would have to carefully measure each step.

If she didn’t have wings, that was. Dash hopped into the air and flew over to the single bed, wobbling precariously on the touch-down. Mattresses were terrible landing sites. Fluttershy sat on the other side, still awake. Dash had wondered if she would fall asleep while Dash herself went for a quick pre-bed snack.

“That was a long day,” said Rainbow Dash. She leaned over the side of the bed, stretching to reach a nearby windowsill and nosing the heavy curtains aside for a peek outside. A narrow alley ran between Neisos’ house and the one opposite. A peryton sat with their back to the open window right across from her. Light spilled from the neighbouring house still, but otherwise it was as dark outside as it was in their borrowed room.

“Mm,” said Fluttershy. Her eyes were on everything and nothing, wandering the room as though she could see clearly in the darkness. Rainbow Dash suddenly remembered something.

“Hey, you told me to remind me you wanted to talk to me about something,” said Dash, tossing the words into the air while she tried to figure out the bed. They were definitely sitting—or standing, in her case—on a cover of some sort. No pillows, apparently.

“I did,” Fluttershy said, looking over at her. “I mean, I do.”

Rainbow Dash paused her efforts to will a pillow into existence. She locked eyes with Fluttershy for a second, and that was enough. Never mind the particular way Fluttershy’s voice had gone soft and quiet, or how her ears were neither splayed nor perked, either. She could tell from the way Fluttershy looked at her that she wanted to say something big, or something difficult. Maybe something annoying. It didn’t matter.

When Fluttershy got like that, Dash knew she just had to listen—which meant to say she needed to wait and shut up for a moment. Rainbow Dash folded her legs under her and lay down in the middle of the bed, neither far away from nor close to Fluttershy. She stretched her wings out and poked at her feathers, busying herself with some mindless cleaning.

“I… don’t want you to misunderstand me—I hope you won’t,” said Fluttershy, pausing to nibble on her lower lip. “But ever since we decided we should try this, being, um, being more than friends, you’ve been acting different.”

Rainbow Dash licked her lips and folded her wings as she thought. “Uh, okay? Didn’t we talk about this? Isn’t… that kinda the point? Is this about all the touching and stuff? Because if you don’t like it—”

“Oh no!” said Fluttershy, her cheeks lighting with a faint blush. “No, that part is good. Very good. I like all the cuddling and everything. I like that. I’d like more of that, and I hope you do too.”

Dash shuffled sideways across the bed until she lay side to side with Fluttershy. “‘Kay, good,” she said when their flanks touched. Touching was good. She’d be disappointed if that was the problem. Dash stole a glance at Fluttershy’s wings. More touching would be even better. Hopefully one of these days Fluttershy would get over whatever it was that made her not want help with her preening. She’d gone silent now, though.

“But?” Dash asked, tilting her head.

“It’s not just you. It’s us, and it’s not about the new things that we’re doing now, like cuddling,” said Fluttershy, sighing. “It’s the opposite. I wanted to talk about… what we used to do, and how we used to do it. Things we don’t do any more.”

Rainbow Dash let out an internal sigh of relief. Was that all? She saw Fluttershy already working on a way to explain further, or perhaps to take back what she’d said, to apologise for what she thought was a terrible thing to say, but in truth, Dash was glad to hear her say it.

“Yeah, I know,” said Dash.

“Y—you know?” Fluttershy echoed, big eyes trained on Dash’s own.

“Yeah, of course I know,” said Rainbow Dash, flicking an ear in annoyance. Admitting fault was never fun, but it wasn’t like she was blind to Fluttershy being unhappy, either. Dash knew she’d pushed harder than she should have, harder than the best girlfriend ever should have.

Being girlfriends was different from what Dash had expected—or perhaps that was a lie, actually. She hadn’t considered it a lot, but trying not to push Fluttershy around all the time wasn’t a big ask, right? If that frustrated Dash every now and then, that was Rainbow Dash’s own problem.

“I haven’t been as awesome a girlfriend as I could’ve been, I get that,” Rainbow Dash added, swishing her tail uselessly against the wall.

“I… didn’t mean to—” Fluttershy muttered. “I didn’t say that.”

“Well, you didn’t,” said Dash, darting in to nuzzle her cheek. “I did.” That earned her a soft giggle and a shake of the head from Fluttershy.

