Wind. Incredibly powerful winds constantly attacking her from the right side of her body as Rainbow Dash barreled through the massive tornado that encompassed the north pole of the world. A lesser pegasus would be thrown away, carried off by the tornado and dumped who knows where. But not Rainbow Dash. She was in her element right now and she had faced far more powerful storms and other weather phenomena on her adventure. Not to mention going through this blasted tornado once before not too long ago. So this might as well have been nothing. This was a cakewalk. And it felt good. It felt good to beat her wings and push her body hard, push past the world she had just left behind and go into the beyond. She loved the thrill, she loved the beating of her heart, the blood pumping in her veins, the strain of muscle. This was her kind of flying, the exciting, daring sort of flight that others would shy away from.

This was the life. Flying hard and being awesome. Something like this even beat out taking a nap after a long day of kicking flank. She had almost forgotten just how good something simple like this could feel, stuck in the doldrums for a second too long for her taste back in Nogt. She may have come on this adventure in the first place looking for new kinds of excitement and awesome things to do, but she shouldn’t forget how to appreciate the stuff like this. Flying. And just how much she loved it.

She had flown so much through the northern parts of the world, flown for miles and miles over snow and mountains and frozen lakes and rivers. To be honest, Rainbow wasn’t sure if she really understood just how awesome it all was until now that she had left that part of her journey behind. But that was just how she was. Someday she was sure another pony from Equestria would visit and travel through it all and they could write a book or draw a map and catalog the whole place. Rainbow was just fine with her vivid memories of all the truly important things she did back there.

Still, she realized now that the journey she had been on hadn’t satisfied her in the way she was looking for. Cause all she had been doing was moving on and on. If she had stopped to think, to look around, to appreciate the awesome wonders and uniqueness of the new and unknown world around her, maybe she would’ve found a true goal and been content with her adventure a long time ago.

Rainbow Dash grinned as the wind whipped her bangs around her head. “But then I wouldn’t be the first pony to fly all the way around the world, now would I? That’s my goal now. That’s something solid, something real, something pretty darn awesome I’m working towards!”

And the first step when it came to reaching that new goal was getting out of this high-powered tornado.

“Cakewalk”. Rainbow Dash licked her lips and with a burst of energy flapped her wings harder. She propelled herself to the outer edge of the tornado winds immediately, the world beyond them becoming suddenly clearer. The only thing she still really wished for right now were some flight goggles. An item that would’ve done her a spectacular amount of good on the rest of her journey. Unfortunately that lack of preparation is what came with shooting off on this journey without a care in the world or second thought.

Idly, she realized she had just done the exact same thing in Nogt as she had in Ponyville. Maybe there was a lesson to learn there…

Nah. Speed, recklessness, and impatience were some of Rainbow Dash’s best friends. She’d never betray such great friends. They always seemed to be just what she needed in the end anyways and things worked out fine.

As the fierce wind and her own whipping hair got into her eyes though she still wished for those goggles. Powering through the tornado was nothing but she’d like to be able to see while doing it. All she knew now was that she was close to exiting it and entering the world beyond. The tornado was big but she had charged through thicker storms and banks of fog and other things in the past. The wind coming in from the right side of her body only threatened to throw her off course or carry her along with it for a while, it wasn’t coming from directly ahead and pushing against her. While she was fighting the current it wasn’t as difficult as it could have been.

And even if it was she still would’ve had no problem getting through it. What was a little wind compared to some of the other things she had had to push her way through on her journey so far?

Being hounded by a giant unkillable ice monster? Beating up a stupid muscle-head of a pegasus? Getting through a storm that made all other storms pale in comparison? It went on and on for her. She had done so much and still had it in her to do an endless amount of things more as long as it was awesome and exciting.

She hoped the other side of the world contained adventures for her even better than the ones she had already been on.

Rainbow Dash tore past the last layers of wind licking at her body and emerged beyond the north pole tornado, beyond the city of Nogt and the Reindeer, beyond one half of the True North that she had flown through. With a celebratory shout coming out of her lungs she threw up her hooves and stopped in mid-air. “Woohoo!”

Lots and lots of snow greeted the cheering pegasus.

Her face gradually took on a much more neutral expression as she folded her front legs in front of her chest and floated there with the large tornado right behind her. “Well, this is pretty much what I was expecting.”

In front of her was a landscape much the same as a large portion of the True North she had traveled through had been. Massive, endless, drifts of snow and tall mountains as far as the eye could see. A winterscape to end all others. Glacial peaks and valleys between the mountains stood in front of her while directly below was an ocean of piled up, untouched snow that was whiter than anything Rainbow Dash had seen in her life. The cloudy sky above only allowed a dim light to travel down, bathing the world in an opaque glow.

No half-frozen lake existed right past the tornado like on the other side. As Rainbow Dash looked back at the massive walls of rock that shot up into the sky, bordering the east and west sides of Nogt and the north pole, she saw nothing but cold rock and ice staring back at her. The monumentally old dividers of the northern world appeared so much darker on this side.

A smile once again tugged up the corners of Rainbow Dash’s mouth as she turned to look back ahead. Without a single word she began her new flight over the snow and towards the mountains.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the story.

Rainbow Dash flew through the cold air above the rolling hills of snow below. She shivered once or twice, things much colder out here than they were inside the magically temperate city of Nogt. After spending days in there she might need a little more time to readjust to the usual cold of the north. Thanks to the perpetually cloudy sky over her head she wasn’t exactly sure what time of day it was either.

“Geez, not so much to look at over here,” Rainbow Dash said as her eyes scanned around the northern landscape.

It was pretty impressive how much more desolate things appeared on this side compared to where she had come from. Almost like she was in another world entirely instead of just a different part of it. If this was par for the course for this side then it was no surprise the Reindeer didn’t really travel through or live here. She should’ve asked Ark’Nogt more about what he knew of this side of the True North. Wasn’t his wife a historian or something when it came to this stuff? Oh well, just another case of Rainbow acting without thinking, it would all work out in the end.

Besides, it was more exciting when she didn’t know what was coming.

Since there was nothing on the ground but snow, Rainbow Dash looked ahead at the upcoming mountains. They were quite large and jagged, with some peaks arching over others and the valleys between them not allowing for any sort of level ground even if they weren’t buried in more snow. It would’ve been a nightmare traveling through them without the gift of flight. For the millionth time on this journey she felt blessed to be able to fly.

The mountains weren’t exceptionally taller than most she had seen in her life but the sheer amount of them and how they were nearly completely covered in snow and ice made them a daunting sight. There was far less uncovered rock on their features than there was ice or snow covering it all up, almost making the mountains look more like white daggers or teeth than mountains of stone. And as far as she could tell they went east, west, and south as far as the eye could see. There was probably plenty of snow-covered land and unbroken ground beyond them but for now it was truly mountain territory.

“Maybe I’ll at least see a lake or river or something somewhere...” Rainbow Dash muttered to herself.

Looking down again at the snow it was quite obvious that she’d at least never be thirsty up in this part of the world. Ice, ice, everywhere and all the bites to eat. Not the best way to quench one’s thirst but she had done it a lot before on this journey. Chewing and eating the ice could be a decent substitute for actual food for a little while if she couldn’t find any as well. And to be honest her prospects in that area didn’t look too good. Rainbow Dash didn’t see any hints of color or vegetation anywhere, not a surprise and she figured she’d have to keep traveling south for a while before she did but it certainly didn’t make this place any more inviting. Food was probably going to be her number one concern while she was flying through here.

Rainbow Dash blinked and started looking directly ahead again right before her eyes narrowed and she peaked back down. “Wait a second.”

She had thought she had seen something in the snow, something out of place. Perhaps it was just a rock but there was definitely something that wasn’t part of the pure white canvas down there. Rainbow Dash peered harder towards the edge of the snow ocean before the mountains started to rise.

There. A series of brown triangles stabbed out of the surface of snow right in front of a valley between the two closest mountains to Rainbow Dash. They didn’t look like rocks from this distance—too uniform and not the right color—but she wasn’t sure just what they were yet. So obviously she knew what to do now.

“Already found something to check out. Awesome,” Rainbow Dash grinned and dove down towards the triangles.

Luckily for her, despite the poor light thanks to the clouds, there wasn’t much wind or a lot of falling snow around her right now, otherwise she probably wouldn’t have seen the objects in the snow to begin with. The closer she approached the easier it was to tell that she was clearly looking at something unnatural, and she was fairly certain she knew what the triangles were. Or at least what they were the remnants of.

Rainbow Dash’s hooves landed in the snow in the middle of them, sinking down a few inches until her fetlocks were totally buried and flinching at the sudden chill, and she looked around at the group of decaying brown tents. It was tough to tell how old these things were or how long they had been here, but very long was a good guess. Their canvasses were a thick brown fabric of some kind and the poles that Rainbow Dash could still see were made of wood. All of them were at least halfway buried in the snow or more, they had been sitting here unattended for ages while more and more snow dropped on them.

So Rainbow approached the one nearest to her and tried to open up the front flap. But when she tried it wouldn’t open up, like something was holding the two flaps together. Rainbow Dash frowned and dug away a few bits of snow at the front of the tent to reveal more of the flap, finally seeing a spot where two holes in the front flap were connected and tied together by a piece of rope. With a click of her tongue, Rainbow Dash untied it and pulled open the flap.

The foul smell of rotting and fermenting something burst from inside the newly opened tent and Rainbow Dash nearly retched. The snow and cold obviously hadn’t preserved everything perfectly. Rainbow Dash closed the tent flap immediately and backed away.

“Okay, let’s try a different one and hope it doesn’t smell so bad,” Rainbow said. She didn’t exactly want to think about what might have been inside that tent.

Looking around at some of the others she noticed a tent that had all but the top couple of feet completely submerged in snow and the front flap was open, allowing snow to pour into the insides. Digging through snow didn’t bother her at this point though so Rainbow Dash trotted over and fully opened up the tent before digging around inside to find anything. Her hoof soon hit something hard and her eyes widened, Rainbow Dash dug faster and faster to uncover whatever was in this tent. Throwing snow out behind her she uncovered something that looked almost like a gnarled set of tree branches. But Rainbow Dash was able to recognize what they really were immediately: Reindeer horns.

“Oh. That figures,” Rainbow Dash frowned and spent the next minute fully digging out the frozen and relatively well preserved Reindeer from inside the tent. She grimaced as she looked on at him in pity. “You must be from Nogt… part of some expedition, huh?” She stuck her head out and looked around at the other tents as she could only assume what else was in them. “Looks like exploring this side of the world didn’t go too well for you guys.”

It gave Rainbow Dash pause; the Reindeer of the True North were used to these kinds of places, weren’t they? Their bodies were better suited for the climate and they had thousands of years of history up on the other side. And Nogt wasn’t even that far from here, in fact if Rainbow looked back she could still barely make out the wall and tornado. Yet… they had all perished out here in the snow? Rainbow couldn’t help but be curious. Was this side of the True North really that much worse? She had thought that there were plenty of extremely cold and desolate places from where she had come from already, and she didn’t remember hearing any stories of Reindeer dying out there.

Rainbow Dash searched through the rest of the snowed-in tent, ignoring the freezing numbness that had conquered her hooves. A book, a scroll, some parchment, if these guys were explorers from Nogt they must have kept a journal of what had happened on their expedition.

It reminded her of when she had been searching through the crash site of a large airship on a mountainside, looking for answers…

Rainbow Dash shook her head. That had nothing to do with this.

At last she found something else under the snow, a wooden box of some sort that when she opened it up revealed a scattered assortment of ancient papers and one wood-bound book that looked like it was practically falling apart. Rainbow Dash very carefully opened the front cover of the book and to her dismay half the pages came with it, their edges flaking off as they partially disintegrated from her touch.

“Ugh, better than nothing still,” Rainbow Dash said as she looked at the faded words on the page she had randomly opened up to. “Time to read.”

-become apparent that we have not taken what we need from our home of Nogt despite our best preparations. We simply couldn’t have known how empty the other side beyond Nogt was. It’s unlike the lands we came from at all.

Three months of supplies was thought to be enough but we have been unable to find any extra kindling or even the slightest sign of food. Animal or plant. I dare say that there’s nothing alive at all out here. And now we won’t even have the wood to keep our fires going.

What’s more is that getting back to Nogt is impossible, the snow has-

The rest of the words on the page were too faded to read so Rainbow Dash turned to the next one she could.

-the sun still refuses to show and the winds block us from attempting to head any direction but south. However we know that there’s no refuge for us that way either. All the scouts and the other parties that left our main camp in the first week of the expedition have failed to return or check in in any way.

Why is it so cold? I thought I was used to the cold after my numerous expeditions south of Nogt on the other side. Only now I realize how wrong I was.

It’s obvious we’ve failed in our mission to map out and discover these lands and whatever other creatures or kingdoms might call them home. What I don’t think everyone else on the expedition has grasped though is that we likely will not be able to return to Nogt to speak of our failure.

This camp was supposed to be a hoofhold into this part of the world, somewhere relatively close to our home that could be resupplied and work as the starting point for future expeditions further south. It was supposed to be simple. The other ones journeying off into the mountains were the ones doing the dangerous work, I thought. I don’t think anyone else here at camp but me realizes that we’ve already been claimed by the snow.

Rainbow Dash frowned as she reached the end of that page, she carefully tried to reach towards the back of the book and read the last words written to see if she could glean any knowledge that would be more helpful. Right now all she had gotten was what she expected but just maybe there was something informative or revealing about this place that would help her when she started flying again.

We still have plenty of food but it doesn’t matter anymore. I don’t have the strength to eat. I barely have the strength left to write. It’s so cold, we’re all so cold. Nothing can live in this place. I haven’t seen a single arctic bird or heard the cry of a beast, nor have I seen any plants growing anywhere, and now I know why. This place is death. Cold death. The other parties we sent south were futile, I understand now. They will find nothing, no one will ever find anything here. No Reindeer could make a home here, nor any other warm, living creature. It’s all a wasteland of snow and ice, it has to be. This is not our home. This place is different from where we came from where even in the blinding snow one could still find warmth and life. Here there is only the merciless cold. And death.

Rainbow Dash closed the book with a sigh and let it rest beside the frozen Reindeer. She calmly walked out of the tent and looked towards the towering mountains south of her.

“Well guess what? I like a challenge,” Rainbow Dash spread her wings and shot off into the sky once more.

A cold wind came down from the mountains, making her shiver slightly before she blasted beyond them.

The entry in the journal about the Reindeer thinking he knew what it meant to be cold before coming here came to Rainbow Dash’s mind. Because she thought she had known the same thing too.

She was wrong.

Whatever “cold” she had been through on her journey before this was nothing. This was what it meant to be cold. Ice frosted over the bottom of her eyes, making her certain that if she blinked her eyes would momentarily get stuck shut. Her nose had two icicles dripping down from it, her extremities were completely numb and unresponsive, frost had turned her tail into a frozen, unmoving sheet of hair. The chill from the air went through her entire body and into her very soul, making Rainbow Dash wonder if she’d ever be able to feel warm again.

Her teeth chattered and her body constantly shivered thanks to the cold air around the mountains. Each beat of her wings was agony. Winter days spent back in Ponyville were like summer compared to this. Nothing could prepare Rainbow Dash, or any other creature for that matter, for sheer unrelenting cold like this. It was almost a crime to even compare other cold places or seasons like winter to the cold death of this strange other half of the True North.

While just previously the wind hadn’t been more than a breeze before she made it to the mountains, now the freezing gales surrounded her. Rainbow Dash couldn’t even really tell from which direction it was mainly coming thanks to how numb and unresponsive so much of her body was. Maybe everywhere? Snow was falling all around her too, making visibility practically nil. It was only thanks to her massive amount of experience that she hadn’t crashed into a mountainside already.

The frost was settling on her wings as well despite their constant movement and the warm blood rushing into them. Her feathers were slowly becoming glazed over with ice.

By this point she could feel icicles forming on the hair of her underbelly as well, her ears too became little more than frozen points with icicles hanging off them. Rainbow Dash could do nothing about it. The freezing power of the weather around her was simply too much, even for a pegasus who normally manipulated the weather to do her bidding. Perhaps she could form a cloud shelter at some point to stave off the cold or give her wings some rest but she truly didn’t feel like she had the energy to do that. Not with the cold piercing and enveloping her entire body, mind and spirit. Mercilessly.

Her lips had turned to a far deeper blue than the rest of her coat and the meager amount of moisture from her mouth had long gone dry thanks to the howling winds and cold. Frost too caked around the corners of her mouth, making her uncomfortable and wishing she could lick the frost away. A fool’s errand if there was one.

Not one to give up, however, Rainbow Dash continued on through the mountains and did all she could to keep herself going. She flew up and down in short dips so as to break the monotonous act of flying straight ahead and try to force some more blood through her veins, keep her heart pumping and her body heated as best she could. Mentally she hummed to herself and finally wiped away the icicles hanging from her nose to breathe easier.

Think warm thoughts, think warm thoughts… Rainbow Dash repeated to herself again and again. Taking a hot shower. Taking a dip in the spa back home. Group hug with everyone else. Going to the Dragon Lands. Being stuck in the maintenance area of the Metal Mountain. Sitting around a campfire with my friends…

This might have been a colder place than she had ever been before, but—this place had also never had a pony like Rainbow Dash fly through it. She wasn’t going to lose to weather. Not after everything else and not with everything still ahead of her.

Unfortunately the more she tried to fight against it the colder it seemed to get. Any icicles brushed away just reformed and the wind only increased in fierceness. Rainbow Dash had to squeeze her eyes shut as a hail of snow was blown into her face and once she was able to open her eyes back up she had to instantly suck in a sharp breath and just barely dart out of the way of a white cliff that suddenly appeared in front of her face. This place was treacherous with a capitol “T”.

And now the flaps of her wings were growing slower and weaker. Despite quite possibly being the greatest flier in the whole world, her normally strong appendages so full of life felt heavy on Rainbow’s sides.

For a second she thought of potentially looking for a cave or at least some sort of cleft in one of the nearby mountains where she could rest for a bit and try to see if the cold and winds would let up. But immediately she realized that was a bad idea. Slowing down and stopping anywhere in this kind of weather was a death sentence. She didn’t exactly know how she knew this, but her heart was telling her that things would never get better than they are now. She’d have to keep moving or the cold would claim her just like it did those Reindeer.

Shivers were breaking out through her entire body and her teeth clattered with such frequency that she could’ve bit through a plank of wood. Only her own internal sense of direction was keeping her on the track south, otherwise she’d be lost in this blizzard of white. With her eyes narrowed she could only occasionally make out any shapes in front of her. She guessed she had passed a couple of mountains but it was hard to tell exactly how far she had gone. There was a way for her to tell where mountains were by feeling the air currents around her, but her senses were so shot by the cold that Rainbow Dash was blind by that method as well.

With a grunt, she struggled to make her wings move normally now, she felt a strange hitch in them like her joints were freezing up and the feathers were stuck together. It took a little bit of extra strength to get a complete flap out of them each time.

Rainbow Dash chanced a glance back at her own wings and saw them practically covered with a sheen of ice. She hadn’t even noticed how bad it had gotten until now.

“Darn it...” Rainbow Dash grit her teeth and tried to shake the ice off, trying to break her wings free. She reached a shaking hoof up to her back to try and shatter the ice but all she could do was ineffectually paw at it. There was no strength left in any of her limbs.

And because of that, Rainbow Dash began to fall.

Her body faltered thanks to the uneven flapping of her wings, making her wobble back and forth as she quickly descended to the ground. Far too quickly to call safe. It was probably only snow down there but even that could make for a hard landing depending how it went, and there was the possibility of her hitting solid rock or ice too.

Rainbow Dash futilely attempted to free up her wings for a few moments longer before checking down at the ground again. White. Technically good but she was still approaching at too fast and steep an angle.

So she gave up on flying normally and spread her wings as wide as they could go now in an attempt to glide safely to the ground. Her wings were stiff and they twitched in refusal at first but Rainbow Dash finally forced them open enough to catch the wind beneath them. She jilted in the air and looked towards the ground, trying to pull up a little bit more so as not to just smack right into the packed snow. Finally the wind obscuring her vision gave way nearly completely and Rainbow Dash sharply pulled up just five feet above the surface of the snow.

At high speed she glided for a second longer before her hooves started catching along and digging tiny trenches out of the snow. At last her hooves caught on a thick pile of it and launched Rainbow Dash end over end and smashing a pony shaped hole in the snow twenty feet from where she started to land. Freezing cold and covered in snow, she pulled herself free of the hole and looked around.

The wind wasn’t as bad down here and it looked like she was on a mountain ridge. It sloped up ahead of her and she could just barely make out the crest of the ridge maybe a hundred feet ahead.

Rainbow Dash frowned and looked at her wings—still frozen. She tried flapping them and shaking them free of the ice but it was no good. Her wings and all the feathers on them were frozen together. Even if she could get a few beats and make it into the air she wouldn’t stay up there for long. With a grimace, she squeezed her wings shut (also pushing them down with her hooves) and kept them against her sides for now.

The worst possible situation had arrived. It was time for her to walk.

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps.

Four steps.

Rainbow Dash made the slow climb up the snowy mountain ridge after the far more appealing option of flight was taken away from her. Snow clung to her in matted clumps, making the task of walking even more difficult. Her hooves also felt like nothing more than big blocks of ice thanks to how numb the cold had made them. If Rainbow Dash knew this was going to happen she would’ve gotten some boots and a heavy coat at some point. Instead, each step was a painful labor and she hadn’t even been walking for more than two minutes. This sort of pace was agonizingly slow for her and she had barely covered any actual distance at all since she was still just going up the sloped ridge.

Once she made it to the top though she’d at least be able to look out and see what lied ahead. Rainbow Dash was expecting a series of valleys and mountains covered in snow that were going to be an absolute pain to walk through but maybe she’d at least see a decent path south. The wind and snowfall had let up slightly in that it wasn’t blinding her anymore but the freezing cold temperature of the world around her had gotten worse if anything. Directly being in contact with so much snow was a painful thing.

Her wings were stuck uselessly at her sides and her mane had become full of icicles and covered in a sheen of frost that made her hair feel brittle atop her head. Cold, cold, cold, from every direction pressing down on every part of her body. Rainbow Dash thought that even a fire at this point might not overcome the sheer cold out here. Shaking her body to try and free herself of the snow or at least shake what had fallen on her back off was only a temporary fix. A few seconds later the light amount of snow falling would still be enough to keep her back powdery white.

“Think warm thoughts,” Dash said aloud to remind herself she was still alive and moving.

“Princess Celestia is moving the sun overhead right now… i-it’s the middle of the day and it’s n-nice and warm out,” Rainbow Dash muttered.

It wouldn’t the first time she had tried to use mind over matter on this trip, Twilight would be happy to know. If only the weather was just a little less crazy and independent she could probably manipulate it a little bit to make things easier for herself but the way it was she’d probably need a whole weather team to do that. Those scientist guys she had met way back would be a huge help now, the flightsuit and weather dampening spells they had invented were perfect for a situation like this.

Instead, Rainbow had to trudge through the snow with her hooves feeling twice—thrice—as heavy as normal. The snow all around her gave her nothing but a white wasteland to look at thanks to the slope obscuring her vision of everything ahead. At least when she got to the top of it she’d be able to see the mountains the ridge directly ran across, and whatever lied down the other side.

Walking up a steep slope like this was tough though and Rainbow was partially worried that every time her hoof made snowfall she was accidentally going to dislodge a huge drift and go plunging away with it. Every step saw her legs go down past the halfway point and dig out huge chunks of snow, showing her that there was a lot of loose snow beneath her hooves. These top layers were probably the result of freshly fallen snow that had only come down in the past few days before blowing away. A foot or two down she’d find much firmer snow all packed together, along with ice and the rock that actually made up this mountain she was walking on.

“Twilight is never going to let me hear the end of how I didn’t know barely anything about snowy mountains when I get home. She’s going to lecture me so much on how unprepared and reckless I was… ugh, I hate getting lectured by her.”

The one positive she could hold onto at the moment was she wasn’t hungry or thirsty yet. Because if the Reindeer’s journal was accurate, she wasn’t going to find food anytime soon. But her last meal she had back in Nogt was still in her stomach and she was going to enjoy all the nourishment it could provide.

Rainbow Dash was now about fifty feet from the top of the ridge but the slope got steeper and steeper the closer to the top she got until it was nearly vertical. It was impossible for her to tell how narrow it was up there or if she could really stand on it and take a look at everything on the other side… or if she would accidentally take a tumble down the other side as soon as she crested it. Her hooves were having trouble getting any purchase in the snow either, Rainbow Dash grunted in frustration as she kept pulling away clumps of snow and backsliding along with them each time, not making any progress.

“C-Come on!” She dug away at some of the loose snow on top to find a better purchase below it. Not like her hooves could get any number anyways.

Finding some snow that didn’t feel like she was trying to swim through it, she managed to make a slow and steady progress back up the slope. Quite a few snowball-sized pieces were still falling loose all around her but Rainbow at least hadn't started a chain-reaction and brought the whole ridge down. So she’d call that a plus. Still half-frozen with snow and icicles clinging all over her body, Rainbow Dash climbed the final lengths of the slope right up until her hoof crested the top of the ridge.

“Y-Yes!” She called out a little too loudly, forgetting about the possibility of avalanches in her moment of triumph. There didn’t seem to be a danger of that at the moment though and Rainbow Dash heaved the rest of her body up. “Whoa!” Rainbow said as she teetered on top of the ridge, it was way too narrow for her to stand on she threw half her body over and straddled it for a second to take a breather.

Now she could see what was coming up next for her.

Dozens of snowy mountains and valleys spread in front of her until the whiteness all blurred together in the distance, creating a blank and impenetrable canvas. A glacier or two was along the way but for the most part it looked like Rainbow would be walking up and down drifts of snow and along the treacherous sides of mountains. Without her wings as a safety net. Speaking of that, she spied a path along the mountain that this ridge connected to she could take or she could go down the other side of this ridge and keep walking through the snow. She honestly doubted either was better than the other.

The decision was made for her anyways when the snow she was resting on started to crumble away and slide downwards.

“Aw crud...” Rainbow Dash said as the portion of the ridge she was on fell away completely and took her down the other side in a messy roll with enough snow to bury her twice over.

Like a barrel of apples she tumbled down only to finally stop at the bottom of the ridge once the momentum had died off, leaving her at a level plain of snow. Rainbow Dash fought her way out of the snow that she ended up buried under, shivering and shaking with her whole body a numb dark blue. That was not what she had in mind. She pulled her lower body out of the pile and shook herself off as best she could but it hardly did anything to help.

Rainbow Dash took a deep, shuddering, breath and continued her walk across the snow. The cold around her not letting up for a second.

It was down here, level with the wide valley of snow in front of her, that Rainbow Dash was able to see something poking out like a sore hoof not far ahead of her. Another Reindeer tent that must’ve been left behind by one of the parties she read about in the journal. Rainbow Dash wondered if the other groups who had left that main camp had only made it this far or if there were others yet further south. Regardless, it was a welcome sight. Like the other tents this one looked mostly buried in the snow so she’d probably have to dig it out but maybe there’d be something inside it that could help her.

First she still had to walk across the deep snow to get to it—something that was getting to be more difficult with every step. That tent was a couple hundred feet away and her wings refused to budge at her sides. Rainbow couldn’t even open them anymore without forcing them with her hooves. At least the ground was level and straight, she didn’t have to navigate any hills or go past any boulders. Barring a hidden crevice under the snow she should be okay.

Not flying, the wind didn’t affect her too badly either, the harshest and strongest winds seemed to stay up at higher altitudes. Walking across the snow like this was more difficult for her but at least she could see where she was going. There was a worry in the back of her mind about all this snow and cold actually seriously hurting her hooves if enough time went by with her walking through it. What was that called? Freezebite?

“Come on, Dash, you should know what that kind of thing is called… you were a weather pony for how long? And high-altitude flying is already chilly...” she frowned in annoyance at her inability to recall the right word. “Ugh, whatever.”

The tent still steadily approached, the brown material making it up still poked out noticeably a few feet above the snow. By the time Rainbow Dash got to it she was hoping there would still be a part of her that wasn’t covered in snow or ice either. Her mane even felt heavier and colder on her head because of all the frost in it and the icicles sticking off the tips of her bangs. Snow and ice either caked or clung to the rest of her body in much the same way. If she could get inside that tent and clear it out a little she could take the time to shake off and free herself (momentarily at least) of this cold plague all over her. Stopping for long didn’t seem like a good idea to her but if she was at least inside that tent she didn’t think it would be too bad. She just couldn’t let herself “rest” for real or fall asleep.

“I s-swear if I get to this tent and there’s n-nothing in it, I’m g-going to lose it,” Rainbow Dash reflexively ground her teeth back and forth.

She started getting close to the tent, the trail of hoofsteps behind her already filling up slightly with the light snowfall coming down from the sky. With a single glance, Rainbow was able to tell she was facing the back of the tent and she ended up having to circle around to the front. Like some of the others back at the main camp she had first stumbled upon, this one had the front flaps tied up to keep most of the snow out. Or at least it had at one point. The rope binding them together was torn loose and snow had partially buried much of the tent’s insides.

Rainbow Dash scowled in annoyance and went on her way of digging it all out. At least the frantic actions helped her keep up her movement. She dug like a dog this time, throwing the snow out between her back legs to join the rest of the snow in the wide field. So far she hadn’t found any hidden Reindeer bodies or anything either, but they could be buried all around the tent for all she knew. Not a pleasant thought.

“Dumb… stupid… snow,” Rainbow Dash muttered as she continued digging out the tent.

Clack!

Her hoof struck something hard. Rainbow paused and raised her eyebrow, digging around that spot to uncover a rocky surface beneath the snow. She kept digging and digging at it and found that the entire tent looked like it was first set up on top of a rock instead of the snow. The bottom of the tent had either rotted or been torn away, leaving it entirely open to the ground below it. But at least now she didn’t have to dig out as much snow. Rainbow Dash instead only had to shift around some of it and push it to the sides of the tent to uncover most of the tent’s bottom.

Like she had figured, no bodies inside it. But there were a few things scattered on the ground that grabbed her attention. For one was a circle of old burned up wood and a pile of ashes with some weird rocks scattered about it. It looked like someone had lit a fire inside this tent to either keep warm or cook something at this point. Dash was surprised it didn’t end in the whole tent being burned up. There were a few bags around her but as Dash checked them, every last one was empty. It looked like this tent had been mostly cleaned out before it was abandoned. Made sense to her, the Reindeer had probably figured they couldn’t just stay here and needed to keep on moving if they had any chance at surviving. So they took what they could and left their ruined tent behind.

Rainbow Dash reached down and grabbed two of the rocks that had caught her attention. They definitely weren’t just pebbles or something, they were gray and looked like they had been carved and chiseled a specific way. Thanks to her camping trips with Applejack she actually knew what they were too: Flint. Stones of flint made for help with starting fires if you didn’t feel like matches. Seems the ancient Reindeer must’ve used them.

“Okay… these could be useful,” Rainbow Dash nodded her head, making sure that she would bring them with her when she left. “Anything else?”

No food no matter where she checked, that was unfortunate but not the worst thing right now. No clothes she could put on or any sort of tools either though. She clicked her tongue in annoyance. The tent hadn’t been a waste but it hadn’t given her as much as she wanted either. She’d take one of the empty bags with her at least, she could carry the rocks and anything else she found on her journey through the snow inside it. Rainbow Dash took the time to scrape the snow and ice off her body and then flung the bag over her back, the strap and other material thankfully holding up after all these years. Tossing the flint stones inside she grinned and turned to head back out the tent and into the unforgiving snow.

But when she tried to step out she felt yanked back as if something had grabbed her tail. Dash almost stumbled and fell to the ground before looking back and seeing the last few inches of her rainbow tail had frozen stuck to the rock that made up the bed of this tent.

“Seriously?!” Rainbow frowned.

She tried tugging it loose but it wouldn’t budge at all. Something she was willing to blame on the lack of strength she had in her body right now. Either way, that thin coat of ice that had covered up the end of her tail kept her stuck like glue to the rock. Rainbow Dash growled and sat down before reaching back and trying to shatter her tail free with her hoof. All it did though was mash her poor tail harder against the rock.

“Come on, I can’t afford to stay here!”

She wouldn’t mind cutting the last few inches of her tail hairs off but she didn’t have anything to cut with. Short of yanking them out she didn’t know how she was going to get herself free. And she didn’t even have the strength in her limbs and body to do that right now anyways.

Her eyes then spied the pile of old burnt wood and ash. And then a rather dumb idea popped into her head.

A grin stretched across her face as Rainbow Dash pulled the two flint stones out of her bag and held them in her hooves. “Well if I can’t cut or pull my way loose then I guess I’ll just have to take care of that ice another way.”

Problem was she couldn’t exactly burn her new bag. So that left the tent around her being the only thing to set fire to. Which could end very badly. Of course, Rainbow was used to stupid decisions, she needed some fire in here to raise the temperature and melt the ice. She brought up the two stones and started banging them together to try and create some sparks that would light up the tent. Only as much as she hit them together, nothing happened.

“How does Applejack do this?” Rainbow Dash frowned in annoyance. “It’s just hitting two rocks together, isn’t it?”

Remembering that when it came to starting fire with sticks you were supposed to rub them together at high speed, Rainbow Dash started to slide one of the flint stones against the other. She held one steady in her hoof and flicked the other against its jagged surface, trying to make sparks that would land on the tent walls. She felt the right kind of resistance as she scraped them back and forth but all the while she did this it was getting colder around her and snow was starting to fall back into the tent. She either needed to get that fire started right now or get moving in some other way.

Perhaps her desperation was all she needed—the next strike of flint against flint produced a shower of weak sparks that sprayed onto the worn material of the tent. The faintest bit possible of a glowing red ember appeared on the brown material with a small trail of smoke coming up from it. Rainbow Dash giggled in glee as she kept on hitting the flint together just like that to make more sparks and get a real fire started.

“Yes, yes, yes!” Rainbow said as an actual fire started burning up and down the tent. Burning much faster than she had anticipated. The smile quickly left her face as the fire spread to the top of the tent and threatened to envelop the two front flaps as well. “No, no, no!”

Rainbow Dash looked down at her tail and tried to tug it loose, she threw the flint stones back into her bag. The temperature was heating up in the tent but it still hadn’t melted away the ice that imprisoned her tail. But what it was doing was making the rest of her feel a whole lot better. For the first time since traveling through here she felt some actual warmth. The frost covering her body was evaporating and her wings were starting to loosen up. Strength was actually returning to her thanks to the heat.

With the tent now going up in flames around her, melted ice and sweat both poured down her body in rivulets. Rainbow Dash grabbed her tail between her hooves and with all her might yanked it free of the ice holding it in place.

The ice cracked apart around her tail and Rainbow Dash pumped a hoof in victory. “Yeah!”

It wasn’t a moment too soon as the fire had caused the tent to start to collapse, Rainbow Dash gulped and without even worrying about it, turned and jumped through the burning flaps and dove out into the snow. She felt the licks of flame along her sides and back—instantly replaced by biting cold and the hiss of steam as she formed a pony shaped hole in the snow. Rainbow Dash stuck her head out and looked back at the tent, seeing it collapsing into a simple bonfire, burning strong as a lot of the snow around it melted. It wouldn’t last for much longer but for the moment it provided Rainbow Dash with an incredibly welcome source of heat.

The smug grin came right back onto her face as she sat down in front of the fire and warmed herself up. “This turned out way better than expected.”

Even with the snow falling around her and the unnatural freezing cold of these mountains, Rainbow Dash managed to still feel a little bit warm thanks to the fire she had started. By now the burning tent was little more than a heap of ashes with dying flames atop it but it would stay alive for at least a couple minutes longer. Rainbow Dash planned to enjoy and bask in the heat of it for as long as she could.

Felt good to move her wings around too, even if she wasn’t flying, just getting some blood pumping through them again was doing wonders. Rainbow Dash had to shake them (and her mane and tail) a few times to get all the melting ice and snow out. It wouldn’t do any good to just end up covered in water for when she got up and started moving again, she had to be dry too.

“Almost doesn’t feel so bad like this,” Rainbow said as she patted her new bag with the helpful flint inside it. “That’s gonna change soon...”

Despite her desire to fly off as soon as the fire died she knew she shouldn’t. Soon enough her wings would freeze again and if she happened to be above some rocks when that happened… that might be it. So it would be back to walking and walking and walking some more through the snow. This crazy place was just too extreme, she couldn’t fly through it without any way to keep her wings and the rest of her body from failing her. And the winds and snow up higher in the sky would make her blind again. No, she hated to admit it but she need to take the slow walk through the snow and keep going south.

So once the fire had reached it’s last few, pitiful moments, Rainbow Dash stood up and stretched. There was still cold whipping all around her now but it didn’t feel any worse than “average winter” to her thanks to the fire. She knew that was going to change the instant she stepped away and started walking again. Rainbow Dash huffed and blew a breath of air out her nose before cracking her neck and turning away from the dying fire. All that was left now was a black pit in the middle of the snow, and soon that would be buried too, erasing all traces of the former tent.

Just as she had expected, a freezing cold breeze blew over her body once she had only stepped a few feet away from the fire and the numbness started crawling up her snow covered hooves. Rainbow Dash fluttered her wings every few seconds, not flapping them fully, just moving them to keep some activity up and make it take a little longer before they froze completely.

Ahead of her she didn’t see anything yet. Just the snowy landscape with all the valleys and mountains she had seen from atop the ridge. So still no idea where she was actually going or how far she would have to walk, just the vague direction of “south” was in her head.

That was good enough for now.

Eventually she knew she’d have to start climbing up hills again, or even over and around some of the mountains. There was the possibility she’d get lost or snowed in or stuck somewhere and have to backtrack. That’s just the weakness of walking and Rainbow Dash hated it. And while she was a risk taker she knew flying was basically pointless with how fast her wings would freeze back up. So might as well just walk from the beginning.

And as she thought about that she could feel the frost working its way back over her exposed feathers once again. Rainbow Dash tried to keep them loose but the snow and ice continued to fall and coalesce on her. A shiver or two was all she had before her body started turning a deeper shade of blue again, and her lips turning even deeper than that.

The bag and the flint were the only positives Rainbow could think about right now. If she ever came across something else she could burn for heat she had the tools to do so now. And if worst came to worst she could set the bag on fire too. If she could actually set it down someplace a little dry.

Rainbow Dash looked up at the sky to see if she could tell how late in the day it was but all she saw was the same impenetrable cover of clouds high above the peaks of even the tallest mountains. A blurry grayness clotted out everything. It was definitely still daytime or she wouldn’t have any light at all but things were still far darker than she would have preferred. Judging from what she had seen so far and what she read from that journal, she didn’t think the sky would be clearing up for her soon either. Only the faint shadow of sunlight made it through those clouds and brought a dim light to this frozen wasteland. If she was the type of pony to get depressed she would probably find this place depressing.

Instead she was just more annoyed than anything.

Dumb colder than cold weather that she thought she’d be more than used to by now. Dumb walking that she didn’t want to do. Dumb north that she just wanted to be out of.

It was so cold, so inhospitable here that it made Rainbow Dash think about the Windigos from Hearth’s Warming legend. But they only came around when ponies were at each other’s throats and not getting along. Still, she had seen so many crazy things on her journey that it wouldn’t surprise her if somehow Windigos lived up here too. If you could even call creatures like that alive in the first place.

Rainbow Dash shivered, she didn’t like the idea of facing an enemy or problem she couldn’t punch. Or challenge to and beat in a super awesome race.

She didn’t have enough of those in her life.

Now she was back to being as cold as she was before she had found the tent and the fire, any lingering traces of warmth had completely left her body. With a grimace, she closed her wings tight against her sides as she felt her feathers completely freeze over. Her mane and tail were in a similar frosted situation and freshly made icicles hung from her chin and ears. A pony popsicle once again. But she was still moving. The cold was a problem but she wasn’t going to let it beat her, as agonizing as this trek was.

Unbeknownst to her, a shadow flew through the clouds above her head.

Rainbow Dash’s breath came out in ragged gasps as she sat in a crumpled heap on the hard rock ground of a crevice she had fallen into. A trail of frozen blood went halfway down her right front leg from a gash above her knee she had sustained in the fall. It was almost funny, the blood had frozen before it even had the chance to drip off her.

She frowned in annoyance and looked up at the narrow gap she had fallen through. “And things were going so well...”

Just a couple of minutes ago she had been out walking across the surface of the snow. It was as cold as ever but at least she had been making progress. The day was still “light” out as well so she wanted to get as many hours of walking in as possible.

The sound of the snow cracking and crumbling beneath her hooves had caused her to freeze mid-step. Once she had looked down she saw a fissure spreading in the snow from where she was standing, and then all at once the snow fell away and Rainbow Dash went falling down the crevice before she could do anything. It seemed snow had packed over the surface of the crevice but her weight had been too much for it to bear without anything holding it up beneath it.

Rainbow Dash liked to think that in a better state she would’ve easily had the reflexives to jump out of the way and not fall down. But as cold and drained as she was she just couldn’t react in time. She banged herself against the ice-covered sides of the crevice a few times on the way down before landing hard on the rock—thirty feet below the surface.

“Tch, just my luck,” Rainbow Dash grumbled and stood up. It hurt a little bit to put her weight on her leg but it was a pain she could easily manage. She’d felt worse.

She also supposed she should consider herself fortunate that she wasn’t just stuck at the bottom of a narrow crevice with nowhere to move or anything. The crevice was just an opening into the cave she now found herself in with the actual narrow crevice she had fallen through only starting about five or ten feet above her head. Better or worse she actually wasn’t sure which she should consider the situation as, but there might be something else down in this cave or another way out besides the way she fell in. If anything it also didn’t feel quite as agonizingly cold as being out on the surface. Though her wings were still frozen shut and ice and snow still covered most of the rest of her body.

