Miarsis

West of mountains, east of seas

I do not know what year this letter will find its way to your talons, my oldest and dearest of friends, but find you it will. That is the promise given by the Sought. Any letter, to anyone, but never any when.

I write because you missed our meeting in Vauhorn this season. Before you left, you spoke of passes that may snow in for years at a time, and of seas that boil. You spoke of a passage south, and now you are nowhere to be found. I think this means we will not meet for some time.

If you are stranded in far-off lands and cannot find your way back soon, well, that is why I write this letter! Should it be decades before you tread upon Perytonian grass again, I thought perhaps you might appreciate word from home, for I roam within the borders this year. Always there are places unseen even in one’s own garden with Orsshur’s newfound sight.

Now, I say home, but I know you! You are the least sentimental of any Broken Feather. You do not care for tales of home and hearth, and I suspect that when I tell you that I wish to share news of this cycle’s Alluvium in Vauhorn, there is a chance you will laugh and throw this letter away. Read on, and note the lack of known Aspects mentioned in this tale.

The Pony and the Osprey

A pony lay before the wind. Her burden was to face it, and ever it blew to force her back. She had known nothing but the wind, and ever she wished she could stand against it, but she had not the strength. “My legs are weak,” she would say.

The wind did not listen, but down from the sky then came the osprey, and the osprey spake. “It is the wind that is weak,” it said, spreading its wings to show feathers untouched by the gale. The pony found the courage to stand, and though the wind had not gone, she found her legs steady.

“The wind is weak,” the osprey said again, and this time the osprey took to the sky and flew about. The pony found the courage to walk, and though the wind had not gone, she found her gait steady.

“The wind is weak,” the osprey said once more, and this time, the osprey flew faster than ever. The pony found the courage to run, and though the wind had not gone, she found her legs strong.

The pony then desired that she should fly. She spread her wings and looked to the osprey and waited for its call, but no sound came. She soared into the air and scoured the sky for the osprey, but it was nowhere to be found. In so doing, she discovered what she in truth must always have known: that she was stronger than the wind. But without the osprey’s song, the strength gave her no joy.

And so the pony lay down on the ground again, against the wind, waiting for the osprey’s call.

Now, Miarsos, I suspect I have your attention. That is the very melancholy story of the pony and the osprey, one told by the foreign lips of one of the former species. I was honored to listen to the first telling. You will have many questions, and I will predict the first few:

First, you may not think you know what a ‘pony’ is, but in truth you do. You have heard of a place called Equestria, across the vast sea to the east, and they hail from there. Have you ever heard of kin braving the sea? I think I must try, one day. They are an interesting people, if my three new acquaintances are anything to go by, passionate more than inquisitive, friendly more than both.

Second: By overwhelming majority of popularity, this was the story first written down for circulation and sent to the other cities following this Alluvium. The council made some changes: The teller talked of the bird as a ‘she’ as well, which they did not see the purpose of (and before I forget I must add: once while she told the story, an osprey came to land at her side! This no doubt aided in its popularity), and the form was a little too strange. It began with “once upon a time”, which the council decided to strike.

Third, while this story is adjacent to Deiasos’ twinned aspect, strong voices within the council argued that the unique elements—of asymmetrical symbiosis, of reliability with reliance by choice—these unique items are exactly why this story deserves to be heard. If this was to fit within the canon of known Aspects, it would be Deiasos’ purpose changed, or spoken in chorus with Raella, whose name is rare as none other. As there is not a single supporting Aspect mentioned at all, we may yet see the fiftieth Aspect discovered through this, sprung from its first telling.

No doubt you have seen stranger things in your travels, old friend. Perhaps I overestimate your love for what you have called “the mundanities of people”. If so, I share this story out of self-indulgence. Having met the people behind the… let us call it the situation of this particular story, one which is still in its telling, I dearly hope this particular osprey finds its way back to the pony who desires her company.

-Vulenos

Rainbow Dash did her best not to think.

She didn’t actually manage, of course. She vaguely remembered talking to Twilight about it sometime, weeks—no, it would have to be months ago now, of course. A picnic, lunch, something like that. Rainbow Dash had mentioned how good it felt to just take a load off and not think for a moment. Twilight, true to herself, had gone on a rant about how fascinating it was that, actually, ponies couldn’t really stop thinking. You just shifted your way to thinking about something else, or shifted to a different way of thinking. Subconscious or whatever, and would you like to participate in a little experiment with me? It won’t take a minute, but you’ve noticed how, if someone says “don’t think about a pink monkey—”

Later that very same day, Rainbow Dash found Applejack walking back from her chores at the farm. Repeating the same sentiment to Applejack—how nice it was not to think for a moment—Applejack hadn’t even responded. She’d returned a lazy, tired smile and nodded. Rainbow Dash walked her back to the farm before heading home. She didn’t remember what she had thought about while they shared that little walk, only that it felt like a little triumph over Twilight. She meant to tell her, to rub it in her friend’s face, but she had forgotten.

Probably for the best. Rainbow Dash had probably thought about something. Maybe she misremembered it, and she actually spent that entire walk planning how she meant to tell Twilight how wrong she was, and then it was actually Twilight who was right in the end. Funny how often that happened.

Rainbow Dash wished she herself had been right in the first place. That she could stop thinking, because right now, her thinking went nowhere. Her mind spun in circles, around and around. She sat by the living room table, close to the door. She made it as far as the stupid sliding door before she decided not to run after Fluttershy. What would she say? That they shouldn’t break up? Would she try to tell Fluttershy that she was wrong? Try to bully her into taking it back? That was un-okay on so many levels, she was angry with herself for thinking it.

That’s what had happened, anyway. They had broken up, and Rainbow Dash couldn’t figure out why she felt so awful. They were still friends, right? That’s what Fluttershy had said. They could still hug and stuff, couldn’t they? When had she come to enjoy all the touchy stuff so much? Why did the thought of losing any of that hit her so hard?

Rainbow Dash leaned forward until her forehead hit the table with a solid thunk. It didn’t hurt much, testament to the fact that her head was probably harder than any stone.

She thought she had traded one thing for another, trading out pushing Fluttershy around for cuddles. Except it wasn’t nearly that simple. There was a lot more than just touch, and besides, who the hay even pushed their friends around? It wasn’t like she could un-realise how much of a butt she had been. She shouldn’t feel bad about being a better pony, either, but everything about Fluttershy was confusing every time she tried to think, and everything went wrong every time they talked.

Whether it was Fluttershy trying to explain things to Rainbow Dash or Rainbow Dash thinking she was saying what was obvious, nothing had ever gotten better by trying to talk.