“Okay. I just… what I meant was that I want us to do more things together. Like we used to. As long as you understand that,” said Fluttershy. She reached out with a wing to touch against Dash’s side. “Because I really love you for who you are.”

“Yeah, I think so too. That’s why we’re going on a date tomorrow,” said Dash, a grin spreading across her face. “It’s gonna be great.”

“Oh,” said Fluttershy, smiling back at her now. “I… I didn’t think you understood, but if you do, that’s wonderful.” She pushed her mane out of her face and shifted around to pull the cover up over her back, leaving room for Rainbow Dash. “I’m really looking forward to tomorrow, but we should probably get some rest, then. You were right, it’s been a very long day,” she concluded with a soft laugh.

“No kidding,” said Dash, yawning and lying down next to her. She rested her head against Fluttershy’s neck and murmured a good-night.

She’d lied a little bit. She didn’t have a clear plan for a ‘date’, but she had the beginnings of an idea, and that was all she needed. The obvious point of Princess Luna’s advice still stuck with her, to find some sort of neutral ground.

This was the exact reason Rainbow Dash wanted to turn her house around. Years ago, it’d taken a young pegasus one night in her house-in-progress to learn that no matter how many layers of curtains, shutters, or random pieces of furniture piled up against a window, a single ray of sunlight would inevitably find its way to your face when you wanted to sleep.

“Come on, I fixed this,” the sleepy pegasus mumbled, cracking an eye open to receive the blinding glare head-on—as well as the realisation that this house probably wouldn’t rotate.

Not without a very big tornado, anyway. Some smaller tornado must’ve whisked away Fluttershy, though. That was the ruling theory until she heard familiar voices from down below. Familiar and unfamiliar ones, actually, and more than a few of the latter.

“What,” Dash grumbled, twisting around under the covers. She was uncomfortably hot. When she spotted the tiny peryton child stood in the doorway staring at her, she was plain old regular uncomfortable, too. The little thing was barely more than half her size, talons too large for its legs and tail-feathers nothing but a short tuft.

“Uh. Hey,” Dash offered.

The child ran off, wings flapping uncontrollably at her side. His side. Dash thought she caught some colour in there. She let out a great yawn and stepped off the bed—straight onto an upright piece of metal tubing. She didn’t even acknowledge the pain, instead closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. One of those days, she thought. Guess they happen outside of Equestria, too.

Downstairs, the morning was already well underway. Rainbow Dash paused at the bottom of the stairs to shake off the last dregs of sleep, one foreleg on the railing and her head resting on top of it. Two children—the little stag she’d seen earlier, plus an equally tiny doe—quarreled in the middle of the large living room. By the kitchen door stood Neisos and a tricoloured doe with large wings, and next to them, a third and slightly smaller doe, grey with white flecks on her flank.

Whatever the three peryton talked about was lost to Dash in the shrill quarreling of the two children. Rarity sat by the table as she had yesterday, sewing on a dress of some description, still packed in blankets and with cloths for her snout and red-rimmed eyes. Only when she stepped down into the room proper did Dash spot Fluttershy over by the gathering around the kitchen door on the far side, half hidden behind the larger peryton bodies.

“Good morning, dear,” said Rarity when Dash sat next to her. The unicorn didn’t look up, but smiled all the same, a needle busy at work in her magical grip. “Slept well?”

“Yeah. Sure,” said Dash, letting out a great and final yawn to cap off the whole waking up thing. She shook her head and cuffed her mane. “Eh, actually, no. I don’t know, I don’t feel like I slept at all, really. Don’t remember what I dreamt,” she said, forcing the lie. She had a vague sense of what she had dreamt, but she would rather not think about it.

“And you usually do?” asked Rarity.

“Yeah. I think I told you,” said Dash. The children, finally done yelling at each other, disappeared behind the painted screens that separated the pottery corner from the rest of the room. They moved about as gracefully as Twilight on sugary cider.

“And Helesseia’s rays find their final mark,” said Neisos, grinning at Rainbow Dash. The little party by the kitchen turned to look at Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy smiled and waved, and Dash extended a wing by way of greeting to the new people.

“Hey. Name’s Rainbow Dash. Pleased to meet you?” Dash asked with a lopsided smile. “I guess you live here, and we stole your beds, huh.”