Rainbow Dash shook herself and started using her hooves to knock off most of that snow and ice before taking a better look around. The light down here was pretty poor but she saw that she was in a small, circular chamber with one large path leading off to her right. Instead of fresh snow down here, the smooth rock walls of the cave were coated in a thick layer of ice in most places. With a glance up she saw it was the same case with the walls of the crevice. She wasn’t sure she could climb back up that, her unprotected hooves would freeze to the ice even if she was able to try shimmying back up. It was only because of the speed she was falling and her body weight that something like that hadn’t happened in the first place. And it was way too narrow to fly up even if her wings were working right now.

“Whatever,” Rainbow Dash shrugged as she started to explore the icy cave. It was obvious she wasn’t getting anywhere just standing around.

The lack of any sort of breeze down here or snow falling directly on her was helpful but it wouldn’t matter in the end if Rainbow couldn’t find anything else. So she quickly trotted down the only path there was, looking for either a way out or something that could help her get up the crevice. Icicles hung from the top of the cave like daggers as Rainbow passed beneath them, not making this place look any more inviting. But she had been through similar places before, something so simple wouldn’t scare her.

She still hadn’t seen any signs of life in this snowy wasteland so Rainbow Dash doubted she would be suddenly attacked by a beast or anything. It was doubtful any sort of creature called these caves its home. No, it was just Rainbow Dash trotting through a cold ice cavern. It didn’t take long before she reached another more open chamber in the caves, with the only other path leading out of it heading to her left. So it seemed like she was just going to be going back and forth for a while.

Another round of shivers passed through her body and Rainbow Dash frowned. This place wasn’t as insulating as she hoped. It would be better if she could fly and not have to walk directly on the cold ground but her wings were still completely useless.

She idly imagined that this must be how a unicorn felt when they couldn’t use magic for whatever reason.

Or how Applejack felt when she didn’t have her hat. That thought made Rainbow Dash snicker, the light humor doing a good job to keep her mood up.

If only she could keep her temperature up too. It might be night soon as well and then Rainbow Dash would lose all of the meager light she had. These dumb caves hadn’t shown her anything yet, it was all just one path so far and there was a whole lot of nothing down here. If she could find a path leading further south or through one of the nearby mountains that would be perfect but it didn’t look like she was going to get that lucky. Instead it was more directionless winding through the caves and it was making Rainbow Dash more and more frustrated. The only positive about this was that she had no way of getting lost.

Maybe she should head back already and try her luck with climbing out of the crevice? But the actual start of the crevice was too high above her head… to even get to the part where she could attempt to shimmy or crawl up she’d need something to help her. Rainbow just couldn’t jump that high without a boost from her wings. She couldn’t climb a vertical wall with just her hooves either, even if it was only a few feet she needed to go. The ice was too smooth and she might get frozen stuck to it, just the same thing she was worrying about earlier.

Nope, it really sucked but she was just going to have to keep walking through these caves for now until she found a way out or something else that could help her.

“What I wouldn’t give for a torch right now...” Rainbow said as she glanced down at her bag. She wasn’t desperate or dumb enough to burn that right now though. But if she could find a stray piece of wood, that would really go a long way.

Now she reached a rather unfortunate spot in this underground cave. A crossroads. And she had absolutely nothing to go on when it came to deciding which direction to go in. Both paths looked pretty much the same to her so Rainbow Dash did what anypony would do in a situation like this: close her eyes and spin around a couple of times to decide which way to go. Left.

“Works for me,” Rainbow shrugged and started walking down the path going to her left. She was going to have to remember just which path to go back down if she ended up backtracking, especially if there were more crossroads and branching paths in the future.

Her hooves echoed against the hard rock ground of the cave, each click annoying her further with nothing else to drown out the sound of them. She wasn’t sure how much distance she had traveled in these caves but she definitely hadn’t made much progress in the direction she wanted since it was mostly a bunch of winding back and forth. If she was going to be the first pony to fly all the way around the world she’d need to make a better pace once she got out of these frozen northern lands. Her first experience with this side of the world wasn’t going too well.

If she could just get to a place where she could fly for real again…

She couldn’t wait. She couldn’t wait to be flying over green forests, blue rivers, fields of flowers, rolling hills. Warm places. Rainbow Dash just couldn’t wait.

But first she had to get out of this cave and then out of this seemingly endless and inhospitable snowscape. Which was all looking less easy by the second. She still didn’t have a good idea for how she would get out of this cave if she didn’t find another exit soon, and now if she had to walk back to the crevice it would waste so much more time.

To take her mind off those annoying thoughts she started humming to herself and thinking about all the way more fun stuff she’d surely be doing later on on her adventure.

While she was in the middle of that, she saw the path she was on opening up into a new chamber. Rainbow Dash stepped out into it and took a look around in the hopes she would find something here.

She did, but it wasn’t what she expected.

“Oh...” a grim frown made its way across Rainbow’s face as she spotted the ancient Reindeer skeleton lying in the middle of this small cave chamber. She slowly walked up to it—him judging by the antlers—and let out a deep breath. “Sorry dude, guess you went out the same way as your friends.”

Unlike the others she had come across so far though he wasn’t preserved, probably due to a lack of ice and snow. However long ago he had passed away he eventually was reduced to nothing more than the bones Rainbow Dash was now looking at. But it wasn’t just his skeleton in this chamber either, all around him were numerous bags and other belongings, most long since decayed and unrecognizable to Dash but there was also what looked like the remainders of a tent. The poles that would normally hold up its frame looked like they had been smashed.

“You fell down here too, didn’t you?” Rainbow Dash asked the skeleton. “And it looks like you were alone, wonder what happened to the rest of your party.”

She shook her head. “Ugh, now I’m talking to skeletons… I need to get out of this place.”

Rainbow Dash wished Pinkie Pie was here right now to lighten the mood, or any of her other friends for that matter. At the very least it looked like she had some things she could use thanks to everything this Reindeer had brought down here with him. Rainbow Dash felt bad for him but she didn’t want to waste anymore time down here so she quickly got around to checking out what she had on her hooves now.

She grabbed the remnants of the tent and threw that off to the side—she knew what she was using to make a fire down here now—and started going through the various bags. One was full of old papers that completely disintegrated when she just tried touching them and another had a cracked magnifying glass and a broken compass. Not exactly useful tools for her. Rainbow Dash scowled as the next bag she grabbed fell apart like a wet sheet of paper in her hooves, spilling its contents all over the ground.

Seed. She wasn’t sure what kind but she knew seeds when she saw them. It must’ve been the Reindeer’s food and it looked like he still had plenty left when he died. Rainbow glanced over at him, wondering if it was the cold that had gotten to him or if he just gave up. She then looked back down at the pile of seed on the ground and swallowed a lump in her throat.

“Frozen and hundreds of years old… wonder if it’s still good to eat?” She grabbed up a hoofful and ate them up immediately. Maybe not the smartest move but more energy would do her good.

Unfortunately it was like chewing on rocks with how frozen the tiny seeds were, and they were utterly tasteless. It took a bit of struggle but she managed to swallow them down anyways. But a drink of water would’ve really helped her right now.

After eating her fill, Rainbow went over to the next bag, the largest one down here. It looked like a heavy backpack with numerous flaps and pockets in it.

“Please let there be something useful in here,” Rainbow Dash said as she opened up the main flap on top.

A wide smile spread across her face. “Oh yeah.”

While the fire of yet another Reindeer tent burned in front of her, Rainbow Dash finally felt truly comfortable for the first time since coming out into this snowy place.

That was thanks to the treasure she had found in this Reindeer’s discarded possessions.

Her hooves were now fitted by warm woolly boots and a heavy feather jacket with a puffy hood was now wrapped around the rest of her body. Finally she was dressed for the occasion. With the clothes and the fire she had totally gotten rid of the ice and frost all over the rest of her body, it was just a shame that she still couldn’t fly out of the crevice. But another tool she had found in the bag would help with that.

Rainbow Dash turned the old hatchet around in her hooves, it was rusted over almost its entire surface and she wouldn’t be surprised if it broke after a few uses. But it would still help her a lot for climbing her way out of the crevice. She still hadn’t found any other way out of these caves so back there was looking like her only choice. Besides the hatchet she had also found an even more rusted hoof saw, its teeth so dull that they might as well have been square.

She glanced at the Reindeer, unsure of how with all these things he couldn’t make it out of here or last long enough to use up all that food. Maybe the cold and isolation got to him in more ways than one.

Well Rainbow Dash certainly didn’t plan on letting that happen to her. Once the fire burned itself out she was going to take the tools she had discovered and head back to the crevice. Rainbow Dash was going to get herself out of here.

Right after she was done letting the fire warm her up.

She no longer had to worry about her hooves freezing to the icy walls of the crevice, as long as she could get up there in the first place she could either shimmy up or use the hatchet to dig cuts into the ice and pull herself up with it. Rainbow Dash exhaled as she looked up at the crevice she had fallen down only an hour or two earlier. It was still open on top, snow hadn’t concealed it once more, so she had best get working now before her best opportunity slid on by.

“Piece of cake,” Rainbow Dash confidently grinned and cracked her hooves. She pulled the hatchet from one of the pockets on her down jacket and stood up on her back legs.

Rainbow Dash swung the hatchet as hard as she could at the icy surface of the cave wall in front of her, the rusted blade embedding about halfway in and getting stuck. Just what she wanted, it clearly wasn’t coming loose on its own. Rainbow Dash kept it grasped in her hoof and took a deep breath before pulling herself up by the hatchet and kicking her back hooves against the wall at the same time. She had to do this all in an instant, as soon as she reached the apex of her little lift and jump she kicked off the wall and jumped towards the opening of the crevice above her, pulling her hatchet out of the ice at the same time and readying it again.

“Haaa!” Rainbow Dash yelled and swung the hatchet at the inner wall of the crevice while reaching out to the other side with her boot-covered hoof in an attempt to wedge herself in.

The hatchet caught the ice and dug in deep but Rainbow’s weight almost tore it loose. It was only thanks to her firmly pressing her other limb against the wall of the crevice to lessen the amount of pressure on the tool that she didn’t end up falling back to the ground. Now Rainbow Dash hung loosely there inside the crevice, her head and front legs in it and the rest of her dangling beneath her. She couldn’t dislodge the hatchet just yet, she had to pull herself up and get her body all the way in.

A pony who wasn’t as athletic and in-shape as she was might have trouble with that, but even though upper-body strength wasn’t her best area, Rainbow Dash was able to easily pull the rest of herself up into the crevice. She pressed her back against one side of it and her hooves against the either—keeping herself perfectly pinned. She could tell she was still in a precarious position though. The boots she wore now were made for warmth, not grip, and they slid against the ice even with her pressing her limbs down as hard as she could. Rainbow knew she would need the hatchet to make it the rest of the way up without falling.

Carefully reaching back down to it she yanked it loose. Rainbow Dash only paused for a second longer to catch her breath before reaching up and striking the hatchet into a new spot over her head. It dug in well and Rainbow Dash copied the same process as before; hoisting herself carefully up and wedging herself in tight before pulling the hatchet out and stabbing it into a new spot. Rinse and repeat. It was way too slow going for Rainbow’s tastes and the surface was still almost twenty feet away. Despite how great of shape she was in too it was a draining process, she was using muscles she wasn’t used to and the cold was affecting her even through her new outfit. Rainbow Dash was already panting and breathing hard by the time she had made two more moves.

This is a real pain in the flank… She growled inside her head. She didn’t even want to yell out or say anything to waste energy, which just made her more annoyed.

Rainbow Dash reached up for the fourth time and smashed her hatchet into the ice. After she had pulled herself up and pulled the hatchet loose she noticed that the rusted blade was becoming chipped. It was either going to break or stop being able to make the cuts she needed very soon. Rainbow Dash bit the inside of her cheek and braced herself against the walls of the crevice as best she could.

A single glance up told her she was still only about halfway there and she definitely couldn’t risk just crawling up without the hatchet. She’d slide back down and that would be that. There was nothing she could do but take her chances with the hatchet. She clicked her tongue and raised it up above her head, aiming for a fresh spot in the ice.

Here goes. Rainbow Dash hammered it into the ice, upon which the blade fractured into dozens of tiny pieces.

Her eyes went wide as she suddenly found herself without the purchase her body had been expecting, her coiled muscles gave out and she started to slide down the icy crevice. Rainbow Dash pounded her boot-clad hooves against the ice but just like she had noticed earlier they were far too slick to stop her descent.

“No!” Rainbow Dash yelled and tried jamming the broken hatchet into the ice to slow her descent. Unfortunately all it did was drag and bounce off the wall.

Her head banged back against the wall during her fall and Rainbow Dash dropped the hatchet, shortly after falling right out of the crevice and back to the ground below. She hit it with a hard thud and groaned in pain before picking herself up. Gritting her teeth she slammed a hoof down on the ground. The blue pegasus panted breathlessly before squeezing her eyes shut and groaning in frustration. She sat down and stared at her broken hatchet, wracking her mind.

“Now what?”

“This is so not right,” Rainbow Dash said as she sadly looked down at the Reindeer skeleton. “But… there’s no way you would want someone else to end up the same way as you, right?”

She held the dull hoofsaw in her hooves and gulped. “Aw geez… that doesn’t make me feel any better about doing this at all...” Rainbow Dash bit her lip and walked over to the head of the skeleton. “Twilight, Fluttershy, I know you wouldn’t like me doing this but this totally doesn’t count as desecrating some creature. Totally doesn’t.”

With a deep sigh, Rainbow Dash got to work.

Minutes later she was back below the crevice with two tips of the Reindeer’s antlers gripped in her hooves. The hoofsaw and hatchet she had completely discarded, she’d get nothing else out of them, but with her new “tools” she could climb her way out of this crevice.

“Okay buddy, you’re helping me out a ton,” Rainbow said as she walked over to the wall and slammed the antler tip in her right hoof into the ice. She then brought up her left hoof and stabbed the other tip in slightly higher.

With a heave, Rainbow Dash pulled herself up and then took out the tip in her right hoof, bringing it back up higher and stabbing it in again. Foot by foot she did that until she was back at the crevice.

“This is going to take a while...” Rainbow Dash muttered.

It was just like before except now she didn’t have to brace herself against the walls of the crevice, with two things to plunge into the ice she could always hang off one and make sure she wasn’t going to fall. It took all of the strength she had in her limbs but Rainbow Dash made the slow climb up and up the crevice with the use of the cut off Reindeer antlers. She was breathing heavily and sweating inside the heavy jacket but the surface got closer and closer. She could feel the cold breeze from above and see the snow along the edges of the crevice. Almost there.

Rainbow Dash was thankful for that extra boost of energy she got from the seed bag earlier. Without it she might not have had the strength she needed to make this climb again.

She jammed the left antler tip into the ice and hoisted herself up, one more time and she’d be able to reach the surface and pull herself out of this stupid crevice. She wanted to put it all behind her already.

“Hrk!” Rainbow Dash grunted and thrust in the right antler tip, taking no time to pause or rest and throwing her left foreleg up and over the edge of the crevice. Her limb plopped into snow and she scrambled about with her back legs to push the rest of herself out onto the ground, finally rolling free and onto her back in the snow.

Rainbow Dash’s chest rose and fell in short bursts as she stared up at the cloudy sky until a small smile formed on her face. “That’s… how it’s done...”

The snowfall had increased quite a bit in the short time since she had renewed her walk after making it out of the crevice. It was heavy coming down from the clouds and the winds swirling around her made Rainbow Dash think that she might now be caught in a blizzard. No longer were the harsh winds confined to the higher altitudes, now even just walking across the snow she was forced to endure them at their worst. As if traveling through here hadn’t been enough of a bother, it was like the weather was reacting to her finding these clothes and making sure things were still difficult for her. Now even with the boots and the jacket she could feel the cold piercing into her. It didn’t matter that the hood was pulled up, the wind still came at her face and soon Rainbow Dash ended up covered in frost and icicles again.

She had to hold her hoof up and try to block out the wind coming directly at her face in an attempt to see anything in front of her. Not like there was much to see in the first place. Just snow and mountains around her. She may have passed a glacier and some other solitary rock formations that were covered in ice but no more tents or anything particularly interesting.

Rainbow Dash wondered how far she had traveled through this snowscape so far. Probably not very since she had only been flying for a little while before she had to land. She’d make up for it somehow.

The antler tips she had used to climb her way out of the crevice were now rattling together with the flint stones in her bag. Her only tools left and hopefully all she would ever need out here. Though she still didn’t have anything extra to burn if she needed to start a fire, she supposed if it came down to it she could use the bag for that now. Burning some of her new clothes for warmth seemed really self-defeating.

Still, the clothes weren’t exactly doing their job right now. Made for keeping someone warm in freezing cold weather like this they might have been, but the unnatural deathly cold of this place was completely overwhelming. Rainbow Dash was feeling chilled to the bone and shivering with each pained step. She doubted anything but a constant fire or some kind of magic spell could keep her or anything else warm in this endless white country of snowy valleys and mountains.

And the skies above were now starting to become darker. Well, the clouds above were starting to become darker. It must be getting late in the day. Rainbow Dash didn’t want to stop though, she couldn’t without first finding a place that would at least protect her from the wind and keep the snow from burying her the more it fell. If only that Reindeer skeleton had a backup tent she could’ve carried it out too. Since she didn’t have one she was going to have to look for a cave somewhere that didn’t have its entrance facing the wind.

That was tough when she could barely see anything at all.

“I hate the snow. I officially, totally, one billion percent, hate the snow,” Rainbow growled as she fought to keep her hoof up and stop the icy wind from blinding her.

She ended up walking for another hour like that, fighting both the wind and the cold, going through other valleys of snow and around mountains, while her hooves grew number by the minute. As much as she hated to admit it, she could tell that her body was failing her. There was no way Rainbow Dash could survive a night in the snow. If she fell asleep she would never wake up.

While her thoughts were occupied by that, she almost didn’t notice the wall in front of her until she almost walked right into it.

“What the?” Rainbow Dash looked up at the tall cliff of ice that had appeared out of the snowy winds before her. She hadn’t seen it coming at all. Thanks to where she was standing now though, the wind wasn’t whipping into her face quite as badly so she could actually look at it.

She wasn’t sure if she was looking at a glacier or perhaps a plateau covered in ice but either way it rose high above her head and stretched as far as she could see to both her right and left.

“Great. Just great. I can’t walk around something like this before night...” Rainbow Dash glared up at the icy wall. Her ears then perked up inside her hood. “But I don’t need to.”

Rainbow Dash grinned and reached into her bag to pull out the two antler tips. “You’ve been my best friend out here, dude.”

It was just like before, she stabbed the first antler in and then the other and slowly worked her way up the wall. A few chunks of ice would come away each time she thrust the antlers into the ice but there were only a couple of times where Rainbow Dash felt like she might accidentally come loose. Her mood was way better than when she was climbing up the crevice too, something about being able to tackle all the obstacles thrown at her was filling her up with a new round of determination. Even though this wall was a lot taller than the crevice was deep, she didn’t feel tired at all as she scaled it.

While there was still the last fading remnants of light in the world, Rainbow Dash made it to the top of the wall and pulled herself over. “Whoo!” She whistled to herself and cracked her neck, putting the antler tips away. “Now tell me I’m not awesome.”

The wind was still blowing full force in her face but she didn’t care right now. She was too invigorated from her recent victory. Rainbow Dash peered through the white blizzard to see if there was anything on top of this glacier or anything ahead. Her eyes widened out of reflex when she saw that there indeed was. Something very interesting and fortuitous to her.

A medium-sized domed dwelling stood close by, it was many times larger than any Reindeer tent she had seen and was partially made out of wood and what looked like large furs stretched over it. Rainbow Dash was a little put off by that part but she was still going to check this thing out. Her hopes that it was inhabited were dashed quickly though as she noticed how dilapidated it looked with several holes torn or busted open along its surface. Still, that was way better than just staying out in a blizzard unprotected and with the day turning to night out here she might just use this place to sleep.

Hopefully there was some more useful stuff inside too and she could get a fire going. Rainbow Dash walked towards the dome and skirted the perimeter in search of a door. She finally found one on the south side of the building, directly opposite from where she had first climbed up and seen the dome. Only problem was it was half-buried in snow. Not a surprise, but still annoying.

Rainbow Dash grumbled and started to dig the snow out of the way, something that took her longer than she wished it would what with the sky continuously growing darker over her head. She could somehow feel the temperature beginning to drop even more. It was instinctual, she knew that if she didn’t get inside and at least have a weak flame around her, she’d be frozen solid as soon as night came around, regardless of anything she wore to protect herself.

“Finally,” she said as she finished removing the snow from in front of the door. It wasn’t some simple flap but an actual wooden door with a carved handle on the front. Rainbow Dash calmly reached out to grasp it. “Here goes I guess.”

Upon opening the door the wind tried to rush in behind her but Rainbow Dash quickly slid in and closed the door back shut. She was thankful that it wasn’t stuck or anything. Thanks to some of the holes in the dome though there was still plenty of wind coming in but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could be. Snow also covered most of the floor of the domicile, probably a good foot of it in most places. She saw boxes peaking out of the snow, along with some other planks of wood that looked like they might have belonged to beds or sleds at some point. In the very middle of the single-room dome there was a pillar of cedar wood that held up the entire thing. Rainbow Dash could tell just by checking things out that this definitely wasn’t left behind by the Reindeer. It was all too different.

As she walked over the snowy interior she kept her eyes open for anything else, including any unfortunate former inhabitants.

She almost missed them because of how well they blended in.

Rainbow Dash paused as she walked around the cedar pole, the door to the dome directly behind her. At the far wall from it was what at first looked to be an exceptionally large pile of snow, but as Rainbow Dash looked closer she realized that’s not what it was at all. Fur. Snow white fur, perfect for camouflage in an environment like this.

But the creatures piled up still weren’t moving and Rainbow Dash could tell just by looking at them that they had been dead for ages. That white fur that was so suited for the snow still hadn’t helped them with the cold.

“You’re… foxes, right? Arctic foxes?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head at the piled up creatures as she stepped over to them. “Being friends with Fluttershy has its perks in a few ways.”

She couldn’t tell how many there were but she would guess at least a dozen of them all in one pile, they seemed to be about half her size individually. She wondered why they were like this. Maybe they had been trying to huddle together for warmth in the end? Rainbow Dash swallowed and reached out to touch them even though it seemed a little rude to do so. Their fur was brittle and the bodies beneath felt more like rocks or blocks of ice than anything that had once been alive. Frozen completely solid and perfectly preserved by the cold here.

“So the Reindeer weren’t the only ones who had tried to go through here, huh? You guys must’ve wanted to explore this place too. Wonder how long ago… or if maybe you guys came from the south and not from the north like the Reindeer,” Rainbow Dash puzzled.

It was depressing to meet another group of creatures like this. Victims of this horrible, unnatural cold. The Reindeer’s journal was becoming more and more accurate about this place being death. Just simple death.

Suddenly the wind picked up from outside so fiercely that it blew in new waves of snow through the holes and made the entire dome shudder.

“Oh that’s just great!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she winced and bowed her head to try and avoid the biting cold winds.

It didn’t let up at all either. Night was practically upon her and a blizzard raged outside and she had no idea how long it would last. The cold was still overwhelming inside here as it obviously had been for these foxes ages and ages ago. At least there was discarded wood and other stuff in here that she could start a fire with, she just needed to clear out an area on the ground first. Maybe the floor of the tent was wood as well or a thick fur, but she needed to make a circle with rocks or something else to contain the fire so the whole place didn’t go up like the tent she had been in.

Rainbow Dash hated how much work she still had to do before she could rest, after everything else she had been through today she was tired. But a fire needed to be started before she could sleep.

“When am I going to get to the awesome stuff again?” Rainbow Dash grumbled as she shoveled snow out of the way with her hooves.

She had woken up hours ago feeling colder than ever before. The warm fire she had started last night had allowed her some level of comfort as she finally drifted off to sleep, but now it seemed that warmth was gone. Even after she had torn open a box to find an old sheet to wrap herself in as well, Rainbow Dash still woke up a frozen, shivering, mess. The fire she had made sure was still going when she fell asleep was now little more than a few embers in front of her.

But even that should’ve provided her some warmth along with everything she was wearing. So why was she still so cold?

She already knew the answer, really. It’s just how this place was. It’s how all the Reindeer and these foxes too had frozen despite having shelter and supplies with them. Nothing did anything to stop the cold of this place, not for long.

Now she was wide awake and shivering through her jacket and sheet, eyes locked on the slowly dying embers in front of her. Rainbow Dash could hear the powerful blizzard still tearing through the world outside. It hadn’t died down yet in the slightest. She wondered how she had even slept through such a racket in the first place what with how it pounded against the dome. Snow fell through the holes in the walls of the dome as well, Rainbow Dash wished she had a way to block those but last night she hadn’t even been thinking about it and today she didn’t think she had the right tools anyways.

Rainbow Dash slowly peeled the sheet off her, it wasn’t helping her anyways, and stood up before the fire. Her body was a deep blue and frost somehow clung to wherever she wasn’t covered by the jacket or boots. Her tail was like ice and her teeth chattered in her mouth during every breath. She needed to get this fire back to being as strong as it was when she first made it last night. Otherwise she wasn’t going to last this morning, she couldn’t leave the dome when it was this cold, when the wind was raging like that and snow was falling like it was going out of style. It frustrated her, but she had to wait out the blizzard inside here.

Fire was the only thing that could keep her from freezing right now. Unless she had some way to safely take it with her outside, she couldn’t leave this spot. Not like the blizzard could last forever anyways. Right?

Right?

Rainbow Dash opened up her eyes the next morning to find herself in the same predicament. Frost coated her muzzle with actual ice forming at the corners of her eyes and icicles hanging from her chin. And of course the blizzard hadn’t let up one bit.

She could hardly even remember much of what happened the previous day. She remembered sitting around her fire, waiting for the wind and snow to let up outside. But it just never happened. Besides that it was all mostly a cold blur to her. The hours probably all congealed together as she just sat there staring at the fire until she finally fell asleep.

“I can’t just do that again today… I have to do something,” Rainbow Dash said to herself. She looked up at the holes that were continuously leaking in snow and the freezing wind. “No nails to board those shut, geez.”

Her eyes went to the foxes, and a number of the boxes she had opened up and looked inside, but nothing really stuck out to her. She hadn’t found any more particularly useful tools nor any warmer clothes than what she was wearing. She was so unbearably cold that she just wanted to scream about it. Maybe Twilight could think of something to do with all this stuff, but Rainbow Dash wasn’t a thinker like her friend. Stuck in a dumb situation like this where her survival was at stake was not what she wanted. If she could just power through and fly her way south that would be fine but Rainbow’s body just couldn’t do something like that right now.

This weather… it actually was starting to get the better of her. An awful, angering thought.

A lightbulb suddenly turned on right above her head as Rainbow Dash got an idea.

“Okay!” She said and started gathering up a bunch of the snow on the ground around her. She shuffled it all together and started building a small snowpony. Her boots molded its shape and formed the head and mane and she even made sure to make a small horn.

Rainbow Dash vigorously nodded as she finished it up and smiled down at the snowpony, her face still covered in bits of ice. “Okay, okay, this is perfect.” She said to her creation. “Alright, Twilight, how do I get out of this?”

She blinked a few times with a dumb grin on her face as she waited for the snow Twilight to respond.

Another couple of blinks and her grin turned into a frown as she swatted the snow Twilight into smithereens with her hoof. “Ugh! Now I’m just going crazy!”

Rainbow Dash lifted her hooves to her face and pulled down on her eyes, trying to relax and get her sense back. This blizzard was driving her nuts and she hated being cooped up in here. And talking to a snowpony Twilight wasn’t going to help her one bit. She just didn’t have any idea what would. What she did know for sure was she at least needed to help this fire stay strong. There were still plenty of things in the dome to help her with that but Rainbow Dash was already really tired of her days becoming little more than keeping a fire going. She paced around and around the cedar pole in circles, both to stave off boredom and keep her blood flowing, and occasionally played tic-tac-toe with herself in the snow. But that got really boring and lame very quickly.

Grumble~

The loud growling of her stomach made Rainbow Dash wince and reach to feel her hungry belly. She hadn’t had anything to eat since those seeds. So now she had hunger to worry about in addition to freezing.

Wonderful.

She started pacing even faster, teeth gnashing together when they weren’t chattering. The pounding of the wind and flying snow outside was nearly deafening at this point as it attacked the foxes’ dome. Ice pierced through her entire body and soul even as Rainbow tried not to think about how cold she was. It was just impossible to ignore.

“S-So this is what happened to all you foxes, huh?” Rainbow said as she circled the pole, not even looking at the pile. “W-Wonder how long you l-lasted before you f-froze...”

Rainbow Dash paused and stared at the fire. “Wonder how long I’m going to last.” She then grit her teeth and shook her head. “No! That’s loser talk! I’m not freezing in some stupid snow pit! I’m a pegasus, the greatest, coolest, pegasus ever! No dumb blizzard is beating me, you hear!”

She was breathing hard as she finished yelling at the storm and it still continued to rage outside without any regard for her anger.

When she had tried opening up the door to see how long she could last outside, she ended up having to close it and come back in almost immediately. Now she was back lying in front of the fire and barely able to do anything. Her strength had left her. There was only cold.

If only… if only what? I don’t even know anymore. Rainbow thought as she stared into the flames that practically offered her nothing now.

Snow that was blown in through the holes in the wall fell around and on top of her. Soon she’d be buried under it, despite the size of the fire it couldn’t even melt the snow.

Rainbow Dash’s breaths came out in shudders. She could see them practically freezing in the middle of the air right as they came out of her lungs. Her body was shaking as nothing but cold filled her entire being. No matter what, she knew she shouldn’t fall asleep like this, but her eyelids were becoming so heavy, and she felt so tired. Slowly her eyelids fluttered shut and closed, at first just for a split second, then one second, then for a few seconds each time.

“Am I… dying?”

Her eyes closed for a long time. She may have even fallen asleep.

A vision of her friends back in Ponyville flashed through her mind and Rainbow Dash’s eyes shot back open.

“No… no way,” Rainbow Dash stood up. “There is no way the most awesome pegasus in the world can go out in such a lame way. And even if I do I’m not going to take it lying down.”

Her eyes searched around the entirety of the dome until they came across her discarded sheet and a plank of wood from one of the boxes she had torn apart to use as firewood. Rainbow Dash still felt the cold creeping up all over her body like death, so she wanted to act fast. She quickly walked over to the plank and sheet and started tightly wrapping the sheet around one end of the plank. Satisfied with that she then grabbed some snow off the ground and rubbed it over the other end of the plank to get it cold and wet. Rainbow Dash nodded and went over to her smoldering fire.

“Blizzard or no blizzard, I’m not staying here for one more second,” Rainbow Dash said and stuck the sheet-covered tip of the plank into the fire. As soon as it caught ablaze she withdrew it and turned to the cedar pole in the middle of the dome.

“You foxes deserve better than to just stay here like this. Let’s heat things up,” Rainbow Dash walked over and lit the cedar pole on fire with her torch, watching as the flames climbed up it to the roof of the dome. As soon as she was satisfied that the whole place was going to catch fire she nodded and turned around to walk to the door.

The torch she was holding offered only a meager heat to her and Rainbow Dash could still hear the wind wailing outside and feel the icy teeth of coldness biting into her. But she didn’t care. She was done sitting around waiting for a blizzard to stop when it clearly wasn’t going to. She’d take her chances traveling and moving on like she always had before.

Rainbow Dash kicked open the door to the dome and walked out into the white abyss while it went up in flames behind her.

The burning fire of the dome behind her was long gone. Not that she could tell, with the heavy snow falling all around her, Rainbow Dash could barely see anything in any direction. The wind whipped at her clothes and threatened to smother the fire on the torch she carried as well. Almost certain doom would become certain doom if that happened. She couldn’t fly or survive for long in this cold without any source of fire. Even with this fire she still could hardly do anything.

Rainbow Dash only knew that she was heading south right now. That was the only thing in her head, to keep on moving. Whatever mountains she may have passed by during her walk through this blinding blizzard were irrelevant. It didn’t matter if she was atop a glacier, about to fall down another crevice, or had to climb up a huge mountain of snow right in front of her. Rainbow Dash was moving forward.

“I… am not… going down here,” her eyes were narrowed as she tried to spy anything, anything at all, in front of her. It was the middle of the day, she knew that much from her own sense of time, but it might as well have been night with how little she could see.

Nothing, this is nothing. Rainbow Dash thought to herself. It was her mantra to keep going through the unnatural cold that she could feel inside her soul.

She knew the other side of the world had to hold so many awesome adventures for her if she could just get past this frozen snowscape of death.

Rainbow Dash shivered.

Rainbow Dash walked.

Rainbow Dash shivered.

Rainbow Dash walked.

Her torch was going out but she never stopped. The thought never even went through her mind. She believed in herself, and believed she had the power to overcome anything. There had been so many obstacles on this journey so far and yet Rainbow Dash had persevered past them all. It would be the same here too.

The wind pushed against her, threatening to drown her face in snow and doing its best to halt her progress. It was difficult to walk like this through the heavy snow while carrying her torch in the first place. Her hoofsteps were slow and plodding and the deep snow on the ground didn’t seem to want her to be able to pull her hoof back out every time she stepped into it. The boots, the heavy jacket, it all felt like frozen ice clasped around her body.

Rainbow Dash looked around to try and see anything but it was all just howling winds and swirling snow. Nothing was visible more than five feet away from her.

“You think this scares me?!” She yelled to the blizzard. “Nothing scares me!”

The flame of her torch finally disappeared in the wind. Rainbow Dash threw the useless hunk of wood away and kept on walking. She could feel ice crawling all over her, trying to freeze her in place and make her even worse than what those foxes had become. All the while snow just swirled around her like Rainbow was in the apex of the blizzard itself.

Rainbow Dash just growled and stood her ground. “Did you hear me?! I told you this doesn’t scare me! I’m Rainbow Dash!”

“Rainbow Dash, eh? You’re a rather peculiar creature, I must admit.”

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash looked up at the sudden voice coming from above. A huge shadow was descending down through the blizzard, coming through the snow and winds like they and the insane cold were nothing. Rainbow Dash gawked up at the shape as it came into focus—huge wings were outlined against the fog, along with a long, slender, neck and an even longer tail. The closer it got the more defined it was to her, gigantic claws at the ends of its limbs, spikes running all over its body, and glowing blue eyes that were trained right on her.

“It can’t be...” Rainbow Dash was dumbstruck as the creature finally reached the snowy ground. The winds and snowfall around her lessened significantly thanks to the large creature blocking most of it from reaching Rainbow Dash with its wings.

“A pleasure to meet you, Rainbow Dash,” the massive blue dragon said to her. In a distinctly male voice.

“You’re… a dragon? A dragon all the way up here? Living somewhere cold?” Rainbow Dash rubbed her head.

The dragon tilted his head curiously, as Rainbow Dash got a closer look now she saw that his jaw was full of teeth longer than she was and he could’ve easily swallowed a bear whole. He wasn’t the biggest dragon she had ever seen or heard of but he was still pretty darn impressive. And the shadowed spikes she had seen silhouetted earlier rose all over his back and the bony spines of his wings like weeds.

“You know what I am? I’m surprised, I have no idea what you are,” the dragon said.

“Of course I know what you are. Who the hay doesn’t know what a dragon is?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “But then how do you not know what ponies are?”

“Ponies? I see, that’s what you are. I see,” the dragon nodded and a hearty chuckle emerged from his throat. “I have never seen your kind before in my life, I’m afraid. There’s never been a creature like you up here in these snowy mountains before. Me and my kin were the only ones for a long, long time. Others occasionally traveled through—or tried to—but we were the only ones who made this place our home. As I’m sure you realized from seeing the remains of those other creatures, it’s not a place most can live in.”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Yeah, I kind of got that.” She then frowned up at the big dragon as she realized something. “Were you… watching me?”

The dragon nodded. “I was. So very few things of interest come through here, I was curious. Well, not at first admittedly.” He chuckled.

“What do you mean?”

“I thought you were just going to die before a day had even passed so I didn’t bother paying any attention to you at first. Only when you kept somehow pushing on despite the cold eating away at you did I truly become interested in you, Rainbow Dash.”

Now that struck a nerve. “So you’ve just been flying around getting your kicks when you could’ve helped me?! I’ve been alone, barely making it through here, and all this time there was some big dragon who lives here and could’ve flown on down and at least given me some encouragement?!”

“I suppose you have the right to be angry, I’ve never bothered to show myself in front of the other creatures that have fallen victim to the cold. Though I could indeed have helped them as well,” the dragon stared off into the distance.

Rainbow Dash stomped a hoof down. “Then why didn’t you?!”

The dragon’s eyes looked back down at Rainbow Dash and he lowered his head so his chin was nearly touching the snow. “Apathy I suppose. But you surprised me. Your tenacity, your determination, how you’ve managed to survive so far despite being woefully unprepared for my home. You are a peculiar one, as I said. A creature I’ve never seen before that tries to shout down a deadly blizzard after marching her way through the snow and mountains far further than she should have ever been able to? I’ve never been so curious and interested in one of you travelers before.”

“Well thanks for helping, but that’s all I’m thanking you for,” Rainbow Dash glared at him.

The dragon was silent for a moment before raising its head and sitting back on its haunches, its huge wings still brought up like shields to protect Rainbow Dash. “Well I don’t blame you for your… displeasure at my behavior. I have lived a long time and seen many die. Perhaps I have become accustomed to it. Seeing small creatures like yourself who suffer and die so easily from the cold, I simply haven’t found it in me to care about your lives… until you.”

Rainbow Dash grit her teeth in anger, she would’ve spat on the snowy ground too if she could. “You’re awful.”

“Hm,” the dragon stared down at her and brought one claw up to his chin, stroking it. “Do you have any idea how old I am?”

“Well you’re a really big dragon so I’m guessing pretty old. Why?”

“Do you have any idea how long dragons like me have lived up here?”

“Of course not, duh.”

The dragon chuckled once more, finding amusement in Rainbow Dash’s answers and her lack of fear despite his size and how she was just previously on the brink of death thanks to the blizzard. “For thousands and thousands of years, we Ice Dragons called this place our home. I grew up alongside hundreds of my fellow dragons as we roamed these lands of ice and freezing cold. I myself have lived for well over one thousand of those years, flying where I desired, roosting on the highest peaks one could find, playing and competing with my brethren to see which of us was the biggest and strongest. I still remember those times fondly. But now those are little more than memories.”

Rainbow Dash frowned, a sinking feeling making itself known in her gut. “What happened? Where are all your friends now?”

“They died. Slowly over the years, the once great flock of dragons that lived here began to die off and there was nothing any of us could do,” the large dragon sighed. “My home is now a graveyard for my brothers and sisters as well, just as much as for any travelers like the ones you came across. My name is Raalzeron, and I am the last of the Ice Dragons and very soon there will be none of us left at all.”

“Look… I’m really sorry about all that, but-”

“I am not making an excuse for myself, Rainbow Dash,” Raalzeron smiled down at her. “I am merely explaining to you why I have become… detached. And used to death. A malaise has infested me for hundreds of years since the death of my last brother, a malaise of apathy and depression. Seeing little creatures like those white-furred ones and the antlered ones stirred nothing in my heart. You as well didn’t either, until I saw how hard you fought for survival. Curiosity, amusement… no, I do not think these were truly the things that made me come down and help you like I have. You have given me a new perspective, Rainbow Dash. Just from simply living like you have you have shown me something amazing.”

“Try awesome,” Rainbow smirked.

“Heh, awesome then,” Raalzeron smirked back before his face became much more somber. “I have been merely waiting around for death to claim me as well for a long time. And I did not help any of the other travelers who came through here, because of their small, short lives I knew death was inevitable for them at an even quicker pace than my own, no matter what I did to help them in the moment. I simply… did not care. And I know that was wrong. I always did, but simply had no desire or ability to change. Seeing death and knowing of its constant approach changed me from the dragon I was when my friends were still around.”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip as she thought about what the Ice Dragon had told her. She couldn’t really fathom what a life like his was like. Having lived so long and seeing all your friends dying one by one? Rainbow knew that if she was in that situation she wouldn’t handle it well either, or stay the same pony she was. And living alone for so long, not being able to connect with anyone. She shuddered at the thought. She didn’t forgive Raalzeron for not helping or even caring to change or do anything in the past, but she felt bad for him too.

“I guess you’ve been through a lot too. More than most other creatures I’ve met have,” Rainbow Dash said to him. “You’re right it’s not a good excuse or anything, it doesn’t excuse anything, cause I’ve known ponies and other creatures even older than you who have still tried to be their best and most awesome every day. But… I don’t blame you for getting depressed. So sorry, about everything.”

“Perhaps now we can get off on the right wing. Since I would like to make at least a small part of my mistakes up to you,” Raalzeron said.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him. “How?”

“Do not be panicked,” Raalzeron said and leaned toward her, opening up his mouth.

“Uhhh...” Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but take a small step back as a blue light emerged from the back of his throat.

A blast of blue “fire” came from the dragon, smothering Rainbow Dash. She squeezed her eyes shut and expected to be burned alive but realized she didn’t feel anything. Including cold. Rainbow Dash tentatively opened her eyes up and saw herself surrounded by the blue flames, with snowflakes? Somehow dancing inside them. Whatever this blue fire was, it swirled unnaturally around her, covering her completely, before wisps of it flew out towards her body. Rainbow Dash merely watched in amazement as the blue flames entered through her clothes and into her body, filling her with warmth as if she was flying around outside of Ponyville, or even somewhere tropical.