She had lost.

Dash’s ears perked up at the sound of something scraping against the door, then pushing. She shuffled her wings to make sure her feathers lay right and walked over to help Fluttershy slide the door open, coming face to face with a droopy-eared pegasus who struggled to balance a cloth-wrapped parcel on her back while managing the awkward door.

“Thank you,” said Fluttershy, flashing a weak smile. Her eyes were a touch red.

“Yeah, no problem,” said Rainbow Dash.

“My hooves are a little dusty from the street,” Fluttershy said, casting a glance over her shoulder. Her legs shook a tiny bit, a detail Rainbow Dash didn’t miss. Clearly braving the crowds had been a challenge for her, but here she stood. “I couldn’t get a good grip on the door,” Fluttershy added. “I got us some food. Could you get some water?”

Rainbow Dash nodded, and did. She blew the dust off some bowls, filled them with the hoof-pump in the kitchen, and plonked them down on the table, hesitating for a second before she sat. Fluttershy had already unwrapped the bundle. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy stared at each other across the table, past a what looked like sugar-coated fry bread. Or salted. One or the other. Rainbow Dash wondered who would speak first. She didn’t want to say anything herself. She was done with words. With talking and with listening and trying. Not because she was angry, but because she was clearly too stupid to do it right.

“I didn’t see Rarity,” said Fluttershy.

They weren’t gonna talk about the whole not-being-girlfriends thing then. Friends. Rainbow Dash didn’t often settle for second best, but right now, she’d take it. She reached for the bread, awkwardly smushing the filled stuff while she tried to separate a piece for herself. It wasn’t exactly pegasus friendly food when it wasn’t separated into bite-sized portions.

“Did you look?” Dash asked.

Fluttershy nodded. “Yes. A little. I guess she must have gone to another market. I saw another one down the road.”

“She’s probably there.” Rainbow Dash licked her hoof. Salt. Salt and bread filled with fruit. Almost exactly like the Vauhorn bread. Maybe they traded recipes or something.

Fluttershy nodded again, chewing on her own piece of bread. They ate in silence for a while, neither of them going for a second round. Dash was ravenous, but she didn't much feel like eating.

“Do you…” Fluttershy began to say, her voice thin. “I’m sorry. Do you want to talk about it? I understand if you don’t, but—”

“No,” said Dash, instantly regretting the edge in her voice. She winced, swallowed and put a foreleg on the table, resting her head on top. “No,” she repeated, a little more quietly, trying and failing to keep her voice from cracking. “I don’t want to talk. About anything.”

“Are you mad at me?” Fluttershy asked, biting her lower lip. She shrunk down onto herself. “I don’t want you to be mad at me.”

Rainbow Dash snorted. How could she be mad at Fluttershy? She wasn’t the one who messed up everything, even though Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure exactly what she herself had done wrong. She thought she had finally managed to do things right.

“I don’t want to talk,” Dash managed, swallowing. “And I’m not mad at you, okay? Just… can we not talk? Not talking sounds great right now.”

Fluttershy’s lips trembled ominously, but she nodded and stood up. “Okay,” she said, walking over to the other table. Rainbow Dash stared at the food, weighing her still-rumbling belly against the simple fact that she couldn’t stand the idea of chewing on anything right now. It took energy she simply didn’t have. Meanwhile, Fluttershy toyed with one of the pairs of wooden antlers, running a hoof along the straps.

“I think I’m going to go upstairs and sleep a little,” Fluttershy said after a moment. “If you want to talk later, that’s fine.”

“Cool, but I don’t think so,” Rainbow Dash muttered. “I’ll let Rarity know.”

Fluttershy nodded one final time, a jerky and mechanical motion, and then she disappeared upstairs. Rainbow Dash waited until she no longer heard hoofsteps, and planted her forehead back on the table, forcing her stinging eyes shut.

Rainbow Dash didn’t know she’d fallen asleep. In fact, even when Rarity slid the door open and stepped inside, Rainbow Dash still doubted she had really slept, but she had either achieved perfect non-thinking, or she had dozed, lingering in the realm between sleep and wakefulness.

The unicorn started closing the door before she was fully through, almost catching her own tail. While Dash rubbed the sleep from her eyes, Rarity strode over to the smaller table, a portion of the fry bread and Fluttershy’s half-full bowl of water levitating over to join her. Before Rainbow Dash collected her thoughts, Rarity already had her saddlebags undone and on the table.

“Hey,” said Rainbow Dash. “You’re late,” she guessed. She couldn’t tell, really. With the shutters closed, it could be past deepest night, or it could be an hour after sundown.

“I am absolutely late if I wish to finish the baseline form and leave flexible room for the last piece,” Rarity said as though it was agreement.

“What,” said Rainbow Dash, stretching and yawning.

“The only fabrics that see common use in Cotronna is the fabric they use for these dividing curtains for privacy and separation,” Rarity said, not so much as looking at Dash. She levitated out a bolt of cloth that stuck out of her saddlebags, far too large to fit. “If I am to learn how to use this fabric for fashion, then that’s a challenge unto itself—”

“Right,” said Dash. “Fluttershy and I broke up.”

“—but I also need to leave some allowances for something we need to pick up tomorrow, and I don’t need to tell you that that’s no easy feat no matter the fabric. At least the grey is neutral. It may actually work to my advantage,” Rarity concluded. She finally turned around, though her magic continued its work unrolling the bolt of thick, grey fabric. “Pardon?”

“We broke up,” said Rainbow Dash. She tried to shrug, to shrug it off, but even though it shouldn’t hurt half as bad as it did, even though Fluttershy wasn’t going anywhere, it was a kick to the chest just to say the words. “Fluttershy just wants to be friends, so now we’re friends.”

“That’s awful, darling!” said Rarity. She stared at Rainbow for a moment, jaw working soundlessly. She licked her lips, her eyes pulled back to the worktable, then back again to Rainbow Dash.

“I’ll—” Rarity began to say, pausing. Another glance at her dress-in-making. “I’ll listen if you wish to talk, dear. Oh, no, not just if you wish. I would like to hear about this, of course, and I don’t understand how this could happen—”

“Don’t even worry about it,” Dash said, shaking her head. “Forget it. I don’t wanna talk anyway.” She didn’t give Rarity a chance to reply, heading up the stairs, and Rarity neither said anything, nor did she follow.