“I am Ohrinna,” said the larger doe, dipping her head slightly and making for the table at a slow walk. “I was told your name, but I do not know you have stolen from us unless you are as Pelessa whose gifts are often seen only in the coming seasons.” She cocked a brow.

“Probably not. It’s a figure of speech. I’m just trying to say thanks for letting us stay.” Dash shrugged and pointed to Neisos. “So, the two of you are together? A family?”

“They call it being ‘linked’,” said Fluttershy, sitting down next to Rainbow Dash. Dash wrapped a wing around her without thinking.

Ohrinna nodded her head, a faint smile on her lips. “As with the two of you, all stories about one of us is a story about the two of us, and of Myrtella,” she said in a tone suggesting agreement. She glanced over her shoulder at Neisos and the smaller doe. “And this morning in particular holds a shared story of the eternal breakfast bureaucracy particular to our home. Love, are the two of you decided?”

“I believe we are,” declared Neisos. “Deimesa, so swift of claw, will go to morning market and find something for us to eat with all authority to choose anything she likes, and I will begin making dough for—hm. For something to go with it. I am not decided. Phela-bread?”

“Starvation avoided, we live to see lunch,” said Ohrinna with a caw-like chuckle that ended when the younger doe tried to run past her. Ohrinna’s wing was out in a flash, forcing Deimesa to a halt.

“Why this?” asked Deimesa, glaring at the wing that blocked her passage.

“Because a custom we share with these ponies is to introduce ourselves,” said Ohrinna.

Rainbow Dash managed not to laugh, but she couldn’t keep from grinning. She waved at Deimesa. “Rainbow Dash. Hi.”

“Yes, Deimesa is my name, you were told, and now told again by me,” said Deimesa, flashing a forced but not impolite smile before looking up at Ohrinna. “Mother, may I go? Is it not more polite to feed our guests?”

Ohrinna nodded her head slowly. “Yes, yes, you may go, little gem.”

“Thank you,” Deimesa replied, ducking under her mother’s wing before she could fold it, slinging a bag around her neck and disappearing out the door.

“She has found an extra set of wings and legs both this week, has she?” drifted Neisos’ voice in from the kitchen. “Has our daughter decided she is no longer young?”

“If impatience is the mark of age, then you will never grow old,” Ohrinna retorted, rolling her eyes. Rarity chuckled and turned the dress around to inspect the other side, and Fluttershy smiled.

“Finally, there are two little creatures I spy inside my place of work—where they are not supposed to be,” Ohrinna added, turning to stare at two heads poking out from the pottery nook. They disappeared in an instant. “They are Berissa and Teilos, and should know better. Say hello.”

Two muffled hellos were had.

“Yeah, I saw one of them when I woke up,” said Dash, chuckling and addressing the corner of the room where the paper and wood screens failed to hide the children’s shadows. “Hi again.”

“I told them not to stare,” said Neisos returning from the kitchen, his chest white with flour. He leaned against the doorframe and brushed at the mess with a foreleg before he joined them at the table. “They are quite taken with the colours of your hairs.”

The two young peryton burst from their hiding spot, barrelling into Neisos just as he lay down by the tableside, nearly pushing him over on his side.

“Khylari!” one of them yelled, the red-brown, almost copper-coloured doe butting him in the side with short and blunted antlers.

“You lie!” said the other, pushing at his flank, the stag almost identical, but with blue on his wings and his tiny tuft of feathery tail.

“Do I lie?” asked Neisos, rocking a little with each shove, looking down at the assaulting children with a smile. “Or do Khylari’s stories cry at the abuse they get? Do you think it is proper to call upon a story falsely when you know the telling better than this?”

The doe continued her assault, her eyes tightly shut as she pushed and pushed at her father, but the young stag glared up at him.

“You said you wouldn’t tell!” he cried.

Dash caught the surreptitious looks cast by the children, and she had no idea what to do with her part in this. Fluttershy looked ready to burst into laughter, Rarity chuckled while she worked, and Ohrinna watched the children with rapt interest. Dash settled for confused silence. Children often warranted confusion—even though it was understandable in this case. Her mane was awesome.