Soon it was all finished and the flames disappeared, having entered Rainbow Dash completely and done whatever it was they were doing.

Rainbow Dash looked up at him. “What did you do?”

Raalzeron grinned and folded his long arms and claws in front of his chest. “I have given you some of my magic and essence. The cold will no longer affect you, for a time.” He pointed at her. “Take off your clothes and see for yourself.”

Rainbow Dash glanced down at her winter clothes clad body and realized that with how she was feeling she probably didn’t need them anymore if he was telling the truth. With a happy smirk on her face she practically threw the clothes off, dropping her bag as well. To her amazement, all the frost and icicles she had expected to be clinging to her body were gone and even her wings were no longer frozen over.

“This is awesome!” Rainbow Dash flexed her whole body and flapped her wings a few times, she ran a hoof through her mane and tail, they felt just like normal.

“I’m glad you approve. And you’re heading south, right?” Raalzeron asked.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Rainbow Dash said while looking over her body some more. “No offense but I think I’ve had more than enough of snow. I kind of want to get out of here and get back on track when it comes to adventuring. From what you’ve said it doesn’t seem like I’m going to find anything else in this part of the world.”

“In that case I can help you further.”

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash glanced at him.

Raalzeron lowered his head to the ground and beckoned Rainbow Dash forth, rolling up his eyes to look up at the top of his head. “Hop on, I’ll take you to exactly where you need to go.”

Rainbow Dash stared open-mouthed at him for a moment before she smiled. “Guess I can add “Riding a dragon” to my list of awesome stuff I’ll have done on my adventure.”

“And then I flew up into the sky and slammed him back into the ground! You should’ve seen the crater that fat mammoth made!” Rainbow Dash said to Raalzeron as she sat atop his head, relating yet another one of her stories to him while he flew over the snowy landscape.

“Hahaha! I would’ve enjoyed seeing that,” Raalzeron laughed back.

At this point, thanks to the dragon’s magic, Rainbow Dash could’ve flown herself but she wasn’t exactly going to turn down this guy’s offer. Especially when it was part of his attempts to make up for his past inaction. And she had to admit that even though the cold wasn’t bothering her anymore, her body was still pretty spent and exhausted. Resting on his big head while his massive wings carried the two of them south, at an incredible pace thanks to the size and power of those wings, was pretty nice. Flying on a dragon going hypersonic speeds was unsurprisingly pretty cool.

“Well you can bet that when I tell other creatures I meet about you they’ll wish they could’ve seen you too,” Rainbow grinned and then looked down at the blur beneath them. “Wow, you really fly fast, dude.”

“Years upon years of having nothing else to do have made my wings quite robust,” Raalzeron said.

“Same with my wings,” Rainbow nodded. “You wanna hear about the next awesome thing I did back on the other side of the world?”

“Shortly. We have flown far and before the next night reaches us, our flight will be over, I would like to tell you what you must do next.”

“What do you mean? I thought-”

“I can carry you far, but not all the way out of these lands,” Raalzeron said. “The walls that encompass this frozen top portion of the world are impenetrable to me—in fact, I can not even get to within sight of them.”

“The walls… like the ones that border Nogt, and the ones I passed through to get into the True North in the first place?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Raalzeron nodded, Rainbow Dash dipping down briefly with his head. “Yes. I did not grasp this until you told me of such a thing existing on the other side of the world. But I believe now that those walls run the circumference of the northern edges of this world and also meet in the very center at the north pole. How they were built or formed, and why, I have no idea. They cannot be flown over and they repel me and the magic of us Ice Dragons. Perhaps all magic. When I was younger, when there was more of my brothers and sisters, we could venture to the walls, get close to them even, but not touch them. Now I can not even do that. It might have to do with my age, or size, or the walls able to focus all of themselves just on me, but because of that I can not fly you all the way out of my home.”

“Great, so I’m going to have to fly and walk through the snow some more soon?” Rainbow Dash frowned.

“Do not worry, the magic I have imbued you with will still last until you reach the walls themselves,” Raalzeron told her, a frown then tugged down his face as well. “I think.”

“You think?”

“I don’t exactly have proof of this working before. But yes, I think you’ll be fine.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “I’m soooo convinced.”

Raalzeron chuckled. “My apologies, Rainbow Dash. There is simply nothing more I can offer. However, what I can tell you of is what you need to do when you reach the wall. And what is waiting for you there.”

“Yeah? What’s at the wall? I figured there would just be another opening to go through,” Rainbow said.

“Perhaps that is how the entrance you came through when you started this journey is, but if nothing has changed in the past few hundred years since I last ventured close enough to see the wall, that’s not how things will be up here.” Raalzeron narrowed his eyes and stared dead ahead. “There is no simple gap between the walls to the south for you to fly through. Instead what there is is a doorway.”

“There’s a door in the walls separating this place from the rest of the world?”

“Correct,” Raalzeron nodded. “We call it ‘The Gate of Winter’. It is a small stone door in the exact center of the walls, exactly south of the north pole.”

“When you say ‘small’ do you mean small by your standards or-”

“It’s probably about twenty feet tall and ten feet wide.”

“Your standards then.”

“Either way-” Raalzeron continued. “The gate exists at the end of a long tunnel that reaches through the entirety of the wall. The tunnel starts very large, almost like a gaping hole in the walls, before shrinking as it goes farther until finally ending in the gate. Beyond that gate is surely the rest of the world.”

Rainbow Dash stared down at him. “But you can’t know for sure cause you and all the other dragons could never go past it.”

“Yes.”

“What if it’s locked?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I do not know why it would be.”

“… I know you’re helping me out a lot but you’re really bad at this.”

“Hahaha… well, I’m not used to traveling around and going on grand adventures and helping creatures in need. The possibility of other obstacles hasn’t even come to my mind. I’m not like you,” he smirked and glanced up at her. “Flying you as far as I can is all I can do. You’ll have to do the rest on your own, I’m afraid. Though now I do wish I could do more. If any other creatures ever come through here, I promise you I will give them my help as well. To make up for my years of sloth.”

“It’s whatever, I guess.” Rainbow Dash sighed. “And I still love a good challenge, so if there is something in the way of getting through that gate then I’ll overcome it too.” A grin tugged up her lips. “I can’t wait to see the other side of the world. For real. Not just snow, and ice, and mountains all locked behind these crazy walls.”

“I assume it will be a miraculous sight,” Raalzeron said.

Rainbow Dash looked down at the crown of the dragon’s head. “I, uh, feel kind of bad for you though. Once I’m gone you’re going to be alone again, there might never be another creature who comes through here. Ever.”

“I have gotten used to long stretches of time alone.”

“But you shouldn’t have to go through another one of them! That’s the point!” Rainbow Dash angrily growled.

“You should consider it penance. Or punishment. Whichever word you prefer. You were just saying not that long ago that you didn’t forgive me for not helping in the past,” Raalzeron tried to look up at her.

“Well I don’t want to be a jerk to some creature that doesn’t really deserve it either. There’s no… there’s no point to just hating and staying angry at you, not after getting to know you and flying with you like this. Not when there are so many others I’ve met who do deserve what they get.”

Rainbow Dash lowered her head. “You’re not a bad guy. You were just s-sad. And no one should have to be alone like this.”

“It’s alright, your concern for me already is all I need. I can be satisfied with that and the knowledge I have helped you alone as I live out the remainder of my days. I am the last of the Ice Dragons after all, and soon there will be no more of us at all. That is a truth I have made peace with,” Raalzeron calmly replied.

“Don’t just accept that so quickly...” Rainbow Dash said. “When I get home there are so many friends I have that I can tell about you. And I bet someday I could totally even fly back up here to say hi again. And there are other dragons! I know I already told you about them, but still! Don’t you want to meet other dragons?”

“Other being the keyword. They aren’t my dragons,” Raalzeron said.

“Ugh! Why are you being so defeatist? It’s like you want to be sad,” Rainbow frowned and folded her hooves over her chest.

A small smile graced Raalzeron’s features. “I am just aware of what the future holds. My end is near, and the end of the Ice Dragons along with it. I will not futilely fight or deny it.” He chuckled. “Another difference between the two of us.”

“It’s just so… not awesome.”

“From your stories you’re used to creatures and places like that. And I fear the rest of the world you seek to travel around will be the same. Consider this a lesson if it makes it easier for you.”

“Oh, great, now you’re teaching me too. Way to make this whole conversation even lamer.”

Raalzeron laughed. “My apologies, Rainbow Dash. But please, do not worry yourself over me. Worry yourself over those you can actually help. My time was over and done with a long, long time ago. When the last of my brethren passed I knew what I was doing was not living, but dying.”

Rainbow Dash was about to respond when Raalzeron lifted one of his claws and pointed into the distance. “Look.”

The blue pegasus looked ahead to see a massive wide open valley of snow past the mountains they were flying over. Beyond it was a hazy mist hanging down from the clouds that obscured the rest of the north.

“I will set you down there, I can go no further than that,” Raalzeron said.

Rainbow Dash said nothing, just watching in silence as Raalzeron flew on and brought them closer to their destination. With his wings it didn’t take long before the fast dragon had brought them over the fields of snow that stretched for miles. The flapping of his wings as he descended kicked up huge clouds of snow and whirlwinds that screamed off into the distance and his claws gouged huge cracks and wounds into the tough ice just below the surface. When he put his weight down it was like a thunderclap that rang out all around, unlike when he first met Rainbow there was no blizzard blowing to obscure the sounds such a massive creature made. There was nothing around at all except for the unrelenting white mists in the distance.

Raalzeron landed fully and drew in his wings and slowly lowered his head to the ground—even though Rainbow Dash could’ve easily flown off—and waited for the pony to hop off onto the snow.

“Walk or fly from here, whatever your choice is I wish you well and good luck on the remainder of your journey,” Raalzeron said to her.

Rainbow Dash glumly looked up at him. “Thank you, Raalzeron.”

The last of the Ice Dragons smiled at her and unfurled his wings, flapping them once, twice, and ascending into the air. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash. And goodbye.”

“Goodbye...” she waved after him until he disappeared up through the gray clouds of the north. Then with a single deep breath she turned around and flew off towards the southern wall and the Gate of Winter.

The magical power Raalzeron had imbued Rainbow Dash’s body with was still working as he said it should. The freezing cold of the north felt like nothing to her now even as she flew through it. It wasn’t just some simple painkiller or something that dulled her senses either, her wings and the rest of her body were completely absent of frost or icicles. It felt really good.

“I missed out on so much flying,” Rainbow Dash said as she twirled through the air, doing flips, corkscrews, and loops just to make sure she was at her peak again. A deep breath and she pushed her wings even harder than normal—shooting like a lightning bolt to the south.

“Aw yeah!” She yelled as the snowy ground whizzed by below her.

Soon she’d be in those far off mists and beyond that, hopefully the wall. Rainbow Dash had had enough adventures in winter wonderlands to last her a lifetime, she wanted to see things like deserts, oceans, massive jungles, cloud cities, and have awesome adventures there too. Whatever the world beyond the gate held for her she knew at the least it would be brimming with variety and new things she had never seen or experienced before. Again, she was so darn happy to have started this journey in the first place. Her destination may have been Equestria, her true goal to become the first pony to fly all the way around the world, but it was the journey and everything she would see and do on the way that was the truly fun and exciting part. The part that made it all worth it to begin with.

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings as the valley of snow started to peter off and turn into the columns of mist that rose high enough to touch the clouds. Like a dart she shot into them, feeling nothing more than a slight chilliness in the air. Though she was flying blind now she had no worries about mountains or storms or anything else. A sense of euphoria and victory was already running through her entire body. With the help of a new friend she had already conquered this frozen part of the world, the only thing left was to leave it.

Snowflakes were falling all through the fog, some of them landing on and trying to cling to her body, only to slowly melt away. Rainbow Dash saw the shadows of mountains inside the wintry mists, lazily gliding to the side to avoid any she was flying smack dab into. There was no more pressure on her, no rush, no fear. Just a pony flying. It was almost relaxing now.

The only downside was that it had slowly but surely gotten darker the more she had flown through the mists. Raalzeron was right that he had dropped her off shortly before nightfall, it was probably evening now.

“No rush, huh?” Rainbow Dash frowned to herself, she would have to stop and sleep for the night before reaching the wall and the Gate of Winter tomorrow.

Her eyes scanned through the mists, using the last bits of light Rainbow Dash had to find a mountaintop to rest on. Raalzeron’s magic still kept her warm even as it grew darker so she figured she’d be fine if she fell asleep too. In the twilight hours her eagle eyes did see a relatively flat mountaintop ahead and a bit below her. Seemed the perfect place to her.

Rainbow Dash descended to the mountain in search of a bed.

And tomorrow she’d be out of here.

A massive and unnatural wall of rock that was far larger than any other sort of building or construction in the world stretched across the entire horizon. One could not see how far it went for the simple fact that it did not truly end at all. It reached up into the clouds, seeming to stretch into the atmosphere itself, with the top completely obscured. At one point in the wall, the exact middle of it, was a hole that looked lit had been gouged out by some sort of gargantuan excavator. It gradually got smaller and smaller the deeper into the wall it went before ending in a shadowed speck. Before the wall lied a great sea of perpetually frozen ice that went hundreds of feet deep before hitting solid bedrock. And before that was snowy hills that led into rocky ice-capped mountains at the edge of a long field of mist.

It was early morning now and a rainbow missile shot out of that mist towards the wall.

“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash yelled as the wall finally came into sight. Like she expected it was very similar to the wall at the north pole and the one just north of Yakyakistan. With the key difference being that hole that Raalzeron described. Allegedly there was a door leading to the world beyond inside it.

Rainbow Dash grinned as she looked on at it. “Goodbye frozen True North, hello… whatever is in the north on the other side.”

She rocketed towards the wall, aiming low towards the ground. As she came in she still felt just as warm as before, so Raalzeron’s assumption was proven correct again. Good on him. As Rainbow Dash reached the edge of the wall she dropped to the icy ground right in front of it and landed on her hooves. She whistled as she looked up at the big hole she was now in the middle of and then peered down into the depths of the wall.

Darkness. If there was a door at the end of it she couldn’t see it.

Rainbow Dash started walking anyways since there was nowhere else she could go. It wasn’t great how she was going to have to somehow open that door (that might be locked) in total darkness but oh well. Raalzeron said it was a pretty big door too, yeesh.

Her hooves walked across the ice until the ground suddenly became rock as she entered below the hood of the wall and truly moved into the tunnel leading to the Gate of Winter. Soon the meager light from the sky disappeared and Rainbow Dash was surrounded by shadows, walking and walking while the tunnel tightened around her. She was careful that she didn’t accidentally walk into anything, going slowly enough to feel her way around. Hitting that door face first would be pretty painful.

She walked like that for a couple more minutes before she looked behind her and saw the white world barely more than a blur in the distance. She couldn’t remember how wide the wall she had gone through to make it to the True North in the first place was, but Rainbow Dash doubted she had much further to go. The anticipation was killing her and she desperately wanted to fly forward at full speed but she just couldn’t yet.

This hole in the wall kept growing smaller around her but it kept going forwards too. More than traveling through the tornado that surrounded Nogt, this felt like Rainbow Dash was really going into a new world entirely.

Until a light appeared before her eyes.

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash squinted to make sure she wasn’t seeing things.

And it seemed her eyes really weren’t playing tricks on her. A light that hadn’t been there just seconds previously was now glowing at the end of the tunnel. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and took to the air, quickly flying down towards the light. As she got closer it grew more defined, lines of blue-white light went up and down the wall at the end of the tunnel, criss-crossing in elaborate patterns and forming an arch at the top while a glowing snowflake was formed in the very center.

Fancy as it was, Rainbow Dash could still tell from the outline that it was a door.

“The Gate of Winter...” she breathed as she came to a stop before it.

It was easily several times her height and there was no knob or handle on it and any seams that might have existed were totally invisible. Rainbow Dash was undaunted though, she furrowed her brow and stepped forward, placing one hoof on the door to the right of the snowflake. As she did so her body suddenly became freezing cold as if Raalzeron’s magic left her completely and she had been doused in ice water. Rainbow Dash let out a frigid breath and shivered, withdrawing her hoof.

That did nothing though. Cold winds came from the True North behind her and blew through the tunnel and around the door. At once it felt as if a blizzard had erupted all around her.

Rainbow Dash grit her teeth and slammed her body into the door, pushing against it with all her might.

With an eons old creak the door began to open up down the middle so Rainbow Dash pushed and pushed harder to try and get it open far enough for her to get out. The cold barreled down on her as well and Rainbow Dash could feel the wind trying to escape the same way she was. Frost formed along her body, her wings started to freeze over once more, and cold was stabbing into her heart and soul.

“Noooo… way!” Rainbow Dash yelled and flung open the doors, stumbling out onto the ground beyond.

Behind her the ancient door closed shut and with it the freezing winter wind trying to escape disappeared. Rainbow Dash took but a second to realize that she was no longer cold and the ice covering her body had melted away. For practically the first time since she had started this journey, she was someplace outside where she wasn’t cold and it wasn’t because of any magical power or strange phenomena. It was just… how the weather was now.

She lifted her head up and looked forward. Her ruby eyes saw more rocky mountains in front of her but they were ones not capped by snow or covered in frost and no cold winds blew between their valleys. The sun was out above the mountains, creating an arid warmth in the range through a sky unmarred by any clouds. It was a whole new world in front of her full of the unknown and the exciting.

Rainbow Dash grinned in confident anticipation and took to the air, beginning her flight south.

Pink hooves walked through the snow on the trail of Rainbow Dash.

“I. Love. The heat!” Rainbow Dash hollered as she flew through the sky. “I love the sun, I love warm weather, and I love not having to look at snow everywhere I go!”

It was funny in a way. What started as a simple journey going north—where she knew she would mostly be faced with snow and cold weather—had now evolved into something so much more and she was glad to see something different. She had spent so much time in the northern parts of the world, experienced so many things, and now it was all behind her. That kind of thing was probably over and done with for good all the way until she made it to the south pole.

Which of course she intended to.

Now as Rainbow Dash looked down she saw green grass, real green grass, unenchanted or affected by any sort of magic to keep it looking like that, growing across the ground along with flowers and trees. A winding river snaked across the ground heading downhill from east to west and Rainbow Dash bet that if she went in closer to it she’d see fish swimming through it.

Alive. This whole place was alive in a way that even the more hospitable parts of the True North could never claim to be. And colorful.

It probably wasn’t even actually that hot out either, Rainbow Dash was just used to being near freezing for so long that even “cool” would feel warm to her. Which was aided by the bright sun shining down on her. She missed this all so much. Nogt was an oasis in the north but even it only existed because of strange magic. This was all the real deal.

Rainbow Dash loved it. With a smile on her face she went lower to the ground to get a better view of things that were practically foreign to the north. The larger mountains were still quite a ways away, she could afford to relax and sight see a little. Right now she wanted to take in the smells of flowers and the scent of a green forest full of animals. It was something she might be a little embarrassed to admit to her friends she had done, but she didn’t care right now. Girly it may be but it’s what she needed after so many months through snow and ice. All of her other friends would be able to appreciate it so she could totally indulge every now and then too.

She saw a small forest of trees bordering the river on both sides and descended enough where she was just over the tops of the pine trees that made it up. The trees weren’t especially dense and Rainbow Dash could see down to the forest floor and make out the overgrowing grass and undisturbed flowers and bushes. Not a trail or anything in sight was going through the forest, it was pure, untouched nature. She saw bird nests, squirrels darting between branches, bees moving from flower to flower, and it was all so peaceful.

She reached the snaking river and instead of just passing over it, Rainbow Dash dropped down and started following the stream, heading west for a bit just so she could enjoy the sound of rushing water some more. Licking her lips she dipped her head down while flying right over the surface and dunked her head in the water. Swallowing a few big gulps of it and getting her mane all wet she pulled her head back out and tossed her mane back, sending droplets of water everywhere.

“Ah!” Rainbow Dash sighed in relief. Real fresh water tasted good right now.

With a flap of her wings she popped back up away from the river and resumed her flight over the trees, going back south. After the forest she hit a few small grassy hills that led to a rocky area before the landscape started to turn into mountains. While she flew over them she flipped over and started flying upside down, putting her hooves behind her head and basking in the sunlight. The weather was so nice and things were so quiet here, it was the perfect time and place to be casual like this and get some relaxation in while flying. Not many pegasi could pull something like that off but Rainbow Dash was a master.

Of course though to ruin the pleasant day she was now having, her stomach growled. Rainbow Dash groaned and turned over, rubbing her belly. It had been a while now since she had anything to eat. And snow technically didn’t count.

“Whatever,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “There’s gotta be a ton of fruit growing in a place like this, just gotta find it first.” She glanced down at the ground. “And there’s plenty of grass and flowers even if there aint.”

Honestly despite the rumbling from her stomach she didn’t want to interrupt her flight just yet to go search for food. It was just too nice getting to fly like this out here in perfect weather. She missed it way too much. Besides, she had pushed herself plenty of times before, she knew how long she could go before she had to go chow down. The drink she had just a minute ago was good enough for now.

Rainbow Dash heard the cawing of a bird and watched as a small flock took off from some trees below, heading east. She smiled after them, she didn’t envy their carefree life but she admired the freedom any other flying creatures like that had. A carefree life wasn’t quite fun, daring, and awesome enough for her. Carefree days where she was just lounging in the clouds were fine though. But on this adventure of hers though she wasn’t really looking for those either. Which is why she shortly found herself musing about what she might first find over here on this side of the world. What did it contain? What villains and monsters were there for her to fight? What purely awesome things were there for her to do?

And how long would it take before she found them?

She passed the green hills and made it to that rocky area she had seen earlier, below her were innumerable boulders of granite and dusty paths between the rock formations that led up towards the mountains. She saw a green lizard basking in the sunlight on top of one of the rocks. The moment her shadow passed over it it skittered away in fright.

Rainbow Dash pushed a little more power into her wings and rose up higher into the sky. She still had hours of daylight ahead of her and she was going to fully savor it all.

“Twilight’s going to love to hear about everything I see over here. And I’m going to love to brag about it,” Rainbow grinned.

Especially if whatever she got up to on this half of the world was even more epic and amazing than what she had already done and accomplished in the True North. Rainbow Dash could barely fathom herself just how much she had changed things and how many creatures she had saved back there. Now she was hoping to do the same, as she headed south instead.

Her flight over the rocks continued as the foothills of the mountains rose up just a short ways away. The impatience she had when it came to wanting to find a new adventure was starting to burn inside her chest once more.

The first set of mountains she reached weren’t just bare rocks but had plenty of vegetation on them. Endless forests of trees seemed to creep up and over them, giving the whole place the look of a sprawling woodland. Occasionally Rainbow Dash saw streams that flowed downhill from the mountains and a couple of ponds or what could even be called small lakes. It was an evergreen world below her. Time had passed since Rainbow Dash emerged from the gate and now she could easily tell without even glancing up at the sky that it was past noon. The way the sun felt, the slight change in how the rays hit her, the way her shadow moved on the ground, Rainbow had gotten used to telling time this way years ago. When she was just a filly.

And since it was past noon she decided it was finally time to get some lunch. The casual flight, the chillaxing under the warm sun, was done with for now.

A forested mountain probably had all kinds of fruits and vegetables she could find to eat—Rainbow Dash doubted she’d have to resort to grass or flowers. And thanks to all the time spent with Fluttershy and Applejack (and Twilight to a lesser degree) she knew what sort of stuff was poisonous and what wasn’t. Mostly.

Rainbow Dash slowed her flight and went down, down to the mountains and the trees. She glided right between some large pines and descended all the way to the forest floor.

The soft feeling of dirt and grass beneath her hooves brought a smile to Rainbow Dash’s face.

“I almost forgot what that felt like,” Rainbow Dash said. She may not have loved the ground and the dirt the same way Applejack and Fluttershy did, but after so much snow and rock hard ground all the time even she savored it a little. The blades of grass and the slightly warm dirt just felt so good to her hooves.

For a moment she paused there and took everything about the mountain forest in. Trees surrounded her in every direction, she couldn’t see an end to them or even get an unobstructed view in one direction for more than twenty feet or so. All sorts of bugs buzzed and chirped around her, hidden under rocks and logs or flitting about from trees and flowers. A squirrel ran up the trunk of one of the trees and stopped on a higher branch as it stared down at Rainbow. The earthy smell of the forest filled her nose and when she took a deep breath the freshest of mountain air was drawn into her lungs.

“Alright,” Rainbow Dash stretched like a cat and tucked her wings into her sides. “Let’s find some food.”

She sniffed the air a few times to see where her nose would take her. Rainbow Dash was pretty confident in her senses but she somehow didn’t think her nose was as sharp as her eyes or ears. She couldn’t really make out anything particular among the multitude of smells in the forest. Even when she closed her eyes to try to just focus on smelling something it didn’t really help.

Rainbow Dash frowned and opened her eyes. “Okay, time to look around.”

At least everything was just so dang colorful compared to the icy north. Even now when it was reduced mostly to browns and greens it was so much more enjoyable to look at and search through. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings again to hover a few feet off the ground and started casually making her way through the trees, looking for either berry bushes or fruit trees. Applejack could’ve found a trail or known what signs to look for to find some food but Rainbow Dash could only rely on her eyes actually seeing it.

She passed over a few flower patches and some bushes, along with a small stream that was barely two hooves wide, just looking for anything edible. No, not just edible, tasty too. A rabbit popped its head out of its warren for a moment but just as quickly retreated when it saw her flying.

Rainbow Dash grinned—if she was a carnivore…

“Hah! The look on Fluttershy’s face if I joked about something like that with her around...” Rainbow rubbed her eyes to clear away the tears after getting a nice laugh.

But if there were critters like that around there was probably some decent food somewhere too, right? Rabbits didn’t just eat grass or flowers. At least Rainbow Dash was pretty sure they didn’t. She really should know more but with how much Fluttershy spoiled Angel Bunny she wasn’t sure if that rabbit’s diet was normal.

Her stomach grumbled again mid-flight.

Rainbow frowned. “Maybe I should just go for the flowers...”

She soon got lucky though after just another couple of minutes of winding through the trees. Something different caught her eye, a group of trees that weren’t pines were growing in the forest just a little ways from where she was. And she thought she could spy a vibrant red color dotting their branches. Rainbow Dash zoomed through the trees towards the other grove and finally came to a halt right in front of them.

“Yes!” She pumped her hoof in triumph.

In front of her sat a grove of maybe twenty or thirty different cherry trees. They looked incredibly healthy and their branches were overflowing with the delicious red fruit.

“Not as good as apples, but you bet I’ll take it,” Rainbow Dash smiled and flapped up to the branches of the nearest tree. She pulled a few cherries right off their stems and chucked one in her mouth immediately. Biting down filled her mouth with sweet, juicy goodness. It was perfectly fresh without a hint of bitterness at all. Rainbow Dash expertly excavated the pit from inside the cherry and spat it on the ground while swallowing the good parts.

“That hits the spot,” she licked her lips and started eating a few more.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have thrown away that old bag,” Rainbow Dash scrunched up her face in bemusement as she looked at all the cherries she was carrying in her hooves.

She was currently flying high above the trees again after temporarily getting her fill of cherries. Her mouth was red and her stomach was full—too full, she had eaten way too many of them. It didn’t even matter to her at the time, they were too tasty and she was hungry. Getting to eat some real sweet fruit like that after so long was just too much.

It was so good that she had decided to bring as much as she could carry with her. Which was causing problems now as she didn’t have anything to carry them in. A bunch had already fallen out of her hooves and disappeared into the trees below and Rainbow Dash could only shrug. Whatever, at least she had another day’s worth of food with her now.

She didn’t know how long it would be until she found more food, especially since the lush forests were soon ending up ahead, so she was going to hold onto as much as she could.

The green mountains covered in trees were just about to give way to the taller rocky mountains that looked much less full of file. Rainbow doubted she’d be able to find anything more than a mountain spring up in them or maybe some sort of refuge. She didn’t think fruit normally grew at the altitude those taller mountains were at but maybe something she could eat did.

Rainbow Dash glanced below and took one last look at the great green forest, a smile tugging at her lips, before she jetted off to the next landscape to fly over. One more part of her journey already behind her.

Between the various rocky mountains Rainbow Dash flew over was a land of rocky canyons and crags that tore apart the surface of the earth. Nowhere was there even the hint of even ground. It was hotter here too now despite the altitude being a little higher, the ground below just reflected most of the heat so Rainbow almost felt like she was being baked from both sides. It probably wasn’t as hot as she thought but her body had yet to readjust to normal temperatures after being in the snow for so long. She couldn’t imagine how badly she’d handle a desert now.

It didn’t take long before the glare of the sun started coming in from her side—Celestia was starting to lower the sun.

“Hmm...” Rainbow Dash looked down at her cherries and then at the mountains below. “Maybe I should find somewhere to stop for the night? Doesn’t look like I’m getting through here in one day… could speed up but I might miss something.”

That was always the essence of it. She could have flown at her full, dazzling speed above everything, but she might miss something or someplace interesting or cool. And the purpose of her journey wasn’t just to fly around the world now but to have a really awesome time doing it. What kind of adventures would she miss if she was just a rainbow blur in the sky the whole time?

She deftly moved her bundle of cherries around and grabbed one to snack on. While chewing on that she checked out the mountains some more to see if maybe there was a spring tucked away somewhere. She wasn’t really tired yet or anything but she already had food and didn’t need to go around looking for anything else so if she saw a good place to land for the night she might as well take it. Considering her day started out on the other side of the northern walls she had already made a ton of progress anyways. Rainbow just hoped that tomorrow she’d finally find some life—pony life or something more than animals at least—and maybe some kind of town or settlement or something unnatural to show she was going the right way. Just a sign or even an abandoned house would be enough. There were plenty of those she came across in the north too.

It would all have to wait until tomorrow by the looks of it though. There just wasn’t anything in the mountains below her yet. Nothing unnatural at least.

The rocky mountains had an orange makeup to them, something exaggerated even more by the sunlight hitting them. Rainbow Dash had no idea what kind of stone made up mountains like these (she wasn’t Maud) but she did recall seeing similar stuff a long time ago when her and her friends all went to Appleloosa. These two places probably couldn’t be any farther apart though.

Rainbow soon grinned as she saw what she was looking for and dove sharply down to one of the mountains.

A blue ball of pony jumped into the small spring nestled on the side of the mountain and sprayed waves of water in every direction. Rainbow’s soaked mane and head then broke the surface of the water a second later as she breathed deeply to fill her lungs. “Ahhhhh~”

It was just about getting dark now and where Rainbow was most of the remaining sunlight was already blocked by rocks. She had spotted this little spring and thought it looked perfect thanks to it having some covered areas that would protect her from the wind and other elements when she decided to sleep. Her bounty of cherries was already piled up under the shadow of a rock jutting out over the water and some of the ground next to it.

It wasn’t a Five-Star hotel but Rainbow had slept in way rougher places before. And now she was getting a bath first too, what’s there to complain about?

“So much better,” Rainbow Dash said as she stepped out of the water and shook all over to dry herself off. Then reaching behind her and wringing out her tail.

Finding herself to be sufficiently dry she went over to her cherries and took a seat. Three ripe fruits went right into her mouth and three pits were spat out several feet away onto the ground. Rainbow Dash thought about checking out this mountain more or walking out right around the spring but knew she wouldn’t find anything anyways so decided not to. Despite it not even really being night yet, now that she stopped it’s like her fatigue was catching up to her all at once. She had woken up early in the first place and had done a lot. Not her busiest or most exhausting day by a long shot but she could use some rest for sure.

Like this she could wake up early tomorrow, right as dawn struck, and get the most out of the day. With that thought in her head, Rainbow Dash curled up on the ground and shut her eyes, waiting for sleep.

The next morning she left a pile of cherry pits behind at the spring and took to the sky while the sun was still just barely rising. Maybe she shouldn’t have eaten all of them but she wanted to have max energy for today. As if to undercut that idea, a big yawn came over her and Rainbow had to rub her eyes to get them back into focus. Seems like no matter how much she slept she wasn’t much of an early riser.

It was more of the same she saw below her in this early sunlight. The mountains didn’t offer much else. They were, however, getting bigger and the land between them was becoming far less broken. Not that it mattered to her since she could fly but it did make her think she was entering an area that would be easier for other ponies and creatures to travel through.

Which is why she was keeping an extra sharp eye out for such a thing or anything unusual. Any paths, any roads, any structures of any sort. If they were there she wasn’t going to miss them.

Rainbow Dash flapped her gums in boredom. “Come on, something, anything, I’m tired of just looking around!”

The pegasus still glided over some more empty mountains with nothing yet to show for it. The orange rocks beneath her lied dormant in the same spots they had for probably hundreds of years. A warm breeze was running through the sky and at least that was something Rainbow Dash could enjoy. Up ahead was a series of taller peaks than the average for the mountain range and Rainbow Dash sped up a little bit to check them out.

She fought the urge to do any loops or twirls for fun so she could focus on the ground. Her eyes scanned the first tall peak like a hawk looking for unassuming prey, the orange rock practically glowing in the sunlight. She saw movement but it turned out to be nothing more than a mountain goat. A good find if she was Fluttershy but not what she was looking for.

Rainbow was about to fly to the next peak when she saw something halfway up the mountain along its backside. It was so suddenly jarring that she jerked to a stop in midair.

There was a large circular platform carved out of the mountain, like an artificial summit or landing pad almost. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at it and quickly jetted right down to it. Her hooves landed with a clack on smoothly carved stone and she folded her wings in. The platform was easily a couple hundred feet wide with a stone railing around the edge to keep anyone from falling if they were on it. You could’ve fit a lot of ponies out here at once. What Rainbow Dash didn’t see though was a way up or down it from outside. There was no path or anything leading up it from the mountain. Her eyes glanced around to see if there was anything else and she finally found it nestled into the side of the mountain. A door.

“Oh,” Rainbow Dash blinked and walked over to it. “That makes more sense.”

When she approached she noticed the door was entirely covered in dust, probably unopened for ages, and it was made of a dull gray metal. It had the remnants of faded and chipped away brown paint on it except for the middle where Rainbow Dash could barely make out a “C” that had been painted in red. There was no simple handle or knob on it, instead a metal curtain looked like it descended from the top of the door and went flush up against the ground, not even offering the slightest of openings.

“Well this is great,” Rainbow frowned and knocked on the door, hearing a reverberating echo beyond it as she did so. “Hello? Anybody back there? Open up the door!”

Nothing. She pressed her ear up against the door to try and hear if anything was moving back there but it was totally silent. Whatever was built inside this mountain it didn’t seem like it was occupied right now, or at least not close to the door. For all she knew it could’ve been an open elevator shaft right behind this thing anyways.

Rainbow Dash sighed and pulled away, pacing around the platform. “Okay so I found something but I can’t get in… now what?”

She looked towards the other mountains around her and nodded. “Maybe there are more of these around here? Yeah, there have to be.”

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and took to the sky again, flying off to the next nearest mountain.

As Rainbow Dash soon came to learn, similar platforms dotted both the mountains and the valleys between them all around her. Some were built on the peaks of smaller mountains while others on the ground floor of the range. And she had absolutely no idea what any of them were for. She inspected a few and found the same doors with the same red “C” on all of them leading deeper into the mountains or ground where they were built but nopony answered any of her knocks. Instead of flying further on, Rainbow Dash had spent the morning flying in circles around this place looking for more platforms or anything else.

“Okay… so I know there are a bunch of these weird places with weird doors. What else do I know?” Rainbow Dash asked herself as she stormed her brain while hovering above the landscape. “The first one I found was at the back of that mountain.” She lifted up her hoof and pointed at the mountain in question, now northeast of where she was. “And the others are...”

Rainbow Dash looked around and took note of the exact locations of all the platforms, trying to see if there was a pattern. There was one almost directly southeast of her, three more to the west, one true west, one northwest, and one southwest, and another one east of her. While two more of them were built parallel to each other south of her. And looking directly down there was another one almost in the middle of them but still leaning a bit further south.

“I wonder,” Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin. The platform below her was built on top of a smaller, flatter mountain. And why was there only one platform built in the middle like this surrounded by the others? She didn’t know if there was a real reason to it but it did make her a little more suspicious of this platform and mountain.

With a nod, Rainbow Dash flew down to give this mountain a closer look instead of just checking it out from the sky. Maybe if she checked it out from a lower angle—like the angle of something that walked—she’d see something.

Rainbow Dash flew to the north side of the mountain and dropped down almost right to the rocky ground, instead hovering a few feet off it since it was still way faster for her to look and move around that way. The ground was really uneven here and the mountain was a pockmarked mess of outcroppings, cliffs, and jagged ridges. But what she noticed was that closer to the base of the mountain things got much smoother, almost like they had been purposefully cleared out and made that way by somepony. Rainbow Dash grinned and flew towards the base of the mountain, there wasn’t anything on this side but she was sure there was something up with it. That ground had been made for travel, it was more like a road now that surrounded the mountain and everything. Rainbow was willing to bet there were probably other roads leading to it coming from elsewhere in this mountain range. Either the platforms or the chaotic mess of the rest of the ground and mountains had distracted her too much to notice it before.

She flew east first around the base of the mountain in search of anything and when she had made it to the exact middle of the east face she once again had to halt suddenly.

“Tch,” Rainbow clicked her tongue. “No wonder I didn’t see anything from above.”

At the bottom of the east side of the mountain lied a cave—or at least that’s all it appeared to be at first glance. A smooth, expertly carved arch of stone was built around it, the cave being wide enough that two, maybe even three, carriages could travel down it together, and tall enough for maybe ten ponies standing on top of each other. The interior walls were carved smooth and on the bottom of the tunnel, since it was no mere natural cave, was a red strip painted along the ground. It started right at the entrance of the tunnel and led in deeper. Rainbow Dash’s eyes followed it until the strip stopped.

She blinked. And then an annoyed frown broke out across her face. “Oh come on! Another door?”

Only about twenty feet into the tunnel a large door blocked off the rest of it entirely. Superficially it was similar to the others she had investigated up on the platforms but a closer look told a different story. It was much cleaner and better taken care of than the other doors, in fact the metal practically shone even in the weak light of the tunnel, and it looked segmented like a large warehouse door rather than an elevator door. Lastly, instead of just a red “C” painted on its exterior was a word written out in its entirety: COPPER.

“Okay?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head and dropped down onto her hooves, walking towards the door.

When she got close enough to touch it she took one last look around, like the others it appeared totally seamless on the bottom but at the top she could clearly see how it would raise and pull back inside when opened up. Rainbow Dash shrugged and lifted a blue hoof up to the door. “I swear if nopony answers or anything, I’m breaking this down.”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

She hit the door three times, hard, getting a dull thud in response each time. It sounded different than when she hit the other doors, probably thanks to the size and thickness of this one and the wider space behind it. Either way, Rainbow Dash patiently waited in front of it with a slight frown on her face. One minute. That’s what she was going to give this door.

47 seconds passed before a rumbling sound came from the door. The sound of gears grinding against each other emerged from the top of the tunnel and slowly the door began to lift off the ground. Teeth along the bottom of it that went into metal slots lifted up and out as the entire thing retracted up onto the roof of the tunnel. When it stopped and the entire door had opened, Rainbow looked inside at the much different tunnel leading further into the mountain. Just right beyond the door the ground changed from natural stone to cement and electrical lights built into the ceiling of the tunnel lit it up entirely.

That wasn’t the main thing that caught Rainbow’s attention. Just right ahead of her was a gate and booth blocking off the rest of the tunnel.

With a pony sitting inside the booth.

Rainbow Dash couldn’t help it, she smiled and let out a huge sigh of relief. Another pony. Another living creature she could talk to. She had finally found someplace new outside of the north. Raalzeron had been the only thing she talked to since leaving Nogt but that didn’t compare to actually finding a real… town? Building? Mine? Whatever this place really was. She didn’t know yet but she was happy to have come across it.

Rainbow Dash walked towards the gate and booth. The gate was only pony height and didn’t look like it was for blocking individual ponies but to keep carts and carriages from going in or out without first checking in with the booth. She saw how the gate had hinges built on the left side and seemed designed to swing open towards the booth and into the tunnel, probably at the press of a button or pull of a lever from the pony in the booth. The booth itself was made of wood and sat on the left side of the tunnel. Rainbow couldn’t see anyway to get inside it so it probably had a door on the other side. A large glass window wrapped around it, with iron bars reinforcing it or perhaps protecting the pony inside the booth. As Rainbow got closer she saw a single hole in the glass, a slot right in front of the pony sitting in there, probably for papers or other stuff to go through, or maybe to just allow him and whoever was outside to hear and talk to each other better.

Now as Rainbow stood right in front of that booth she looked up at the earth pony inside who was somewhat disinterestedly looking back down at her. He was a brown earth pony with a golden mane practically shaved down to the roots and he wore a gray uniform with a nametag reading “Parnel” on it.

“Dude,” Rainbow Dash smiled up at him. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you.”

Parnel raised an unamused eyebrow back at her. “I’m afraid I can’t say the same. You’re clearly not a merchant or trader are you? Are you some pegasus traveler from the Weeping Mountain? Whoever you are, we don’t open up to tourists.”

Rainbow Dash frowned and then glanced back over at the open door. “Uh, looks like you kind of do. And I’ve never heard of any Weeping Mountain.”

“Regardless. If you don’t have business here then you can just turn around and go back wherever you came from,” Parnel narrowed his eyes. “And if you’re not from the Weeping Mountain then just who are you?”

“Look, pal. I’ve been flying around and exploring a whole bunch of places for ages. I don’t even know what this place is called, I just wanted to check it out and maybe have a place to stay for a day,” she left out the part about wanting to find an awesome adventure, since he probably wouldn’t appreciate it. “And my name’s Rainbow Dash. I’m from Equestria.”