The upstairs room was even darker than before. The shutters were closed, leaving Dash with what little light spilled up the stairs from the lower floor. Fluttershy lay on the bed by the window, the blanket pulled over her back. She glanced towards Rainbow Dash, then closed her eyes again, clearly not yet asleep. Rainbow Dash didn’t break her stride. She trotted over to the bed, hopped atop, and lay down next to her, leaving space for Rarity in the middle. She heard the faint rustle of feathers, and a second later, the tip of Fluttershy’s wing touched against her side. No tight wrap, no hug, but a touch. There was that, at least.

Rainbow Dash shut her eyes, wishing tomorrow would come faster. Wishing the day, the week, and the entire stupid trip would be over soon, and hoping that she wouldn’t dream.

“There. I think it’s locked now,” said Rarity, frowning at the door. She put the key in the key-hole again, twisted it to no effect, and a glow surrounded the door without anything else happening. “Yes. That should be it. Good. Let’s go, then,” she said, stepping off the stairs and onto the cobblestone road.

Rarity walked down the road, and Rainbow Dash followed. She didn’t consciously decide to walk on the opposite side of Rarity from Fluttershy, it just happened. At least people were moving freely about the streets this morning. No tight lines filing along the narrow facades of the buildings. Whatever ‘shedding-day’ was, it didn’t involve wagons early in the morning.

“Now, I don’t remember how I suggested we go about this during breakfast,” said Rarity, leading the three ponies away. “From what I learned yesterday, this shop we’re looking for is on the far side of the ‘inner circle’, which I was led to believe means that it is on the opposite side of their royal palace grounds. They call it the Cotronnan Great Council Hall, but I understand it’s not just for the city council. This ‘Head Consul’ figure who rules here is there, too. They should be open today in some capacity, so I thought perhaps we could see about booking an appointment for a ceremony for the sigil on our way to the shop.”

“Sure,” said Rainbow Dash.

“You sound like you talked to them a lot yesterday. Did you ask about this ‘shedding-day’?” Fluttershy asked. She smiled at Rarity, studiously avoiding meeting Dash’s eyes on the other side. At least, Dash assumed as much. She was trying to keep from looking at Fluttershy, too. They hadn’t said much at breakfast either.

“I couldn’t avoid picking up on some things. From what I understand, it’s very much just a weekend, except it’s one day rather than two.” Rarity levitated out a small pouch from her saddlebags, and Dash heard the clinking of gems as she peered inside with a critical eye to its contents. “I didn’t ask beyond that, because I don’t see how it relates to this business of the sigil ceremony.”

“Oh. Okay,” said Fluttershy, nodding quickly. “I just talked to a baker. Or… a chef, maybe, and we didn’t say much. I wanted to ask about the water bowls, but I didn’t. Oh, and about the bowing and everything. We only got a very short explanation from Ihassa. You didn’t ask about that, did you?”

Rarity shook her head, placing the pouch back in her saddlebags. “No, dear. Again, it’s hardly relevant to what we should be focusing on right now.” Rarity paused the group at the next intersection, the three ponies halting at a four-way crossing. Rarity pointed right and set off again, following the majority of the people walking about. “This way, I believe. We should see this ‘inner circle’ of the city on our left soon.”

They walked in relative silence for a minute, accompanied only by the susurrus of lazy chatter and the steady clops and clacks of hooves and claws against cobbles. Fluttershy cleared her throat.

“I understand you’re really… enthusiastic about this ceremony thing, but don’t you think we should at least try to learn a little about the city?” she asked. “It seems like a very interesting place. I’m interested, at least.”

Dash glanced to the roadside. Two peryton finished a conversation by one of Cotronna’s tiny one-fountain plazas. One of the stags turned to leave and tilted his head sideways. The other returned the gesture, rustling his wings slightly as he did, and they both laughed uproariously while they walked separate ways. Twenty steps on, a doe fastened a necklace about a stag’s neck by the streetside, her eyes sparkling with wet in the morning sunlight.

Clearly the peryton here had a language of their own that didn’t involve words, but Rarity’s eyes were dead ahead, set on the road.

“I’m very interested, yes,” said Rarity. “I’m interested in seeing how these very unique peryton react to my creations. Or rather, to my presentation—our presentation.”

Rainbow Dash was keenly aware that now, Fluttershy did look at her, perhaps waiting for her thoughts or asking for support, but she had nothing to say. Whatever the peryton here were about, they were a distraction at best.

“I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that’s this ‘circle’,” said Rarity, slowing down once more. Down the road to the left, at the end of another slightly too narrow street cutting between samey, narrow, and tall houses, a touch of green invaded the otherwise almost oppressive cityscape. Rarity started them down towards the trees without a backwards look.

“Even if it is, did you get directions to the palace, or the ‘hall’?” Fluttershy asked, hurrying to catch up.

Rarity shook her head. “No, but think of Mount Canterlot, dear. You can see the royal palace from just about anywhere—and look, that has to be it!”

“Oh. I guess so,” said Fluttershy.

The spire in the distance was distinct for the simple fact that there had been a grand total of zero spires in this crazy place so far. Not a single tower and barely any of the distinctive extra-pointy roofs so popular in Canterlot and on clock towers and boutiques everywhere.

Rainbow Dash had to admit she didn’t really know what those were for—if not to dissuade diving pegasi from doing awesome stunts—but the lack of spires was unnerving all the same. A few minutes later, the rare, sharpened architecture disappeared behind the trees as the ponies reached the end of the street, meeting a wall of lush green.

“A park?” Dash asked, cocking a brow.

“If it’s a park, it’s clearly not meant to be traversed,” Rarity replied. There was no path, nor even any room to walk. A thick hedge barred their way, but to each side, a road stretched out at a gentle curve. The inner side of the road followed the plantlife, while the outer face ran along open-faced storefronts, cafés, and other places where peryton flocked to. There were a lot more peryton here than in the outer parts of the city.

“Okay, um, what do we do now?” asked Fluttershy.

“That way,” said Rainbow Dash, pointing to the right.

“I don’t honestly see any difference,” said Rarity. “The palace was straight ahead, so it’s clearly in there. We’ll have to go around.”

“Yeah. So it doesn’t matter if we go left or right, so we go to the right,” said Dash, shrugging.

However fast they walked, driven by Rarity’s impetus, there was no energy to it, at least nothing Rainbow Dash could feel. Maybe it was just her, but she let herself be dragged along in the tailwind, following the road as it curved. More narrow buildings, scores of peryton talking, and if the Cotronnan crowds never made half as much noise as the hustle and bustle of Stagrum or even Vauhorn, the sheer animation of their gesturing made up for it.