Neisos leaned down, craning his neck until he nearly touched his muzzle to the stag’s, and now the little doe went quiet, too. “No, Teilos,” said Neisos. “You and your sister told me you thought her hair looked curious. I then told you not to be a nuisance to her. Tell me now, is this a lie? Is calling me a liar how I am greeted after not seeing you for days?”

Peryton ears were tiny things compared to pony ears, but now Dash had confirmation that they could in fact be bent backwards. Two very sheepish peryton children looked away. Or rather, one very sheepish stag, and one subdued but still frowning doe.

“You still shouldn’t have told,” piped the doe, spreading wings entirely too large for her body. Berissa huffed and turned, running for the stairs. “I’m going to read you Eakus’ stories!”

Neisos puffed out his cheeks and watched the little doe disappear upstairs, and a second later, Teilos followed after her, yelling for her to wait.

“I believe you do this on purpose,” said Ohrinna, her face unreadable.

Neisos wore a wry smile. “You think I would do that? To commit such rudeness, just to make Berissa interest her brother in Eakus, that they might find the inspiration to tell me what is obvious to us—that this little harmless secret was not mine to tell, and that I should, and will apologise? Would I do this?”

Ohrinna shot Neisos a perfectly deadpan look. “Yes,” she said. “Besides, I think seeing Deimesa’s return might be enough. They have asked her questions every step of the way home. You do not have to worry.”

“Deimesa,” said Neisos, smiling at the ponies and proving that the peryton had not, in fact, forgotten that they were there, “has just completed the forty-nine-fold path.”

“Which is what?” asked Dash. She recognised the number, at least. “That’s something related to the Aspects, right?” It was a safe bet. Most things in Vauhorn were.

“Yes. One week spent studying and contemplating each Aspect,” said Neisos, the pride obvious in his voice. “There are carvings around Vauhorn’s demesne, and most young peryton undertake the journey when they are ready to be children no more. Ohrinna and the twins collected Deimesa at Mehros Landing to the east, where Anhori’s first story is engraved in stone, the latest Aspect to be found.”

“If it’s not inappropriate to say, then congratulations,” said Rarity, smiling at Neisos and Ohrinna both before turning away to blow her nose.

“That’s wonderful,” Fluttershy agreed.

“Yeah, congrats,” said Dash, interested despite herself now. She tilted her head. “So, there are even more statues around the place than usual? Is this some sort of treasure hunt all over the countryside? I didn’t think you travelled a lot.”

“From your perspective, does anyone?” asked Neisos.

“‘A lot’”, echoed Ohrinna at the same time. “What is to travel ‘a lot’? Is it to be listed among those who walk in Ryshalos’ company?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. She looked for support, for anything to back her up while she thought. Fluttershy cleared her throat softly.

“I think that Rainbow Dash means is that other peryton we’ve met don’t travel between cities unless they are traders, so I guess we assumed that you didn’t really like travelling in general,” said Fluttershy. “I’m sorry.”

Rarity huffed and pulled her blankets tighter about her. “Come now dear, that can’t possibly be insulting,” she said, her brows creased. “Or… is it?”

“Mehros Landing is past the quarries,” said Neisos. “The demesne of Vauhorn is such as can be travelled in half a day—to walk west, south or east, or to sail north, and make it back before next sun. Anhori’s shrine is the farthest, and I know many visit even after this one formative journey. Does that make us travellers?”

“What makes a traveller,” said Ohrinna, frowning slightly at each of the ponies in turn as she spoke. “How far is ‘far’. You spawn the most curious questions, but they are good ones.”

“Thank you, I think,” said Rarity, one brow raised.

“I will leave you for a moment. I think the dough is ready for the oven,” Neisos announced, making his way to the kitchen again. For a little while, the only sound around the table was the rustle of fabric and the occasional sniffle from Rarity. Rainbow Dash folded her wing again and leaned against Fluttershy for a second, but any touch was uncomfortably hot. That probably meant it was even hotter outside right now. Dash awkwardly poured a bowl of water from a decanter set on the table. As per usual, the thing was made neither for hoof nor mouth.

“This is all talk of us and our people,” said Ohrinna. She shuffled her wings on her back in a very pegasus-like way, shifting her weight where she sat. “All this morning, Deimesa and I have asked only the simplest questions of you ponies—” she shook her head, looking from Rarity to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. “It is still strange for me to think you the same people—”

“We are, but we’re not,” Dash interjected.