“A made up name and home if I ever heard one,” Parnel scoffed.

“Is not!” Rainbow Dash angrily said back to him.

Parnel chuckled. “You’re a bad liar. That would be the silliest name I’ve ever heard. You are from the Weeping Mountain aren’t you? Just some bored pegasus looking for kicks.”

Rainbow Dash stood up on her back legs and put her hooves down on the wooden surface of the booth, right beside the slot. “I’m telling the truth, don’t make fun of my name.” She glared at him.

“Are you threatening me now?” Parnel glared right back at her.

Rainbow sighed and took her hooves away. “No dude, I just-”

“Cause I could call security on you right now and have you thrown out of here, you miscreant.” Parnel said.

“Ughh,” a vein throbbed in Rainbow’s forehead, she dragged a hoof across her face. “I still don’t even know where here is!”

“Suuure you don’t,” Parnel sneered and rolled his eyes. “But fine, I’ll humor you, ‘Rainbow Dash’” He did air quotes to emphasize his disbelief of her name. “You’ve made your way to Oreville, Copper District, led by the Lord Copper.”

“Oreville, huh?” Rainbow Dash blinked.

“Yes. This entire mountain range makes up Oreville. Now would you please get lost?”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “What? Are you busy?”

Parnel flushed. “Um… yes.”

“Now who’s a bad liar? I doubt barely anypony ever comes through here,” Rainbow said.

“That’s not the point! I have strict orders from Lord Copper to not let in anypony without authorization. And I haven’t gotten that for you,” Parnel folded his hooves over his chest.

“Then ask for it,” Rainbow Dash frowned again. She didn’t exactly like the sound of this “Lord Copper” guy already.

Parnel coughed. “I also have strict orders to not look for authorization.”

“What? You’re just supposed to turn me and everybody else away?” She shouted.

“That doesn’t have anything to do with you,” Parnel frowned. “It’s Oreville business and specific directions from my superior. Now I wasn’t bluffing about security either, I’ll call them on you right now.”

Rainbow Dash looked at the gate and the rest of the tunnel past it before looking back up at Parnel. “You know I could totally just fly over this gate and make it to the end of this tunnel in a flash, right?”

“You had better not,” Parnel icily said.

She smirked at him and stepped away, facing the gate. “Watch me.”

“I’m warning you! I’ve got a button right here for the alarm, security will swarm you as soon as you get to the end of the tunnel!”

“Well I hope they know what they’re getting into,” Rainbow Dash said and without another word she shot up and over the gate, flying down the tunnel like a whirlwind.

“Hey!” Parnel yelled after her. “S-Security!” He slammed his hoof down on a large red button next to his desktop.

Instantly an alarm rung up and down the entire tunnel, Rainbow Dash had to cover her ears for a moment to try and block out the loud ringing. It didn’t stop her at all though and she continued barreling down the tunnel towards its exit. She could see it only about one or two hundred feet away from her, it opened up into clearly a much larger area. Rainbow Dash grinned and ignored the ringing in her ears even as she saw movement coming up ahead—a couple of ponies had gathered around the exit to the tunnel.

Guards, huh? Rainbow Dash thought as her eyes narrowed and she flapped her wings harder so she could be upon them before they even registered what was happening.

Meanwhile, at the exit to the tunnel, two red-suited guards who had their station there were immediately alerted to the loud alarm and quickly got up from their desks.

“Ahhh~” One of the guards yawned. “What’s going on? Parnel hit the alarm?”

“He probably fell asleep and accidentally slipped on it, wouldn’t be the first time,” the other said. “Ugh, the whole tunnel security squad is going to be up here in a second now, why hasn’t the idiot switched it back off yet?”

“Hey, Schopen? What’s that?” The first guard pointed down the tunnel.

“Huh?” Schopen began to look but suddenly found himself tackled by a blue blur. “Agh!” He yelled as Rainbow Dash hit him and knocked him to the ground. “G-Get off me!” Knowing some pony had just attacked him, he threw up a left hook to try and punch her in the jaw.

Rainbow Dash easily avoided it by jumping off him while the other guard tried to grab her from behind. She ducked between his hooves and kicked him hard in the chest to knock him away. Schopen then got up and tried to punch her again but Rainbow Dash let his clumsy hoof fly right by her before she socked him in the face.

“Ngh!” Schopen grunted in pain and fell down, holding a hoof up to his eye. “You’re gonna give me a black eye! What’s the matter with you, you psycho?!”

Rainbow Dash grabbed him by the collar of his suit and pulled him close to her face, looking him straight in his one eye left open and glaring seriously at him. “Alright, now you tell me… uh.” Rainbow Dash blinked and looked at the two guards she attacked. The other one was coughing and sputtering and this guy she was holding was scared out of his mind. “Uh oh.” Rainbow Dash dropped Schopen and gulped. “I think I got a little carried away… I just broke into a city I know nothing about and attacked two ponies… am I the bad guy right now?”

Now that she had momentarily regained her senses, Rainbow Dash looked around her to see just where she was after coming out of that tunnel.

“Whoa...” She stared in awe at the massive city in front of her. It must’ve been built both partially inside the hollowed out interior of the mountain and under ground level at the same time. Rainbow Dash was standing on a somewhat raised level that the tunnel ended at, with several ramps, lifts, and stairways all leading down from it to other areas below. The ground was all paved black cement or asphalt that winded around huge stone and metal skyscrapers that went from the bottom floor of the city all the way up to the roof of the mountain. Lines painted on the ground in the colors of red, green, yellow, blue and more directed traffic on the streets and all went to different areas of the city. She could see underground tunnels and roads going out from this mountain into other parts of the mountain range, possibly leading to more sections of city like this or something else. Gigantic holes were carved into the ground that looked like they went hundreds of feet deep, peering down them Rainbow Dash saw a series of lights and walkways going down level by level until she couldn’t even see the bottom. It looked like apartments or buildings of some sort were built into the holes like honeycombs. The roof of the huge cave was covered in stalactites that themselves were wired with large lights that illuminated the entire underground city.

That wasn’t even getting to all the ponies she saw. “Traffic” indeed. The streets were positively bustling with earth ponies. Hundreds, thousands, of them walking every which way throughout the whole city. She saw some gathered outside a store built at the base of one of the skyscrapers, she saw one selling some kind of food at the corner of another, many others she saw pulling carts or carrying buckets of rocks or metal of some kind. It was an actual underground metropolis. Most of them were wearing work clothes or suits of some sort too.

“You nutjob!” Schopen yelped as he backed away from her, gaining Rainbow’s attention again. “What kind of crazy thug just barges into our city and attacks ponies for no good reason?”

“T-This is just a misunderstanding,” Rainbow Dash winced. “Actually, not really, but it’s just a mistake! I’m sorry!” She tried to wave her hooves in front of her chest and back away from him and the other guard.

“Freeze!” Another stallion voice yelled from her side.

“Crud...” Rainbow Dash looked to see two dozen more red-suited guards that had come up to the tunnel while she had been gawking.

Numerous crossbows were leveled at her while other guards carried swords, spears, staffs, and warhammers drawn and ready to be used. The alarm was still blaring from inside the tunnel and to Rainbow’s dismay, none of these ponies looked willing to just let things slide. She could just fly off or even back out of the tunnel—if the front door hadn’t been closed—but what would that get her? Rainbow didn’t know if a big adventure was here for her but she did know that she really wanted to explore and check out more of this cool place. Unfortunately the angry looking guards just continued to stare her down while the other two she had assaulted ran over to stand along with them.

The earth ponies began to fan out in an attempt to surround her as Rainbow Dash stood her ground.

“Look, I’m seriously sorry, I just wanted to come see your city,” Rainbow Dash said, trying to explain herself.

“Save it,” one of the guards growled. “You’ve broken in here uninvited and attacked Schopen and Hoff. If you’ve got any sense you’ll come quietly and nopony will have to get hurt.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes looked around at the guards forming a semi-circle around her. “I promise I’m not going to fight or hurt any of you again, but really, this is just a misunderstanding.”

“Misunderstanding indeed.”

The guards all turned to look back at the source of the voice and Rainbow peered behind them as well to see a tall stallion walking up behind them. He was a tan earth pony with a short black mane in a gray and blue uniform that was far cleaner and more stylish than any of the others she had seen so far. The way he walked made him seem like someone who saw themselves as very important and there was a mild but simultaneously haughty frown on his face as he looked upon Rainbow Dash. Two stallions in red uniforms similar to the other guards but with orange bands across their chests flanked him.

“This is quite far for a prank from a Weeping Mountain neerdowell to go,” the tan stallion said to her.

“L-Lord Copper, what are you doing here, sir?” The guard who had spoken to Rainbow Dash asked while the rest nervously looked back and forth between the Lord and Rainbow Dash.

“That’s no business of yours, guard.” Lord Copper sneered at him. “I happened to be nearby on my business and heard the alarm go off. That’s all you need to be concerned with.” He pushed past the other guards, his two personal stallions brusquely shoving them aside as well, and stood before Rainbow Dash.

Lord Copper huffed disdainfully at her. “Well aren’t you a colorful sight. A neon-nightmare as it were.”

Rainbow Dash’s eye twitched. “Okay, look, I know I screwed up but I’m not going to just stand here and be insulted either. All I wanted was to visit, okay? Look around, see the sights? That’s the truth. I’m not from the Weeping Mountain—I still don’t even know what that is! My name is Rainbow Dash, I’m from Equestria, a really far away and really awesome place. And I don’t have any problem with you or Oreville.”

“Sure you are,” Lord Copper smirked. “Well even if that’s true you certainly aren’t giving a good first impression of your home. What kind of awesome place raises such criminals?”

“I just got carried away, if you let me explain-”

“I don’t see why I would. You’re some vagabond from outside of Oreville, what do I owe you? Absolutely nothing,” Lord Copper said.

“I’m not-”

He cut her off again. “You are a violent pony who has illegally broken into my city. You say it’s all a misunderstanding and apparently you’re not even from the Weeping Mountain but some other far away land? Well why don’t you do a good job of proving that and trying to clean up your image, and your home’s image, by letting my guards peacefully take you to our correctional institution. A night, or two, or perhaps ten, in there and I might just forgive your transgressions without anymore fuss.” He then frowned and looked towards the tunnel. “And will someone go to the registration booth and tell that moron to turn off the alarm?”

“Yes, sir!” Schopen and Hoff both answered at once and ran down the tunnel.

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes at the Lord Copper before grimacing and staring out at the other guards and the rest of the city as well. She didn’t want to cause anymore problems. This place actually looked peaceful, the ponies down in the streets were happy, she really had no reason to fight any of these ponies and she was really regretful of how she handled things earlier. And she really wanted to see more of this place, she wasn’t sure if there was a big adventure to be had here but it was still the first civilization she had come across on this side of the world. She needed to see more of it. But… she also really didn’t want to be thrown in jail. Rainbow could easily fight her way out of this situation and find someway to leave the city but that wouldn’t really solve anything or satisfy her curiosity. This guy also just plain rubbed her the wrong way. There was something up with him for sure. “His” city he had said, but she didn’t quite believe it was as simple as that. So in the end, to stay here, to get on Oreville’s good side, and to figure out if there was an awesome adventure to be had, there was only one decision she could make.

Rainbow Dash sighed and hung her head low. “Fine. I won’t fight or anything, I’m sorry for attacking the guards and I’ll spend a night or whatever in your jail to make up for it.”

A sneering smile came onto Lord Copper’s face. “Wonderful. I’ll have my personal guards escort you to our facility immediately.” He turned to his guards. “When she gets there, make sure she gets a, oh, warm welcome.” He chuckled.

After being savagely beaten by half a dozen ponies on the security force when she arrived at the correctional facility, Rainbow Dash had her bloodied and bruised body tossed into a cell and locked up. With how badly they had beaten her they saw no need for any other restraints so her wings were at least left free. Not like it mattered, she didn’t even have the strength to carry herself over to the meager bed inside her lonely cell. Rainbow Dash coughed and sputtered on the cold stone floor, spitting up a mouthful of blood while her vision grew darker and she threatened to slip into unconsciousness.

“This bites...”

Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure what time it was when she woke up or even if it was the same day. What she did know was that her whole body hurt. Her eyes briefly stirred around behind her closed eyelids before she managed to painfully open them up and try to look around.

“Oh yeah,” she weakly said as she realized where she was. The rough beating she had received flashed through her mind and Rainbow Dash tried to stand up.

Bad idea.

“Ngh!” Her legs gave out and she collapsed back onto the stone floor where she panted in pain. If she had a mirror in here she was almost certain her face would be a mess of purple bruises and welts, along with most of the rest of her body. Her vision was blurry and she had trouble keeping her eyes open from swelling around them, her jaw ached, her stomach ached, her limbs ached. They had made sure to do a real number on her.

And I’m the one who made a bad first impression, huh? Rainbow Dash idly thought. She wanted to give these ponies and Oreville the benefit of the doubt, since it really did look like a perfectly happy and functioning community out there in the city, but her experience at the hooves of these police ponies darkened her opinion a bit. Maybe they had only done it because that Lord guy had ordered them to, but still. Rainbow would’ve been fine taking a punch or two in retaliation for how she had assaulted those guards up there, but what had been meted out against her was overkill in her opinion.

Since she was still having trouble standing up, Rainbow Dash at least tried to turn her head to try and look around the cell as much as she could. Right now she was facing the back wall of it and could just barely see two other solid cement walls to her sides along with a bed to her right. And a bucket and hole in the ground to the left. Yuck.

Even though her head hurt she managed to lift it up and look over her shoulder. What she first noticed though wasn’t the iron bars of her cell or the hallway past them, but the tray sitting down on the floor just a few feet behind her. Rainbow Dash looked at it, a simple metal tray had been left in her cell with two bowls on it. One of water and another that looked like it was maybe oatmeal.

She blinked. Was I so out of it that I didn’t even wake up when somepony brought this in here and left it for me? Whatever, at least they’re still feeding me.

All she could do right now though was breathe and stare in its direction. It would take some time before she had the energy back in her body and could actually manage the pain enough to walk over to those bowls. If it wasn’t already, that oatmeal was going to become ice cold.

Rainbow Dash tried to roll over onto her side to see if that would feel any better. While she was successful it didn’t really change the amount of pain she was in. She looked across her body and saw all the purple bruises and hoof marks that peppered her coat. Her stomach in particular was especially bad looking thanks to the repeated kicks she had taken there. Since she wasn’t doing anything else and she currently hurt too much to fall asleep, Rainbow focused on trying to move one limb at a time. Even more than a twitch caused pain to lance up and down each one of her legs though. After trying for just a minute she figured she should probably just stay lying down.

There was a copper taste in her mouth thanks to the blood.

She chose not to think of the irony.

It had been her decision not to fight back since all that would do is cause more problems. Now she had to deal with the repercussions of that. Her memories were still a bit foggy but she did recall being led through a part of the city and into a tunnel leading out of the hollowed mountain before arriving here. Then as soon as she stepped into the facility, one of the guards who had brought her here whispered something to the staff—that was about when the beating had started. Everything after that was black.

Rainbow Dash breathed out her mouth. “Wish I could remember a little more about the city I saw on the way...”

She thought she might have been riding a tram or cart of some sort through the tunnel but she had taken too many hits to the head to remember correctly. Her curiosity at this point was bothering her almost as much as the physical pain she was in. She really wanted to go and learn about Oreville as much as she could. It seemed like an exciting place and it was obviously quite huge as well, Rainbow Dash knew there had to be something out there waiting for her. And with all those smiling faces she had seen most of the other ponies were probably pretty nice.

Just thinking about that Lord Copper guy made her mad. And was it really so hard for any of these ponies to believe she was from Equestria?

Rainbow Dash decided to shut out anymore obnoxious thoughts so she could just focus on recuperating. She shut her eyes and slowly breathed in and out, her bruised ribs making each necessary breath laborious. Time all sort of blurred together for her after that and she wasn’t sure if hours had been passing by or merely minutes. But her body now was really craving that food and water that had been left in the cell with her. Even if it hurt getting over to it, once she got it into her system it would do a lot of good and help her recover faster.

She didn’t stand up fully but she at least got to her knees and turned to face the tray. It was so close, it was so stupidly close but it was taking so much pain and effort to reach it. If she just managed to crawl a foot or two closer she could reach out and pull it over with a hoof.

“Urggg...” Rainbow Dash groaned as she tried to move her body, each time she scraped a bruise it sent pain through that part of her body. Rainbow Dash was tough, and she could take a lot of punishment and deal with a good deal of pain, but being beaten so thoroughly it was impossible to just fight through it. It felt like they had gone just shy of breaking some of her bones. Rainbow paused and took a deep breath that turned into a ragged cough before crawling just a few inches closer. After a few more agonizing minutes like that her sore and aching hoof reached out and grasped the edge of the tray.

Rainbow Dash pulled it along the floor of the cell towards her, ignoring the skin-crawling scraping sound it made as she did so. She took but one second to catch her breath before dipping her muzzle into the water bowl and taking a long drink from it. The cold water felt refreshing enough to die for, the cold feeling from it quickly filled her stomach and spread through her veins.

“That’s good,” Rainbow said before moving to the oatmeal and beginning to eat up as much of it as she could. Thankfully it was mushy enough where she didn’t have to chew or anything, it was already a little tough for her to swallow like this. Rainbow Dash lied there on the ground, eating and drinking up all she could.

She must have fallen asleep or fainted again at some point. A slight tapping noise was ringing in her ears and Rainbow Dash opened her eyes to see an empty, and messy, couple of bowls in front of her. She felt a little bit better, not too much but enough to move around without it feeling agonizing. A groan escaped her lips and she pushed the tray away from her while she sat up as best she could. Her body was still covered in black and purple welts and bruises, some looked like they had gotten better while others actually looked worse.

“What the hay is that stupid tapping?!” Rainbow Dash yelled and looked up. “Oh.”

A pony was standing right outside her cell, right in front of the locked door. In his hoof was a key ring and he was tapping one of the keys against the lock to get her attention.

“Good evening,” he said to her.

Rainbow Dash stared back at him for a second, wondering if she should bother responding at all. Eventually her sheer curiosity and boredom got the better of her. “...evening?”

“It’s about midnight at the moment. You were brought in earlier today.”

“Same day… alright,” Rainbow Dash nodded.

“I’m aware you’ve been in and out of consciousness but yes, it hasn’t been that long since you were placed in this cell. I would’ve come by even sooner if I had heard but unfortunately some of my subordinates didn’t seem like they wanted to tell me about you and what had happened,” he said.

Rainbow Dash attempted to raise an eyebrow at him but her bruised face made that impossible. “Who are you?”

The stallion stood up a bit straighter and confidently responded- “Chief Constable Barnaby of Oreville. A pleasure to meet you, Miss Rainbow Dash.”

“Believe me-” Rainbow Dash coughed. “Right now the pleasure is definitely all yours.” She grinned.

“I believe you,” he looked at her, frowning at the state of her body. The Chief Constable was a robust looking stallion, not as tall or muscular as some stallions Rainbow had met, but clearly in great shape. He had a sharply defined brow that sat below a thin cyan mane, his tail was cut fairly short and his coat was of a yellow-green mixture. Like the other security ponies Rainbow had seen he wore a red uniform but he also had a red helmet atop his head to go with it. “I more or less know what has occurred but I’d like to hear you tell me in your own words as well.”

“I think the story is going to be that I fell down the stairs a bunch of times—at least according to your guards and Lord Doofus,” Rainbow Dash dryly responded.

Barnaby’s frown deepened. “I meant from the beginning with you first coming into Oreville. But rest assured, you should never have been mistreated the way you were and those responsible under my authority have been strictly disciplined.”

Rainbow Dash was silent as she appraised him. He seemed sincere and her friends would definitely tell her to give him the benefit of the doubt. She had been burned by these security ponies so far… but at least a small portion of that was her fault in the first place and she wanted to believe the average pony of Oreville was a perfectly good pony.

“Okay, so what?” Rainbow Dash said to him. “I tell you what happened and you arrest Lord Copper instead or something?”

Barnaby sadly smirked and shook his head. “Afraid not. Arresting Lord Copper over anything would practically take a miracle. I just wanted to personally get your side of things to see what kind of pony you are before letting you out of here.”

“Letting me out?”

“You were already punished far worse than you deserved. However, you did assault two guards. I can’t just let you free without getting to know you a little better after such a thing. I am the Chief Constable of this city after all. So, Rainbow Dash, did you have a good reason for illegally trespassing into our city and attacking two of the tunnel guards?” Barnaby asked her.

Rainbow Dash grimaced. “N-Not especially...”

“Care to elaborate?” Barnaby pressed.

“Ugh,” Rainbow Dash sighed and closed her eyes, tilting her head back and taking a deep breath. Gathering her thoughts she looked back at him. “Look, I’m really sorry about what I did to those two guys up there. It was a mistake. I… I’ve been to a lot of places, not all of them friendly, when I saw two guards I think maybe I thought they were more “dangerous” to me than they really were. Or like, I was breaking into some kind of oppressed city and doing a good thing...”

“You have quite the imagination,” Barnaby looked rather confusedly at her.

“Well I’m kind of speaking from personal experience here too...” Rainbow Dash grinned awkwardly. “Also, and this isn’t really a great excuse, but I hadn’t been anywhere like this for a while now and I got really annoyed at your gate guard or whoever when he said I couldn’t come in.”

“Gate guard? You mean the operator of the registration booth? What did he say to you?” Barnaby asked.

“He said that only ponies with authorized business or something could come into Oreville—and he said that he wasn’t supposed to ask to get authorization. Jerk,” Rainbow snorted.

Barnaby frowned. “I see. Thank you for telling me that, that’s not supposed to be the way we do things here. It seems you’ve been mistreated by my fellow citizens in more ways than one.”

Rainbow winced. “Well… like I said I kind of deserved some of it. Really screwed this up...” She shook her head. “I’m supposed to be way more awesome than this, I’m making my home look bad. Fighting is fun but attacking innocent ponies just because I’m being a hot-headed idiot? My friends would kill me.”

“Speaking of that, do you have any friends or family back at the Weeping Mountain who know you’re here?” Barnaby asked.

Instantly Rainbow Dash frowned. “I’m. Not. From. The Weeping Mountain!” She yelled. “I don’t even know what that is!”

Barnaby silently looked at her for a moment before his eyes narrowed. “You’re really telling the truth, aren’t you? I heard from some of my subordinates that you said you were from somewhere called Equestria but I thought you were just pulling their tails. And so Rainbow Dash is actually your real name too and not just a… rather apt moniker?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, painfully, and glared at him. “Yes. I’m from Equestria. And yes, my name really is Rainbow Dash.”

“My apologies for my disbelief then. It’s an unusual name for these parts. I don’t believe the pegasi of the Weeping Mountain have such fantastic names either,” Barnaby said while rubbing his chin.

“Can you please explain to me why everypony here thinks I’m from this Weeping Mountain place?” Rainbow Dash finally asked.

“Well that’s an easy one. It’s the only place where we know pegasi to live. Never heard of anywhere else pegasi call home. The Weeping Mountain is a pegasus enclave that lies far to the east of Oreville. In a lush highland, surrounded by fog, there is one great green mountain where dozens of waterfalls pour from. Hence the name “The Weeping Mountain”. It’s probably a much happier place than it sounds. I hear the pegasi living there make their homes on clouds and banks of fog surrounding the mountain,” Barnaby explained.

“Never been?”

Barnaby shook his head. “No. In fact I’ve never even seen a pegasus until you. I doubt any living pony in Oreville has, we simply don’t have that much contact with each other. Or practically anywhere else the past decade or two.”

“How come?” Rainbow asked, leaning forward a bit. “And if you don’t mind, could you tell me about what else is around here besides Oreville.”

“I’m afraid I won’t have that much to tell you on either question. We’ve simply become more introverted, only paying attention to ourselves. We used to trade and barter with outsiders but our economy and industry has advanced enough where we can pretty much purely rely on ourselves now. Even just ten years ago Oreville was much smaller than it is now,” Barnaby told her. “We still aren’t supposed to just turn away ponies like you but we rarely get any merchants or traders coming this way anymore.”

“I think I’m kind of a tourist at best anyways,” Rainbow Dash laughed at herself, even though the motion made her ribs ache.

“Nothing wrong with being a tourist either. Now like I said I—most of Oreville—doesn’t know a whole lot about the outside world that isn’t pretty much right next to us. All I can tell you for sure is that there are numerous small towns and villages in the mountains and valleys south of here. And beyond that is supposedly a desert of some sort, but nopony from Oreville has ever seen it in person, I can assure you. I also doubt anypony from that desert or further has been here. We’ve merely heard of it from traders from those villages to the south.”

“Desert huh? That’d be a big difference from where I’ve been lately,” Rainbow Dash mused.

“Oh?”

Rainbow grinned at him. “Yeah, not sure how much you guys know about what’s north of you but I just came down from there. Lots of snow and ice. Was really happy to see how different this place was, but I think now I’d probably melt in a desert after a day.”

“From the north...” Barnaby’s jaw opened and closed. “But there’s nothing there. We have old tales telling us of expeditions and other travelers who attempted to travel beyond the boundary walls but they all disappeared without a trace or came back as failures. How… how far have you traveled? Just how far away is your home of Equestria?”

Rainbow Dash whistled. “Wooh, buddy. You better find a chair cause this is gonna take a while.”

The next two hours was spent with Rainbow Dash regaling Barnaby of everything she had gone through and seen since she left Ponyville all that time ago. Barnaby for his part sat there and listened in flabbergasted shock. It was certainly a good way of getting Rainbow Dash to not think about her pain as well. By the time she finished her story she felt much better both mentally and physically.

“Stop me if you’ve heard this before-” Barnaby said. “But if even half of what you’ve told me is true I think you would have to be by far the most incredible pony I’ve met.”

“It’s all true. And duh, of course I am,” Rainbow smugly grinned.

Barbaby stared at her. “I like to consider myself as being a pony who is good at discerning the true nature of others. It has helped me well in my job here. Your name, where you’re from, what you’ve done to get here, I almost can’t believe it but it is true. Either that or you’re an amazing actress.” Barnaby sighed as he looked off into the distance. “I had no idea the world was so big.”

“Yeah it’s a pretty cool place,” Rainbow nodded.

Barnaby chuckled. “Indeed. And you seem to be a rather important pony from Equestria as well.”

“Well, yeah, but not like that. I’m just popular and I help save the day all the time but it’s not like I officially do anything you know?” Rainbow said.

“I’m just thinking that what was done to you here is even worse in retrospect. A pony from a new country—who represents her people—was treated so savagely. It reflects badly on Oreville and it makes me worry about our future,” Barnaby said. “Whether you consider yourself one or not, after hearing your story I would consider you as an ambassador of sorts for your home of Equestria. Despite your unbecoming behavior to our guards, which I’m willing to chalk up to a momentary lapse in judgment, you deserve better than this. Oreville deserves better than this.”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “So does that mean…?”

“It means I’ll be opening up this cell and letting you out now. You’re far too important and unique of a pony to keep locked up. Provided you don’t punch anymore guards in the future.”

Rainbow Dash briefly laughed. “I won’t, I promise.”

Barnaby grinned back at her. “Good to hear. You’re an interesting one, Rainbow Dash. And I hope by the time you leave here you’ll be able to speak well of Oreville to any other ponies you meet in your travels, least of all your friends and Princesses back home.”

Rainbow Dash frowned as she processed his words. “Are you… only doing this cause you’re worried about me saying something bad about Oreville?”

“Absolutely not,” Barnaby instantly responded with a cold frown of his own. “While the well-being of Oreville is first and foremost in my mind I’m not the type to trade favors like that. Letting you out is simply the right thing to do. There is not an ulterior motive to it, I assure you. I tackle things honestly and with sincerity. I just wish that perhaps this moment can be the foundation of a good relationship between you and Oreville. And who you represent.”

“Hey, sorry for questioning your motives,” Rainbow Dash held up her hooves. “You don’t got to worry about anything though. I don’t really go around badmouthing places even if I had a bad time in them—you probably know that already from the stories I just told you. And believe me that even if my friends and the Princesses back in Equestria heard about me getting beat up by some jerks here, they’re not going to attack you out of retribution or anything crazy like that. We usually talk problems out, and one of my friends would just plan a big party with lots of cake for everypony.”

“Forgive me but you personally seem more fond of fighting your problems.”

“Well—yeah—but that’s me. And I’ve been alone and could only rely on myself and my way of doing things since leaving on this adventure,” Rainbow shrugged. “Twilight would be the real ambassador for something like this. She wouldn’t have attacked anypony.”

“Regardless, here you are, and I must admit to having quite a good first impression of you… or perhaps second impression would be more accurate,” Barnaby grinned.

“I can say my second impression of Oreville is a lot better after meeting you too,” Rainbow Dash stood up, her legs aching but not enough to keep her down anymore. “That Lord Copper guy is a real jerk.”

“You don’t need to tell me that,” Barnaby snorted.

“Yeah I kind of gathered that you really didn’t like him.”

“That’s putting it very lightly,” Barnaby said and paused for a minute, looking over Rainbow Dash.

She tilted her head at him. “What’s up?”

“Just thinking that it’s also nice to have somepony around like you. An outsider. And one that also hates Lord Copper just like me. This isn’t the place to talk about that scumbag but since you have no ties to anypony or anything in Oreville you’d be the perfect confidante. It’s funny to think that because you’re an outsider that maybe I can trust you more than most ponies,” Barnaby sadly chuckled. “Please don’t misunderstand, I don’t plan on using you or anything like that, but since you’ve already gotten on his bad side and him on yours, maybe we’ve got a common goal.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “That guy really rubbed me the wrong way. I could smell the dirt on him.”

“You are looking for adventures after all,” Barnaby smiled back.

“Sure am. And if there’s anything awesome here to do, or anything I can do to help this place, then I’m all over it.”

“Well first of all, I think it’s about time you leave this cell,” Barnaby said and reached up with the key he was holding to unlock her cell. With a simple turn and a clink, the door was unlocked and it swung open. Barnaby stepped inside to get a closer look at her and grimaced. “I think I know the first place you’re going after getting out of here. And you’re probably going to be happy to hear it.”

“Oh yeah? Where?”

He raised an obvious eyebrow at her. “The hospital. Also… I’d recommend not looking in any mirrors for a little while.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled and tried to stretch a little to feel out her body, it ended up with a dull throbbing pain shooting all over her. “That sounds good to me.”

The hospital was close by to the prison but it was still too far for Rainbow Dash to travel under her own power, as both she and Chief Constable Barnaby learned. She was annoyed at having to wait around some more and be treated like an invalid, but in the end they had to have a nurse and stretcher come into the cell block and wheel her out. The good news was that the stretcher sure was soft and it felt way better lying down on it than the hard concrete of the prison. The bad news was she didn’t get to glare and gloat to the guards who had beaten her since Barnaby had sent them away long ago.

“I don’t even remember going down these halls before,” Rainbow Dash said as she went along through the halls of the prison with the nurse and Barnaby alongside her. “This is a pretty big place.”

It wasn’t all just cells either but offices, training rooms, a gymnasium, quarters, and other places she ended up getting wheeled past. Any guards they met along the way stiffened up and greeted Barnaby with a sharp “Sir!”. Obviously some of his subordinates were rotten eggs but he seemed to command the respect of most. The hallways were well lit up by electrical lights but they hadn’t walked past any windows yet, they must’ve still been in the interior of the prison.

“There are a lot of ponies in Oreville, that means a lot of policing to do and unfortunately an active crime scene. But we do our best,” Barnaby told her. “Although some of us simply add to the problems.” He added, bitterly.

It was certainly a bit different from Equestria, where crime was low and the word corruption might as well not exist. But Rainbow Dash knew well by now that not every place was as harmonic as her home.

When Rainbow Dash was wheeled into the lobby of the prison she took a look around at it since with any luck she wouldn’t be back here again. The back half of the lobby was sectioned off by a wooden barrier at desk height that had two doors in it on either side, flanking a large circular desk in the middle of the lobby where a mare, likely a receptionist, sat. There were a few closed doors going off into other hallways, along with some benches in the front of the lobby. From the ceiling hung a number of lights and the front wall of the lobby was taken up by large glass doors and even larger glass windows above them.

“You can say goodbye now if you want,” Barnaby said as he opened up the front doors to help the nurse push her stretcher out.

“I’m good, thanks,” Rainbow said.

The nurse smiled at her the moment they were outside. “Copper District Hospital is right down the street, you just relax now until we get there.”

Rainbow nodded but still took a look back at the prison before resting her head. It was a huge facility, no doubt, and it looked to be built directly into the rock wall of this underground cavern they were in. Rainbow Dash saw it stretching up several stories with row after row of windows (some barred and some not) on the cement exterior. Between the glass doors and windows of the front lobby was a cement beam that supported them both, and on the outside was a metal panel that ran across it painted with the words: OREVILLE CORRECTIONAL FACILITY

Yeah, unless she was visiting Barnaby she kind of hoped she wasn’t coming back.

But now that she was out of the prison she could take her first real look around this part of Oreville. Since her memories of being brought here were muddied quite a bit.

It took only a single look for her to notice she was in a completely different part of Oreville. The ceiling was much lower and they clearly weren’t underneath or inside of any hollowed out mountain. The ceiling also wasn’t just left as a bunch of stalactites but looked like it was braced and reinforced by a layer of cement with several supporting pillars and ribs running up the sides of the walls. That being said it was still a pretty huge place, Rainbow Dash could see down several blocks of street in every direction and there were numerous buildings all over the place. However it wasn’t like what she had seen when she first entered Oreville, and Rainbow Dash belatedly realized that was because of the time.

There were hardly any ponies out on the streets at all and there were no lights shining down from the ceiling. The only things that were lit up were several street lamps that lined the streets. Barnaby had said when he first visited her cell that it was around midnight and after all the talking the two of them did it must be at most only around 3 or 4 in the morning. No wonder the streets were still so empty.

“Right now this is just about the westernmost section in all of Oreville,” Barnaby said. “There are only a few more smaller areas past this place.”

“I wasn’t sure what direction we were going in, I really need to look at a map of this place some time,” Rainbow said.

Barnaby laughed. “I’ll bring you one while you’re in the hospital if I can. Or ask a nurse to fetch it. There’s probably going to be quite a bit you’ll need to learn about our city, I’ll fill in for you what I can.”

“Thanks, so uh-”

“But first comes your hospital visit. You need to recuperate,” Barnaby cut her off.

Rainbow rolled her eyes but didn’t press the issue, to be honest she could really use some medicine and a few strips of gauze anyways. “Fine.”

As they made it to a four-way intersection, Rainbow Dash looked down the streets and saw mostly some more squat buildings made of stone and cement. But she also saw several tunnels and elevators leading to other places built at the far walls of this artificial cavern. It made her wonder how deep underground she was now. She had entered at a place that was practically ground level but at this point she could be pretty low.

“There’s the hospital,” Barnaby said and pointed ahead.

Rainbow Dash looked and saw that her destination was not exactly especially inviting. It didn’t look broken down or dirty or anything but the cold gray cement exterior wasn’t exactly good looking. Seemed these ponies cared more for practicality than aesthetics when it came to making their buildings down here. The only thing that let Rainbow know it was a hospital just by looking at it was the big red block letters spelling “Hospital” standing on the roof.

“Rest assured, you’ll receive excellent care,” Barnaby smiled.

“Ow!” Rainbow Dash yelped as the painful iodine swab was rubbed against her wounds.

“I’m sorry dear,” her nurse apologized with a well-meaning smile. “You’ve really been beaten up pretty badly.”

“T-Tell me about it,” Rainbow grit her teeth.

Nurse Abernathy was a chartreuse earth pony mare with a dark orange mane that she wore in a heavy braid behind her head. For the past thirty minutes she’d been looking over Rainbow Dash and doing an initial check-up on her to make sure there weren’t any serious internal injuries or broken bones. After being satisfied that all of Rainbow’s damage was external, then came the painful healing.

“I just can’t believe our own officers of the law would do something like this to you,” Abernathy frowned.

“Well to be fair, I did punch one of them in the face.”

“Still...” Abernathy continued to swab around and clean up Rainbow’s wounds, putting ointment and bandages on the darkened spots of her body. When she was just about done and Rainbow Dash was covered in bandages, her eyes naturally drifted to Rainbow’s wings. “Your wings aren’t hurt either are they? I’m sorry but I’ve never treated a pegasus before, I don’t know how your physiology might differ from ours, I hope I did a good enough job.”

“It’s cool, back home doctors always had the same treatments for everypony as far as I know,” Rainbow shrugged. “And don’t worry, my wings are the one part of me that doesn’t hurt.” She then got a thoughtful look on her face. “That reminds me of something I was thinking about.”

“Hm?”

“I’ve only seen earth ponies here. I know there aren’t any pegasi but are there any unicorns? Or is it only earth ponies in all of Oreville?” Rainbow asked.

Nurse Abernathy smiled. “Only earth ponies, I’m afraid. There have been unicorn visitors, more than pegasi at least, but not so much in recent years.”

“Well I totally understand why pegasi wouldn’t want to live underground. Permanently at least. I wouldn’t. But I’m surprised there aren’t any unicorns. Do they have their own place like the Weeping Mountain or whatever?”

“Hmm, I’ve heard that there are plenty of unicorns in the villages to the south, but I really don’t know.”

“Meh, pretty sure there are still plenty of places back in Equestria that are basically all one tribe or another. Whatever works.”

The nurse laughed briefly. “It’s certainly always been fine here in Oreville. Anyways, your wounds wont require any surgery or serious medication but you should still get some rest for a day or two. The swelling around your face will also go down soon, I’ll get you an ice pack to help you with that. Besides that you’ll only have a couple of mild painkillers to swallow down. Once Barnaby comes back I’ll get those for you.”

“Right,” Rainbow nodded.

Upon entering the hospital, Barnaby had left Nurse Abernathy to take Rainbow Dash to her room while he spoke with the leading doctor on shift about his new important guest. He said he wanted to talk to the hospital director himself but it was far too early in the morning for him to be around. Now Rainbow was just blithely waiting for her guardian and guide to return.

Thankfully after all the time it took Nurse Abernathy to treat her it didn’t take much longer. Barnaby walked in with a smile on his face that only grew when he saw Rainbow Dash.

“Ah, good to see the nurse has been treating you well,” Barnaby said to them.

“Thank you, Chief Constable,” Abernathy replied. “I’m going to go get some things for Miss Rainbow Dash now.” She said, excusing herself from the room.

Barnaby watched her go and as soon as she closed the door he walked over to the side of Rainbow’s bed. “You look… better.”

“I guess the bandages look better than the bruises,” Rainbow snorted.

Barnaby sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. “Anyways, while I know you’re going to want to get up and about and see more of Oreville, I strongly suggest you rest here for another day or two. You still need to recuperate and it would also be a little awkward for citizens of Oreville to see you walking—or flying—around while looking like this.”

“Fair enough,” Rainbow furrowed her brows. “Doesn’t mean I won’t be totally bored or anything.”

“Sorry, there’s also something else I need to do for you to make your stay in Oreville easier,” Barnaby said. “While it’s still too early at the moment, later today I’ll be visiting Lord Silver and Lord Gold and getting you a diplomat’s visa.”

“A what? A who?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head.

Barnaby chuckled. “I see we can turn this time into an impromptu lesson for you.” He pulled up a stool and took a seat by her bed, coughing into his hoof before beginning. “You see, Oreville is divided into three districts; Copper, Silver and Gold. Each one governed by its own Lord.”

“Okay, I was going to ask if that Lord Copper guy was in charge of Oreville. Really good to know he’s not.”

“He wishes,” Barnaby nodded. “Although he does have considerable reach and power he is at most simply equal to Lords Silver and Gold. That’s why I’ve never been afraid of getting on his nerves or doing something he wouldn’t like.”

“How’d a jerk like him get the job in the first place?” Rainbow asked.

“It’s a hereditary position. His father held it and his father before him. It’s how the Lords have always operated. He’ll be Lord Copper until the day he dies,” Barnaby said. “Fortunately for us all, Lord Silver is much more amiable and Lord Gold is… well, not as young as he used to be but also very unlikely to speak out against you or anything. I’ll be telling them about you and get their seal of approval for your visa. It’s something that hasn’t come up in ages as far as I know but it’ll be good for essentially getting you everything you need here and anywhere you want to go. And it will make you completely untouchable to Lord Copper.”

“Sounds cool. But if Lords Silver and Gold are nice, why isn’t he?”

Barnaby shrugged. “His father was a fine Lord, but I think Copper has always been too ambitious for his own good. He doesn’t like sharing power with the other Lords and only governing the smallest section of the city.”

“Wait—hold on. You’re saying this huge city, this whole Copper Section or whatever, is the smallest one of Oreville? How big is this place?” Rainbow asked.

“Gold Section is about twice the size of Copper Section,” Barnaby answered. “Oreville is a big place and there are a lot of ponies living here. Although I don’t actually have anything to compare it to...”

“Geez, no kidding...”

“Although Oreville has a long history and Copper Section has been here for hundreds of years, it’s also the youngest and least affluent section of Oreville. Something I suspect has given Lord Copper a bit of an inferiority complex.”

Rainbow Dash knew “least affluent” was basically a code word for poorest. That being said though, it didn’t look like the average pony in the Copper Section was unhappy or that the place was destitute. Just like how Ponyville was less affluent than Canterlot, it certainly didn’t mean Copper Section was actually a bad place compared to Silver and Gold. So ponies here didn’t live in big mansions? Big deal. “Got it. So are you like, only the Chief Corncob of Copper Section then?”