In the corner of her eye, Dash noticed Fluttershy watching the peryton with rapt attention, while Rarity’s eyes were ever fixed on the road or scanning the treetops to their left, no doubt watching for signs of the spire. Eventually, they found a way, and Rarity wasted no time turning onto the broad road that pierced straight through the park.

Evidently the park was not for people. Still Dash could see no way in under the canopy. The hedges, the trees and other plants all presented a wall as absolute as the stone walls of the buildings behind them. Tall, dark trees Dash vaguely remembered from one of the Perytonian forests—one or the other—spread their branches low over the road, providing shade that Rainbow Dash didn’t until now realise they didn’t strictly need. The sun was well and truly up, but plenty of peryton walked about in broad daylight. Few of them came this way, though. After leaving the busy curving road, they were nearly completely alone.

When they finally stepped into to the innermost section of the city, Dash didn’t know which surprised her more: the vastness of the plaza contained within the park that circled it, or the emptiness. Her steps slowed of their own accord, and Fluttershy ground to a halt as well, the two pegasi both craning their necks to look up at the great shadow ahead.

Rainbow Dash didn’t know much about architecture. She had heard Rarity and Fluttershy talk about the peryton and their stonework, but not until now did she fully appreciate the fact that the peryton were, in fact, pretty okay at building stuff. The only other really big buildings she could recall were the Ortosian ravenry and the Vauhorn council-house, but the palace had to be five times their combined size, if not more. Arches, columns and spires created a huge curved shape that cradled a section of the plaza. The chatter of ravens echoed from the tallest spires, so clearly it doubled as a ravenry.

The massive structure stood on the opposite side of a plaza that contained a large circle of stele, rows of benches, fountains, and a host of other such things, all empty except for a small pack of peryton children playing about the stone monoliths in the center. A pack of peryton children and a very determined unicorn, rather. Rarity cut straight across the great square, aimed for a set of free-standing columns that led to a large pair of doors placed in the side of the palace.

“A little dour, but I can certainly appreciate the… variety of the design,” said Rarity when the pegasi caught up again. They passed by the rows of benches, all facing a small stage.

“It looks more like art than a building, I think,” Fluttershy said. The large stone columns acted as a funnel, guiding them towards the doors that almost disappeared in the size of the side wall. Innumerable windows studded the facing side, most of them wide open.

“Wouldn’t hurt them to actually paint it, would it?” Dash muttered. “It’s just all the same stone, and they did paint some of their houses.”

“Mm, I don’t disagree,” Rarity said with a chuckle, stopping in front of two large and thick wooden doors that looked like the swinging kind rather than the sliding doors they normally used. “Do you suppose we… knock? I expected some guards, or at least a greeter.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I dunno. Try opening it?”

A soft blue glow surrounded a bar close to where the two doors met. Rarity knit her brow with effort, but the door merely rattled ever so slightly.

“Maybe they’re closed?” Fluttershy asked. She rubbed one foreleg against the other, looking up again. From here, the palace seemed larger and taller than the sky itself. She swallowed noisily. “We could just leave. They’re probably closed.”

“No,” said Rarity, grunting with effort as the door rattled again. “The stag I spoke to was very clear, there should always be someone at this palace of theirs.”

“Lemme try,” said Dash. She walked up to the door and gave it a solid shove, but it was undeniably closed. She hammered the door with a hoof. “Hey! Anyone there?” She drew breath for another try.

“It is shedding-day,” said a voice behind them, interrupting her. A young stag about the ponies’ size walked towards them with six or seven even smaller peryton in tow, each of them trying their hardest to walk behind him to hide. He bowed forward until his head lay level with his body, his wings half spread. “The Hall of Scrolls’ archivers are not here today.”

“The hall of what?” asked Rainbow Dash, tilting her head. “Isn’t this the palace?”

“The ‘Great Council Hall’, rather,” Rarity said. “Clearly it has many names.”

The stag frowned in confusion, looking between all the ponies in turn.

“We’re sorry,” said Fluttershy, her ears splayed. “We’re not from here—”

“I think he can see that. Probably,” said Rainbow Dash.

“—so we don’t really know your customs,” Fluttershy continued. “I think… your bow means you think we’d like your help, and you’re right, but, um, we don’t really know how the bowing and everything works, or if there’s a bow for ‘yes please, we’d love some help’.”

The stag’s brows rose. He was quiet for a moment longer while all the little peryton children stole furtive glances around his side. “This… this stands to reason, yes,” he said, nodding. “I thought perhaps, if you do not know the Hall of Scrolls is closed, that you might appreciate if I share my knowledge with you for better use—but you know nothing.”

“Uh. Okay, easy there,” said Dash. “Do you know the endings to all the Daring Do books? Huh? Do you? Or what about the maximum force a pony wing can take under magical stress while high-flying?”

“Do you know that?” Fluttershy asked, tilting her head sideways.

“Nah, I don’t care about that stuff, I just pretty much ignore it,” Dash admitted. “But it sounds cool.”

“Let us assume that we do not know anything about you, at least,” said Rarity, clearing her throat to bring the further-confused stag’s attention back to her. “Is this not the Great Council Hall? I was led to believe it is here at the ‘inner circle’.”

The stag pointed to his right, to a smaller neighbouring building. “There,” he said, indicating a long, squat and unflattering one-story building with more doors than it had windows. “That is the Great Council Hall.”

“Oh. Well, that’s wonderful, thank you for your help,” said Rarity, setting off at a brisk walk right away. Fluttershy hesitated, her eyes flitting between the young stag and the little flock of peryton children, some of whom were brave enough to step out from behind him. The stag himself simply stared after Rarity, his head at a slight tilt. Rainbow Dash stretched her wings out, not sure whether she should stay or go.

“We really appreciate your help,” said Fluttershy, nodding her head in thanks. “Your city is very nice, we’re just a little confused trying to understand everything.”

“It’s usually like that, heh,” said Rainbow Dash.

The stag shrugged, smiling ever so slightly. One of the children pushed against one of his forelegs, lifting it off the ground, and he rested the leg against a tiny doe’s head. “To share what one knows is an act of delegation, and that weaves stories of Vossos, which is always good. I am happy to help. I would ask you in return, not for purpose, but for idle curiosity—and forgive that I cannot shed—what manner of people are you, and what are you doing here? I have never seen people such as you.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled. “We should print leaflets or something.”

“We’re ponies, from Equestria,” said Fluttershy, smiling bright, her eyes falling upon the bravest of the little children who stood almost close enough to touch, now. “We’re here to give your Head Consul an invitation to attend a summit in Canterlot.”