“—but the question I would ask is how today would be told.”

Fluttershy blinked. Rarity kept working, and Rainbow Dash pretended not to have heard her, focusing on her water-bowl. At some point, somepony else would have to ask the stupid questions. She was running low on her “huh?” and “what?” quotas, and she hadn’t even had breakfast.

“My love asks, in her infinite curiosity,” Neisos said, his head poking in from the kitchen, “what will you do today?”

Ohrinna pitched her head forward a tad. “That is what I said.”

“I’m taking Fluttershy out on a date, for one,” said Dash, bumping her flank against Fluttershy to make her squeak and nearly fall.

“Courtship of sorts?” guessed Ohrinna.

“Something like that,” said Fluttershy, shooting Rainbow Dash a look. “I think. Rainbow Dash said she had something she wanted us to do. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind just going for a flight, but it sounded like you had something special planned for us to do together.” She smiled.

“Yeah, I got an idea,” said Dash, grinning back. It wasn’t a lie, really. She did have an idea, it just wasn’t completely clear yet.

“Meanwhile,” said Rarity, folding her dress over again, “I intend to put some finishing touches on some dresses for this… Rippling. Or Alluvium. Which is it? The story festival meeting… thing that you do.”

“Tomorrow’s Alluvium will be a Rippling, a shaping event,” said Ohrinna, as though this much was obvious. “You intend to share a story?”

“Hm? Oh, I don’t think so,” said Rarity, raising her brows. “I don’t think we have any stories to tell, really.”

“We have tons of stories,” said Rainbow Dash, tilting her head sideways. “There’s that time we saved Equestria—oh, wait,” she said, gasping in mock surprise. “That wasn’t one time, it keeps happening. Even here in Perytonia we scared off a hydra, just the three of us. Fluttershy’s done that twice. She’s basically a veteran hydra-vanquisher now!”

“That’s not true at all!” Fluttershy protested. “I haven’t vanquished any hydra. If you mean the one in Froggy Bottom Bog, we ran away!”

“Yes, yes,” Rarity said, waving a hoof in dismissal. “I suppose there are some stories, but I don’t know that any of them are appropriate! These peryton stories and their Aspects, they’re not about fighting and vanquishing, now, are they?”

Thinking about it, Dash didn’t know that she could remember any peryton stories that were about someone being “like” or “as” someone who vanquished great beasts or whatever. No words or protest came from the kitchen at Rarity’s assertion, and Ohrinna looked very carefully neutral while Rarity drew breath to continue.

“If my dear friends wish to share some stories, that’s wonderful,” Rarity said, flashing a smile at Fluttershy, whose entire body said no to that, and at Dash, who hadn’t really decided yet. “But in my case, I really just wanted a chance to show the peryton of Vauhorn some of my dresses and make some observations.” She hovered up the green dress-in-progress. It didn’t look as shiny and silky as the other ones, but that was all Dash could say for sure.

“You say you have no story you wish to tell. You have a ‘dress’, but no story for it to feature in,” said Ohrinna, words simple and flat, stated as fact.

“I suppose that is true, yes,” said Rarity. Her saddlebags floated past Rainbow Dash from under the table, and the unicorn rooted around until she found a measuring tool. “Is that a problem?” Rarity asked, almost as an afterthought.

Ohrinna neither nodded nor shook her head. “It is strange to me. It feels purposeless. But then, many things can be pleasant without having purpose, like art. I simply do not know that dresses are the same.”

Rarity froze, her magic winking out for a second. Her horn pulsed as she grabbed a hold of her tools again. “I—buh, alright, I… I will chalk this up to a—a misunderstanding. Darling, fashion is art!”

The peryton blinked and drew back slightly even though they sat far apart. “Have I upset you? To me, that which is worn is not that which is appreciated for being seen. What you wear is used to prove a point.”

“Couldn’t that point be to look good?” asked Fluttershy. She glanced nervously at Rarity, as did Rainbow Dash, fearing Rarity might explode or just fade away from the force of disagreement.

“The concept… could be discussed?” Ohrinna allowed, cocking a brow. “It is not something I have heard before. No stories come to mind.”