“Heh, Constable,” Barnaby corrected with a grin. “And no, I’m in charge of security and criminal justice for the entirety of Oreville. The prison we just came from is the only one in the city, situated in Copper Section because the Gold and Silver Sections didn’t want something like that there, but there are numerous stations for constables and guards like myself throughout all three sections. My force in total, adding up all the myriad types of guards, investigators, and beat constables, numbers well over a thousand ponies.” He frowned. “Although as you’ve unfortunately discovered already, some see fit to take orders from someone else. And I always find myself with a mess of red tape tying up my hooves when it comes to dealing with those ponies in a lasting way.”

“Yeah I don’t envy you. I like having the freedom I have in my life, nothing chaining me down, you know?” Rainbow Dash quickly considered what she had just said. “Er, besides my obligations as an Element of Harmony and stuff like that. But that’s different.”

Barnaby shrugged. “It’s exhausting and frustrating at times but I still wouldn’t give up this job for anything. It’s about duty I suppose. Oreville simply needs me. And if one day I am ever able to laugh in Lord Copper’s face and see him dragged through the mud I’m not going to want to miss that.”

Rainbow grinned. “Now there’s something I can relate to. Speaking of him again though, you said his title is hereditary or whatever? So does he have any kids or something that will become Lord Copper when he croaks?”

“He doesn’t have children of his own. Or a wife for that matter, anytime another pony asks him about it he says he’s “married to his job”, the liar.” Barnaby snorted in derision. “But he does have other blood relations, an uncle, a cousin or two. If Lord Copper passed away or was ever stripped of his position for some unfathomable reason, the closest living relative would get it and then the position would be passed down by their line.”

Rainbow Dash was about to reply when light suddenly poured into her hospital room from the window outside. She winced and shut her eyes out of reflex. “Ugh, what?”

“It’s 5 am now. That’s when the ceiling lights come on in the city,” Barnaby explained.

“Could’ve used a warning...” Rainbow Dash grumbled as she rubbed her eyes. “So all the ponies are going to be up and about now? I saw yesterday how busy the streets were.”

Barnaby nodded. “It’s always busy in Oreville. The work never stops, we’re an industrious society of ponies.”

“I think Applejack would fit right in here,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Your farmer friend? Probably,” Barnaby agreed.

“Yeah but me not quite so much,” Rainbow Dash leaned her head back and rested on her pillow. “I don’t mind visiting and seeing all your cool stuff, but no way could I live here all cooped up, underground with nowhere to fly.”

“You’ve got restless blood in you. I can’t say I’ve ever had the desire to travel so much, but maybe if I ever witnessed the Weeping Mountain myself or some of the villages to the south of us it might change my mind,” Barnaby smiled. “But unfortunately that kind of thing will have to wait until I’ve retired. Duty calls for the present.”

“Good luck with all that stuff. And you totally should give traveling a try, you’re missing out on how awesome the rest of the world is,” Rainbow said.

“Don’t I know it after meeting you...” Barnaby sighed and looked out the window at the now lit up streets and buildings. “I suppose it’s time to go meet with Lords Silver and Gold. Though I doubt they’re even awake yet it will take some time to set up a meeting anyways and I want this done with as soon as possible.”

“Sounds like it’d take a long time for you to travel all the way over there anyways, what with how big you make Oreville sound.”

“If I was going by hoof, yes. But I’m going to be taking the tram. We have a rail line that goes through all three sections, it’s quite useful,” Barnaby told her.

“Have fun, dude. I’ll be… sitting here… doing nothing. For like two days,” Rainbow Dash groaned and looked up at the ceiling. “Hospitals are so boring, I don’t even have a Daring Do book to read.” She glanced at Barnaby. “Do you guys have any awesome adventure novels or something I can read while I’m here?”

Barnaby chuckled. “You can ask Nurse Abernathy to find something, along with that map I promised.”

“Thanks,” Rainbow saluted him.

“You’re welcome, and goodbye for now, Rainbow Dash. I’ll be back as soon as I can be,” Barnaby politely bowed and stepped out of her hospital room.

Pretty much instantly after he left, Nurse Abernathy came back in. She was likely waiting outside the door for their business to be done. On her back she balanced a metal tray that had an ice pack, a cup of water, and some pills on it. “Okay, dear. Now we can make you nice and comfortable for the rest of your time here. Which hopefully shouldn’t be very long at all.” She winked.

“A day is all I’m planning, even if I’ve still got some bruises at the end of it,” Rainbow said.

Nurse Abernathy giggled and had Rainbow Dash take her medicine while also putting the ice pack on her face. It made her shiver at first but eventually she became numb to the sensation and simply let herself relax in the bed. Her swollen face would hopefully be back to normal soon.

“So I don’t know if you heard but-” Rainbow Dash started.

“You want a book?” Nurse Abernathy raised an eyebrow. “No problem, I’ll find something from the hospital library that I think you’ll like.”

Rainbow Dash just smiled as she rested her head on her pillow, holding the ice pack in place and letting the other medicine do its thing. She closed here eyes and listened as the soft hooves of Nurse Abernathy left the room. By the time the nurse had come back, Rainbow Dash was fast asleep.

Nurse Abernathy bit her lip as sweat gathered at her brow. She couldn’t believe the situation she was in and it didn’t help her at all that Rainbow Dash was confidently grinning at her the whole time. She thought things looked good, but she had thought that before and been dead wrong. Her chartreuse hooves shook as she laid the cards she was holding flat on the tray in front of her.

“Full House,” she said as confidently as she could muster to the blue pegasus.

Rainbow Dash whistled. “That’s a good hoof. Unfortunately...” She laid her own cards down to show off the Straight Flush she held.

“How?!” Nurse Abernathy yelled, a bit too loudly for a hospital room, even a private one. “How do you always win?!”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I dunno. I’ve always had super good luck when it comes to card games.”

“Ugh… I thought I was pretty decent at this game,” the nurse pouted.

The two of them had been playing poker for a while now, it was already the evening of the day Rainbow Dash had been brought to the hospital and she was looking for anything that could pass the time. Oreville’s book selection wasn’t quite her cup of tea and when Rainbow Dash had gotten bored she asked Nurse Abernathy what else they could do. The nurse was now sitting on a stool with Rainbow’s food tray on the bed in-between them. Despite the numerous hooves of poker they had gone through, Nurse Abernathy hadn’t won once.

“Kind of tough to judge yourself against me,” Rainbow said.

“You’d make a killing at the casinos,” Nurse Abernathy murmured.

Rainbow Dash thought about the last time she had been to a casino. “Wouldn’t mind...”

The nurse took the short break from their game to visually inspect Rainbow Dash. “A lot of the swelling around your face has gone down. There’s still a decent amount of discoloration but I think by the time you wake up tomorrow you’ll look much better.”

“Good, I want to be out of here tomorrow.”

Abernathy giggled. “You say that but you were fast asleep for hours just earlier today.”

“Well I hadn’t gotten real sleep in a while,” Rainbow Dash blushed. “Guess all the fatigue caught up to me once I had a good bed and nothing else to do.”

“Speaking of, I can bring you something that will help you sleep tonight so your body’s normal routine isn’t ruined too badly.”

“Thanks.”

Nurse Abernathy’s eyes than wandered to Rainbow Dash’s wings. “You know… would you be alright with me giving your wings a medical examination? N-Not that I think there’s anything wrong with them or that they’re injured! But um, I’ve never seen a pegasus or had to treat any creature with wings before. I’m very intrigued by how they function and your skeletal structure.”

“Uhhh, gonna have to give you a no on that,” Rainbow Dash told the nurse with an awkward scrunch of her face.

She pouted. “Well, they’re your wings after all.” She continued to look the feathered blue appendages over. “Believe me though, you’re going to get a lot of looks anywhere you go in Oreville. A pegasus isn’t just rare, it’s unheard of these days.”

“Good thing I like being special then,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Center of attention? Sign me up.”

Abernathy giggled. “Good to know how enthusiastic you are. I still think all the staring is going to get unnerving rather quickly.”

“Eh, I’ve been to places like this where I’m the odd one out before. Sometimes even way more the odd one than just having wings,” Rainbow Dash said as she thought about her time in the Mammoth city. “Anyways, you want to play more poker?”

“No thank you. I think I’ve lost enough,” Nurse Abernathy shook her head.

Rainbow Dash sighed and leaned back onto her bed. “It’s already evening now, Barnaby’s been gone all day. I just want him to get back here already and tell me what’s going on so I can get out of here. No offense, cause it’s been fun hanging out with you, but I really, really want to leave the hospital. Need to stretch my wings.” She didn’t add the part about looking for adventure and any trouble afoot in Oreville. “Does a meeting with your Lord guys seriously take this long?”

“I didn’t want to eavesdrop but last time he was here it sounded like he had a few things he needed to do for you,” Abernathy said.

“Government stuff,” Rainbow Dash stuck out her tongue. “Blegh.”

Abernathy giggled again. “I don’t think you really need to worry or anything though. Barnaby’s an important pony and I’m sure he’ll be back before-”

The door to the hospital room was thrown open and Barnaby sauntered inside with a large smile on his face.

“-you know it.” Abernathy finished, blinking.

“Welcome back,” Rainbow Dash grinned and waved at him.

“Glad to see you’re doing alright, and looking much better,” Barnaby said.

“I think I’ll excuse myself then,” Nurse Abernathy said and hopped off her stool, nodding politely to both other ponies before leaving the room. “Goodbye Chief Constable, goodbye Miss Rainbow Dash.”

“See ya!” Rainbow said to her and then raised an eyebrow at Barnaby. “Glad to see you back at all by the way. How’d it go?”

Barnaby’s already large smile somehow got even bigger. “Swimmingly. I was going to wait until morning to come by since you’ll still be spending the night here anyways, but I had to tell you the good news as soon as possible. Lord Silver was very intrigued to hear of you and he and Lord Gold have approved your visa. You are now Oreville’s very important guest. While I know you will not care for the title, you have the honor of being known as the Ambassador of Equestria.”

“Been called worse things,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Tomorrow I’ll actually bring you your visa and then you can get your first real look at Oreville. Just the Copper Section for now, there’s a lot to see,” Barnaby continued.

“Works for me, anything sounds good now.”

“Of course because you’re such a special occurrence… in a couple days time a meeting has been set up between you and the three Lords. Nothing special, but just a dinner where they can get to know you,” Barnaby nervously scratched his neck.

“Three?” Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes.

“Lord Copper of course will also be there...”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Ugh, great.”

“Think of it this way, your presence will make him thoroughly uncomfortable. And you’re untouchable to him now,” Barnaby said.

“I guess...”

As Rainbow Dash paused while her mind went over the fact she’d have to go to some annoying, sure to be stuffy dinner, she glanced outside her hospital window and noticed the lights in the ceiling slowly begin to dim. It seemed it was even later than she thought and Oreville was beginning to rest. So much to see and so much to do and yet another day had passed her by like this. There had been times where she had been laid up before on her journey, but usually not before getting to really do anything herself.

“You know-” Rainbow Dash said as she continued to look out the window. “I hope you’re coming by first thing tomorrow morning. As soon as the lights turn on.”

“I promise,” Barnaby said. “You’ll have breakfast here and then we’ll be right out. Just try to rest and enjoy another night of sleep if you can. After all you still haven’t fully healed.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I’m tough and I’ve had… worse beatings. You’ll see tomorrow morning, I’ll be fantastic.”

“I believe you. But for now I will also be leaving. Good night, Rainbow Dash,” Barnaby said and bowed to her.

“Good night, dude. You’ll probably sleep better than me,” Rainbow mockingly saluted.

Barnaby chuckled as he pushed open the door and left her room, waving goodbye as he went.

Rainbow Dash watched him go and turned over on her bed with a sigh. “You had better be back first thing in the morning.” She grumbled.

“So how’s it feel to be out of that bed?” Barnaby asked her as the two walked out of the hospital.

“Feels even better than I look,” Rainbow Dash said. And it was true, the swelling around her face had gone down and most of the bruises and discoloration on her body had shrunk or faded away. Rainbow Dash was a quick healer. Helped having such a strong and healthy body.

The two of them were now on the sidewalk right outside the hospital and Rainbow Dash was taking a big look around at the newly awoken Copper Section. It was still early but droves of ponies were already walking up and down the streets on their way to work or any other sort of engagements. She saw carts and carriages being pulled down the paved streets along with red-suited constables like Barnaby making their rounds. One young colt stood at a corner selling newspapers while an older mare sat behind a mobile stand and sold coffee to ponies walking by.

“This… really is a nice place, isn’t it?” Rainbow Dash said as she took it all in.

“I’m glad you think so. This? This working harmony and friendly atmosphere between ponies, friends and strangers alike, this is the true spirit of Oreville. Not the mistreatment you went through and the filthy behavior of Lord Copper,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow Dash glanced up at him with a smile. “You really love your city.”

“Of course,” Barnaby nodded.

“I feel the same way about Equestria. And I’ve got a lot of friends who feel that way even more,” she thought about how passionate Applejack was about Ponyville and her farm in particular.

A smile slightly tugged up the corners of Barnaby’s lips. “Regardless—before anything else, I have something to give you.” He said and began rooting around inside a pocket of his suit.

Rainbow Dash watched as he pulled out a laminated name-tag on a black lanyard. “Ta-da, your diplomat’s visa!” He beamed at her. It was a simple thing for the most part, a white card with her name printed in the middle and some kind of seal that looked like a circle separated into three triangles with wavy lines of gold, silver, and copper drawn in them pressed right beneath that. In the top left corner a large “D” was printed.

“This might as well be your key to the city,” Barnaby said as he looped it around her neck. “Keep it on you at all times and you’ll have no problems here.”

“Thanks, dude. This is really awesome,” Rainbow Dash happily smiled at her name-tag as she held it in her hooves. “I’ve been treated really well before in a couple places but I don’t think anything has been so… official before. And you barely even know me, you’re really putting a lot of trust in me and everything.”

“You’re a very… passionate pony,” Barnaby said, as if struggling to find the right words. “There’s a fiery aura about you, something moving, something powerful. Just the way you talk and the way you act simply makes me believe there’s something truly special about you.”

“Well in fairness there totally is,” Rainbow plainly nodded along.

“Hah! That attitude is precisely what I’m talking about,” Barnaby laughed. “Either way, let’s get going. I’ll take you to the center of the Copper Section, the part of the city you initially entered into. There we can see, oh, practically everything. And get lunch when the time comes, I can think of several great places.”

“Uhhh, I can’t exactly pay...”

“I’ll pay. Or more accurately, the government will be covering all of your costs. You needn’t worry about a thing.”

Good thing I’m not the Element of Generosity right now. Rainbow Dash mused.

The two of them walked down the street away from the hospital, walking due east down a street with a red line painted along the sidewalk, Rainbow Dash didn’t need to ask to know it was to indicate a specific direction or place you would reach by heading down this street. At the corners there were the occasional street signs with names that looked like they took after minerals or metals; “Onyx”, “Iron”, “Steel” and so forth. She doubted it would take much effort to find her way around this city, big as it was, since everything was well designated.

Eventually their street converged with a couple others and went straight into an underground tunnel that had numerous lanes for things like carriages and wide walkways on the sides for ponies to travel through. Beyond it, Rainbow Dash could already see the sprawling “skyscrapers” and cityscape she had witnessed when she first entered Oreville.

She felt numerous eyes on her while walking with Barnaby and looked around—lots of ponies were staring at her. Some even paused in their walking to just gawk at her. She was kind of holding up traffic at this point.

“Kind of getting a lot of stares right now...” Rainbow Dash said.

“You might want to look at those things on the side of your body to figure out why,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow Dash looked at her wings and lightly fluttered them. “Well, yeah. Also kind of noticed how you guys are really fond of clothes here. Don’t think I’ve seen a single pony yet not wearing any.”

“It is indeed the norm here in Oreville to wear clothing. Not so in Equestria?” Barnaby asked.

“Not really. Depends on where you go. Most ponies in Canterlot and Manehattan wear clothes, I think, but most ponies in Ponyville don’t. My friend Rarity though is a fashion designer, but none of my friends really wear clothes that much and unless I’m working I don’t either,” Rainbow told him.

Barnaby nodded. “I see. I don’t think anypony here will really give you heat for not wearing clothes, it’s hardly a taboo or anything, but it’s going to make you stick out just as much as your wings. And your mane. And your name.”

“I stick out. I get it,” Rainbow rolled her eyes.

The two of them walked out of the large tunnel and Rainbow Dash got a full view of the central Copper Section city once again. Its massive size and the architecture of it still amazed her. And to think this was but one portion of the massive city-state of Oreville. Thousands of ponies walked down the streets at a quick pace alongside dozens of carts carrying things like heavy machinery to who knows where. In the distance, Rainbow Dash saw a large mansion-like building built on one end of the huge cave, surrounded by an imposing stone wall.

“That’s the Copper Section Central Administrative Building,” Barnaby told her, following her eyes.

“So where Lord Copper works, huh?”

“For a given meaning of the word, yes.”

Rainbow Dash noticed that practically right next to it was some kind of train station. No—tram station, that had its rail line going into a dark cave. It must’ve been what Barnaby spoke of, that cave probably went to the Silver and Gold Sections. As they continued walking along the outer streets of this area of the Copper Section, Rainbow Dash saw things like elevators that looked like they went right into holes in the ground, passages leading into the walls of the mountain, huge warehouses and other buildings built directly into the rock, and more of those wide open holes that went deep down and had catwalks and walkways built all across them on the way down.

“I get the feeling there’s a lot more to this place than just what I’m seeing,” Rainbow Dash said.

“You would be correct in that assumption,” Barnaby grinned. “All in due time.”

As they now walked towards the center of the city, Rainbow Dash saw another pair of red-suited constables walking together. She frowned and glanced over at Barnaby. “Hey, so… been meaning to ask but… should you really be doing this? Escorting me around? I mean you’re like a police officer. This isn’t exactly your job, right? Don’t you have other police duties to do or whatever?”

“I’m the Chief Constable,” Barnaby said with a smirk. “That means I don’t do the same typical work as others. I handle workflow, designate jobs, take charge of big cases, and I take my work very, very seriously. I take the safety and well-being of Oreville most seriously of all.” He glanced at her. “And there is no one I trust more right now than myself to do this job.”

Rainbow Dash silently kept walking along with him, just humming to herself for a moment. How come she kept getting guides attached to her like this? Not that she didn’t like them or wasn’t grateful or nothing, but still. First Larkon, then Ark’Nogt, and now Barnaby. All guys too. Maybe it was because she was a mare? No, Larkon and Ark’Nogt were married. And Ark’Nogt was a Reindeer.

And Larkon was a Mammoth. It just didn’t add up.

“Ya married, Barnaby?” Rainbow Dash asked him.

He chuckled. “Hah, no I’m afraid. I’m actually married to my job.”

“I guess you could say I’m married to adventure and being awesome so I get it,” Rainbow shrugged.

“Indeed,” he laughed a bit more. “Anyways I’ll be alerted if anything important comes up for my regular work, right now I do think it’s in the best interest of Oreville—and yourself—if I stay with you.”

“Alright,” Rainbow nodded.

“Of course… that’s why I’m a bit hesitant about something else,” Barnaby started.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him. “What is it?”

“Well you’ll obviously need a place to stay while you’re here, right? Lord Silver suggested procuring you a temporary apartment in Gold Section. But I’m a bit hesitant to have you staying so far from my own home and office in Copper Section. Gold Section would be the most fitting and has the best places for a diplomat such as yourself to stay, but still. Luckily Lord Gold wasn’t as… responsive when the subject came up so it hasn’t been decided yet.”

Rainbow Dash furrowed her brow. “You know you’ve kind of referred to that Lord Gold dude in a weird way a couple of times. What’s up with him?”

Barnaby awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced. “Lord Gold is… old. Very old. Unfortunately he’s just not all there anymore. On most days he isn’t very cognizant at all and he has to be attended to by servants at all times. However, until he actually dies, no one else can become Lord Gold.”

“Uh, sorry to hear...”

“It’s fine, it’s been like this for years now. Let’s continue going through the city, there’s quite a lot to see.”

He was right about that. Even if Rainbow Dash had been flying and looking around on her own it would’ve taken her a while to get through this whole place. Dozens of buildings, some tall enough to have almost fifty floors, covered the city. According to Barnaby they were mostly offices for various businesses and some apartment buildings. Rainbow Dash kind of wanted to fly up and by their windows to look inside but she figured that would probably spook some of the ponies inside. They also took a tour around a district more for “manufacturing”, smaller buildings like warehouses that Barnaby said built carriages and heavy mining equipment, among other things. He even pointed out a textile manufacturer, something that Rainbow Dash remembered for later since Rarity would probably appreciate learning about it.

“See that building in the middle of the city?” Barnaby said as the two of them walked down one of the main streets. He was pointing at a three-story building painted red with a large garage on one side, it sat between a few other smaller buildings and what looked like a small apartment complex. “Fire Service. Centralized so they can reach anywhere in the city as quickly as possible.”

Rainbow Dash nodded along and looked around for anything else notable. All she really saw was some outdoor cafe built in the courtyard of a large skyscraper.

“Hey, Barnaby? What do ponies do for fun around here? It’s all businesses and stuff,” Rainbow Dash asked him. “You guys not believe in fun and games or something?”

He smiled. “I can assure you we do but this part of the city isn’t exactly the place for that. There are a few outdoor places for lounging and relaxing, but generally speaking if you want entertainment you’d need to go elsewhere in the Copper Section.”

“Abernathy did mention a casino actually...”

“Yes, that’s in a part of the Copper Section through a southern tunnel, I can take you to visit it at some point. We have gymnasiums as well, I’m sure that interests an athletic pony like yourself, along with gardens and swimming pools, sports centers, it’s just most all of that is in other areas or just not here in the city center,” Barnaby explained. “There’s a large school a little to the east, between Copper and Silver Sections, and around it is a number of parks and recreational areas for families and younger ponies.”

“Got a library? My friend Twilight would probably like to hear about what kinds of books you guys keep. The hospital library was, uh, not well stocked,” Rainbow said.

“The Metropolitan Library in Gold Section should suit your needs. Besides that there are a few book stores scattered about here and there in every section.”

“Cool,” Rainbow said and the two resumed their travels through the city.

Ponies kept staring at her everywhere they went, just like they had been at the start. She smiled and gave a few friendly waves but most of the Oreville residents seemed too surprised or confused to return them. She saw one family even grasp the hooves of their children a little tighter when they saw Rainbow, only relaxing when they noticed Barnaby walking with her. Not exactly a warm welcome even though the average pony here seemed pretty nice. They just weren’t used to outsiders—or maybe had even been taught to be a little afraid of them. It was weird to think though that she had probably had a friendlier reception from the Mammoths though, despite the even wider gap between them and her. Barnaby had been a little cool with her when she first met him outside her cell though and he warmed up right away after a little talk. These ponies just needed to get to know her better too.

Barnaby also noticed the looks she was still receiving and spoke up. “I wouldn’t be worried for long. Our newspapers will be printing a favorable story about you tomorrow. You’ll be a hot-topic and ponies will be happy to see you.”

“If you say so. I definitely prefer being the center of attention in a positive way,” Rainbow said. “I’m used to stares but more when it’s coming from admirers and ponies who know how awesome I am.”

Most of the morning went by just like that until it finally came time for lunch and Barnaby said he had somewhere special to take her for it.

That turned out to be the top floor of a large building, which had the whole floor converted into an extravagant restaurant, apparently the most high-class and exclusive one in Copper Section. Only Rainbow Dash’s VIP status allowed the two of them in here. Barnaby made it obvious that he’d never be eating here otherwise. All the waiters and waitresses were wearing utterly immaculate suits and most of the patrons were themselves wearing either tuxedos or fancy dresses of some sort. Rarity would love it. The restaurant had a pony playing a slow tune on the piano in the corner and every table had an expensive looking vase with flowers in the center. Even the chairs at each table looked expensive, made from a carved dark brown wood with red velvet cushions. A few fountains and planters seeded with exotic flowers were placed around the black hardwood floor of the restaurant.

“This is pretty snazzy,” Rainbow Dash said as she and Barnaby took a seat at a table for two by one of the windows, it overlooked a courtyard set between several buildings that had ponies walking in and out of it below.

“You should see some of the better restaurants in Gold Section,” Barnaby leaned in to whisper to her.

“Don’t let the waiters hear you say that,” Rainbow Dash grinned.

And just a minute later a waiter came out with two glasses and a pair of menus that he gave to them. If he was perturbed or surprised by her wings he was professional enough to not let it show on his face. Rainbow Dash took her glass and menu but stopped before she took a drink. It looked like water but it was fizzy.

“Uhhhh, what is this?” Rainbow asked Barnaby.

“Hm? Have you not had mineral water before?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

Rainbow Dash scratched her head. “I think I’ve heard of it… maybe Rarity or Twilight mentioned it or something.”

“Well go right ahead and take a drink, it’s of exceptional quality.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged and brought the glass to her lips, the fizzy water tickled her nose and tongue a little but she managed to take a big sip. It was weird. It didn’t taste bad or anything but it just felt super odd and strange to be drinking water like this. The carbonation made it almost like she was drinking a soda and there was some weird kind of extra flavor or sharpness to it that she couldn’t exactly describe. And then the texture of it too. Texture—you weren’t supposed to use that word to describe water but Rainbow Dash couldn’t help it. There was almost a grittiness to it but it wasn’t quite at that level. Still just so weird feeling.

“Whew, well, it’s refreshing,” Rainbow Dash said as she finished her drink, watching Barnaby take one of his own. She then grabbed the menu and opened it up—seeing a lot of fancy names for entrees and having no idea where to start. Rainbow Dash grimaced and set the menu down. “Uhhh, what do you recommend?”

Barnaby smirked and motioned their waiter over while collecting his and Rainbow’s menus. “Two of your lightly roasted oat steaks with hibiscus and pomegranate.” Barnaby said to the waiter while passing the menus back.

“Of course,” the waiter calmly bowed and went back to deliver the order to the chefs.

“Oat… steaks? Maybe it’s just me but I feel like I’ve entered some kind of alternate dimension in this restaurant,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Just wait for it,” Barnaby laughed.

Rainbow shrugged and sat back, looking at some of the other diners in the restaurant. Definitely the upper crust types like she would see in Canterlot back home. Some of them were stealing glances and whispering about her but Rainbow Dash ignored them for now. She just wanted to eat.

About thirty minutes of small talk and Rainbow Dash trying to get used to mineral water later, their food came. The waiter expertly slid two porcelain plates onto their table and Rainbow Dash checked out what she was about to eat. It was certainly pretty, she had to give it that. A rectangular “steak” of oats was cooked together with honey and sitting in the middle of the plate while small flowers were placed around it and a drizzling of pomegranate juice and seeds were done in a floral pattern radiating out from the oats.

At this point, Rainbow Dash didn’t have the heart to say she’d probably just prefer an apple or a hayburger.

It did taste good when she dug into it though but the portion was a little small for her tastes. So she perhaps did something a little uncouth and licked up all the juice on the plate.

“That was pretty good,” Rainbow smiled to Barnaby.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“What did that cost anyways? I didn’t see prices on my menu.”

“There’s a saying: ‘If you have to ask then you can’t afford it’. Believe me when I say that is an accurate statement for this restaurant,” Barnaby smirked.

“If it’s all on Lord Copper’s tab then that works for me,” Rainbow smirked back.

Barnaby took a little bit longer than Rainbow Dash to finish his meal but once he was done he took a deep breath and sighed in contentment. “Well, that should keep us for the rest of the day. I wanted us to have full stomachs before I took you to what I really wanted to show you today. The most important thing of all.” A proud look came over Barnaby’s face as he spoke.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him and tilted her head. “Oh yeah? What?”

“The lifeblood of our people ever since this great city was founded, and why we came here in the first place and continued to live and build more. The mines of Oreville.”

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby descended down an elevator deep below the surface of the earth and even deeper than the already sunken parts of the city Rainbow Dash had seen above her.

She wasn’t aware that mines were something to be so proud of but she guessed if Oreville pretty much revolved around them that they must be important to the ponies here. After all, she couldn’t even count how many carts full of mining equipment and raw materials she had seen on the streets above. Barnaby had taken her to a large building in the southwest part of the main Copper Section cavern. Dozens of ponies were going in and out of it, half of it looked like a standard office building while the other looked more like an elongated garage that went back directly into the wall of the mountain. Rainbow Dash and Barnaby went to the back of that garage after Barnaby had consulted with the mine forepony and found themselves at several freight elevators that descended into the ground. A couple of the elevators were even bigger than the one they were in now and looked like they were made specifically for large carts or equipment to be put on and taken below.

“This is the main entrance for entering the Copper Section mines,” Barnaby said while they made their long and slow way down. “There are dozens of other elevators, ladders, pulleys, and even just zig-zagging ramps that go below in other places in the city, but your average mine worker takes these elevators in and out.” He sounded very enthusiastic and Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but grin a little.

Right now he reminded her a bit of how Twilight got when explaining... well, basically anything from her books, or Rarity about fashion or Pinkie Pie about parties... huh. Any of her friends and their passions worked. Probably including her and the Wonderbolts.

“At the bottom of these elevators is the staging area—a large dug out cavern full of small prefabricated buildings and the central station for the trams that run all throughout the mines,” Barnaby explained.

“You’ve got trams down here too?” Rainbow asked.

“Trams and minecart rails to make travel and ferrying of supplies and rocks easier. We’ve been building all of this for a long time, our mines are elaborate, efficient, and high-maintenance. Mines are what Oreville is all about and the Copper Section mines are growing and growing every day. We put everything into these mines. You could essentially say that all three Lords’ real jobs are just to make sure these mines are working in order,” Barnaby finished.

“Oh, so there’s mines like this in the other sections too?”

Barnaby’s eyes briefly flickered to her before he resumed looking ahead at the door of their elevator. “No. Not so much anymore.”

“Uhhh...”

Barnaby sighed. “Gold Section was the very first, and its mines were started hundreds, hundreds of years ago. Those mines have all gone dry. Same as Silver Section just about. It’s why we’re constantly expanding here in Copper Section and making more room to find new veins of precious metals. One day Copper Section will be as big as Gold Section and one day even these mines will go dry and we’ll start a new Section in these mountains looking for more.”

“What’s that gonna be called? Participation Section?”

Barnaby laughed good-naturedly. “Haha… perhaps, perhaps. There hasn’t really been any official talk of it, this is a situation possibly a hundred years off. At the moment these mines still haven’t given us the slightest sign of going dry anytime soon.”

The elevator rumbled as it continued on down and the light in the ceiling flickered once. She had been trying to estimate how far down they had gone and she was thinking maybe about two-hundred feet. The freight elevator was pretty slow and Rainbow Dash was starting to get a little antsy. She looked over her shoulder briefly at the empty space behind her, probably about thirty or forty ponies could fit in here if they were all bunched up together but she and Barnaby had taken it down on their own.

Finally the pace of the elevator slowed to just a crawl and it came to a stop with a dull grind as it landed at the bottom of the shaft. A red light buzzed on over the doors and they slid open to the sides to allow Rainbow Dash and Barnaby out. There was a small tunnel exiting from the elevator into a much larger chamber beyond it where Rainbow Dash could already see a bunch of other ponies moving around in. A pony in a yellow hardhat was standing right to the side of the elevator’s exit, holding a clipboard in hoof. He kind of dumbly looked back and forth between Rainbow Dash and Barnaby before shrugging.

“Governmental business, don’t worry about it,” Barnaby smiled friendly at him and led Rainbow Dash out of the elevator. He glanced at his mare companion and hummed to himself. “We’ll need to get you a hardhat while you’re down here.”

“Guess you’ve already got one, technically,” she said as she looked up at his red helmet.

“Yes, but no need to worry, there are plenty of extra supplies and equipment down here,” Barnaby said as they walked forward and into the main staging area of the mine.

Rainbow Dash took a long look around at the heart of the Oreville mining operation. As Barnaby had suggested it was a pretty big place. The ceiling was low over their heads with various lights strung up from it and electrical wires criss-crossing all over to feed them power. Various shacks made of corrugated steel and cheap building materials were set up inside it, Rainbow Dash saw one that looked like a kind of “bar” for the stallion mine workers who were on break and another few that were probably storage sheds.

And a lot of outhouses, but Rainbow did her best to ignore those.

Furthermore there were outright dozens of tunnels going off in other directions at every side of the cavern. Every last one of those tunnels had at least a rail for minecarts to travel down and a few of the bigger ones had large trams going in and out.

“Come on, we’ll hit up the head office and you can meet the mine chief and see a map of the mines,” Barnaby said and led Rainbow Dash on.

As expected, Rainbow Dash continued to get plenty of looks from the stallions down here. She didn’t notice any mare miners, which wasn’t really a surprise, probably not a job that was popular with mares. Eventually Barnaby took her past several other roughshod structures before they arrived at a squat but fairly long rectangular one. He opened up the metal door on its front and stepped inside with Rainbow Dash following him.

Inside was an assortment of lockers and metal tables set up with a few ponies mulling over charts and reports on one of the tables and another few who looked to be talking and laughing about something else entirely in the back. Boxes and crates of all sizes were also stacked up along the back wall and Rainbow was pretty sure she saw a coffee machine on top of one of them. It was really dusty inside but that wasn’t a surprise either. Didn’t stop Rainbow from coughing once or twice.

Of course once they had opened up the front door and stepped inside everypony looked up to see the two of them. And they were unsurprisingly flummoxed at the sight.

“Barnaby?” A heavyset, bearded stallion in the group near the back said as he sat up and started walking towards Barnaby and Rainbow Dash.

“Hello, Crom. How might your day be going?” Barnaby grinned.

“Uhh… was going pretty normal until now,” Crom said as his eyes wandered to Rainbow Dash, looking her up and down. “Who the-”

“The name’s Rainbow Dash,” Rainbow said with an easygoing smile and reached her hoof out.

Crom took it and slowly shook her hoof. “Pleasure to meet you.” He still seemed a bit confused.

“Rainbow Dash here is from the outside, obviously. She’s an important ambassador from another land entirely. I’ve brought her here to show her the mines of Oreville,” Barnaby said to him.

Crom frowned up at him. “This isn’t a place for tours, Barnaby.”

Barnaby just rolled his eyes and huffed. “There’s no other place more important in all of Oreville than these mines. Rainbow Dash represents a country that has never had contact with us before, she’s not from the Weeping Mountain or any small town in the mountains to the south either. She needs firsthoof experience with these mines so she can tell her home and all the other countries she travels to about them. They’re our pride and joy, Crom.”

“Oh whatever...” Crom sighed and shook his head. “If it’s that big a deal then fine, you’ve been down here enough times to know how to take it safe.” He glanced at Rainbow. “Just give the ambassador a helmet and take a radio with you just in case.”

“Thanks, old friend. I’d like to show her the current map of the mines as well, if that’s alright?” Barnaby asked.

“Go right ahead, it’s on the table over there,” Crom said and pointed to a large table next to the one the other group of working stallions were at. He then chewed his lip and spoke to Rainbow- “Not that I’m not curious about you or where you’re from and it seems like Barnaby is gonna be monopolizing your time and all. But uh, what’s the name of your country?”

Rainbow Dash chuckled and gave him a wink. “Heh, don’t worry about it dude, my home’s called Equestria and it’s an awesome place.”

“You’ll be able to read about Rainbow Dash in the paper tomorrow, don’t worry,” Barnaby said to Crom and ushered Rainbow Dash over to the other table. “That goes for everypony here.”

“Good cause I was wondering if I was seeing straight when a pegasus with a rainbow mane walked on in here,” another stallion said before Crom elbowed him in the gut.

“Be polite, idiot. She’s an important visitor to Oreville.”

Rainbow Dash just rubbed the back of her neck. “It’s totally alright, you guys can be casual around me. I actually really prefer it that way.”

“I can corroborate that,” Barnaby said.

The two of them then sidled up next to the table with the map of the mines on it and Rainbow Dash practically went cross-eyed immediately just looking at it. It was a mess of spider-webbing lines and hastily scrawled notes, some lines drawn in red, green, blue, and black with no legend she could see that helped denote their meanings. The only thing she could make out for sure was a large circle drawn near the middle of it with a gold star plastered in it—that was the staging area. But everything else was a mess. Parts of it looked like they were drawn from a bird’s eye view while others looked like a cross-section of the mine. Perhaps a trained eye for this sort of thing could decipher it but for Rainbow Dash it was just boggling.

“Grand, isn’t it?” Barnaby said with a proud smile on his face. “Hundreds of years of work is on this map. And these are just the mines of the Copper Section.”

“Very grand,” Rainbow attempted to sound genuine.

“We’ve got miles of tunnels and mine shafts mapped out here, obviously it’s far too large of a place to show you around all of it so I’m going to take you to one of the newer areas that we’ve been working on lately. There’s a rich mineral vein that was uncovered and we’re building the necessary tunnels to mine it all out as efficiently and quickly as possible,” Barnaby said.

“Geez, you’re sounding like you’re a miner instead of a constable,” Rainbow Dash said.

Barnaby grinned. “I just have a friend on the inside who I talk with about this stuff occasionally.” He glanced over at Crom and nodded.

“You’re always the one who brings it up whenever we meet up,” Crom mumbled.

“Anyways-” Barnaby said back to Rainbow Dash. “Let’s get you that helmet.”

Rainbow Dash stepped out of the main office with a yellow hardhat on her head and Barnaby came out with a radio clipped onto the front of his suit with an earpiece in his right ear and a small microphone in front of his mouth.

“Alright, where to now?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“The tram,” Barnaby pointed to a large platform near the south side wall of the staging area to the left of the main office.

The two of them started walking towards it and Rainbow Dash glanced at his new piece of equipment. Tech like that wasn’t unheard of in Equestria and the places around it but it was still uncommon and Rainbow Dash admittedly had no idea how it worked. Might as well have been magic. She remembered the ponies in the Metal Mountain back in the True North had similar devices. “So how well does that thing actually work?”

“Depending on how far or deep you go there can be interference but we’ve got a lot of signal boosters and auxiliary stations set up through the mines to help that. After all these are specifically designed to be used down here and we’ve had a long time to adjust and improve them. You could contact me on this from the surface if you had your own radio,” Barnaby told her.

“Cool,” she nodded. “So a lot of the ponies down here seem to know you. You that famous around the city or something?”

“Hah! Not really,” Barnaby laughed. “You see, Crom and I are actually old friends from school. I’ve known him since I was just a young colt. And you obviously already know how much interest I take in our mines, I come down here fairly often to either talk with him or research them myself when I’m off duty. So a lot of the regulars working here have gotten to know me as well.”

“Crom seems like a decent guy too.”

Barnaby nodded. “He is, a no-nonsense type who has kept the mines running smoothly ever since he came to be in charge. Things’ll be great for years down here with him.”

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby walked past a group of miners who were playing some sort of dice game outside a steel hut. They briefly paused and tried to act like they were busy until the two ponies passed by, something that got a brief smile out of Rainbow. After that the constable and the ambassador made the short trip to the tram station—currently empty of any tram but with a couple dozen miners carrying pickaxes and other tools waiting on it. Rainbow and Barnaby had to step up onto a bridge that went over the tram line to get to the platform, then walking up a few steps to stand on the metal station with the miners.

“What’s up,” Rainbow Dash casually said as she waved to the surprised and curious miners.

A few of them gave waves back and one or two even managed a “Hello” or a “Hi” before Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

“Relax you guys, I know you haven’t seen a pegasus before but I’m not going to bite your heads off. Me and Barnaby here are just checking out the mines—and my name’s Rainbow Dash by the way, hope you have a fun time working,” she winked.

That bit of levity at least seemed to improve the mood on the platform and most of the miners gave her friendly smiles before returning to their own business and talking with each other.

“I think it’s good that you’re not actually some stuffy ambassador,” Barnaby said.

“So do I,” Rainbow Dash said and looked down both sides of the tram station. “Sooo, when’s the tram coming?”

Barnaby nodded to their left and towards a tunnel in the wall of the staging area that the rail emerged from. “It’ll be coming from there and it shouldn’t be too long. Don’t know when the last one came but if this many miners are waiting then it can’t be much longer.”

Impatient as ever, Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but keep looking down that tunnel in the hopes that soon she’d see the tram emerging from it. Turns out though that she heard and felt it first.

The heavy sound of slowly spinning metal wheels over iron came from the tunnel and the entire rail line and platform shook as the tram approached. Rainbow squinted her eyes at the dark tunnel as a light emerged from around the corner and the tram came into view. A white front car came out of the tunnel with a strong light attached to its front, the cab was completely closed and she could see a single stallion driving the tram from the inside. More cars came out until the tram ended at eight total segments, all of them painted white with heavy steel doors on their right sides for entering and exiting. All of the cars were enclosed just like the front one, which probably made it a lot safer for riding through these tunnels.

Rainbow Dash tilted her head though when she saw it lumbering towards the station on its many grooved wheels that perfectly fit over the rails on the ground.

“How’s that thing move anyways? What powers it?” She asked Barnaby.

“Electricity,” Barnaby said and pointed down at the track. “There’s a special rail in the middle of the track which electricity flows through and into the tram.”

“Oh. We’ve got trains back home but they’re all powered by like steam or whatever,” Rainbow said.

The tram came to a stop in front of the platform, long enough that it took up pretty much all of the space in front of it, and the doors opened up to let them and the miners in. Barnaby took her to the very last car to leave the others for the miners so as not to interrupt their work. Inside it was pretty simplistic, as to be expected, with a couple of shelves for putting up your tools and rope loops hanging from the roof of the car to hold onto. The side opposite the door also had a long window running along it so you could at least look outside when you were riding, though Rainbow Dash expected it to be dark for quite a lot of the time. After about a minute the tram thrummed back to life and the wheels started to turn underneath them as it left the station.