“You do not know that the Hall of Scrolls is closed on shedding-day, but you have word for the Head Consul’s ears alone?” the stag asked, blinking. “This is strange business.”

“Heh, you make it sound like it’s a secret or something,” said Rainbow Dash, watching Rarity in the distance. She was already well over halfway to the next building. “Rarity wants to make a big deal of this, but we’re just inviting Perytonia to come visit us to talk about peace and trading muffins for phela bread or bronze bits or whatever else the Princesses want. That sorta stuff.”

The stag inclined his head slightly, letting go of the curious little doe who took a few more steps, reaching out to lay a tiny hoof on Fluttershy’s foreleg. She squealed and turned when Fluttershy giggled, running back to hide again. It took Rainbow Dash a second to remember that no sound the peryton made sounded remotely like ponies laughing, so it had to sound pretty weird to them. She herself had gotten used to the peryton cawing and warbling long ago. They just registered as laughter to her now.

“Curious that you are here and not in Stagrum for this,” said the stag.

Dash shook her head. “Nah, we’ve already been to Stagrum. We met a guy in Orto who said we should visit, so we’ve been all over Perytonia, but we kinda need to talk to your leader for this sort of stuff. We just didn’t know where the Council Hall thing was. You don’t exactly have visitor centers and maps in your cities. We should probably catch up to Rarity, though.”

Fluttershy nodded and smiled. “Thank you again.”

“Yeah, thanks,” said Dash, spreading her wings. She waved and took to the air with Fluttershy following close by. Either this part of Perytonia was colder, or they were very lucky to have a cool day. Even though the sun hung in plain view, with all the clouds stuck on the other side of the horizon, flying was fine. It didn’t take them long to fly across the outer edge and catch up. They landed next to Rarity just as the unicorn approached the largest set of doors in the center of the building. This time, when her magic touched the simple wooden doors, they opened with ease, almost completely soundless.

Rainbow Dash gave the larger building to their right one final look. “What the hay is a ‘Hall of Scrolls’ anyway?” she asked nopony in particular.

“I imagine it must be a library of some sort,” said Rarity with all the interest of Applejack discussing farming oranges. “I can’t imagine why their library is larger than their palace. Or, their library-like building is larger than their palace-like building, rather. Nothing here is ever exactly the same,” she concluded, stepping into the relative darkness.

Nothing was exactly the same, no, but some things were a lot the same. It was all Dash could think that they had stepped out of Cotronna and into Ponyville Town Hall—except far larger. The room was filled with scroll racks, message boards, benches along the walls and desks cluttered with stationery. Behind one of many particularly large desks cutting the room in half sat the room’s single occupant, a large peryton with an odd sort of monocle-like apparatus perched on his muzzle.

The lone grey-white peryton almost completely disappeared in the large chamber not due to its size, but because it was so easy to imagine that there was supposed to be a lot of activity here, like an amusement park with one attendee. Or, more appropriately, a classroom with a single pupil. To the left and the right, large archways led to long halls lined with stele that looked like they belonged outside with the others, each and every one of them festooned with scrolls.

“Excuse me. Hello. I am Rarity, and these are my friends Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash,” said Rarity, trotting up to the desk without preamble. “I understand this is the Council Hall, and the seat of the Head Consul?”

Behind the large desk, the stag shuffled his wings, stretched his neck left and right, then let out a great yawn, performing the same bow that the ponies had gotten so often—the gesture of patronage or whatever—all before he peered over the rim of the writing desk. A squint turned into a look of open surprise, and he dipped a hoof in a water bowl placed at the corner of the desk.

“What in the name of Chorossa is this strangeness?” he croaked, clearing his throat.

“As I said,” Rarity began, smiling at him. “I—”

“Yes, yes,” said the stag, shaking his head. “Your names I heard, your voices are strange, and your appearances stranger still. You have no wings—and you have no antlers! You are no kin come to review.”

Rainbow Dash scratched her side with a wing. Fluttershy swung a foreleg in place like a pendulum, looking at the ground.

“We’re emissaries sent from Equestria,” Rarity explained with infinite patience. “I believe there has been a letter.”

“More than one, yes, I think I remember some of this, and I thought the matter had been concluded in our eyes, but I understand I must be mistaken,” he muttered, blinking bleary eyes and looking about, as though a glance around the room would tell him the answer.

“If you’ve heard we’re coming, that’s good enough, dear. We’re here now, finally, and we simply wanted to ask about an appointment with the Head Consul and their… court?” Rarity asked.

“The Head Consul?” the stag asked, frowning slightly. “It would not be appropriate without the council meeting in full. All can listen in on the proceedings. You do not need an ‘appointment’ for this.”

“Perhaps you misunderstand. We have a delivery of sorts,” said Rarity, her smile set to full charm. “The purpose of our entire journey—” she paused, took a deep breath and sighed even as she laughed. “Honestly, I feel like I must have explained this a hundred times by now, but we are here to invite Perytonia to a meeting in Canterlot, our capital. We have a sigil to deliver, and a few words to speak—’we cordially invite you to attend’ and such. It would be wonderful if you could give us, again, emissaries of Equestria, a moment of the Head Consul’s time.”

The peryton stag perked up a little at this, nodding along as Rarity spoke, now a touch flustered. “Yes. Well. I think that… yes. If you have words to speak and actions to present, then your meanings must be conveyed. Emissaries and weighty words. It is only appropriate that you do this, then. I am an under-consul myself and work only the shedding-shift, you must understand, but I did not mean to take this lightly.” He nodded once more, this time almost deeply enough to touch his muzzle to the desk. “I will leave a note for the small council in the morning and see to it that it is done.”

Rainbow Dash leaned past the desk. She could see a large chamber through an opening in the far wall. There wasn’t room for a lot else in the building from what she could see, and if that was the throne room or an audience hall, it was the strangest one she had seen. All she could see lot of wooden benches and tables.

“Wonderful! When should we be here?” Rarity asked, beaming.

The stag rummaged around for some paper, starting to jot down some notes in quick and practiced strokes as he spoke. “That is for the small council to decide, but I will tell them to collect you well before time. I am sure it will be tomorrow after the morning hours. You stay within the city?”

“I believe the address is ‘fourth outer-middle quarter southwest, third by sixth’,” said Rarity. “That is what our landlady told us, at least, but I quite honestly can’t make sense of it myself.”

“...southwest fieldside, third, sixth,” the stag muttered, writing on another note now. “Then I will make sure you have the council’s ear. All citizens have the right to it, but this sounds like official and important business beyond that.”