Rarity did not explode into a million pieces. Instead, she simply drew breath and exhaled slowly, clutching a hoof to her temple, then nodding along. She hovered the dress up for another critical look and resumed her work. “Well, that is… different from my experience, and I would love to have that discussion when I am less busy, perhaps,” she said. “But I believe that you have solved a mystery for me.”

Rainbow Dash scratched at her cheek as she thought. “Hang on. Does that mean that if we figure out a story to go with a dress, or a dress to go with a story, people are gonna go crazy about it?”

“I don’t know about that,” said Fluttershy with a sigh. “They probably won’t think of it as fashion even then, just as a costume.”

“Yeah. How do you even make a story about a dress?” Dash asked of no one.

“Rarity, I’m sorry—” Fluttershy began to say, cut off when Rarity shook her head briskly.

“It doesn’t really matter in the end, does it?” she said, her voice breezy. “This was always going to happen. These normal dresses I’ve made for Vauhorn were never going to go over well. As long as the two of you bring back some observations on the most popular things they wear here, it… no, it really doesn’t matter.”

“Love, are you upsetting our guests?” Neisos called from the kitchen.

“I think they are upsetting themselves this moment,” Ohrinna replied, pursing her lips. “In all seriousness, if I have acted as Khylari upon first meeting Eakus, then I apologise.”

“Khylari delivered truths to Eakus,” came Neisos’ voice again, the stag explaining before Rainbow Dash could even decide whether or not to ask. “Truths that were not only unneeded, but unwanted. An excess of honesty.”

“You really needn't apologise for telling me the truth,” said Rarity with a shrug. She covered a cough and smiled at Ohrinna.

“So… you’re okay?” Fluttershy asked, just as the front door opened to reveal Deimesa returning with her bag full and a cluster of grapes in the grip of her magic. She crossed the room at a run, dashing for the kitchen.

“I will be after we’ve had some breakfast, even if I can’t taste much of anything right now,” Rarity replied.

What worried Rainbow Dash wasn’t that Rarity might be upset. Rarity getting upset was a thing that happened, just like Twilight blathering on about boring things, and Pinkie Pie doing… whatever. No, what worried Rainbow Dash was the fact that Rarity genuinely didn’t seem upset about this whole fashion talk in the end. She shook her head. Whatever was going on, she herself had a date to plan, somehow.

“What’d you call this again?” asked Rainbow Dash, squinting at the last of the filled bread left on the table. She couldn’t take another bite, and as the Vauhornites did not believe in platters, the table was smudged with purple and red, particularly around Dash’s spot, but the twin children gave her some competition in making a mess before they ran upstairs again.

“Phela,” said Ohrinna, refilling her cup. “Made with jicama, filled with grape jam and a hint of—” her words trailed off as she looked to Neisos, clearly expecting him to finish the sentence for her, and when he did not, she frowned. “Some nuts.”

“Is the nuance of my cooking lost on you? Hazelnut, and pear, too.” He shook his head and stretched.

“Well, it was delicious, thank you,” said Fluttershy, dipping her head in a little bow. Rarity and Rainbow Dash said their thanks as well, and Deimesa gathered the leftovers without a word, carrying them off towards the kitchen.

“Mom! Dad!” The shout from the upper floor raised more than a few brows. Dash looked towards the staircase and saw a reddish peryton head, upside-down by the topmost stairs. “Berissa broke it! I didn’t touch it!”

“You helped!” Berissa protested, the little stag’s head disappearing from view, followed by the obvious sounds of a scuffle. Neisos sighed and shook his head.

“You or I?” asked Ohrinna.

“I have not seen them for days,” said Neisos, getting up. “I will see what chaos they have made this time.” He hobbled towards the stairs and mounted them with obvious effort, his one hindleg forcing him to hop every step.

“I guess they’re not so different from pony foals,” said Rarity with a sympathetic smile at Ohrinna.

“Then you and all your kin have my deepest sympathies,” said Ohrinna with a low warble of laughter. “You have children?”

“Oh, goodness, no,” said Rarity, shaking her head. “I don’t know that children are, ah, for me. Still—”

“Would one of you come upstairs, please?” Now it was Neisos’ head poking down from upstairs, the peryton looking worried. “I think we may have broken something of yours.”