“You’ll see a lot on our way to the newer area. But in a short while we’ll be stepping off the tram since the line doesn’t go that far yet,” Barnaby said.

“Whatever you say, I’m just following you right now,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Well soon you’ll have something far more interesting to see. An active mine with dozens of ponies working on excavating precious minerals. You’ll see what Oreville is all about,” Barnaby smiled.

Rainbow Dash grinned, it might not have been as interesting and exciting for her, but she was willing to check it out. “Looking forward to it.”

Deeper in the mines, a newly constructed four-way intersection of tunnels sat. It was an important new juncture for ferrying materials and ponies both from one of the older groups of tunnels to some of the newer ones that were still being constructed and mined out. The intersection was supported by a series of metal struts that would be there until a few more permanent support structures could be built in. It was dusty and poorly lit with nothing but a single lamp on an extension cord hammered into the ceiling with a series of large metal staples.

“And so all I’m saying is, I think I would work just as hard if they allowed drink on the job,” a miner in a group of five others said as they walked through the intersection.

“You drink on the job and you’re liable to put a pickaxe right through your hoof,” one of the others chuckled darkly at his friend.

“Or drive one of the drills straight into the wrong wall and cause a cave-in,” another said. “And that’d end you and everypony else around real quick.”

“Hey, hey, hey,” the first one started again. “Drinking on the job doesn’t mean being drunk on the job. There’s a difference.”

“Not for you there isn’t,” the second one said.

All the others laughed at the expense of their friend after that dig and walked on through the intersection to the newer tunnels where work was being done. Already they could hear the sound of heavy equipment being used to drill and smash through the stone of the mines down here on the search for more precious veins of minerals and metals. While most of them kept on walking and talking as they went, one figure at the back of the group stopped in the middle of the intersection.

The stallion carried a heavy bag on his back that he carefully took off and placed on the ground, his hooves shaking the entire time. As the bag rested there he took a couple of unsteady steps away from it and lifted a hoof to his forehead, wiping away a waterfall of sweat. In contrast to his wet brow his throat and lips were as dry as a desert. With a last, fearful look at the bag he quickly turned around and began running back the way he had come.

Definitely didn't make any last minute changes to this chapter.

Rainbow Dash held one of the rope loops in her hoof to make the slow trip in the tram a bit easier. She wished the thing went faster but it was obvious why it didn’t. The kind of damage this thing could do if it went off the rails, especially if it was full of ponies, would be pretty serious. Looking out the window showed nothing but darkness or walls of rock most of the time with there occasionally being some ponies doing some work or her getting to see a more elaborate tunnel system. A couple of times the tram came to a stop at another station and ponies would get on or off before the tram continued its journey deeper into the mines.

“We’ll have to go down a lift once we get off the tram too but it’s not like that big elevator we first used to come down,” Barnaby said. “It’s a chain and gas-engine operated lift designed for a few ponies at a time, right now it’s the only way to get to the lowest section of the new mines.”

“I mean I can totally just fly down any mineshaft or empty cave if there’s room you know...” Rainbow said.

“Most of the passages get narrower the further you go so you might want to reconsider that,” Barnaby said.

“How many ponies are working down in those mines anyways? If they’re such a big deal?

“Hmm...” Barnaby rubbed his chin. “Several dozen at least. But as big a deal as it is there are still so many other veins and deposits to mine up elsewhere. In total there are hundreds of miners down here everyday working all over the place. I suspect if some more veins run dry we’ll see a lot of ponies moved to work on the new ones to dig them out as far as they can go.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t have much else to offer in their conversation after that. The truth was she didn’t know enough about nor was passionate enough about mining to say anything else. Though she had done a lot of rough work, some of it very similar to this kind of stuff, it was always just as either a time killer or a means to an end. She would go on tours, she’d even help out if need be, but the desire for adventure was still burning in her chest and that’s what she wanted to satisfy the most. Oreville was a cool place and it definitely seemed like there was a lot to it so she wasn’t thinking about leaving yet, but if no opportunities for awesomeness presented themselves she’d be out of here sooner rather than later. Her journey couldn’t wait for her to be stopped over in a place without adventure for too long. It’s why she almost left the Mammoth city early, things just seemed too peaceful there for what she wanted. Oreville might or might not prove to be the same.

“By my count we should be reaching the last station and getting off in just a moment. After that the tram goes back on a large loop and gets back to the staging area,” Barnaby said.

“Are there other rails besides this one?” Rainbow asked.

Barnaby nodded. “Yes, you couldn’t see from inside here but there are a few junctions that let the trams go to various different areas in the mines. It’s not just one big circle or anything like that.”

There wasn’t a minute left after that until the tram came to a stop at the “last” station and Rainbow Dash and Barnaby prepared to get off. The door popped open automatically and the two walked out onto the platform, Rainbow fluttering and stretching her wings slightly. It was a much smaller platform than the one they had used to get on the tram and there weren’t any ponies waiting at it. Once all the ponies had gotten off the tram it quickly left and everypony headed off the platform to head towards the mines.

“And that’s where we’ll be going too,” Barnaby said as he led Rainbow Dash down the ramp of the platform at the heels of the other miners.

She had to once again offer warm smiles and some small hellos to all the new miners who hadn’t seen her before. After that the whole group was walking through the tunnels and Rainbow Dash could immediately tell the difference from the tunnels here to what she had seen in the staging area and closer to it. Everything was much rougher, there weren’t as many lights, and wooden and metal support beams ran haphazardly across the walls and ceilings of the tunnels. Lots of smaller tunnels branched off from the main one Rainbow and Barnaby were walking down and at each one a group of miners detached from the group and went into them for their own work.

“Ever gotten lost down here, Barnaby?” Rainbow Dash asked him.

He grimaced. “Several times.”

The two walked a bit further down their tunnel until they came to what from a distance almost looked like a dead end to Rainbow Dash. That was until she noticed the heavy chain pulleys on the sides of the walls and the small metal platform at the end of the rocky ground. It looked like it was built practically flush up against the walls, almost as tight as an elevator, and there was what looked like some kind of control panel with a lever at the back.

“That’s our ride,” Barnaby said. “That will take us down to the lowest point in these mines—aside from some naturally formed caverns that we aren’t using—and then I’ll show you the current fruits of our labors.”

“Okey-dokey,” Rainbow replied and squeezed onto the lift with the other stallions once they reached it. A tight fit since there were too extra ponies than normal but they still made it work. One of the miners in the back pulled the lever and the chains rattled, pulling through the pulleys and slowly dropping the lift down the mineshaft.

Once they reached the bottom after what Rainbow Dash would guess was about fifty to a hundred feet, they all shuffled out into a wide open cavern that looked to be some kind of temporary basecamp or outpost for the mine. It had a lot of boxes and sheds stacked up around it along with some tables and chairs that ponies were currently seated at, poring over a set of schematics. Beyond this area she saw three separate tunnels going off in different directions. They looked even shoddier than the ones right up above. From deeper in those tunnels Rainbow could hear the sounds of metal striking upon solid stone and the whine of heavy machinery along with the shouts and exertions of miners. Everypony was working hard down here to the point that Rainbow and Barnaby were both either completely ignored or not even noticed by the miners.

Barnaby pointed down the tunnel straight ahead. “Come on, through there you can see the work up close and personal.”

“And a lot of sweaty stallions by the sounds of things,” Rainbow added.

Barnaby laughed and the two of them were about to enter the tunnel when something happened.

A loud bang came from somewhere in the tunnel ahead, Rainbow Dash’s ears perking up instantly at the surprisingly loud and powerful noise. She knew exactly what that sound was—an explosion. There was nothing else it could be and Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed in worry and trepidation. She glanced up at Barnaby.

“Barnaby, that-”

“It’s alright, TNT is used for blasting down here all the time. I can understand why you’d be surprised by a sudden explosion though but don’t worry, it’s normal and controlled,” he told her.

But Rainbow Dash looked back at the other miners here and noticed that all of them seemed surprised by the explosion.

She gulped. “I don’t think so, Barnaby.”

The cave they were in and the tunnels started to shake as the distinctive sound of collapsing rocks and chaos came from further down the tunnel. It only lasted for a few brief seconds but it sounded bad. Barnaby’s breath hitched in his throat as he and Rainbow Dash looked down the tunnel at the flickering lights and felt a small wave of compressed air and dust get blown into them. This was no simple blasting to open up a new tunnel or remove some pesky rocks, there was far too much shaking involved.

“A cave-in...” Barnaby whispered in shock. “It sounded like the entire tunnel collapsed.”

“If it’s a cave-in there might be ponies in trouble!” Rainbow Dash shouted and immediately flapped her wings to get off the ground. “Let’s go!”

“R-Right! But be careful, Rainbow Dash! The tunnel could be unstable,” Barnaby agreed and looked over his shoulder at the other miners. “Everypony, get your gear and come on!”

While Rainbow Dash rocketed ahead at full speed towards the source of the explosion, the other ponies brought up the rear. A hard frown was on her face as the poorly lit walls of the tunnel sped by her. Had somepony accidentally detonated TNT in the wrong place at the wrong time? Or was it intentional? She wouldn’t exactly call it a cynical thought but she was definitely thinking the latter. The way the other ponies had acted when they heard the explosion—even for an accidental detonation it was just too shocked.

A cloud of dust was ahead and Rainbow Dash had to slow down her approach. Once she got close enough she started flapping her wings to push some of the dust to the sides.

“This aint good...” she grimaced as she saw the full extent of the damage. Hundreds of rocks completely buried the tunnel and made travel through it impossible. She couldn’t even tell how far the cave-in went either.

“Oh no,” Barnaby said as he came up behind her, panting hard, and was soon joined by the other miners.

“What happened?!”

“Who did this?”

“Is everypony on the other side okay?”

"What do we do?”

“It’s right where the intersection was!”

Shouts and clamoring voices from the couple dozen ponies filled up the partially collapsed tunnel as everypony got into a panic at the sight of it. Luckily Barnaby had a commanding presence and he quickly wheeled about to give orders.

“Everypony, calm down!” Barnaby shouted over them to quiet the group down. “This is a disaster but it’s not something we’re unfamiliar with! Some of you go back to the lift and get on the radio, contact Crom and tell him what happened and then try and contact the ponies on the other side of this cave-in. They should have a radio or two outside the mine they’re working in, right?”

“They do,” one of the other miners said and started running back down the tunnel. “I’ll get on the radio right now!” He looked at two others. “You come with me and head up the lift to tell the closest others on hoof!”

“Okay!”

“Right!”

The three miners then ran off back, leaving Barnaby and Rainbow in front of the massive pile of rocks with seemingly nothing to do. Rainbow wanted to dig in and start pulling rocks out of there to open up the tunnel and help anypony who might be stuck on the other side, but she had no idea if that was safe or not. It could just cause it to collapse further without anything to brace the ceiling of the tunnel.

“Hey, let’s brace up these walls to make sure the tunnel doesn’t get even worse, then we can start digging everypony on the other side out!” One miner said, an older stallion than most others

Barnaby looked to him. “Are you in charge down here?”

“Wouldn’t say that or nothing but I’m the most senior miner here for sure,” he said. “I’ve dealt with cave-ins like this before. If we can get some more struts and poles to hold up the walls of the tunnel we can start removing the rocks blocking the way. We’ve got some tools and extra supplies sitting around but until we get some more from above...”

“We have to hope that nopony on the other side is hurt,” Barnaby finished.

The old miner nodded. “Yep. From the look of it it seems like the explosion that set off this cave in happened in the middle of the tunnels and not in the mine where everypony was working. So hopefully as long as nopony was walking through the tunnel when it went off I don’t think anybody would’ve been blown up or buried.”

Rainbow Dash growled in annoyance and kicked a pebble. “Great! So there could be ponies in danger who need us right now and we can’t do anything to help them?”

“Patience, Rainbow Dash,” Barnaby said as he put a hoof on her shoulder. “A situation like this needs calm heads. We can’t be careless here.”

“Yeah, things are already bad enough, depending on the extent of the damage this could set us back weeks,” the old miner said.

So Rainbow Dash had to hold her frustration in and wait for back up and more ponies who knew what they were doing. In about five more minutes, one of the ponies who had left earlier came back with a portable radio. He was breathing heavily from running so much as he turned the radio on and set it down in front of everypony, the speakers turned up all the way.

“W-We already contacted Crom and now we’re trying to get on the other miners’ frequency to see how they’re doing,” he said.

All was static from the radio as the miner fiddled with its dials until-

Hello?--crrk! Hello? Can… hear us?

“Yes! We can hear you!” The miner who brought the radio shouted into it.

What… happened… there was… buried now...

It kept cutting out partially, maybe due to extra interference from the rocks or faulty equipment in the first place. The miner smacked the top of the radio to try and get it to work better while Barnaby grabbed the microphone to speak.

“Hello? For any ponies trapped on the other side of the cave-in, this is Chief Constable Barnaby. Are you alright?” He spoke calmly and authoritatively, Rainbow Dash had to give him props for that.

Crrk! Shhhhhhhk!

There was another burst of static before a voice broke through again. Yes! Yes, we’re okay! Just trapped.

Barnaby and the other ponies sighed in relief. “Good, good. Have you tried digging out yet? What’s it look like on your end?”

Just a bunch of rocks! The whole intersection is gone, we’re looking to bring up one of the drills from the mine to help get us through.

“We’ll be working on getting you out on this end soon too, we just need some things before we start,” Barnaby said.

Thanks, at least we’ve got everything we need to get out of here!

“How’s your air? Breathing alright?”

Plenty of air, still a lot of space back here, but I wouldn’t want to be stuck for more than a day or two.

“Don’t worry about that. Crom already knows and we’ll have you out of here before the day is over,” Barnaby told them before temporarily turning off the microphone. “Of course actually fixing this whole tunnel will take much longer.”

“You think you can just make a small hole to bring the trapped miners through first?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“That’s probably what we’ll have to do… most of this will be moved out of the way and excavated later,” Barnaby rubbed away some sweat that had collected under his helmet. “What’s going on? And why today of all days?”

Rainbow Dash didn’t have an answer. She just hoped help would come soon so she could start doing something as well. Standing around, not doing anything, when ponies were in danger, it was the worst. Barnaby wasn’t looking much better as he paced back and forth in front of the pile of rocks while some of the miners chatted on the radio with the trapped ponies—just talking like normal to try and keep everypony calm and relaxed.

It took nearly thirty minutes but ponies from above started coming down with shovels, drills, pickaxes, and support beams to keep anymore of the tunnel from caving in when they started excavating it. They didn’t have a lot of space to put the rocks either so everypony had to slowly form up a big line and remove the rocks hoof by hoof, piling them up by the lift and then taking those up to areas where they could be dumped. The support beams were propped against the walls and bracers were locked between them to give the ceiling of the tunnel a ribbed appearance. Now it was safe to really start digging. The miners trapped on the other side got the message too and everypony worked together to make the quickest tunnel possible to them. Not enough where they had to completely uncover the entire tunnel but still big enough and safely supported enough that the ponies could crawl through.

It was hard work. Hard work that took hours with Rainbow Dash right at the front doing everything she could. She may not have had the sheer brawn of some of these miners but she more than made up for it in determination and willpower, any rocks that needed to be shoveled or carried out of the way she was there for. Her hooves were raw practically from the start but she didn’t care.

Despite the situation, this was the kind of thing that really invigorated Rainbow Dash and filled her with positive energy. A bunch of ponies working together to help those in need. That’s what she loved to see. And she got to be awesome during it all. There was nothing more she could ask for. Aside from potentially beating the snot out of some villain, but that was that and this was this.

She had lost track of time after working on digging with the other ponies for so long that she had no idea how late it might’ve been or just how many hours she had sunk into this tunnel. But none of that mattered when one last rock was moved out of the way and she reached her blue hoof down to help a formerly trapped miner get to his hooves. Rainbow Dash grinned at him and wiped the sweat from her brow, exhausted.

“Looks like you guys are okay,” Rainbow Dash said as she looked down at the small tunnel and saw more ponies making their way through it.

“Yep,” the miner said and then finally seemed to register who and what he was talking to. “Uhhh, who are you?”

Rainbow Dash snorted in amusement. “Let’s just say I’m a new friend around here.”

Barnaby and the other miners on this side continued to help the others through and keep the tunnel secure. It wasn’t a permanent solution and it was pretty slow going, but at least they’d be able to get all the trapped miners to safety. When things looked pretty stable, Barnaby sharply glanced to Rainbow Dash and came over to her with a frown on his face.

“I’m sorry something like this had to happen today while I was with you,” he said.

“It’s not your fault,” she looked at the damaged tunnel. “Besides, not like I would expect you to just ignore what happened or anything and keep giving me a tour.”

“But I still have to apologize, because it’s not over yet.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “What do you mean?”

His gaze hardened and his eyes narrowed. “I think we both know this was no accident, and I must get to the bottom of it.”

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby were both back up in the main office of the mine’s central staging area. They stood in there with Crom and most of the other important chief’s and senior miners along with a group of miners who had been working in the mine right past where the explosion had happened and the tunnel caved in. Right now Crom was pacing back and forth in front of everypony else—his balding black mane falling down the back of his head while a harsh look settled on his face. It was the same look that Barnaby had.

“In case any of you were wondering-” Crom started and all of the other miners stiffly stood in place, hanging off his every word. “We’ve figured out that there’s no way this was just some accidental placement and discharge of TNT. Somepony did this on purpose. In my mine. In Oreville’s pride, joy and lifeblood. And now we have to figure out who, how, and why.”

“Are we sure it was on purpose? Like really sure?” One of Crom’s senior miners asked.

Crom nodded and looked over at Barnaby. “Barnaby? Care to tell everypony what you found out in your investigation so far?”

Barnaby breathed heavily out of his nose and stepped forward while Rainbow Dash hung back and watched him. The two of them had been even more busy after rescuing the miners in the first place. A quick glance at the clock on the wall of the office told her it was well past midnight—another night in Oreville she had stayed awake through. At least she was getting the most out of her days.

“I talked with the supervisor of the new mine down where the lift leaves off. He told me that not only was there no scheduled blasting in those tunnels for the day, they didn’t even have any stored TNT just sitting around,” Barnaby started. “That led me to wonder where the TNT that caused that explosion and cave-in came from. As you all know, all the TNT that goes through these mines is first brought here, stored here, and then given out for scheduled blastings. It’s all kept recorded in inventory and every last little bit of it is carefully kept track of when first brought here and when taken away.” Barnaby frowned. “So what did I find when I went to look for any missing or stolen TNT? I found that every last bit of it was well accounted for. Nothing was missing, there was no discrepancy in any paperwork, no signs of theft. Nothing. The TNT—the bomb—that caused that explosion didn’t use any of the TNT that was brought into the mines for regular blasting. Somepony brought their own explosives into this mine with the express purpose of using them to blow up that tunnel.”

“But how? Why?” One of the miners from the collapsed tunnel asked.

“Why didn’t he use any of the TNT already here? To make it harder to trace. He probably didn’t even have clearance to retrieve TNT in the first place and didn’t want anypony suspicious of him. As for why in general… I have even fewer ideas. But obviously he smuggled in TNT of his own somehow. How and where he got that I don’t believe I’ll be able to figure out without first finding the perpetrator,” Barnaby looked at all of the recently rescued miners. “Which is where you come in.”

“According to your supervisor—you were the last group to go into that tunnel before the explosion went off. Also according to him, he remembers that one of you came back from the tunnel and went up the lift early, shortly before Rainbow Dash and I arrived. So who was it? Who was the pony that wasn’t trapped with you behind all that rubble?” Barnaby asked.

The miners looked between each other before the one who had spoken up earlier gulped and came forward. “D-Dolph. He’s missing.”

“Dolph?” Barnaby raised an eyebrow.

“We thought he was just lost—or something else happened or maybe he was even caught in the blast but...”

Barnaby shook his head. “Nopony was caught in the blast or buried in the rubble. We’re certain of that, luckily or intentionally, nopony was hurt by the explosion. All it did was destroy those tunnels.”

“Dolph, huh?” Crom muttered and walked over to some of the filing cabinets in the office. “I should have his file and picture somewhere in here...” he began rummaging around.

“And meanwhile, what can you ponies tell me about this Dolph fellow?” Barnaby asked.

“Well he’s our friend for one and he wouldn’t do something like this!” One of the miners angrily said and stomped his hoof on the ground.

“I-I agree with you, Kent, but...” another said.

Barnaby raised an eyebrow. “But what?”

The miner sweated nervously and tried to look away as he answered. “Well Dolph was, uh, kind of being a lot quieter than normal earlier today. We were all talking and having fun when we were getting ready to head to the mine but he wasn’t really saying nothing, I remember. And there was another thing… we all had our tools and stuff but Dolph also had a big bag, and he didn’t say what it was for or nothing.”

“I remember that bag, I didn’t really think nothing of it but it’s kind of weird now that you mention it,” another minder said. “There wasn’t anything big that any of us needed to carry to the mine, was there?”

“Nope,” Kent grunted, grinding his teeth as he stared at the ground. “I-I don’t know what he would’ve needed that bag for either.”

“And you also didn’t notice when he left you behind and wasn’t in the mine with you?” Barnaby asked.

The miners sheepishly looked around and shrugged at each other, none of them wanting to speak up and answer that question.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. They were friends, huh?

“Ah, found it!” Crom suddenly said from the cabinets as he pulled out a file. He walked over to Barnaby and hoofed it over to him, with Rainbow Dash coming up and also looking at it. “This is Dolph.”

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby looked at a simple photograph of a smiling stallion paperclipped to the inside of the file. He had a mop of unruly red mane on an ashen gray coat with hazel eyes peeking out at them. It was just a photo, but it made Rainbow Dash instantly frown. This guy just didn’t look like the type of pony who would do something like this. Barnaby took the photo from the file and showed it to the miners.

“So this is your friend, Dolph? And you’re sure it was indeed him with you today?” Barnaby asked.

“Definitely,” Kent nodded. “You could never mistake that mane.”

Rainbow Dash read bits of his file while Barnaby still held it open. “Says he’s married too and started working in these mines right after getting out of school.”

“Not just married—kids too,” one of the other miners said.

Barnaby frowned and lifted a hoof to his forehead, rubbing it in circles. “Why would he do something like this? What’s going on here?” He checked the file once more. “No marks for poor behavior or performance… he seemed like a stand-up miner.”

“We’ll have to find out exactly where he went after leaving that bomb, see what exit he took from the mines,” Crom said.

“This doesn’t make any sense!” Kent tried to say once more. “I-I don’t know what’s going on or how to explain all this, but Dolph would never do something like this! What does he even have to gain?”

“Nothing,” Barnaby said, causing Rainbow Dash to look at him. “Nothing at all. Nopony has anything to gain from sabotaging the mines—every last soul in Oreville is reliant on them. There’s no benefit to doing something like this for anypony. And that’s what worries me the most.”

He sighed and rubbed his eyes before giving the file and picture back to Crom. “Thank you for your help, you may leave. I suggest you all go get some sleep now.”

“Suggest?” Crom snorted at the miners. “You’ll need all the sleep you can get, tomorrow you’re going to have to help out fixing up the damaged tunnels. This has set us back by quite a bit.”

“Yes sir,” Kent and the other miners said before shooting a couple lasting looks at Barnaby and Rainbow Dash and then shuffling out of the office.

“Sorry about all this,” Crom said to Rainbow Dash once the miners had left.

Rainbow Dash shook her head in exasperation. “Dude, just like I told Barnaby, you guys don’t have to apologize. And uh—no offense since I know you won’t take it the same way but I don’t mind at all actually having something to do while I’m here.”

“The mines are my responsibility and I let something like this happen...” Crom ground his teeth.

“I don’t think you should blame yourself either,” Barnaby said. “There are too many questions here, and things that don’t make sense. An accident would at least have a real explanation. But this? This Dolph pony just doesn’t seem like the type to blow up a tunnel—for any reason. There has to be something else going on.”

“You think someone else wanted him to blow it up? Rainbow asked. “Dolph just set the bomb there but it was another pony’s plan?”

Barnaby nodded. “That’s exactly what I think. But the who and why still eludes me. And they had to have gotten their TNT from somewhere else.” He glanced at Crom. “Right?”

“Right,” Crom nodded back.

“There has to be a trail somewhere...” Barnaby said.

“Hey, I’ll help out anyway I can too,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I’m kind of used to it.”

Barnaby chuckled. “Yes, you are. I’d almost say trouble follows you but I know you’re far too well meaning. This is just bad timing. Exceedingly bad timing. I was hoping to show you the best of Oreville and you could tell your home and others about all of the nice and amazing things you saw here but now...”

“I can still do that,” Rainbow Dash reassured him. “Now I’ll just get the chance to tell others how you deal with criminals and work in times of crisis. Those kinds of stories are always the ones ponies want to hear most anyways.”

“Thank you but for now you shouldn’t have to do anything. And I know you’re going to keep offering but it’s really not something I want you to get involved with—you shouldn’t have to deal with our own internal problems,” Barnaby said.

“But you said-”

“This is different. Right now you’re a guest of Oreville and you should be treated as such. Not made to do grunt work or chase down criminals, that’s my and my officers’ job.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “I’m telling you I’d have more fun doing that stuff anyways.”

“Be that as it may, there’s a lot that I would need to do first and report on anyways before getting you involved. And secondly, it’s very late and we all should’ve gotten some sleep a long time ago,” Barnaby looked at Crom. “Sorry that we couldn’t really catch up or anything but Rainbow Dash and I are going to be heading back up to the city.”

“We’ll talk again some other time,” Crom shrugged and faced Rainbow Dash. “And it was nice meeting you… even though I wish your first visit to the mines was more normal.”

“Nice meeting you too, dude. Don’t sweat it,” Rainbow Dash winked and both she and Barnaby headed out of the office, towards the elevators that would take them back up to the main city of the Copper Section.

“So what does happen next?” Rainbow Dash asked him.

“Your tour and education of Oreville continues as normal. There’s a motel close to the mining building up above. We’ll get you checked in there just for the day while I go report everything that happened in the mines at the Correctional Facility and get the ball rolling for the investigation on my end. But you don’t need to worry about any of that. Tomorrow the two of us will be joining Lords Gold, Silver, and Copper for dinner in Gold Section. That’ll be your first real duty as a visiting diplomat and I know Lord Silver is enthusiastic about it. Gold and Copper… we’ll see how it goes.”

“I’m already looking forward to it,” Rainbow sarcastically grumbled.

“That makes two of us.” Barnaby yawned.

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Well at least I know exactly what I’m going to do when I get that motel room: sleep.”

“I’ll find a more permanent residence soon...”

“Woah… I gotta tell ya, Gold Section really lives up to its name,” Rainbow Dash said as she looked out the window of the tram as it entered the oldest and largest part of the grand city of Oreville.

It was late afternoon now, Barnaby had come to retrieve her just earlier and the two set off for their visit and meal with the three Lords of Oreville. Rainbow Dash wasn’t exactly looking forward to it but at least the food had to be good, right? They were in the front of the tram that they had taken from the Copper Section—an express one that went straight to the center of Gold Section. It wasn’t like the tram down in the mine at all, this was a luxurious passenger tram much more like a train from Equestria than anything else, with cushioned seats, tables, carpeted floors, and even a snack cart that went up and down the cars.

Rainbow Dash didn’t care about that anymore though as her first look at Gold Section currently had her eyes glued to the window. The cavern this underground city was built in was three or four times bigger than the largest part of Copper Section was, its buildings stretching far into the distance and created a sprawling cityscape. Most of the buildings weren’t as tall as the skyscrapers of Copper Section though, with only a few like that around the middle of the city and the rest taken up by smaller buildings and then houses the further one got from the city center. Another big difference was the color. Copper Section was a series of grays and blacks when it came to the paint (or lack thereof) used for the buildings. In Gold Section she saw that yellow was favored, most homes and buildings were painted some shade of yellow or gold, with a number that were orange and other bright daylight colors. The streets weren’t nearly as busy or hectic as Copper Section’s either despite the fact that clearly more ponies lived here. It had a much more relaxed feeling and look to it.

Their tram was now going right through the streets of the city on a raised line that allowed Rainbow Dash to get a closeup look of things on their way to Lord Gold’s administrative building. What could essentially be considered the capitol building of Oreville. Out her window she saw a market street with multiple different grocers selling food and lots of fruit stands. The average pony down below was dressed very nicely and the streets were spotlessly clean. Rarity would’ve liked to have joined her on this trip right now.

She saw a young filly accompanying her mother on a shopping trip look up at the tram as it passed overhead and gave it a wave. Rainbow Dash smiled down at the pony and waved back, even though she wasn’t sure if she could see her.

Why would somepony blow up part of the mines in a place like this? Rainbow Dash just couldn’t get it. Was there something about this place she didn’t know? Right now she couldn’t fathom why it had happened. At least nopony had gotten hurt, but this whole situation felt so wrong.

They were now getting much closer to the center and Rainbow Dash looked ahead to see them now traveling past taller office buildings. Through them all she saw one pyramidal building with a flat top, more like a 3D trapezoid, and towers at all of its corners that gave it a more classical look than other buildings Rainbow had seen in Oreville. It was also painted a very shiny gold, almost making it look like it was actually made of gold. To Rainbow’s surprise, the tram looked like it went inside the building itself instead of stopping at a station nearby.

“Uhh...” Rainbow Dash pointed ahead.

“I told you it went to the center of Gold Section, didn’t I?” Barnaby grinned at her.

“Guess you can’t ask for a more direct line to the government, huh?” Rainbow Dash said as she watched their tram get closer to the building.

Soon it passed through the golden walls of the capitol and into a brightly lit interior station. A large portion of the building must have been hollow to allow for this to be built as it seemed to go from one side of the building to the other with enough space at the station for two trams to fit at once. Both sides of the station had a lot of doors and stairs leading to other places in the capitol building and there were a fair amount of ponies milling about around it. Including a lot of security ponies wearing red uniforms with golden straps across their chests. More than anything though there were ponies in suits carrying briefcases waiting to get on the tram—Gold Section may not have been as busy as Copper Section but there were still plenty of hardworking ponies in it.

When the tram came to a stop, Barnaby and Rainbow Dash both quickly stepped off and immediately had to go through a security checkpoint. While they waited for that, Rainbow kept track of how many double-takes she got from ponies getting on and off the tram.

“Chief Constable,” the security guard at the checkpoint said to Barnaby and nodded, his eyes briefly flickering to Rainbow and the ID card she was wearing. “We were told of you and the special guest’s visit. There’s no need for any further formalities, you may proceed directly to Lord Gold’s private conference room.”

“Thank you, Ainsworth,” Barnaby smiled to the guard and took Rainbow Dash past the other security ponies. He had them heading for stairs that led up higher into the building which were flanked by more security guards—who he promptly walked past. They didn’t even bother looking at Barnaby and Rainbow.

“Nice perks,” Rainbow Dash said to him.

“Actually it’s more because of your clearance that we’re able to go through here without being stopped by every guard and having to show ID or the correct papers. Capitol security is out of my jurisdiction, none of these ponies answer to me. But you have the highest level of diplomatic immunity and access. If any of these guards tried stopping you or inconvenienced you in some way, they’d be rebuked by Lord Gold himself. Well, at least officially, thanks to Lord Gold’s… state… it would be Lord Silver they’d have to answer to.”

“Should I be kind of worried about meeting Lord Gold?” Rainbow asked.

“Worried? No, not at all,” Barnaby shook his head. “Just don’t expect him to talk much, to you or anypony else. Lord Silver will more than be the representative and leader of Oreville that you need to meet, and Lord Copper… well he’ll be there too I guess.”

Rainbow Dash silently followed Barnaby as he led her through the interior of the capitol building. They passed numerous offices, guards, and ponies swiftly trotting through hallways on business. At one point they got to one of the higher levels and passed down a hallway whose outer wall was a large glass window that overlooked the entire city.

“So this conference room or whatever is at the top?” Rainbow asked when it looked like they had another guarded staircase to walk up.

“Yes. And truthfully it’s more like a suite—or home away from home rather than some place for business. Which Lord Silver and I both thought was a more fitting place to meet and for you to dine at,” Barnaby said.

“And I am totally okay with that,” Rainbow Dash nodded.

They ended up at the top floor after that last stairway and entered a long red carpet hallway with a set of golden double-doors at the end flanked by two more security guards. Paintings of mountains, flowers, the streets of Oreville, and landscapes covered the walls. When they got close to the doors both guards grabbed a door handle and pulled it open for them.

Inside was certainly more of a high-end luxurious apartment than any sort of office. A large foyer opened up into a living room with hardwood flooring and an ornate dining table in the center of it. Plants, fountains, and paintings lined the walls or were stuck in alcoves while to the right and left of the table there were open doorways leading to other parts of the suite. Behind the living room was another large floor to ceiling window that gave a commanding view of the city, with a few comfortable looking chairs and couches in front of it. There were no guards standing around but she saw a pair of stallions and mares off to the left of the table wearing butler and maid uniforms. Despite Rainbow Dash’s unique appearance they were too well trained to even glance in her direction without orders.

And of course, at the dining table itself there sat the three Lords of Oreville.

Lord Copper sat at the right side of the table, doing his best to not sneer in her and Barnaby’s direction the moment they came through the door. On the left side of the table sat a middle-aged stallion just at the cusp of what Rainbow Dash would call “old”. He had a maroon coat and a deep blue mane tied back in a ponytail, while lines of age and wrinkles had just started appearing on his face, and he wore a flowing black robe that covered the rest of his body. Directly in front of Rainbow at the head of the table was a much, much, older stallion. Positively ancient, his face was nothing but wrinkles and he shook even while sitting still, she couldn’t even tell if his eyes were open or not and his mane had gone completely white and thin over his yellow face.

“Announcing Miss Rainbow Dash of Equestria,” Barnaby suddenly said.

Both Lord Copper (and who had to be Lord Silver) stood up at the sides of the table and actually bowed slightly to her.

“Greetings, Rainbow Dash,” the maroon stallion said with a friendly smile on his face. “I am Lord Silver of Oreville and it is my greatest pleasure to welcome you to our realm.” He glanced at Lord Gold. “I assure you that Lord Gold is also happy to make your acquaintance, and I believe our Chief Constable told me that you met Lord Copper when you first arrived here?”

Lord Copper held back a derisive snort. “We have indeed already met, she took a rather nasty tumble down the stairs outside the tunnel entering Copper Section and I notified the Chief Constable and hospital of her arrival shortly after. I trust your wounds have healed?”

Rainbow Dash’s eye twitched and she saw Barnaby roll his eyes in annoyance as well. “Oh yeah, they’re great now. Thanks for the warm welcome you gave me.” She “smiled” at him.

“You’re welcome,” Lord Copper smirked and sat back down.

“And uh, nice to meet you too, Lord Silver,” Rainbow said much more cordially to him.

There were two other seats at the table, one at the head opposite from Lord Gold and one right next to Lord Silver. Naturally Barnaby walked past her to sit next to Lord Silver while Rainbow Dash got the seat of honor.

“Please, enjoy the appetizers that have been placed out for you while we discuss your home and ours. In a short time the main course will be brought out,” Lord Silver said and gestured to the table at an assortment of cheese and crackers, grapes, vegetables, and breads. “If you require anything else just ask and I will have our servants fetch it for you.”

“Hrmm...” Lord Gold suddenly sputtered and reached for a plate of caprese salad with a trembling hoof.

The others at the table winced but one of the maids quickly and quietly came forward and grabbed a slice of tomato and cheese together for him, feeding it into his mouth (his toothless mouth as Rainbow Dash now noticed) by hoof herself. She then even wiped his muzzle clean with a napkin after juice from the tomato spilled from his mouth. Both Rainbow Dash and Lord Copper shuddered as they watched how the old Lord needed to be taken care of, Silver and Barnaby had the decency to act like they didn’t notice.

“Right, well, we do wish to give you whatever you need and desire for your stay here,” Lord Silver said. “You’ll be treated to the best hospitality that Oreville has to offer.”

Lord Copper took a sip of water and raised a haughty eyebrow at Rainbow Dash. “Yes, so if you’d like something a bit more high class and indulgent than simple food might I offer you some cognac? A cigar? A concubine?”

Rainbow Dash felt herself nearly gag. “Yes, no, and really no.”

“Don’t be put off, Miss Rainbow Dash, just a joke.” Lord Silver said as he glared across the table at Lord Copper. “A bad one. However we do have cognac and other spirits if they are to your taste?”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Oh yeah.” She popped a grape into her mouth.

Lord Silver clapped his hooves together and one of the butlers quickly retreated into the doorway beside him, on an errand to get Rainbow Dash her cognac.

“Now please, why don’t you tell us about your home of Equestria. The Chief Constable has given me a brief lesson on it but I’d love to hear directly from you,” Lord Silver said with a genuine smile and enthusiasm.

“Yes, if I had known you were such an important visitor representing an entire country I would’ve been sure to have given you the true VIP treatment,” Lord Copper much more sarcastically said.

Rainbow Dash ignored him and just turned to Lord Silver instead. “Uhh, what do you want to know?”

At times like this she really wished she could just channel Twilight.

“Everything,” Lord Silver said.

Rainbow Dash whistled and rubbed her head. “Where do I begin...”

“And so these Princesses are actually responsible for moving the heavenly bodies in the sky?”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yep, pretty cool right?”

“Remarkable… remarkable and wondrous...” Lord Silver responded.

“If it’s true,” Lord Copper muttered.

“It is,” Rainbow glared at him.

“You have quite the different system of government from our own then as well if these Princesses have been ruling your country of Equestria since the beginning,” Lord Silver continued. “I suppose we as Lords have superficial similarities to monarchs but it’s nothing like your Princesses.”

“Well it was just Celestia for a while but that’s a whole nother story...” Rainbow said. “And it’s not like we don’t still have mayors for other towns and cities, Equestria’s a really big place, bigger than anywhere else I’ve come across on my journey.”

“And you yourself are a special pony back home as well? An Element of Harmony as you put it?” Silver asked.

Rainbow Dash nodded with a proud smile on her face. “That’s right.”

“So you were given some title or artifact and that’s what makes you such an exceptional Equestrian?” Copper disinterestedly questioned.

Rainbow held up a hoof to stop him. “You’ve got that backwards. Being an Element didn’t make me awesome, being awesome made me an Element. What you see is all me.”

A smirk twisted his lips. “I never would have guessed.”

“You mentioned something about a school as well, didn’t you?” Lord Silver asked before Rainbow could say anything back to Copper.

Her head swung over to him. “Oh, yeah, the School of Friendship. That was Twilight’s idea, it’s an awesome place where ponies and other creatures from all over the world can come and learn about friendship and harmony. I would totally invite you guys to come see it—and just see plain old Equestria—buuuut, you’re kind of far away. I honestly have no idea how anypony from Oreville would make it there. I think if you basically just traveled southwest far enough you’d hit Griffonstone but who knows, I just don’t know what’s on the way.”

“That’s alright, it’s not something we could do anytime soon. Even if there were ponies willing to venture out that far it sounds like the sort of expedition that would take months of planning,” Lord Silver said. He sighed wistfully. “And I thought the Weeping Mountain sounded like a magical place.”

Lord Copper started chewing on a piece of bread. “As you can guess, we aren’t especially knowledgeable about the outside world. So hearing of such a place is obviously a little overwhelming for some of the more romantically-minded ponies of Oreville.”

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes at the unspoken words: “I couldn’t care less.”

“It’s true if Equestria was closer we could open up trade partnerships. I’m sure we’d both have unique things to share with each other,” Lord Silver mused.

“I don’t think we particularly need anything from outsiders,” Lord Copper furrowed his brow. “From the stories she’s told, there have been countless conflicts and villains that have plagued the outside world, even many that she has recently encountered on the journey she’s currently on.” He folded his hooves. “Oreville has always been free of such things. Why get involved with others? Even the villages to the south and the Weeping Mountain are totally irrelevant and unneeded for us and have been for over a century.”

“Well still, aren’t you-” Lord Silver started before Lord Copper cut him off with a swift wave of his hoof.

“Oreville only needs us,” the Lord said. “I don’t know why this dinner is taking place for this pony.”

At that, Lord Silver frowned. “Don’t be rude to our guest. You disgrace the name of Oreville that you’re so proud of, Copper. Whether you like it or not it’s still our way to treat others with respect and courtesy.”

Lord Copper huffed but quieted down and Lord Silver threw an apologetic look at Rainbow Dash. “My apologies for my associate’s behavior.”

“Don’t sweat it. Believe me when I say this is way better treatment than I’ve gotten in some places,” Rainbow shrugged.

“Yes… but I hear you also were involved in such unfortunate business down in our mines as well.”

Lord Copper coughed a few times, wiping his mouth with the back of his hoof and looked away from the others. Something that both Barnaby and Rainbow Dash picked up on. It was far too obvious for them to have not noticed it.

“R-Really? I had heard about the explosion in the tunnels, they are mines under my section after all, but I wasn’t aware you were down there as well when that happened,” Lord Copper fidgeted in his seat.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him. “Yeah… Barnaby was giving me a tour. The two of us were there to help, we were pretty lucky.”

“In fact I’ve already started my investigation to find the perpetrator and figure out what’s going on,” Barnaby said as he looked with a steely gaze at Lord Copper.

“To think somepony would do that on purpose. I thought it must have been an accident...” Lord Silver glumly shook his head.

“Yes, it doesn’t make any sense at all, does it?” Lord Copper coughed again as his eyes darted left and right. “But an investigation already started so soon? My you work very fast don’t you, Chief Constable?”

Rainbow Dash had to hold her jaw to keep it from dropping. This guy… is an idiot.

Barnaby also discreetly glanced in her direction and they shared a knowing look. It was almost comical how badly Lord Copper was reacting to hearing about the explosion and Rainbow Dash and Barnaby’s involvement in it.