“Oh, I would say so,” said Rarity, nodding.

“Then, Emissaries of Equestria, I will forward word to the small council, and they will in turn decide, yes,” he said, dabbing one piece of paper with a dot and putting his quill away. “You will have our ears. Is that all the official business you have with the Hall?”

Rainbow Dash came up empty at Rarity’s questioning look. She didn’t even know they had “business with the hall” in the first place. She was more than happy to leave the sigil at the desk and tell this stag to give this Head Consul a message, but that would probably not go down well.

“I think that’s everything,” Fluttershy said, nodding, looking to Rarity. “Maybe we could ask about some other things, really quickly? Some… less official things, if you don’t mind?”

The stag nodded at that, dipping his hoof in the water bowl and shaking it off, bowing again, his head a little higher than last time. “Then my name is Kalastyn Quyl, and you have my ear if I can be of assistance.

“What did you want to ask, dear?” Rarity said. “We don’t know when their shops close, so I would really prefer to get going sooner rather than later. The reason I’d like to go to this one specific shop is that the people I spoke to said she was one of the few who kept her shop open on this ‘shedding-day’.”

“Oh. Um, I don’t know if we had any specific questions, really,” said Fluttershy, her tail drooping, wilting under the taller stag’s attention. “But I’d love to know what ‘shedding-day’ is, exactly, and maybe about the water bowls. Could you maybe explain that? I just thought that… um, I’m sorry?”

Rainbow Dash tilted her head. The stag’s expression had darkened the longer the ponies spoke, and when Fluttershy directed her question to him, the peryton looked severe and downright frowny.

“What?” asked Dash.

“You speak of unofficial matters, you ask personal advice in the same breath you used to reserve the council’s ear—”

“The Head Consul’s ear, you mean,” Rarity interjected.

“—and that is inappropriate, obviously.” He gestured to the bowl of water on his desk.

“No it’s not,” said Rainbow Dash, narrowing her eyes right back at him, stepping up to the desk. “It’s not obvious because we don’t know what you’re on about, and that’s exactly what Fluttershy’s trying to ask about!”

The stag’s open look of surprise mollified Dash somewhat.

“I… understand the logic of this, but—well, I will answer, explain, while you correct your mistake,” he said, shaking his head slightly. His antlers glowed, and the water bowl levitated down to where the ponies could reach.

“I’m sorry,” said Fluttershy, one ear bent. “We really don’t know about your customs.”

“Precisely Rainbow Dash’s point. How could we?” Rarity asked, arching a brow.

“When one matter is concluded, and a matter to be discussed in another capacity begins, you draw new breath.” He moved the bowl a little closer. “Especially when the separation is one of the professional and the personal.”

Fluttershy looked at Rainbow Dash, who shrugged. Rarity dipped a hoof in the water and shook the water away.

“And now, with a new breath,” said the stag while the pegasi did the same, “we speak not as under-council and visitors to the Hall, but as kin. Well, as kin and—” he squinted at his desk and the paper he’d scribbled on while they talked. “And ‘ponies’.”

“Cool. Now we know,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Sorry,” said Fluttershy.

“You can’t be sorry,” Dash grunted. “No one told us!”

“You wanted to ask about this shedding-day as well, dear?” Rarity asked before Dash could go on or Fluttershy could reply. The unicorn kept looking back at the door through which they had come in. “Let’s conclude our business and not bother this gentleperson any longer than we must.”

“This fits the description,” said Rarity, nodding to herself with satisfaction. “The second building on the right, on the third quarter after two of the little fountain-plazas. They call those ‘halts’. Useful for giving directions to strangers, I have to say.”

Rainbow Dash would never admit it, of course, but she was amazed at Rarity’s ability to navigate a completely foreign city based on directions she’d heard yesterday. However she did it, here they were not an hour after leaving the Great Council Hall. On the far side of the park, past the ring where most of the peryton hung out right now, they faced a tall and narrow building like any other. The sign bore peryton letters and nothing else.

“I think I’ll wait out here,” said Fluttershy, smiling at the unicorn. “The weather is nice, and there aren’t a lot of people here. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Not at all, dear,” said Rarity, shaking her head when her magic touched the door. She smiled with satisfaction when it opened. “I will be back in a minute.”

“Yeah, I’ll stick around out here, too,” said Dash, rustling her wings. A few peryton meandered about, and while there wasn’t much to look at, being outside beat being inside on general principle. She briefly considered going with Rarity anyway, but she couldn’t try to avoid Fluttershy all the time forever. They were still friends, she just felt a kick in the gut whenever she looked at her, and another kick when she remembered the stupid recurring dreams.

If other ponies really couldn’t remember their dreams, Dash envied them right now.

“I’m a little worried about tomorrow,” said Fluttershy. She sat down by the side of the walkway-less street.

Rainbow Dash walked over to Fluttershy, but remained standing. Just down the road, she could see the mountains of the Bow loom over the buildings where they’d come from. It looked like the snow-capped peaks hid just behind the block. She wished they did, that they were close enough for her to go back right now.

“Yeah?” said Rainbow Dash after a while. “We just give them the sigil and say ‘come visit’, and then we jump on an airship back home. That’s all.”

Fluttershy tilted her head. “Have you talked to Princess Luna again? About getting an airship?”

“Oh. Yeah, no, I haven’t. Not yet,” Dash admitted.

“Even after the Princesses know we’re ready to come home, it’ll still take a few days for an airship to get here,” said Fluttershy. “If that’s how we’ll get home.”

“Okay, whatever,” said Dash. “Those are details. We’re still pretty much done.” She stretched her wings out and stopped herself before she wrapped one of them around Fluttershy, a habit she’d gotten really comfortable with, really quickly. Probably shouldn’t do that anymore. Stupid.

“That’s not really what I meant, anyway. I was just thinking about what the under-consul told us,” said Fluttershy, shaking her head slightly.

“What, about the shedding and the water bowl and all their weird rituals?” Dash asked, frowning. “Why’s that got you worried? He basically just said what Rarity already told us. Shedding-day is their weekend.”

“Kind of,” said Fluttershy. She ran a hoof’s edge along the crack between two flat cobblestones. “But they make everything they talk about sound so important to them. He looked really angry when we didn’t follow their rules for talking, and he didn’t say it was their weekend, he said that they used it to rest, and to separate matters.”

“Yeah, to separate stuff, like our weekends go in between the rest of the weeks,” said Rainbow Dash, rolling her eyes. “That’s all.”