“Did… I leave any of my tools up there?” asked Rarity, her eyes widening. She threw off her blankets and made for the stairs.

“I’ll go see if everyone’s okay,” said Fluttershy, trotting after her to catch up, the two ponies disappearing upstairs in a moment. Deimesa returned from the kitchen with a washcloth hovering at her side. She started wiping down the table, but the cloth was snatched away by a slightly brighter magical glow, Ohrinna taking over.

“Play the part of Salhalani. Rest for a moment,” said Ohrinna. She stood and moved around the table slowly, scrubbing at it as she went. Rainbow Dash scratched at her own snout. No sound from upstairs any more. No screams of horror meant that anything Rarity deemed precious was safe.

“You said you were going to perform a courtship ritual today?”

Deimesa’s question almost passed Dash entirely by before she realised it had been aimed at her. “Huh? Court—oh yeah. I’m taking Fluttershy on a date.”

“What is your intent? What passes for courtship among your kind?” asked Deimesa. It was a simple enough question, but the raspy-voiced peryton’s stare was a little more intense than Dash had expected.

“I have no idea,” said Dash, who felt a little bad for not having a good answer. She knew what she’d like to do, of course. Just going for a flight with Fluttershy was always a good time. Fluttershy had even mentioned that as a possibility, but she had to find a good middle ground. Fluttershy probably suggested flying exactly because she knew Dash would love it.

“You… are planning something, but you do not know what?” Deimesa said, her head slowly tilting.

“Something like that,” Rainbow Dash admitted with a shrug.

“Then, would you explain what a ‘date’ is, this curious ritual of courtship,” asked Deimesa. “Or does it defy explanation?”

“Such hunger for stories of Myrtellan themes,” said Ohrinna, her eyes gleaming. “Do you ask because you have been touched? Are you building the courage to show interest in someone particular? Did you meet someone during your journey?”

Deimesa returned a blank look. Ohrinna held up a hoof and folded the washcloth. “I will say no more. Ask your questions of our guests, and I will not even listen.” She stacked empty water-bowls and tossed the washcloth over her back, making for the kitchen.

Their talk had given Dash some time to think about it, anyway. Dates were more of a unicorn thing, sure, but she’d homed in on the word “date” exactly because it felt so strange to her. It certainly wasn’t part of Dash’s usual regimen. Maybe they could grab some dinner together and try to… be romantic about it? Rarity mentioned dinner as an option, and Dash vaguely remembered that Fluttershy had told her she’d thought some of the romance novels Rarity shared with her were “okay”. It didn’t get more middle-ground-y than something solidly okay, right?

“Dates can be anything,” said Rainbow Dash, glancing towards the stairs as she parroted Rarity’s words. “It’s just a stupid word for doing something together—but I guess sometimes ponies try to do very specific things. Like eating dinner and talking.”

Deimesa nodded once and cast a quick look over her shoulder, but her mother was out of sight. She lowered her voice a little. “Then, you should consider the House of Mist and Song. It is the best place to hide away together. From the midday sun, that is.”

“Uh-huh, hiding from the sun,” said Dash, smirking. “Not from nosey parents, huh? I’m guessing you’ve been there.”

The doe shifted her weight from one side to the other. “Perhaps.”

Dash chuckled. “Relax, I’m not gonna tell anyone. Anyway, what is it?”

“It is a low-dwelling—” Deimesa began, and perhaps she saw Dash’s confused look, because she immediately corrected herself. “A cellar-house? An underground floor of entertainment. Sometimes, displays of magical skill, sometimes conflicts of words, sometimes artists will show their works or create them while others watch.”

“Alright,” said Dash, spreading her wings to let some air in before she furled them again. That sounded perfectly averagely fun and not at all up either Dash or Fluttershy’s alley. “I’m listening. Do they have snacks? Any food?”

“Mm, the antlers I got in the grove,” said Fluttershy with a nod.

“How’d they break them?” Dash asked. “They were made for jousting and smashing into stuff!”

Rainbow Dash squinted and glared right back at the sun, but it was a futile battle that almost made her see the purpose of hats. At its zenith, there was no shadow to be had in the streets. More now than ever were they alone in walking the streets. Everyone else sat by fountains or kept indoors at the peak hour of sunlight.