“What a terrible coincidence that you come here right as something so unprecedented happens,” Lord Silver said.

“Don’t get so down, Oreville’s still a really nice looking place from everything I’ve seen so far. Your city is still making a great impression on me. It’s just that nowhere is perfect, everywhere has its troubles,” she looked over at Lord Copper. “And its troublemakers.”

“Oreville is free of such things… this is just some one-off act of destruction. S-Something I’m sure Constable Barnaby will get to the bottom of and prevent from ever happening again,” Lord Copper swallowed and averted his gaze from Rainbow Dash.

Before anypony could say anything else, the food came out from the kitchens.

Lord Gold sniffed the air a few times and looked towards it. “Gemme da, gemme da...”

A maid quickly brought a plate of oats and alfalfa soup over to him, feeding him with a spoon. And while that was going on, the others ate on their own. It was a bit quieter at the table after the conversation had taken a more melancholy turn and it was clear that Lord Copper wasn’t going to speak another word unless unprompted. But the food was at least good, even better than what Rainbow Dash had had here before. She dug in with gusto while Barnaby ate slowly and continued to glare at Lord Copper.

“Do you—do you have any idea how long you’ll be staying in Oreville?” Lord Silver finally asked midway through the meal.

Rainbow Dash stared at the ceiling for a moment and thought about it. “Well, not really. I still haven’t seen a whole lot so I wanted to at least look around more and learn before I left or anything.” And get to the bottom of what’s going on with Lord Copper.

“Then I suggest you stay here in Gold Section,” Lord Silver smiled. “The finest penthouse suite shall be yours and-”

“Lord Silver? If I may?” Barnaby interrupted. “I believe Miss Rainbow Dash would prefer a humbler place to stay while she’s visiting Oreville. Also I think it would be easier if it was somewhere in Copper Section, closer to my home, so we would both have to travel less when meeting up with each other. The ambassador and I have already created a rapport with each other and I would like to continue being her main contact for her stay here.”

Lord Silver looked a bit nonplussed but he seemed to trust Barnaby’s decisions well enough. “Do you have any ideas then?”

“I do, actually,” Barnaby smiled and looked at Rainbow Dash. “My apartment building. There are plenty of vacancies, I was thinking of having Miss Rainbow Dash over to my place tomorrow night and showing her the building.”

“Well if the Chief Constable thinks that’s a good idea I see no reason to disagree,” Lord Copper shrugged and attempted to whistle nonchalantly. Except he couldn’t whistle.

“Yes...” Barnaby narrowed his eyes at him before looking to Lord Silver. “Is that alright?”

“So long as Miss Rainbow Dash is fine with those accommodations,” Lord Silver said.

Rainbow Dash eagerly nodded a couple of times. “I totally am. I don’t need any big, extravagant place to stay.”

“Then it’s decided. I do hope you enjoy your visit to Oreville and we can show you the absolute best we have to offer. With luck, no more terrible mishaps will happen at all from now on,” Lord Silver smiled. He was probably unaware of how badly he just tempted fate.

The five ponies finished their meal in peace after that with Lord Gold only occasionally needing his mouth to be wiped down. By the end of it, Rainbow Dash was full and she had to admit that this food came really close to being as good as Shibu’s home-cooking. Though the meeting hadn’t exactly been perfect, Lord Silver was at least a cool guy. Lord Copper though… he was coming off even worse than he had at first. Her visit to Gold Section had certainly been good overall and it really was quite an impressive city. She hoped nothing bad happened here. She wanted fun and adventure but she didn’t want a perfectly good and nice place to be ruined for that to happen. But if she could stop something bad from happening here, well that was just as good.

“I think we’ll be heading back to the Copper Section now,” Barnaby said as he got up from his chair.

Rainbow Dash followed and gave a quick salute and smile to Lords Silver and Gold. “Nice meeting the two of you. Next time I’m sure there’s even more stuff I can tell you about Equestria.”

“Nice meeting you as well,” Lord Silver smiled and bowed his head slightly, Lord Gold stared off into space, and Lord Copper just narrowed his eyes and watched her and Barnaby go.

“Oh yeah!” Rainbow Dash stopped right at the door, much to Barnaby’s confusion, and turned around, pointing at Lord Copper. “I’ve figured you out.”

Lord Copper raised an eyebrow at her. “You what?”

“You’re not a villain,” she smiled at him.

A smirk tugged up his lips. “Oh, well thank-”

“You’re a stooge.”

The smirk immediately turned into a frown. “I beg your pardon?”

“You’re a stooge,” Rainbow repeated, a more serious look on her face. “I’ve met and dealt with plenty of real villains before and you’re not like them at all. So whatever you’re doing, stop. Just stop before things get out of hoof and you do something you can’t take back. Okay?”

Lord Copper was positively fuming as Rainbow Dash turned back around and out the door, a surprised but very happy Barnaby now following her. Lord Silver looked across the table at Lord Copper and tilted his head, oblivious to everything going on while the butlers and maids also did their best to appear neutral. Lord Copper saw the look Lord Silver was giving him and just huffed and folded his forelegs in front of his chest, glancing away.

“I have no idea what she’s talking about.”

The following day was spent mostly with Rainbow Dash inside the Correctional Facility with Barnaby as he did a truly monumental amount of paperwork. The disaster in the mines on top of his usual work and the work he needed to do for getting Rainbow a temporary apartment added up to a lot. While he clearly wanted to do something more proactive when it came to finding Dolph and uncovering the truth about the explosion, that had to temporarily wait. Rainbow and Barnaby were still both very thankful that nopony had been hurt back then.

So close to around dinner time, Barnaby and Rainbow Dash left his office to check out the apartment building he lived in in the Copper Section. It was just a short ways away and in the same area as the facility. Barnaby told her that most of the time he slept in his office anyways so he didn’t use his actual home for much but he still had food there so they could grab a bite to eat and he could tour her around the vacancies. Rainbow Dash didn’t really care where she ended up but a place on one of the top-stories would’ve been nice.

They passed a single pony reading a newspaper in the lobby and an elevator ride up to the 25^th of 25 floors ended with Barnaby and Rainbow Dash stepping out into a quiet hallway.

“So you live at the very top, huh?” Rainbow asked him.

“A combination of personal preference and it being the most secure in my view,” Barnaby answered.

Rainbow Dash grinned and nodded. “Oh yeah, I get that. Are there any vacancies on the top floor? I’d totally go for a place up here too. I can just leave my window open and fly in and out.”

Barnaby chuckled but shook his head. “Sadly, no. No vacancies on this level. The highest floors only have a few larger apartments on them to begin with so there isn’t as much room.”

As he said that Rainbow Dash looked around and noted that they had barely passed by any doors after coming out of the elevator. All of the apartments were indeed pretty spread out. Barnaby had to take them around another corner before they arrived at a door marked with the number “4”. He took a key out of his red suit and unlocked the door, holding it open and allowing Rainbow Dash inside.

She took a brief look around, not like she really needed to get a feel for this place since she wouldn’t be living here, but she was still interested in the kind of place Barnaby lived in. It was unsurprisingly fairly spartan, with the living room they walked into having a coffee table and couch to her left, while a door leading to a small bathroom was on her right with a large grandfather clock pressed up against the wall right past it. There was just the faintest of ticks coming from the clock that reached her sensitive ears and provided a white noise in the background. Besides the coffee table there was another table behind the couch that had a couple of fake plants sitting on it and a large rug over the wooden floors. Directly ahead there was an opening that led into the kitchen and a door on the other side of the clock that probably went into a bedroom or something.

“Make yourself at home,” Barnaby said and walked beside her over to the couch and coffee table.

Rainbow Dash shrugged and joined him, seeing a bookshelf across from the coffee table loaded with all kinds of things. Though she doubted there was anything that interested her in that collection.

“Tomorrow I was going to personally visit Dolph’s family,” Barnaby said to her as she sat down. “I figured that would interest you too.”

“Yeah, I’d like to be there for that,” Rainbow said.

“There’s also the issue of where that TNT came from. There are a number of warehouses it’s stored in after coming from the manufacturer and before being taken into the mines, so I was going to investigate that too,” he said.

Rainbow grinned. “And here you said you don’t need to do the grunt work yourself.”

“This is quite a bit more serious than the average theft or illegal bootlegging and unsanctioned gambling that goes on in this city,” Barnaby said with a frown. “Nopony was hurt—something that’s enough of a miracle that it had to have been on purpose—but it still caused damage and delays to our mines, which means everything was slowed down in the city. Everything in Oreville starts in and revolves around those mines. We even draw up geothermal energy from some of the deeper areas for power. It’s just crazy to think that anypony would want to do something like blow up part of the mines.”

“Anypony?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him.

Barnaby bit his lip. “Yes… I think it’s obvious that Lord Copper is involved if not outright responsible.”

“He definitely is,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’ve got an eye for this kind of thing and you saw how he was acting too back at that meeting. I don’t know what that moron’s deal is but he’s totally involved. And he’s a bad liar.”

“That’s certainly true...” Barnaby sighed and shook his head. “But as much as I’ve always disliked him he’s still one of the Three Lords. To bring him down for this… not only would it be incredibly difficult but the repercussions across the city would be terrible. Our citizens would be horrified. I always wanted to find a way to get that slimeball out of power, I know he’s done all sorts of other illegal things, but something like this? The ponies of Oreville won’t be glad to be rid of him, they’ll be scared and disgusted that he was ever a Lord to begin with. It could very well shake the foundations of Oreville and it might even lead to a lack of trust and faith in Lords Silver and Gold as well.”

Rainbow Dash looked at him and awkwardly grimaced, tugging at an errant strand of her mane. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was right at six. “I’m not going to force any decisions on you or nothing—this is your home, not mine. But… it’s still the right thing to do, right?”

“Yes. Absolutely,” Barnaby nodded with an iron frown on his face. “If he truly is responsible or even just slightly involved in something like this then I will bring him down like I’ve always wanted to do. I just hope I can do it in a way that causes the least amount of problems for Oreville.”

“Well no matter how it goes down, I’ll be there to help you out with it. That’s the kind of pony I am,” Rainbow Dash thumped a hoof over her chest.

“You sure are quick to form bonds and friendships...” Barnaby smiled.

“Lot better than making enemies everywhere I go,” Rainbow shrugged.

“Certainly true,” Barnaby sighed and stood up from the couch. “Either way though—there’s nothing for us to do involving that until tomorrow, let’s give you a look around my building and you can decide which vacant apartment you like the most.” His eyes then turned towards the kitchen. “Oh, after a quick bite to eat first.”

“Sounds good to me. I don’t think I’m gonna have any preference for the places you show me but hey, whatever.” Rainbow Dash stood up too and walked over towards the kitchen.

She stopped in front of the clock and frowned. There was a nagging feeling she had, butterflies in her stomach telling her that something was off in this apartment. Something her eyes and ears noticed but her brain hadn’t fully caught up on yet. Rainbow Dash looked up at the face of the grandfather clock, golden pendulums swinging beneath it behind the glass front case. She tilted her head to figure out what about it was confusing her like this and she finally realized; there was no second hoof. It was an old-fashioned clock that only had an hour and minute hoof that only moved when the time was right. There was no constant “tick, tick, tick” from a second hoof coming from it.

So where was that noise coming from?

Rainbow Dash placed her ear nearly against the clock and listened in. Yep—the ticking sound in this apartment definitely wasn’t coming from it.

“What’s wrong?” Barnaby said, noticing her weird behavior.

Rainbow Dash looked over at him. “Do you hear that ticking noise?”

Barnaby frowned at her, “I don’t think so...”

“Listen harder,” Rainbow said and held a hoof up for silence, trying to figure out the direction it was coming from on her own.

Barnaby stood silently for a moment and moved his ears around to listen in as well. His ears weren’t as sharp as Rainbow’s but now that he was actively looking for it he started to hear the ticking as well. “I do hear it… what is that?”

“I’m not… sure…” Rainbow’s eyes suddenly widened and she sucked in a breath through her teeth. “Out!” She yelled. “Get out now!”

“Wha-” Barnaby had no time to finish his sentence as a rainbow blur crashed into him and swiftly pulled him towards the front door.

When they had reached the doorframe an explosion went off and wreathed the apartment in flames.

A resounding bang was heard down the city block and ponies below the apartment building looked up to see the top floor suddenly explode in a fireball, raining burning debris down onto the street below. Ponies of Oreville screamed and ran in terror while inhabitants of the building started running out of their homes to safety. Constables came running from down the street to see what had happened while multiple ponies were already on the radio for the fire department.

And in an alley a couple buildings away a single pony with a red mop of mane stood behind a pair of trashcans, trying his best to stay out of sight while his shaking hooves held a two-way radio. A newly discarded newspaper lay crammed into one of the trashcans.

Snrrrkt!

He turned the radio on in his hooves and a voice came through the speaker:

Well? If you’re contacting me now that means you did it, right?

“Y-Yes,” Dolph bitterly said into his radio, tears spilling from his eyes and falling to the ground. “The bomb just went off in Barnaby’s apartment.”

So he and that rainbow pony are dead?

“I think so. I don’t see h-how they could have survived...”

Good. Very good.

“Good?” Dolph’s voice cracked. “Y-You said that nopony would be hurt. You said that I-I wouldn’t have to do something like this...”

Barnaby was too dangerous to keep alive. And that other pony from outside was a clear troublemaker too. I didn’t want anypony to have to get hurt either, and from here on out nopony should be, but this was a necessary step.

Dolph cried freely into the radio, shaking his head. “I don’t want to do this anymore, p-please, just let me go back to my family.”

If Barnaby is truly dead then you can consider yourself free, you and your family will be threatened no longer. However it will be some time before you can go back to your family and live a normal life in Oreville again. For now return to the safehouse I set up for you until we know for sure what’s happened.

Dolph peaked his head out from behind the trashcans and looked towards the burning building, hearing both the sound of crackling flames and screaming ponies. “What if he and that other pony survived?”

Then you had best prepare to do more work for me. I own you, Dolph.

The radio cut off and Dolph was left alone in the alley once more. He collapsed to the ground and cradled his head in his hooves, crying until his eyes were dry.

“I just don’t understand what’s going on in this city. I just really don’t,” Nurse Abernathy said with a stony expression of fear on her face as she rubbed a cream for burns onto Rainbow Dash’s wings. She looked at her patient with sympathy. “Just tell me if this hurts, okay?”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ve gone through way worse.” Rainbow responded as she lied on her belly on the hospital bed, her back and tail were partially singed but her wings were the only part of her that had gotten badly burnt.

On the other side of the room, Barnaby lied back in his bed, only a few bandages and cooling packs on his body. Thanks to Rainbow Dash quickly throwing him out of the apartment he didn’t directly come in contact with any flames. The heat had still harmed him but no burning hot licks of flame had ravaged his body. He was lucky. The both of them were.

The cream stung for just a second before a cool numbness started to wash over Rainbow Dash’s wings and Nurse Abernathy began to wrap them in bandages.

“I’m not familiar enough with pegasus physiology so I don’t exactly know how long your wings will take to heal but I’d like you to keep them in bandages for at least three days to a week,” she said to Rainbow.

Rainbow Dash flapped her gums and sighed. “Kind of lame but alright, doctor’s orders...”

“I could give you a more accurate estimate if I was more used to pegasi but-”

“Like I said, it’s alright,” Rainbow smiled at her.

Abernathy looked over at Barnaby. “S-So it really was a bomb just like what happened in the mines? It wasn’t a busted gas pipe or anything?”

“I’m afraid so,” Barnaby nodded to her. He took a deep breath and rubbed at a bandage along his leg. “Abernathy? If you’re finished with Rainbow Dash can you leave us alone for a little while?”

The nurse looked a little worried as she fidgeted in place before nodding. “Of course, just let me finish up here...”

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby both waited patiently as Abernathy finished wrapping Rainbow’s injured wings. It was uncomfortable and probably going to get a bit itchy for her in a bit but she’d just have to deal with it. The last bit of bandages was cut off and stapled down so the whole thing wouldn’t unravel, Nurse Abernathy then gave a last look at her two recovering patients before leaving the room.

“Well...” Barnaby sighed. “I think we both know what happened.”

“Oh yeah,” Rainbow Dash stiffly nodded with a frown on her face.

“While you were under anesthetic, one of my investigators came and confirmed that it was a bomb. Apartment’s a complete loss but the fire department at least managed to fight the fire and get it under control. The top couple floors of the building will need to be refurbished but it’s not unsalvageable,” he told her.

Rainbow Dash sadly looked down at the floor. “So nopony else was hurt?”

Barnaby shook his head. “Thankfully not. The blast was controlled and the rest of the residents in danger were able to get out of the building before the fire had spread too far.”

“What a relief...” Rainbow Dash shut her eyes and relaxed.

“I think whoever’s planning these bombings honestly doesn’t want to hurt ponies if they can avoid it,” Barnaby said. “Otherwise it doesn’t really make any sense. The bomb that exploded in my apartment was just big enough to take it out while not directly blowing apart any of the other apartments on the top floor. But I still can’t figure out why anypony would be doing this in the first place.” He scratched his head. “Even if it is Lord Copper that almost makes even less sense… he’s already one of the most powerful and influential ponies in Oreville. What does he have to gain from doing this? Why is any of this happening?”

“Wish I could help you with that part but when it comes to foiling evil plans and stopping villains my specialty is kind of just, you know, beating them up,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Not saying I haven’t done the thinking and planning part before but it’s really not my strength.”

“I’d feel bad about asking even more from you anyways...” Barnaby bashfully responded.

“If it’s to do something awesome or stop a bad guy I don’t mind. I’ve never minded,” Rainbow told him. “And uh, on that note, it’s really pretty obvious that Lord Copper planted that bomb there. Or—well, had some crony of his plant it there on his orders.”

Barnaby nodded. “I agree. You remember the dinner with him and Lords Silver and Gold? Not just about how nervous he got when we brought up the mine bombing, but how he was perfectly okay with me taking you to find an apartment in my building? And how he heard that I would bring you to my home first of all.”

“He knew what we were going to be doing and had a bomb planted in your home sometime between that dinner and just now,” Rainbow narrowed her eyes.

“Yes. I don’t know if he could have timed it perfectly… perhaps somepony saw us entering the building and activated it remotely, or there was some tripwire we missed or something, but I doubt it was ticking away for long before we entered my home. Former home.”

Rainbow Dash absentmindedly tried to flutter her wings before realizing she couldn’t and frowned. “I wonder if he had the same pony plant the bomb as in the mines. Dolph?”

“Maybe. Lord Copper is very wealthy and has many ponies on his payroll… though I don’t know if he’d trust the average pony in his employ to do something like this. He certainly has connections to more unsavory types but would he trust them as well? There’s likely something more to it, Dolph’s friends did seem very adamant that he’d never do something like this,” Barnaby mused.

“I think no matter what we need to find this Dolph guy,” Rainbow said.

“There’s been no trace of him since that day in the mines. But I think a visit to his home could still shed some light on things,” Barnaby agreed.

“Also to be honest… I kind of got the impression from Lord Copper that he’s not the brightest or most competent stallion out there,” Rainbow rubbed her head. “I get that he’s probably good at his job and making sure there isn’t any solid proof connecting him to this and other bad stuff he’s done, but I feel like he’s in way over his head and not used to being challenged or seriously investigated at all.”

“Good for us then,” Barnaby said.

“Maybe,” Rainbow frowned. “Or it might end up leading him to do something stupid. Take it from a pony with a lot of personal experience—dumb ponies do dumb things. Especially when they’re panicked or scared.”

“We’ll have to be cautious in our investigation from here on out then. No talking to anypony else about it unless we can absolutely trust them. And certainly no mentioning anything in front of Lord Copper. Not until we have solid proof we can arrest him with or at least enough that would convince the populace of his duplicity,” Barnaby said.

“Got it,” Rainbow nodded.

“With how widespread Lord Copper’s influence is there’s a lot we’re going to need to investigate and I have some ideas for tomorrow already besides just visiting Dolph’s family.”

“What are we going to do about ourselves?” Rainbow asked with a raised eyebrow. “I mean, it’s totally possible that he’s going to try and have us taken out again. Bomb or otherwise. If we start staying in the same place for more than a day or two he could have somepony sneak another bomb in there while we’re gone. I’m not just worried about us but I don’t want any other pony blown up because of me.”

“For now—for the near future and maybe for your whole stay here—I think it will be best if we both lodge in the Correctional Facility. My office has enough room where I can set up a couch for you and I can go use one of the bunks in the officer’s quarters. I know you don’t have the best memories of that place but it’s going to be the safest place in Oreville for the both of us. I doubt Lord Copper could even get a bomb inside, much less have the nerve to try and bomb it in the first place,” Barnaby said.

“Yeah...” Rainbow Dash rubbed her neck and then winced as she accidentally touched a healing burn. “I think you’re probably right but didn’t you say there are other constables you don’t trust? You said you were worried about Lord Copper buying them off. That’s kind of why I got beat up on his orders in the first place...”

“No place is going to be perfect. But even though there might be some of his lackeys trying to spy on us I still don’t think we’d have to worry about any of them attempting anything inside the facility. Most constables of mine are still perfectly upstanding and loyal. There are just a couple of bad seeds. It’s possible that this may even make it easier for us to weed out those bad seeds and hurt Lord Copper in other ways.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Well it’s your city so you definitely know best. Just saying that I’m going to be looking over my shoulder while I’m living in there.”

Barnaby smiled. “Trust me. I wouldn’t be saying all this if I didn’t believe it truly was the safest place for the both of us to be.”

Rainbow Dash smiled back at him. “I do trust you. You’re a cool dude, Barnaby. Worth not being able to fly for a few days if it meant saving your hide.”

“Hah! I guess I’m glad about that!” He laughed.

A knock on the door came and the two of them looked to see Nurse Abernathy hesitantly pushing it open. “I-I didn’t mean to intrude but I have some medicine for the both of you...”

“It’s quite alright,” Barnaby smiled to her. “We were mostly finished talking about everything important, thank you.”

“Yep, just one night in here and then we can get out onto the streets tomorrow,” Rainbow grinned.

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby currently walked through the streets of a residential area of the Copper Section. It was inside the massive cavern that housed the major parts of the city but more along the western side, out of the way of the busy streets and huge office skyscrapers. If any of the city could be described as “the poor part of town” then this would be it. The homes and small apartment buildings around her weren’t run down or anything but they weren’t anything special to look at either and she didn’t exactly see anything valuable outside or when she caught a glimpse of the interiors through any windows. Some stray graffiti and trash littering the ground every now and then only reinforced her opinion.

Apparently Dolph lived—or used to live—in one of these homes or apartments. Crom had given Barnaby all the information he had on the miner and now the two of them were going to find out whatever they could about the supposed bomber.

“So uh, how much does his family know about what’s going on?” Rainbow Dash asked Barnaby as they walked down the street.

“They know he’s been missing for a few days. That’s it,” Barnaby answered.

Rainbow Dash awkwardly grimaced. “Are we going to tell them that we’re investigating him for setting off a bomb in the mines? And your home?”

“I don’t think so… I don’t want to alarm them, or perhaps if they’re secretly still in contact with him I don’t want them to send word along to him about what we’re doing,” Barnaby said. “Though I doubt they are.”

“Yeah, me either. I guess there isn’t a point to telling them, they’re probably worried enough about him, why make it worse?” Rainbow sighed.

“Unfortunately when we do find him they’re going to hear about all of this anyways...” Barnaby said.

“Not looking forward to that.”

Barnaby took a turn down a sidestreet that led into the courtyard of a small two-story apartment building. A group of fillies and colts were outside kicking a ball around and they all stopped to stare at Rainbow Dash as she went by. She put on her best smile and waved at them and a few shyly managed to wave back, as soon as she turned her head the whole group started whispering to each other about the strange looking pony. She was kind of disappointed none of the kids were curious enough to come up and talk to her, but she and Barnaby were busy anyways so it was probably for the best.

“Room 204...” Barnaby muttered and took the two of them to a stairwell on the left side of the courtyard.

The two trotted on up to the second floor and made their way down the railed walkway past door 200 and then 202 before finally stopping in front of 204. Barnaby took a deep breath and knocked on the door while Rainbow Dash stood beside him. Together they heard the somewhat frantic movements of several different ponies inside as well as the muffled voices of a few children. Rainbow and Barnaby both shared a somewhat uncertain look before the door was pulled open and a disheveled mare stood in the doorframe.

“W-What is it?” She asked between breaths.

Rainbow Dash took notice of her poor appearance. Her light brown coat and dark brown mane were both messy and her bloodshot eyes had deep bags under them. A dirty apron was tied around her body, wet spots on it that may have been from water or from tears.

“Your name is Eleanor, correct? Your husband is Dolph the miner?” Barnaby asked her.

Her eyes widened and she immediately grabbed the front of Barnaby’s suit. “Do you know anything about my husband? Where is he? Is he okay? You’re a constable, aren’t you? Please tell me my husband’s okay!”

“I-I’m sorry,” Barnaby apologized as he gently pulled the mare off him. “We don’t have any news pertaining to your husband’s location or what may have happened to him. We came here to ask you about him.”

The light in the mare’s eyes went out and she dropped her hooves to the ground, looking like all the life had just been drained right out of her. “Oh...”

Rainbow Dash winced and brought a comforting hoof up to her shoulder. “C-Can we come in? If that’s okay.”

She looked up at Dash with empty eyes before nodding and walking back into the apartment. “Come in, I’ll get you something to drink.”

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby sat on one side of the kitchen table while facing Eleanor on the other. Three rambunctious foals ran around in the messy living room, chasing each other and knocking things over, while an elderly mare sat asleep in a rocking chair. Two untouched glasses of water sat on the kitchen table and Eleanor had her face propped up on her hoof, her eyes closed and seemingly trying to block out all the noise. Neither Barnaby nor Rainbow Dash knew exactly how to start.

One of the foals (all three of them colts) rushed from the living room and into the kitchen, poking his mother in the leg. “Mom, mom! When’s dad coming home? Mom?”

“I told you he’s doing an important job in the mines,” Eleanor responded without opening her eyes. “He’s very busy and I’m not sure when he’s going to be back.”

“Aww, okay. I just wanna play ball with him again,” the colt said before running back to his two brothers and engaging in a bout of wrestling.

“Miss Eleanor...” Barnaby started. “If you would like to be able to speak without your children hearing...”

She held up a hoof and stopped him, finally opening up her eyes and looking over at the sleeping pony in the chair. “Mom! Grandma! Wake up!”

The elderly mare jerked awake with a start, a trail of spit dripping from her mouth. “Whazzat, dearie?”

“The kids, mom. Can you… can you take them outside for a bit? Have them play in the courtyard?” Eleanor said. She sighed and placed her face in her hooves, rubbing tiredly at her eyes.

Eleanor’s mom briefly looked at Barnaby and Rainbow Dash before nodding and trying to herd her grandchildren together. “Of course, dearie. You have a nice talk with your guests.” She gently patted each of the kids on the flank and motioned them to the door. “Come on, come along now, mommy needs some private time.”

The cheering kids went out with their grandma and the door shut closed behind them. Rainbow and Barnaby could both hear them scamper along outside towards the stairs. And now the three ponies had some privacy.

“So what did you want to know about my husband?” Eleanor asked them. Her eyes stalled on Rainbow’s bandages and strange appearance for a moment, but it was clear she just didn’t have the energy to care or ask about them.

Barnaby took a deep breath. “Miss Eleanor, please believe me when I say that we’re doing everything we can to find your husband.”

“Uh-huh, and do you know where he might be?” She asked with a bit of acid in her voice.

“No, unfortunately,” Barnaby said and Rainbow Dash had to wince as well. Eleanor didn’t even know why they were truly looking for Dolph in the first place. “But I’m not just a constable, I am Chief Constable Barnaby, and I am taking this investigation as seriously as possible.”

“The Chief Constable?” Eleanor said, some life coming back into her eyes. “I read in the news that your apartment was blown up.” Her eyes again found Rainbow’s bandages. “Were you there too? D-Does this have something to do with Dolph? He went missing on the same day of that explosion in the mines but-”

Barnaby raised a hoof. “Please, calm down. We’re not sure of anything right now, we just want to find your husband and make sure he’s safe.”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip and discreetly glanced at Barnaby. That wasn’t entirely true and now Eleanor might be suspicious of why they were here. She thought they had agreed not to let her know that they thought Dolph was responsible for both bombings? And it was clear as day to Rainbow that this mare definitely didn’t have any contact with her husband or know what was going on either. Her despair and exhaustion were too genuine. It looked like she was dealing with Tartarus itself right now.

“Um… how are you holding up?” Rainbow asked in an attempt to get the wife to warm up a little.

Eleanor looked at her with a quivering lip and red eyes. “Not… not great. It’s been horrible not even knowing what’s happened to him. When I heard about the explosion and that he was missing I-I thought that meant he was blown up or buried alive down there or something! But then I got the notice from Crom and heard from the news that nopony was hurt… s-so why’s he missing? What happened to him?!” She grabbed her mane in her hooves and slumped over in her seat, collapsing onto the table and crying.

She calmed down after a minute with Barnaby and Rainbow Dash both awkwardly fidgeting in their chairs. Eleanor sat back up and sniffled, wiping away her tears with her hoof. “I asked my mother to come help me out… she’s doing what she can but...” she gestured to the living room. “I can’t keep lying to my kids either.”

“I’m sorry for what you’re going through,” Barnaby said and reached a hoof across the table to grasp hers. “So you truly haven’t heard anything from him since the explosion in the mines? And you have no idea where he might be?”

Eleanor slowly shook her head. “No. I’ve been praying that he’d show up or I’d get a letter from him or something but there’s just been nothing. He has a cousin in Silver Section who hasn’t heard anything from him either. I’ve asked and looked around all I could but he’s just vanished.” She looked up at Barnaby. “After hearing about what almost happened to you, I know something has to be happening in this city. I-Is my husband involved?”

Rainbow Dash saw the desperation in Eleanors eyes, the worry that he might be and that’s why they were here, but also the worry that he wasn’t and still nopony knew anything about what was going on with him.

“I really can’t say,” Barnaby sadly frowned at her. “I’m sorry but we just don’t know enough for sure right now.”

Eleanor sniffled again and gave a shaky nod. “A-Alright.”

Barnaby sighed. “I do want to ask though; before he disappeared was he acting strange? Doing anything differently than normal?”

“Yes, he was,” Eleanor nodded. Rainbow Dash was surprised she was still talking to them, her voice came out choked and her eyes were red and puffy. “Dolph had been q-quieter than normal the week following up to his disappearance. He didn’t talk as much with me or play with the kids as much. W-Whenever I tried to ask him if something was wrong he just said he was stressed from work and things were busier than normal down in the mines. I… I knew he was lying about that. He really, really loved his job, nothing ever upset him about it. If things really were busier down there he should have been happy. But I never said anything. I was worried about him.” Eleanor sniffled and rubbed her hooves together. “I should’ve been more direct, I-I should’ve made him come clean so we could get through whatever was bothering him together...”

Rainbow Dash didn’t think that would’ve gone anywhere. Whatever had led to Dolph bombing the mines (and then likely bombing Barnaby’s apartment) was probably too much for him to reveal to his wife. He seemed like somepony that truly loved his family—loved them too much, and that might’ve been his weakness that Lord Copper or whoever it was exploited. She looked around at the living room and noticed a number of framed photographs sitting on a small table next to the rocking chair, all of them showing various happily smiling members of the family. In the middle of them was one picture with Dolph and Eleanor’s faces pressed together and wide grins splitting their cheeks.

Rainbow was starting to feel sick.

Eleanor was now almost openly sobbing again. “Please… anything… I’ll do anything just to see him again. Please find my husband...”

“Miss Eleanor, I-” Barnaby started before Rainbow Dash cut him off.

“We will,” she resolutely said. “I promise we’ll find your husband.”

Eleanor looked up at her with wide eyes while tears continued to gently flow down her cheeks. Barnaby grimaced and whispered out the side of his mouth to her. “Rainbow Dash...”

She cut him off again. “I-I can’t promise everything… or that things will be happy and normal again for you and your family. But we will find him.”

Eleanor hiccuped and wiped away her tears to the best of her ability once again. “T-Thank you...”

Barnaby sighed and lifted up a hoof to pinch the space between his eyes. “I promise you as well. This investigation will not end until your husband is found.”

“That’s all I need… I think I already know that things aren’t g-going to be as happy as they were. I just want my kids to be able to see their father again,” Eleanor said.

“I’m not sure we have anything else to ask of you today. It’s obvious you don’t know where your husband is—or have any ideas of where he could be. We won’t bother you any longer,” Barnaby said and politely nodded, sitting up from his chair. “I wish you well, Miss Eleanor.”

“Me too, sorry we didn’t come with happier news or anything,” Rainbow Dash said as she stood and rubbed the back of her neck. “Dolph seems like a really great husband, and you have a really happy family. Just uh—try and keep your chin up, okay?”

Eleanor nodded but didn’t respond otherwise. Rainbow honestly wasn’t sure if they were leaving her in a better or worse state after their visit. The housewife got up from her seat as well and led the two guests out of the kitchen and back to the front door. Finally as she pulled it open for them she offered up a weak smile. “Could you tell my mother and children they can come back inside when you get to the courtyard?”

“Of course,” Barnaby said and gave her a small bow before he stepped out the door, Rainbow copying him and following along.

Eleanor’s smile wavered slightly but she managed to keep it on her face while she slowly closed the door on them.

Rainbow Dash let out a deep sigh and shook her head as she stepped forward to the railing and looked down at the courtyard—there was Eleanor’s mother and children down there, playing around without a care in the world.

Barnaby came up beside her. “You know you shouldn’t have said that, right?”

“I know. I know, okay?” Rainbow frowned. “But I just had to, she was...”

“I understand. I’ve had similar moments in my career here in Oreville,” Barnaby nodded with a far off look in his eyes.

“Sorry… even if we do find him he’s just going to be arrested and, ugh, I don’t even want to think about it.” Rainbow shook her head.

“We didn’t really learn anything as to where he might be either,” Barnaby said.

“Yeah but… I’m sure of something now,” Rainbow said as she narrowed her eyes, anger forming behind her brow.

Barnaby raised an eyebrow at her. “What?”

“Somepony is threatening him. His family. That’s how they got him to do this, it’s the only thing that makes sense after seeing his home and hearing his wife talk about him,” she looked at Barnaby with a fiery expression. “I know it’s not going to make things all squeaky clean but he’s just as much a victim, isn’t he? He shouldn’t be punished like whoever it is is manipulating him.”

“No, he shouldn’t be,” Barnaby shook his head. “But we don’t have all the facts yet and I can’t say for certain what his fate will be until then.”

“Yeah...” Rainbow Dash felt some of her fire die down, replaced by exhaustion. She hated not being able to just do something. “Let’s go tell her kids they can come back up.”

Barnaby put a hoof on her back (careful to avoid any spots still painful) and led her to the stairs. “You’ve got a big heart, Rainbow Dash.”

“Really don’t need to make it sound so girly and mushy, you know?”

The two headed down into the courtyard and Rainbow Dash gave a big smile to the playing colts. “Hey, squirts! We’re done talking with your mom, go on up and give her a big hug, okay?”

The three colts cheered and swiftly ran past Rainbow Dash and Barnaby without a second look, making Barnaby snort in amusement. The grandmother was much slower as she walked past them, a grateful smile on her face. She paused for a moment in front of them and Rainbow Dash tilted her head at the older mare.

“Thank you, for whatever it is you’re doing. She needs anything that can help right now,” the grandmother said and then headed to the stairs as well.

Rainbow Dash watched her go with an impregnable look on her face. She stood there until she heard Eleanor’s grandmother walk all the way back to the apartment and close the door. All the other kids were gone from the courtyard now too, Rainbow Dash blinked a few times and looked over at Barnaby.

“Now what?”

Barnaby huffed. “Tomorrow we’re going to pay an unexpected visit to the warehouses that store the TNT that’s used in the Copper Section mines. I have the distinct feeling that that’s where the TNT used for the two bombs came from. I did some researching of my own into the warehouses recently and uncovered some disturbing facts regarding them and Lord Copper. I think that we’ll finally get some answers there.”

Rainbow Dash punched her hooves together. “Good.”

Well, Dolph, I think you know by now that your work for me isn’t done yet.

“It’s not my fault they survived, I did everything you said,” he clutched the radio in his grip with shaking hooves.

That doesn’t matter. Results are what matters. It’s bad enough that plans have had to change because of Barnaby and that outsider, I can’t do what I truly want to do right now without suspicion falling on me. And if you ever want to see your family again you’re going to have to help me all the way to the end now.

“There’s not going to be another opportunity to take them out...” Dolph cried into the microphone.

I know, so I’ll have you do something else.

“What?”

A sinister chuckle came from the radio, reverberating through the small safehouse Dolph was inside. Here’s what you’re going to need to do…

The following day saw Rainbow Dash and Barnaby walking through a part of Copper Section close to the main entrance to the mines that most of the workers traveled through. A large wall ran the perimeter of this area and inside it sat four different large warehouses. There was a little gate and a security booth set up blocking their way inside but Rainbow Dash had the distinct feeling that the guard wasn’t going to keep them from entering for long.

“Excuse me,” Barnaby said with a cold frown on his face as he walked up to the security guard. “Could you open the gate for us? I have business here.”

“Uhh...” the guard practically turned white as a sheet as Barnaby stared him down and Rainbow Dash glared at him. “S-Sure, let me get that for you.”

Rainbow Dash snorted and rolled her eyes. He probably had been told not to let anypony in but he couldn’t exactly refuse the Chief Constable entry. A button was pressed and the gate rolled back into the wall, letting Rainbow and Barnaby just walk on in.

“We’ll find the shift supervisor now,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow Dash nodded and glanced up at him. “So what was the connection between this place and Lord Copper? What makes you so sure the TNT was taken from here?”

“Immediately after the TNT is produced in its factory it’s shipped here for safekeeping before then being transported down into the mine and moved into the staging area. We know already from Crom’s records that no TNT that was brought down into the mines was missing or moved. The only place it could’ve been taken from was these warehouses—we need to find a discrepancy or missing order somewhere. As for Lord Copper… he owns these warehouses,” Barnaby narrowed his eyes.

“He owns them?” Rainbow Dash frowned.

“He didn’t used to. Previously they were privately owned by a family of businessponies, passed down from father to son and all that. But a few months ago, Lord Copper bought the rights to the warehouses and put them directly under Copper Section governmental control. The security guards and all the other workers you’ll see here answer directly to him now,” Barnaby said. “I can’t imagine the family that used to own these warehouses transferred ownership willingly. It’s more likely they were strong-armed into it or threatened in some way, but they’ve refused any attempts of me to contact them.”

“Fantastic, so I guess Lord Copper has been planning this for a while. Who knows how much TNT he stole out of here?” Rainbow said.

“I doubt that too much was taken. You see, the factory keeps records of how much they produce and the mines keep their records on how much is brought down to them. If there’s a discrepancy in the amounts left in these warehouses, the bigger it is the easier it will be to find, so Lord Copper probably only had a small amount taken to not make it easily noticeable,” Barnaby smirked. “However, we’re going to be able to find it anyways by cross-referencing the records from the mines, the factory, and here.”

“Nice,” Rainbow grinned.

When the two of them approached the central warehouse, a pony out front with a clipboard saw them approaching and walked over with an unpleasant frown on his face. It was clear he recognized Barnaby.

“What are you doing here? This is private property, even as the Chief Constable you can’t just-”

“Oskar, the day-shift supervisor, correct?” Barnaby immediately cut him off.

The supervisor looked startled, not expecting Barnaby to know his name. “Y-Yes, but these warehouses are owned by the Lord Copper and you don’t have the authority to waltz on in here as you please.”

“These warehouses are subject to an important investigation. I do have the authority,” Barnaby smirked at him. “Lord Copper is lord of Copper Section but not all of Oreville. What I’m doing concerns the well-being of every citizen that lives here—that is what my investigation entails. Of course if you’re not satisfied by that I can tell you the results of another minor investigation I recently partook in.”

“Excuse me?” The confused Oskar raised an eyebrow.

“Why, I merely looked into you, my good supervisor,” the smirk on Barnaby’s face widened as he leaned in and narrowed his eyes. “You see I had been researching these warehouses and I happened to come across some rather interesting tidbits of information. Namely the salary you’re paid for your job but also the fact that you’ve recently been seen dining at the Gilded Flower restaurant. A rather high-end and expensive place to be eating regularly for one such as yourself. In fact, looking into you further you’ve never been there before until just recently. Curious, right? I wonder where you may have gotten the money to afford to regularly dine at a place like that? You didn’t win any sort of lottery or prizes at the casino—I checked. So where did you get the money, Oskar? Perhaps a bonus from your boss, Lord Copper? Maybe some extra tax free, off the books, money for some exemplary service?”

By now Oskar was sweating bullets and Rainbow Dash had to keep herself from laughing.

“I-I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve just been saving up for a long time,” Oskar tried to explain.

“I’m sure,” Barnaby’s expression darkened. “Now, I could care less about you. But if you want to not be stuck inside a cell for the rest of your life, you’ll let us into the warehouse and hoof over every record and count of TNT at your disposal.”

“B-B-But-”

“Are you going to keep defending Lord Copper at your own expense?” Barnaby growled.

Oskar gulped. “L-Lord Copper hasn’t told me anything or given me any sort of extra money, t-that’s the truth. I don’t know what you’re investigating at all but it has nothing to do with him or me.”

Barnaby rolled his eyes. “Some well-recited lines indeed. Either way, we’re looking through your records for evidence of stolen TNT. If you’re not going to be forthcoming on your own you should hope we don’t find anything. Otherwise I can’t promise you any sort of immunity when we uncover this plot and take down Lord Copper.”