“It doesn’t feel like anything is that simple here, really, that’s why I’m worried, and everything feels like it’s… I don’t know, I’m sorry. Ihassa laughed at us when we asked if she slept where she works, they have all these different greetings, they wash between modes of talking, at least when they work, and during their weekends, nearly all of them go to this one district, the inner circle. It’s like everything means so much.”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Okay, easy there, detective Fluttershy. I think you need to register for a private eye license.”

Fluttershy giggled at that and shook her head again, and Dash didn’t really have anything more to say. It felt good to hear Fluttershy laugh, but at the same time, she didn’t know what to think of the other pegasus’s mood, worries notwithstanding. Dash had imagined that Fluttershy would be the one who would be crushed now that they broke up, but instead, it was Rainbow Dash who felt hollow, while Fluttershy seemed fine.

At least, that was Dash’s first guess, but now Fluttershy’s laugh trailed off into a sigh so faint Dash might have imagined it. When the other pegasus lapsed into silence, she stared at the ground again. Maybe Dash was wrong. She often was, apparently.

“I guess I’m worried Rarity is taking this dress and the ‘ceremony’ too seriously,” Fluttershy added, her tone a little more quiet. “But… it looked like the under-consul took us asking for an audience seriously, too, so maybe not. Maybe she’s right, and things will work out.”

“Sure,” said Rainbow Dash.

“But you remember when we talked about how much Rarity was stressing about her dressmaking, right?” Fluttershy asked, looking at Dash out of the corner of her eye. “In Vauhorn.”

“Yeah, I remember,” said Dash. “And we agreed that it’s just Rarity being Rarity, kind of.”

A small nod from Fluttershy, barely enough to be called that. “Except now she’s more stressed than ever. She doesn’t seem to think about, or listen to anything else.”

“Heh, yep. You’re right,” said Dash. Idly she wondered if Fluttershy had tried to talk to Rarity about them breaking up. About Rainbow Dash. She wondered if Fluttershy had had any more luck. She wondered if she herself wanted to talk to Rarity about it—if Rarity would listen, which she wouldn’t.

“So, um. Maybe we could talk to her together,” said Fluttershy, now tapping a hoof on the stones. “Do you remember what Ihassa said? That sometimes, if you don’t know what you’re doing, doing nothing at all is a good idea. We don’t need to dress up and make a big show just to give them the invitation. If we talk to her together—”

“Nah,” said Rainbow Dash, looking away.

She knew that she and Rarity were a little alike. If Rarity needed to show off her dressmaking skills, if Rarity really needed a victory right now, what was the harm? This way, at least one of them would actually get a win, someone would get something out of this stupid journey. Rainbow Dash certainly felt like she herself had lost.

“Okay,” said Fluttershy. The door to the shop slid open, and Rarity stepped outside, her saddlebags full and something bulky straining against them. She lit her horn, closed the door, and deflated like a punctured balloon with a long and dramatic sigh.

“If I ever again complain about the quaint haggling that takes place at market day in Ponyville, do give me a kick to the flank, won’t you?” she asked, turning them down the street heading a vague southeast. Back to their house, probably.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Fluttershy with a sympathetic look. “What happened? Did you end up paying more than you thought you would?”

“No, no, not at all,” said Rarity, glaring at the shop over her shoulder. “It’s not a question of economics, it’s communication. I had some serious difficulties reaching an understanding with the proprietress, and it had nothing to do with the silly water bowls or anything else.” The unicorn sighed. “I don’t understand. The Cotronnans are wonderfully helpful once we manage to get past the initial confusion and talk to them, but they don’t seem to understand our differences at all.”

“I don’t know if that’s fair,” said Fluttershy, shuffling her wings as she thought. “We’ve all had to work to understand each other everywhere we go, but… I guess the Ortosians were very nice about that, even if they were a little scary. Khaird in particular really tried to understand us right away.”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t hold back a laugh. “Okay, sure, most of the other cities have been just as weird, but how can they all be this bad at dealing with new people here in Cotronna? They’re the capital of this place!”

“Exactly,” said Rarity, adjusting her saddlebags a little before she pointed her snout ahead once more. “I think the lack of understanding from the under-consul was particularly egregious. They’re supposed to be the staff of the leader of Perytonia. Let’s hope the Princes—no, the Head Consul is half as people-savvy as either of our Princesses.”

Rainbow Dash grabbed another bite of phela, and then a large gulp of water. She hadn’t found any knives or anything like that in the kitchen, just a blunt wooden wedge that wouldn’t be much help. She had asked Rarity if she could cut the bread into more manageable pieces, and the unicorn, predictably enough, hardly seemed to hear her. Squashed and torn phela for dinner, then.

“Now, don’t move about too much,” said Rarity, holding the fabric to Fluttershy’s body. “This may be a loose fit, but this isn’t about measurements, it’s about making sure the adornments are correctly placed. It is of paramount importance that you stay still.”

“I am standing as still as I can, really,” said Fluttershy. She gave Dash a smile that wasn’t really a smile, a tug on her lips. Fluttershy had been forced to stand model for Rarity while the unicorn wrangled with the fabric, separating, cutting, and doing a host of other things Rainbow Dash barely bothered to pay attention to, the result of which was that Fluttershy stood wrapped in grayish cloth more like a cloak or a robe than a dress.

“The scarves are simple. With the neutral colour of the base dress, they simply go around the neck, alike so,” said Rarity, wrapping one of the green, red, blue and purple Ortosian scarves around Fluttershy’s neck. “Mm. No, a little less casual, more… there.” She said, tying a fancy loose knot in a flurry of magic. “Yes.”

“Okay?” said Fluttershy, tilting her head down to look at the multicoloured scarf around her neck. She squeaked a second later when Rarity thrust one of the blank masks onto her face, white resin covering the top half of her face and muzzle.

“There’s the mask from Vauhorn, and it fits wonderfully. Hm. Well, it fits well enough. Their head shapes aren’t entirely dissimilar from ours, but their muzzles are longer by far. It’s not uncomfortable, is it?”

“No, no, it’s just… very strange. I can’t see very well. The eye holes are tiny and placed too high up. I have to look up to see. I can really only see the ceiling.”

Rainbow Dash shook her head at the spectacle. Now Rarity levitated over one of the two pairs of wooden antlers from Ephydoera, strapping it to Fluttershy’s head.

“And there’s that. Now, if you prefer, I do have an alternative to represent Ephydoera. I was thinking of perhaps shaving the symbols of Glandros, Helesseia and Selyria into the flanks of your coats—”

“Antlers are fine, really!” Fluttershy hurried to say.