Fluttershy shook her head. “They didn’t really break them, they just broke off a small part on one side. They were ever so sorry, the poor little things,” she said, but Dash thought she sounded not just sympathetic, Fluttershy always did, but sad as well. Rainbow Dash had never asked why she insisted on bringing the awkwardly large wooden antlers. Rarity hadn’t quarreled about the space they took away from her fabrics, though, so she probably knew what she was doing.

“Well, that’s not cool at all. Sorry,” said Rainbow Dash. She extended a wing meaning to try to hold it over Fluttershy’s head to shield her from the sunlight for a second, but she couldn’t reach. Instead she just poked a feather in her mane. Fluttershy giggled.

“It’s alright, um—what are you doing?”

“Nevermind,” Dash said, snorting. She slowed down a little as they exited the second plaza heading seawards. So far, they had followed the exact same road they’d walked yesterday on their way to the council by the Ravenwall, but this time she looked for something else, something very specific.

“You’re still not going to tell me where we’re headed?” asked Fluttershy. She didn’t sound entirely displeased.

“Not a chance,” said Rainbow Dash. The good thing about Vauhorn was that it was easy to get specific directions. You couldn’t go wrong with “the alley flanked by scrolls with eight waves, on the corner of a building painted with Glandros’ full form, the charging stag”. The issue was finding it among a thousand other scrolls with pictures and texts, hundreds of painted houses, and a dozen alleys between one plaza and the next.

“Is what you have in your saddlebags also a secret?” asked Fluttershy, glancing at Dash’s side.

“Nah,” said Dash, grinning. “I traded Deimesa a gem for some bronze slivers just in case. It was her suggestion.”

“I guess that means they’re a little more careful about what they trade here,” Fluttershy mused. “And it also means we’re going somewhere where you can buy things first?”

“Stop trying to figure it out!” Dash laughed. Finally, she spotted a set of huge canvas scrolls waving in the faint wind. She’d been looking at the wrong side of the street, of course.

“Sorry,” said Fluttershy, smiling and clearly not very sorry at all. Rainbow Dash crossed in front of her, heading for the alley. She could see stone steps heading down to the cellar under some kind of shop.

“Finally. This way,” said Dash, triumphant. Ten minutes in the midday heat had been enough to make her dizzy, and the promise of a reprieve made her speed up. Somewhere cool to kick back would be great, but she wasn’t too keen on the whole underground part. She had no idea what to expect from the ‘entertainment’ either, but she was sure that even if she would probably not love it, neither of them would dislike it, either. It was perfect precisely because it wasn’t.

Rainbow Dash stepped down the stairs, noting with satisfaction that the door wasn’t some stupid sliding door, but yielded to a light push. They stepped inside and Dash nudged the door shut behind her, pausing for a moment next to Fluttershy. After the blinding light outside, everything was pitch black down here, and it took a moment for her eyes to adjust. She spotted a lot of small tables around the room, some almost as tall as she was, some low, circled by pillows for seating and made of wood rather than the otherwise dominant stone. Small groups of peryton occupied most of the tables. A dozen stags all clustered around one, sitting flank to flank.

Deeper inside the room, a large section of a corner contained what Dash could only understand as some sort of bar, two peryton walking to and from behind a tall counter. One of them magicked a bowl from out of sight, seized by a stag who nodded his thanks.

Along all the walls hung pictures with no common theme, and in the corner opposite the bar stood a low stage of well-worn, rough wood. A doe with washed out colours juggled three shiny spheres. They jumped up and down in the air with small bursts of magic keeping them aloft whenever they started to fall.

Some of the peryton talked amongst each other, and some watched the performance with rapt attention. When Rainbow Dash pointed to a free table and stepped further into the room, most heads turned to look at the ponies with obvious curiosity that lasted only a minute.

“What is this place?” asked Fluttershy, her voice a little lower than usual.

“The House of… Mist and Song? Something like that,” said Rainbow Dash. She took a seat by one of the low tables, nudging a few pillows over to make a comfy stack. Her eyes wandered over to the stage again. The spheres had to be glass. When the peryton doe’s magic touched them, they lit up in a myriad of colours. The entire room smelled like fruit.

“The House of Mist and Song. Okay, that’s… helpful,” said Fluttershy, her tone suggesting otherwise, and Dash couldn’t help but giggle.