“Antlers are more than fine,” said Rainbow Dash, frowning. “You’re not shaving anything into my flanks, thanks.”

“Hmf. Well, I think that’s for the best,” said Rarity, nodding. “I would need to change the dress shape, and the extra visual chaos would take away from the designs I have planned. I could always make the symbols the part of the dress, hm. Yes. The Stagrumite antler-jewellery presents some challenges, though. I don’t suppose either of you have had your ears pierced?”

“Oh. I did, but I haven’t used them in a long time,” said Fluttershy, looking up as though she could inspect her own ears with a glance. “They’ve probably regrown.”

“Yeah, same,” said Dash, shrugging. “Everyone thought it was super cool during the last year of flight school, but eh.”

“I had some ideas for converting some of these to earrings, but we’ll settle for using them in the antlers, then. Like so,” said the unicorn, her magic lifting some of the jewellery up, slipping rings and chains onto the wooden faux antlers on Fluttershy’s head at random until they were as festive as any Stagrumite’s. “There.”

“There what?” asked Dash. Fluttershy looked like she was ready to head out for Nightmare Night, and she’d win it. Creepy mask, antlers and jewels, and a merry scarf that, in Rainbow Dash’s inexpert opinion, perfectly did whatever the opposite of “tying it together” was. From the look on Rarity’s face, the unicorn didn’t necessarily disagree.

“Well, it’ll show the peryton that together, they can be more than the sum of their parts, I suppose,” said Rarity, pursing her lips. “These are all symbols that the peryton know. At least, the Cotronnan leadership must know of the most common elements of the other cities’ cultures, so this really has to work.”

“I don’t know about this,” said Fluttershy, reaching up to touch her antlers gingerly.

“We’re missing the final part, of course,” said Rarity, levitating over her saddlebags and extracting two finely carved wooden boxes. Rainbow Dash couldn’t remember seeing any fancy woodcraft in Perytonia so far. What little furniture was in wood was of simple make, including the bench she sat on, but these boxes were carved with incredibly detailed motifs of peryton dancing and rearing up, painted with exacting care right down to multicoloured feather-tips on the stags.

Rarity opened the boxes both at once without much ceremony, revealing two spiderweb-like lengths of silver and gold, like a small knit tablecloth of shimmering filigree, delicate chains linked by ornate shapes too many to count. Peryton, animals, the sun and the moon, mundane objects like a fountain, items of food or a house mixed with the abstract. Rarity levitated one of the large whatever-they-weres over Fluttershy, rotated it, and after a little fiddling, hooked parts of the jewellery around Fluttershy’s ears. The rest she lay following the curve of her body, the filigree and the objects linked to them running down the back of her neck, between her wings, and over her flanks.

“Right. So, what’s that?” Dash asked.

“It’s beautiful,” said Fluttershy, her head turned around as best as she could to look over her own back, lifting the mask with a hoof.

“It’s some sort of jewellery or other,” said Rarity, shrugging. “I honestly meant to buy some of the necklaces I saw a few peryton wear at the market, but the store had these far more elaborate things, and my design was a little unbalanced. If we’re doing the antlers instead of the shaved symbols, we need something for the back, and this is perfect. I’ll affix it to the dress, and we have five items that the cities use, one for each, all in one costume.”

“I think I saw someone wear a necklace, yeah,” said Rainbow Dash. “I didn’t see anyone wear that stuff on their back, though.”

“Yeah, me neither,” said Fluttershy, chewing on her bottom lip. “Do you know what it’s for?”

“Darling, it’s jewellery,” said Rarity, giving her a flat look.

“The Stagrum jewellery isn’t just jewellery, though,” Fluttershy replied.

“Eh, whatever it is, it—” Dash paused, frowning. “It looks good,” she finished, lamely. It looked more than good, really. Rainbow Dash imagined that without all the other junk, it would look a lot more than good on Fluttershy, but that didn’t really matter now, did it? Fluttershy, her gal-pal, wore something that made her look good. Cool. Good on her. That was it.

Fluttershy smiled faintly, but said nothing.

“At any rate, it is clear that it doesn’t work with your mane, however short it is,” said Rarity. “It gets tangled in your hairs, and you can see I’ve had to let it loose about your neck because it’s meant for a larger peryton. I’m going to have to make modifications.” She moved over to the table, squinting at the other one still in its box. “The idea is to remove the part for the neck and just sew the parts for the back and flanks into the dress, but I can’t see any way to remove a single link. I don’t exactly have the tools to cut metal links, either.”

“Oh. I think it looks nice like this, really,” said Fluttershy with a hopeful smile. Rarity shook her head immediately.

“I’m not trying to make something ‘nice’, dear. I’m trying to make something perfect. I’ll see if there are any tool stalls on the market today. I might have to go to the inner circle again,” she sighed and grabbed her saddlebags.

“Now?” Dash asked, cocking a brow.

“Alone?” Fluttershy asked. “Are you sure you don’t want us to come with you?”

“I’ll be back in a moment,” said Rarity, shaking her head briskly. Door open, door shut, and Rarity was gone, leaving Rainbow Dash sat by the dinner table trying to find her appetite, and Fluttershy looking confused and overdressed.

“This is probably the weirdest thing Rarity’s made yet,” Dash said. “And this is Rarity. It’s not even funny weird. It’s just weird weird.”

“I think she thinks so, or knows it, too,” said Fluttershy, untying the scarf and the dress, folding them, and putting them on the table. She shed the weird white mask and reached a hoof under her own jaw, fiddling with the antler-straps, but it wasn’t meant for hooves. The straps were meant for magic—or perhaps teeth in a pinch—but Fluttershy obviously struggled to reach. She puffed out her cheeks and redoubled her efforts.

Rainbow Dash wondered if she should help. She should probably offer. Or Fluttershy should ask. Earlier this summer, Rainbow Dash wouldn’t think anything much of it. Now, snuffling around with her snout right under Fluttershy’s jaw would probably be weird. She caught Fluttershy tossing a quick, surreptitious glance her way—and then she managed to work the strap loose with the edge of her hoof.

With all the effects discarded, Fluttershy sat down by the table, opposite of Rainbow Dash. She stared at Dash, and Rainbow Dash knew the question she was going to ask. She wondered if Dash wanted to talk, and Rainbow Dash didn’t, so Dash looked at her water bowl instead, grabbing a drink even though she wasn’t thirsty. Fluttershy closed her mouth and sighed.

“I just hope tomorrow works out the way Rarity wants,” Fluttershy instead said.