“I...” Oskar nervously looked back and forth between Rainbow Dash and Barnaby before clamming up. “I’ve got nothing to say.”

“Sure you don’t,” Barnaby huffed and walked past him to the warehouses front door. “Come on, Rainbow Dash, we’ve got some paperwork to sort through.”

Inside the warehouse was a carefully stacked up library of crates. Hundreds of large wooden crates of TNT. Rainbow and Barnaby both walked past rows and rows of them while ignoring the other surprised and confused workers inside the warehouse as they made their way to the back office. On every crate there was stamped a warning in red ink that the contents of the boxes were highly explosive and dangerous while on the walls there were multiple signs disallowing any open flames inside the warehouse.

Rainbow Dash whistled as she took in the massive amount of TNT stored here. And if every other warehouse had the same amount? That was a lot of explosives.

“You guys ever have any accidents with this stuff?” Rainbow asked.

“There used to be rigorous weekly safety checks under the old management. Under Lord Copper? Who even knows,” Barnaby answered.

They reached the door of the back office and Barnaby opened it up, startling awake a formerly sleeping stallion. “Huh?! What?!”

“Get out,” Barnaby simply said to him.

The stallion looked at him and Rainbow Dash from his desk with lacking comprehension. “Umm...”

“Out,” Barnaby sharply commanded.

“Y-Yeah...” the stallion gulped and got up, heading out of the office.

“You’re pretty good at putting on an intimidating face when you want, you know?” Rainbow Dash said to Barnaby as the stallion shut the door on his way out.

“Combined with a reputation for my distaste of Lord Copper and these putzes on his payroll don’t want anything to do with me,” Barnaby said.

The two of them looked at the mess of filing cabinets behind the desk. Barnaby sighed and went to the one with the most recent date labeled on it. “Well at least we don’t have to bother with looking through anything from more than a few months back.”

“Should we be worried about that Oskar dude or whatever? What if he calls Lord Copper and tells him we’re snooping through this stuff?” Rainbow wondered.

“He doesn’t have the nerve. He’s trying to feign complete ignorance and he’d be in deep trouble anyways if Copper found out he let us in here. There’s nothing he can do,” Barnaby said as he pulled open a few drawers and showed off the files inside. “Alright, let’s see what we have here.”

“Now the boring part...” Rainbow sighed and joined him.

It wasn’t something that should be difficult to find. They needed to check how many crates came from the factory, how many had gone into the mines, and how many were currently in the warehouses. A single crate unaccounted for and Barnaby and Rainbow Dash would know where the TNT for the bombs had come from. Figuring out what exactly happened to that crate or who took it would be the second part. Although Rainbow and Barnaby both doubted there’d be a direct connection to Lord Copper.

The good news was that even if the records kept at the warehouse had been altered or disposed of they could still check the factory and mine records to find anything missing. It would just possibly entail them having to do a manual count of all the crates in the warehouses. It just depended on how Lord Copper’s employees were treating this warehouse business.

Barnaby threw a file down on the desk and let its contents spill open for Rainbow Dash, he pointed directly at a relatively newly printed piece of paper. “60 crates arrived from the factory last month. 59 were taken down to the mines.”

Rainbow Dash rubbed her head as her lip curled. “They’re… they’re not even trying to hide this.”

“What diligent bookkeepers,” Barnaby shook his head, a sarcastic laugh escaping his lips.

“No offense but… these guys are idiots,” Rainbow said. “I’ve been through a lot of things in my life and these guys? Lord Copper? They’re just stupid thugs doing something that’s way, way, beyond them. I mean come on, somepony at least thinking would’ve forged these or just written down the right number.” She facehooved. “Ugh, this is so lame.”

“It’s good for us though. Even if we can’t prove that Lord Copper stole or planned the theft of the TNT, this proof of such gross mismanagement should at least let us place control of the warehouses under somepony else. Hopefully direct constable control, especially with the danger of another potential bombing,” Barnaby said.

“And now we’ve got something that will make Oskar sweat even more,” Rainbow Dash somewhat malevolently rubbed her hooves together with a smirk on her face.

“Oh yes, I think he’s going to be just a little bit more willing to talk now.”

“Lord Copper isn’t involved-”

“Oh shut it already!” Barnaby screamed and slammed a hoof down on the ground as he and Rainbow Dash cornered the day shift supervisor in front of the warehouse. “You are an accessory to two bombings that have taken place in this city! A crate of TNT was taken from this warehouse and used to make explosive devices!”

“Maybe it was taken under the night-shift supervisor’s watch...”

Barnaby had to resist punching the stallion, instead he settled for shoving the paper with the recent TNT records into his face. “This is still your signature on the paper! You are responsible, you had accountability! Now just tell us that Lord Copper had the TNT meant for the mines illegally and secretly taken from this warehouse.”

Oskar’s lip quivered and he looked like he was on the verge of fainting. “I-I don’t know nothing about that.”

“Are you that afraid of him?” Barnaby’s eyes narrowed. “Do you have any idea how many years you’ll be languishing in a cell now because of this?”

“It is fear, right?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “Obviously you’re being paid too, but you’re afraid of what he can do to you, or your family, or whoever if you betray him. Right? It’s the same thing with Dolph, I know it...”

“I don’t know what either of you are talking about,” Oskar squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head.

“Urgh!” Barnaby slammed another hoof down.

“This isn’t getting anywhere,” Rainbow said. “This idiot isn’t going to say anything about Lord Copper. He’s a coward. I really, really would just like to beat some sense into him, and Lord Copper too, buuut...”

“I know,” Barnaby frowned.

“I didn’t even do anything, n-none of this is my fault, I’m just a warehouse manager,” Oskar told them.

“Don’t even start, Oskar,” Barnaby coldly responded. “Even if you didn’t know what the TNT was used for, you knew a crate was missing when you signed this report and did nothing, and even if you didn’t know what you were being paid extra for you had to know it still wasn’t on the up and up. And considering your fear of your boss, I’d say you knew exactly that the money you were given was to keep you quiet. You’re not blameless in this, Oskar.”

The supervisor paled and his legs began to shake. “Y-You...”

“Hm?” Barnaby raised an eyebrow at him. “Is there something you actually want to say now, Oskar?”

“I-Immunity...” he barely whispered.

Barnaby snorted. “What was that? I couldn’t quite hear you.”

“Immunity! Give me immunity! Y-You said-”

“I remember what I said to you. Are you willing to give us information on Lord Copper’s culpability in the taking of the missing crate of TNT?” Barnaby asked him.

Oskar sweated buckets and he brought a trembling hoof up to his brow to wipe as much away as he could. “L-Lord Copper isn’t involved, honest.”

Barnaby grabbed him by the collar of his suit and yanked him close. “Then what do you-!”

“B-But I know something!” Oskar shouted. “I-I can t-tell you something about the missing crate!”

“Oh? So you are willing to admit to something I suppose,” Barnaby said.

“What is it? What do you know?” Rainbow Dash asked him.

Oskar tried his best to look away. “I-I’m not admitting to nothing… b-but I may have overheard and may have seen something out of the corner of my eye one day while I was working here...”

Barnaby rolled his eyes. “Just out with it already!”

“I-I-I don’t know where the TNT was taken but I know who took it!” Oskar said. “T-They were four toughs who live in the Copper Section, I think they’re like a small street gang or something. I recognized one of them from seeing them in the news sometimes being arrested for petty theft, intimidation, stuff like that, you know?”

“Some career-criminal hired to do the dirty work of actually stealing and relocating the TNT...” Barnaby mused. “What was their name? If they’ve truly been arrested a number of times I should know them as well.”

“Malthus. I’m sure that’s what his name was. He had a yellow mane drawn back in a ponytail, and a few teeth missing, right?” Oskar said.

Barnaby snorted in amusement, a chuckle escaping his lips. “Malthus, and his stupid gang of petty thieves and hoodlums.” He glanced at Rainbow Dash. “The bottom of the barrel when it comes to the criminal hierarchy in Oreville, they’re basically vagrants who act much tougher than they actually are. Practically just dumb ponies barely out of their teens who have been playing at being criminals their whole lives. Whoever hired them for this wanted ponies who could be bought off cheap and couldn’t cause a fuss on their own.” His eyes glanced back to Oskar. “So who was it who hired them? And did you just turn a blind eye while they were taking the TNT?”

“I-I have no idea who hired them… and maybe I was busy doing something else when they moved the TNT,” Oskar said.

“Useless,” Barnaby finally released his hold on the supervisor and Oskar collapsed to the ground as his legs failed him. He smiled and turned to Rainbow Dash. “I’ve got double good news, Rainbow Dash. First of all, I know exactly where we can find Malthus and his little gang.”

“And what’s the other good news?” Rainbow asked as a smirk of her own started to spread on her face.

“You’re going to get to partake in some action for once down here.”

Rainbow Dash’s hoof collided with the face of a thug as she punched him through a table and he went sputtering down to the ground out cold. Around her lied several other down and out stallions either taken care of by her or Barnaby when they had arrived at the grungy dive in a seedy part of Copper Section. Probable Cause was a real door opener. Malthus was now wearing a black eye and being held up by Barnaby against the wall of the “gang’s” “hideout”.

“And I couldn’t even use my wings for any of this,” Rainbow said as she cracked her neck and stepped over some of the other unconscious stallions to join Barnaby.

“You’re not just going to get a few months or have to do some community service for this, Malthus,” Barnaby said to the small-time crook. “Have you been paying attention to the news?”

Malthus gulped and nodded as best he could in Barnaby’s grip.

“However, you can save yourself some considerable time in prison if you give us what we want. Right now, constables are on their way here to arrest you and the rest of your gang. Before that I would like you to tell us who hired you to take the TNT from the warehouses,” Barnaby narrowed his eyes.

“N-No comment...” Malthus choked out.

“Are you sure?” Barnaby’s grip tightened. “Honor among thieves, is it?”

Malthus quivered in his grip and grimaced. “I-I won’t name anypony… b-but I can tell you where the TNT was taken… there’s a safehouse hidden in the sewers under Copper Section. If I tell you where it is… m-maybe a light sentence?”

“Lighter sentence,” Barnaby dropped him.

He hit the floor with a grunt and soon found a pegasus standing over him with a harsh expression on her face. For some reason, she was even more intimidating than Barnaby was. Rainbow leaned down and stared right into his face.

“Okay, so where’s the TNT?” Rainbow Dash asked.

The Gate of Winter opened and closed and a pink pony emerged from the True North, walking south.

Dolph collapsed onto the cheap mattress held up by an even cheaper wooden frame in the “bedroom” of the safehouse he was living in. He didn’t even take the time to shed the disguise he wore after just getting back from the outside. The large coat and hat he wore worked as his blanket and source of warmth for now. It had been a long day and like all of his days recently he just wanted to sleep and forget about it.

“How did it come to this?” He cried into the pillow.

After a few minutes of sobbing and agonizing over the recent turn of events in his life, Dolph finally reached up to take his hat off and then reached under the pillow to withdraw something. A picture. A photograph of him and his wife, Eleanor, sitting together outside their favorite cafe in the Copper Section.

“It’s all for you… everything I do is for you and our kids,” Dolph sniffled and rubbed his eyes. “Eleanor, Dolph Jr., Grommit, Sturm. No matter what happens or what I have to do, I’ll protect you.”

He slid the picture back under his pillow and turned to stare at the wall. Suddenly he didn’t feel like sleeping anymore despite it being well past midnight.

Dolph sighed and rolled off his bed, taking a moment to look in his dirty bedside mirror and notice what the stress had done to his face. Lines that shouldn’t be there for a pony his age marked his features, bags under his eyes that would never go away existed, a redness to his eyes that wasn’t just from crying was visible, his hair had even started to fall out. He turned away before he could take in anything else and stepped out of the bedroom. There wasn’t even a door in the frame, after all no one but him used this place, there were only a few rusty hinges left in its stead. Most of the rest of the safehouse was barren, with a refrigerator being the newest and most well taken care of thing in the main room. Besides that a folding table and chair was his only real furniture. A sink with a single glass for water sitting on its rim was built in the wall opposite of the refrigerator but parts of it were rusty and grimy and just downright disgusting. On top of the folding table sat a simple deck of cards and a few newspapers, the only things he had to pass the time down here.

But there were two other things next to the cards and newspapers though that he both dreaded. The first was the radio. He was always afraid that that tell-tale buzz of static would suddenly come through it and he would contact him again with another job to do. Even though Dolph had just gotten back from doing something, he was still always afraid.

The second was a spare bomb he had been told to construct and keep with him for the next job. Whenever it came and whatever it was. It sat in a small box he could easily carry in his hooves, with a remote detonator lying next to it.

There was a door that led from the sewers into the main room, Dolph supposed he could call it the front door. It wasn’t the only way in our out of the safehouse but it did lead to one of the main sewer canals which made it easier to get out of the sewers and into anywhere else in the Copper Section. A heavy lock was placed on the wooden door, Dolph doubted anypony would ever come down here but he still locked it every time he left and came back out of sheer paranoia. The wooden planks that made up the door weren’t especially strong though, anypony with a hammer or axe would make short work of it if they really wanted to get in.

Everything was so dark and grungy looking in here. He only had one small light hanging above the table and another in the bedroom for illumination. The floor (if it could even be called that) was a black mess of tile and stone and the walls as well were nothing more than the stone and metal plating that made up the sewer system. It was constantly moist inside with moss and fungus growing everywhere and the sound of dripping water never ended.

A closed door next to the sink led to the storage room of this dingy looking safehouse. Inside, Dolph kept the stolen crate of TNT, now half-empty. He hoped he would never have to put another bomb together again after the ones he had just made earlier today. He was already eternally grateful that nopony had been hurt by the ones he had made, but if things kept escalating… who knew.

Nothing would ever be normal again. As much as he wished to go back to the old life he had, he knew that even if he somehow got off scot-free that he’d still be torn apart inside after everything he’s done and what he’s caused. How could he look his wife and children in the face? His wife would always know he was hiding something… his friends in the mine would know what he did.

It was hopeless for him. Dolph maybe always knew this. All he could do now was protect his wife and children.

He sighed and took a seat at the folding table. Dragging his hooves through his mane a few times and propping his elbows up on the table, he tried to calm down. It didn’t do him any good. At this point the only way he was going to fall asleep was pure exhaustion. He stood up from the table and accidentally knocked his chair over, pacing around the main room a few times with his heart beating anxiously. The room practically spun around him with the other small passages and doors leading out of the safehouse to other parts of the sewer. He didn’t want to take a walk though, mostly because he was too scared to leave this place whenever he didn’t absolutely have to.

Dolph instead walked over to the sink and turned the faucet’s knob. Out poured a steady stream of murky water, sediment and who knows what else dirtied it, he hated having to drink it but right now he wasn’t thirsty anyways. Dolph put his hooves under the stream and splashed some water on his face to try and relax. If he could get his heart to stop pounding then maybe he could get some sleep.

Rainbow Dash’s hooves splashed into the shallow water of the sewer after she jumped down from the pony hole. Barnaby did the smarter thing and used the ladder.

“Yuck!” Rainbow Dash grimaced and stuck out her tongue as the gross green water reached up past her fetlocks.

“I told you, it’s hardly flooded down here but there’s going to be water. It is the sewers after all,” Barnaby said as he stepped off the ladder, pointing his flashlight down the tunnel, not splattering water everywhere like Rainbow had just done.

“I’m not the cleanest pony or anything but this is just gross,” Rainbow’s nose curled. “Ugh! That smell...”

“Better get used to it, I’ve been in the sewers several times before this and it’s not going to get better. And let me take the lead, I know where we’re going,” Barnaby said and stepped in front of her. “We have to be careful too, these sewers are practically ancient.”

“You guys dug out so much earth and stuff under your city it’s a wonder it hasn’t all collapsed,” Rainbow said.

Barnaby grunted and nodded. “Hm. The sewers were built over a long period of time, they were part of laying the foundation for the entire Copper Section. A lot of hard work went into making them as safe and efficient as possible. They’re incredibly intricate and mostly self-sufficient and any further mining had to be done around them or in areas completely removed from the sewers.”

“Incredibly intricate, huh?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at him.

“We’re… going to be walking around for a while.”

“Great,” Rainbow shook her head.

“Sorry, but there’s no other entrance closer to the safehouse the TNT was taken to. At least not any written down on any blueprints of the sewers,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow Dash looked down at the ugly water her hooves were drowned in. “And I can’t even fly through here right now...”

“It’s alright, just follow behind me and we’ll find this place eventually.”

“Shouldn’t there be a walkway on the side so we don’t have to walk through water?”

“In some places there will be but normally everypony who comes down here would be wearing boots and other clothes to deal with the mess. So unless there needs to be a part raised up where sewer water shouldn’t reach we’re just going to have to wade through it for now. Uhh… watch for rats.”

The sewer they were in now was a wide and long tunnel that seemed to stretch endlessly ahead, Barnaby’s flashlight only illuminated up to a few feet in front of them. Grates and pipes built into the walls leaked out more water into the “river” at the bottom of the sewer and it all flowed together in the direction they were walking. The walls of the sewer looked like they had been made of brick and cement that at one point may have been a different color but were now nearly pure black after years of muck and wear. Rainbow Dash’s soggy hooves walked over a layer of soft grime and mold that was just beneath the water—she was thankful that the water was so clouded that she couldn’t actually see what she was stepping on. And the smell. She knew not to expect flowers from a sewer but this was ridiculous.

At least Barnaby knew where they were going, every time they came to an intersection he knew exactly which way to take. Rainbow Dash kind of wondered where in the Copper Section they were now. What buildings were they under? How far away were any mining tunnels?

“Hey so what if there’s like a gate or something blocking off part of the sewer that we can’t get past? Is there anything like that down here?” Rainbow asked.

“There is, but not where we’re going. Which is probably why Lord Copper chose to put this supposed safehouse for his TNT down there,” Barnaby answered.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “I can’t believe none of these jerks so far have had the nerve to actually tell us outright that Lord Copper’s the one responsible for this...”

“A mixture of fear, money, and probably even a little bit of loyalty for some of them. Lord Copper is very influential and he can do practically anything or reach practically anywhere in Oreville. They probably think it’s far worse to implicate him for a variety of reasons than it is to get on my bad side. Even if it might save their skins,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow Dash bit her lip as they continued walking together. “What if… what if Dolph is at the safehouse?”

Barnaby looked back at her over his shoulder. “You think he is?”

“I dunno—maybe. Eleanor has no idea where he is, and we haven’t found any trace of him yet either. Nopony has seen him for sure since that day in the mines. It just makes sense to me that maybe he’s been hidden away in the same spot the TNT has,” Rainbow shrugged.

“That would make sense. Especially since then he’d be able to make bombs and take them to anywhere else in the Copper Section much easier,” Barnaby nodded. “Tch, I should’ve brought a pair of hoofcuffs with me.”

“No sweat, this Dolph guy isn’t a soldier or anything, I doubt he’d even put up a fight…” Rainbow winced at her own words. The miner wouldn’t be any sort of threat but he didn’t need to be—shouldn’t be—treated roughly or like some criminal. That’s what she believed. But even then she doubted this situation was going to be resolved in an easy way. She just hoped that if Dolph was down here he’d give them a chance to talk and help him.

They started to enter a part of the sewers that looked even less maintained than the rest if that was even possible, but it did come with one benefit: they didn’t have to walk through water anymore. Rainbow Dash and Barnaby both hopped onto a small ledge built into the side of the sewer. Rainbow was going to question what it was for but she soon saw it herself. The canal widened and deepened considerably just a few feet ahead as it was joined by the streams from several other sewer lines, creating a steady river that flowed into a closed off tunnel. The only way to directly follow the water would be to hold your breath and swim into that tunnel with it. Thankfully not something they had to do.

“I think this goes to the water reclamation plant,” Barnaby said as he shined his flashlight at the river of sewer water.

“I think I don’t really care to find out,” Rainbow said.

There was a little side passage now that led away from the main tunnel they were in. Some kind of maintenance access corridor according to Barnaby. There were pipes all over the ceiling and running up and down the walls inside it, Rainbow Dash saw rats scurrying between them, trying to avoid the light of Barnaby’s flashlight. The ground was still wet and a lot of the pipes were leaking to some degree but it was much better than wading through that water back there.

“Malthus said the safehouse was built out of an old, defunct pump station that had all its machinery torn out and placed somewhere else years ago, but the room it used to be in stayed open and wasn’t sealed up. I bet Lord Copper further refurbished it to some degree,” Barnaby said.

“If he did something like that I wonder if there’ll be some evidence left in the safehouse tying it to him,” Rainbow said.

“Possibly but I’d say fairly unlikely. He may be a terrible nervous liar when confronted directly but so far he’s done a good job of not having anything concretely traceable back to him,” Barnaby replied.

“How much farther is it now?” Rainbow asked.

Barnaby hummed and looked at some of the pipes along the walls. “I think we’re pretty close now. There should be a door to our right coming up, and that should be the safehouse.”

“I guess past the pipes,” Rainbow muttered as they kept walking on past, a droplet of water dripping down and hitting her on the head. It was bad enough that she couldn’t fly at all but being stuck in little underground tunnels like this made it so much worse. She didn’t have claustrophobia but she still hated it.

“We should be quiet for now, if Dolph or anypony else is there we don’t want them to hear us coming,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow Dash silently nodded and clammed up, just following behind him as he led the way with his flashlight. The sound of scurrying rats and dripping water now became even more noticeable to her. Her heart was surprisingly beating a bit harder than usual. Though she wasn’t scared for herself in the slightest.

It only took another minute before Barnaby came to a stop and motioned Rainbow Dash to come right up alongside him. She joined him as he faced a section of the wall that was devoid of pipes. Instead a simple, practically rotted, door stood in the middle of it. Barnaby’s flashlight showed a handle on it and he tellingly glanced at Rainbow Dash and lifted a hoof up to his mouth.

“Shh,” he whispered. “I’m going to open it.”

“What if it’s locked?” She whispered back.

“Then you can knock.”

Dolph was shaken out of his fugue when the sound of the rusty handle on the front door of the safehouse being turned reached his ears. He sat at the table with his mouth halfway open in shock. Who could that be? Nopony should be down here, nopony should even know about this place besides his “boss” and maybe a couple other ponies. Dolph’s eyes glanced up at the rattling padlock that kept the door closed, hoping that whoever it was that was trying to get in here didn’t know what was on the other side and would leave once they realized it was locked.

The handle was turned all the way but the door wouldn’t budge any further thanks to the padlock and shortly after whoever it was released the door handle. But Dolph didn’t move from his spot. He had no idea if the pony was still there. He didn’t even want to breathe right now.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

The sound of a hoof knocking on the door startled him and he nearly fell out of his seat. If they were knocking… was it somepony who was here on orders? Had more TNT been brought? Dolph may not have been totally thinking clearly right now buuut…

“W-Who is it?” He asked.

No answer.

He was about to ask again when the door exploded and a blue cannonball barreled into the room while the smashed splinters of the door flew all around it.

“Ahh!” Dolph screamed and fell backwards out of his chair.

“Ughhh...” Rainbow Dash dizzily wheezed as she sat up on the floor. “That was really stupid.”

“Rainbow, are you-” Barnaby said as he walked through the door but paused as soon as his eyes landed on Dolph.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes were still spinning but she too managed to steady her vision long enough to see the other pony in the room. “Oh—he is here.”

Everything was still in the safehouse for a moment. Dolph knew who these ponies were. They knew who he was. They knew what he had done. His family… if he was captured here they wouldn’t be safe anymore. His blackmailer would know he needed to be kept quiet, and the only way that could happen for sure was death. Either his own or his family’s.

Dolph’s eyes flickered to the bomb on the table.

Barnaby noticed and followed his look, gasping in surprise when he noticed just what was on the table. “Dolph, don’t-”

He couldn’t even finish his sentence as Dolph grabbed the bomb and detonator and ran out through one of the side passages.

“Rainbow! After him!” Barnaby yelled.

“I’m on it!” Rainbow shot to her hooves and started running after him—but in her haste accidentally tripped over a piece of wood from the door and fell flat on her face (out of habit she had attempted to fly before her body remembered). “Ow! Ugh, stupid bandages!” She could feel her injured wings trying to break out on reflex but that wasn’t happening right now. She was going to chase him on hoof and now he had a lead.

“Dolph! Stop, we just want to talk to you!” Rainbow Dash yelled down the dark and narrow passageway.

“We know you only did this because you didn’t have a choice!” Barnaby shouted as he followed Rainbow.

Rainbow skidded to a stop as she almost crashed into a wall and turned to go chasing Dolph through the twists of these maze-like sewer tunnels. If she had her darn wings right now this wouldn’t even be a chase. For Dolph’s part, he ran like a stallion possessed while carrying the bomb. Why did he grab it? It was reflex, or maybe a subconscious thought. He didn’t even know where he was going now, even if he could outrun them, it was over. His teeth clenched together as fresh tears started to spill from his eyes as he ran.

Over.

“Just stop already!” Rainbow Dash roared from behind him as she managed to keep a steady distance behind him despite having to navigate the tunnels for the first time. “I know your family is being threatened! We know Lord Copper is the one responsible for all of this!”

It just made Dolph run harder. His family…

“We met Eleanor! We saw your kids, they all just want to see you again!” Rainbow pleaded.

“Shut up!” Dolph finally yelled. “You don’t know anything… y-you don’t know… I can’t… I can’t ever see them again.”

“Yes you can! Just help us, I don’t want to have to punish you or anything, you’re a victim here too, Dolph. Nopony has been hurt, just help us out here and we can make it all better,” Rainbow said to him.

Dolph shook his head. “It’s already over for me.”

“If you feel that way then at least give yourself up!” Barnaby shouted. “Stop this chase and let us bring down Lord Copper!”

“You don’t understand… oh Eleanor, why?” Dolph cried.

Their hooves clattered along the wet stone ground as Dolph led them on a panicked chase. No other words were spoken anymore, the futility of them was obvious at this point. Now the only sounds were the echoing hoofsteps and the splashing sound of puddles being ran through. The dimmest of lights lit up the tunnels and Rainbow and Barnaby were worried Dolph would simply disappear into the shadows at some point. Dolph was in good shape thanks to his work consisting of so much manual labor, but he wasn’t built for endurance running. Rainbow was confident she and Barnaby would catch him before long if they just kept within sight of him.

Dolph’s haggard breaths started to become more noticeable to both himself and his pursuers. It wasn’t just from exhaustion that he was breathing hard, it was from his frenzied panic and fear.

He turned a corner and came out into a circular chamber that had numerous other paths branching out of it. In the center a drain was built that water was slowly flowing into, going deeper down into the sewers. Dolph turned around in circles, his mane falling about his face, his eyes searching around for the right way to go.

It was that indecision that allowed Rainbow and Barnaby to slide right into the circular room with him. Barnaby grabbed Rainbow Dash by the shoulder and held her back for now since Dolph still had the bomb and detonator. But the both of them were within spitting distance of him.

“Come on, Dolph. Put the bomb down and let’s all go home,” Barnaby said.

“There’s no need for this to not have a happy ending,” Rainbow said.

Dolph was panting heavily and his hooves were shaking around the bomb. Rainbow and Barnaby weren’t even sure how well he was registering their words. His pupils narrowed to pinpricks as his hoof grasped the detonator. “S-Stay back… I have to protect my family...”

“We’re bringing down Lord Copper. We can protect your family,” Barnaby told him, his jaw clenching. “Lord Copper wont be able to hurt you or your loved ones anymore.”

“Believe me, I never let the bad guy get away. Please, Dolph, help us help you,” Rainbow pleaded.

A whimpering cry came from Dolph’s throat as he shook his head back and forth. “I-I can’t fail him… I can’t. My family...”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip and Barnaby realized how badly Dolph was slipping as well. If she had her wings she bet she could burst forward and grab the detonator out of his hoof before he pressed it. But without them she just wasn’t sure of her speed on her legs. “Dolph, please-”

“I need to protect them,” Dolph said as he looked down at the bomb and detonator. “For my family...”

Barnaby grabbed Rainbow by the mane and yanked her back the moment Dolph pressed the button of the detonator. Without even thinking they ran back into the tunnel to try and get around the nearest corner as a blast loud enough to momentarily deafen them and a shockwave that rattled the teeth in their mouths overtook them. Flames and heat rushed out from the explosion, obliterating the sewer room they had been in and sending cracks through the ground above. On the street level right above them the asphalt warped and shattered apart in a fissure.

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby were thrown down the tunnel by the blast and momentarily knocked senseless. After a minute the two got up and Rainbow Dash’s vision came back into focus.

The tunnel was covered in flames.

Most of the sewer where the blast had occurred had collapsed entirely, and the flames continued to burn and flicker along the walls.

“No...” Rainbow Dash looked on in disbelief. “Why… why’d he do it?”

Barnaby grunted and stood up beside her. “I’m sorry, Rainbow. He—Dolph thought there was no way out. To him, this was the only way to protect his family.”

Rainbow Dash blinked a few times and slowly clenched her hooves, her eyes narrowing in anger and her teeth clenching together so hard she could nearly break them. “Copper. I don’t care if we don’t have anypony willing to talk, or any solid proof. We know he’s the one behind all this.” She looked up at Barnaby.

The Chief Constable returned her look with a hard frown of his own. “Yes. And we’re going to stop him now.”

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby both walked down the busy streets of the Copper Section towards Lord Copper’s administration building. The lights in the city had turned on a couple of hours ago; it was a brand new day. And they were going to start it by giving Oreville a brand new future. The memories of what had happened last night and the decisions they made after Dolph’s death were still fresh in their minds. Nothing had turned out like they wanted it to, but Barnaby and Rainbow Dash still knew they had to confront Lord Copper and put a stop to all of this. Their faces were cold masks of ice as they reached the building and prepared to go in.

“I just don’t even know,” Rainbow Dash said as she shook her head, the flames of the bomb still dancing in the tunnel ahead. “What am I even going to tell Eleanor now?”

Barnaby too was staring at the flames as he let out a heavy sigh. “You don’t have to tell her anything. I’ll take care of it.”

“No, I’m going to tell her,” Rainbow was adamant.

“Rainbow Dash, it’s not your job. It’s not even your city.”

She turned her head and glared up at him with fiercely narrowed eyes. “I’m. Telling. Her. I promised her we would find Dolph. I gave her hope. I’m telling her.”

Barnaby opened his mouth but just as quickly closed it. He knew Rainbow Dash wouldn’t waver on this. “Alright. But for now we have other business to take care of. We should get back to that safehouse and turn it upside down, though I doubt we’ll find anything incriminating, and then we’ll get back to my office. I’ll have other constables come here to take over investigating and getting everything out of the safehouse… and I’ll have to write up a report of what’s happened. That explosion probably damaged the street above as well. I’m also going to send a message to Lords Silver and Gold, telling them everything before we leave to apprehend Lord Copper.”

“Awesome,” Rainbow nodded, though her voice had no trace of joy to it.

“There’s a big day ahead of us tomorrow, come on, we have a lot to do,” Barnaby said and turned around.

Rainbow Dash didn’t say another word as she turned to follow him back to the safehouse.

“Excuse me, is Lord Copper currently in?” Barnaby asked the secretary in the front office of the Copper Section administration building. She had a lemon coat and a summer green mane and tail, young with wide open eyes.

“I… I believe so?” The worried looking lemon-colored secretary said as her eyes darted between Rainbow Dash and Barnaby. It might have been normal apprehension at the Chief Constable coming to pay an unexpected visit but there was the possibility that she was wrapped up in Lord Copper’s business too. After all, she was already on his payroll. But Dash didn’t want to be so paranoid and untrusting of ponies she didn’t even know so she’d give the secretary the benefit of the doubt for now.

“Could you please radio his office for us? Right now,” Barnaby said a bit forcefully. “Tell him that the Chief Constable is here to see him and it’s a matter of the utmost importance.”

The secretary gulped. “H-Has there been another bombing? I-I heard about the first two and-”

“Just radio him, please,” Barnaby cut her off. “There isn’t anything for you to worry about.”

“R-Right,” the secretary said and got on the line.

While she did that, Rainbow looked around at what was going on in the lobby. This building wasn’t even remotely as big as the one in Gold Section but it was still pretty huge. Ponyville’s town hall would pretty much just fit inside this lobby. A lot of other ponies were going in and out of the front door and to other places inside the building, ponies with briefcases, ponies running to meetings, and other civilians who looked like they had business of some sort in here. A lot of them were now paying attention to Rainbow and Barnaby as well. They likely knew that something important must be going on if the Chief Constable was here, and by now they had probably read about Rainbow Dash in the newspapers too. Some of the ones walking close by had also probably heard Barnaby’s demand to meet with Lord Copper.

It was easy to feel the tension in the atmosphere now. Everypony could tell something was happening.

Barnaby’s hoof rapped up and down on the front desk while the nervous secretary waited for Lord Copper to turn on the radio at the other end. After a minute it was clear he wasn’t answering.

“I’m sorry, Chief Constable. Lord Copper either isn’t in his office or he’s busy, would you like to book an appointment to see him?” The secretary asked.

“No, we’ll go and find him ourselves,” Barnaby said and walked around the desk towards the stairs, Rainbow Dash right on his heels.

“W-Wait!” The secretary sat up. “Even as the Chief Constable you can’t just go to his office or intrude on business without an appointment or warrant!”

Barnaby glanced over his shoulder at her and narrowed a cold eye. “Tell security then.”

She gulped and sat back down. “Um… enjoy your visit and I hope your meeting goes well.”

“Do we have to worry about security?” Rainbow asked as she and Barnaby headed to the stairs leading out of the lobby.

“As you can probably already tell, there’s not as many security ponies here as in Gold Section’s capitol building. While legally we don’t exactly have the right to just go wherever we want at the moment in here, none of them are going to have the guts to say no to me and you. And if they do I think you’d like what happens next,” Barnaby answered.

Rainbow grinned. “I think so too.”

Their walk took them up five flights of stairs, unlike at Gold Section’s building, Lord Copper’s main office was not as high as possible, instead he was somewhere around the middle floors. Once they stepped off the stairs and into the single hallway that led from them, Rainbow Dash noticed a checkpoint dead ahead with two security guards at it. Their first encounter with Lord Copper’s personal guards, Rainbow Dash recognized their uniforms from that day she had entered Oreville and got beaten senseless. Would they let them pass without a fuss? Rainbow kind of hoped they didn’t.

The two guards seemed surprised to see Rainbow Dash and Barnaby and they stood in front of the metal gate that sectioned off the rest of the hallway. “What are you doing here, Chief Constable? We’ve gotten no notice of any meeting you have with Lord Copper.”

“That’s because I’m not here on any business that’s so formal. I am here to speak with and potentially arrest Lord Copper,” Barnaby said.

The security guards backed up in shock, jaws hanging open in disbelief.

“A-Are you out of your mind?” The other one asked.

“Barnaby, there’s absolutely no way we’re letting you past without a warrant,” the first one shook his head.

“Well that’s more of a problem for you than it is for me,” Barnaby narrowed his eyes. “You see, Lords Silver and Gold have been notified about what I’m intending to do and why and they will be here, in Copper Section, shortly. However, this is a matter so grave and so serious that I could not wait for a warrant or their approval. Which is why I came here unannounced to “meet” with Lord Copper. You can now let us through to find him, or you can be seen as obstructions to justice and accessories to a megalomaniacal villain. And also be arrested.”

The two guards winced and shared a nervous look. Rainbow wasn’t sure if Barnaby was exaggerating or not either.

“Ah, whatever… not paid enough for this,” the first guard said and stepped aside.

“W-What he said,” the second said and opened the gate for Barnaby and Dash.

“Thank you, I’ll remember your cooperation,” Barnaby said.

Barnaby and Rainbow Dash walked through the gate and shortly began to make their way through the inner areas of the building. Lord Copper’s office was close by but he might truly not be there. Much like in Gold Section’s building, Rainbow Dash saw a lot of art and fancy sculptures as they walked down hallways and past doors, actually, she saw even more than in Gold Section. Lord Copper was probably trying to make his place appear grander. Besides that there weren’t many other ponies around anymore, not that she saw at least, they could all be busy inside whatever these various rooms were.

“You don’t think we’ll have a problem with security anymore?” Rainbow asked Barnaby.

“Any other guards we come across will know we got past those other two. They probably won’t start anything because of that either,” Barnaby answered.

The two rounded a corner and came to a wider hallway that had a large set of heavy marble double doors in the middle of it, flanked by two large potted plants. On the opposite side of the wall a clock and a couch sat. Likely for ponies waiting to visit Lord Copper would use.

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby had no intention of sitting around.

Naturally Barnaby grabbed the door handle and attempted to open it only to find it was locked. He furrowed his brow; “Well he’s either not in or his door is just locked.” He brought a hoof up and started to knock loudly on the door.

No answer.

“I think he isn’t in, cause that guy would definitely be the type to get all snobby and annoyed at somepony banging on his door and get up to make a fuss about it,” Rainbow said.

“Agreed,” Barnaby nodded. “Let’s go find him.”

They actually didn’t need to search much at all. No sooner had they left the door and gone to walk down the hallway did the sound of another set of doors being opened somewhere around the corner reach them along with the sounds of numerous ponies conversing and walking with each other. Barnaby and Rainbow Dash stood and waited, hearing a very distinct and very haughty voice mixed in with the others. As soon as Lord Copper and his retinue of businessponies and clerks rounded the corner they stopped. Two pairs of cold eyes were locked dead on them.

Lord Copper didn’t seem surprised to see them (something Rainbow took note of) but he did seem supremely annoyed. The others were a mix of confusion and apprehension—no one in this building was happy to see the Chief Constable.

“Lord Copper,” Barnaby loudly said, projecting his voice down the entire hallway. “A word with you, please.”

The Lord frowned and narrowed his eyes, looking back between Rainbow and Barnaby. At last he huffed in derision and turned to the others with him. “Head down to the Onyx conference room on the second floor, I’ll be with you shortly to finish things.”

The ponies excused themselves and quickly walked past Barnaby and Rainbow without daring to meet their eyes. Once they were around the corner, Lord Copper snorted and came stiffly walking towards them, his eyes glanced over at the clock to check the time.

“And just what is it that you want, Constable?” He asked Barnaby before his face twisted in even more annoyance as he glanced at Rainbow. “And you, diplomat? I am a very busy pony.”

Rainbow Dash had to hold back from outright socking him in the face. “We know exactly how busy you are.”

Lord Copper raised an eyebrow in an attempt to feign ignorance, but a bead of sweat rolled down his brow all the same. “Excuse me?”

“Forget it, Lord Copper. You aren’t going to just lie and pretend your way out of this,” Barnaby shook his head. “We found out about the stolen TNT from your warehouses. We found the safehouse you set up where the TNT was stored. And we found Dolph.”

“Dolph? I don’t know any ponies named Dolph,” Lord Copper said.

That set Rainbow Dash off and she got right in Lord Copper’s face to let him know it. “Dolph’s the innocent pony you threatened into setting off bombs for you!”

“And this Dolph pony told you this?” Lord Copper dangerously sneered at her.

Rainbow’s eye twitched. “H-He-”

Lord Copper looked at Barnaby. “Hah, of course he didn’t. After all I still have no idea what you’re talking about. You seem to be implying something very sinister here, Barnaby. Perhaps you should interrogate this Dolph pony more thoroughly.”

“He’s dead!” Rainbow roared and almost grabbed Lord Copper by his suit before Barnaby held her back. “He’s dead because of you! Because he was trying to protect his family!”

Lord Copper took a few steps back as Rainbow glared at him, he coughed and turned his head to the side. “Well I’m sorry to hear that but it has nothing whatsoever to do with me. None of this does.”

“Oh really?” Now Barnaby took over again while Rainbow seethed. “Lord Copper, there’s far too much going on around you to be all a coincidence. I know you purchased the warehouses that store the mining TNT in them from their previous owners, what reason did you have for this?”

Lord Copper shrugged. “I simply think it’s better that something so serious and important to Oreville should be under direct government control. There are many records of the change in ownership and you can ask numerous other ponies who work here of the meetings and discussions had on the subject. Is that all?”

“Your day shift supervisor has also been receiving exorbitant amounts of money outside his regular salary, care to explain?” Barnaby asked.

“Care to explain what? What does that have to do with me? If he’s making some extra money that doesn’t suddenly mean I’m paying him under the table. He already gets his normal salary from working with me,” Lord Copper turned up his nose at the two of them.

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby both looked at each other, Rainbow biting her lip.

“We also know about Malthus,” Barnaby said.

“Who? Again,” Lord Copper asked, rolling his eyes.

“I suppose you don’t keep up with small time criminals in Oreville,” Barnaby sarcastically said. “We have an eyewitness who says Malthus and his gang removed a crate of TNT from one of your warehouses. This happened in the middle of the day with many workers there and for some reason nopony stopped them or told the authorities or did anything. As if they were told to keep it a complete secret. That crate of TNT was found—half empty—in the same safehouse Dolph was residing in.”

Lord Copper just stood there in front of them for a few moments, as if waiting for them to continue. “And?” He finally asked.

“And what?” Barnaby furrowed his brow.

“And where’s the proof? Is that all? Because it doesn’t sound like you have any solid evidence that I’m involved with any of this,” he shrugged and looked between them as both Barnaby and Rainbow Dash struggled to come up with words. “I see, that’s it then? You really don’t have anything proving that I’m responsible for all this, you’re just hoping I’d admit my guilt or say something incriminating. Hm? Trying to catch me off-balance? Well I’m afraid you’re wrong. All of this is mere coincidences and lots of circumstantial evidence. I haven’t done anything.”

Lord Copper gave a single laugh of amusement. “Hah! I know you, Barnaby. If you really could prove any of this you wouldn’t have just come for a “talk” with this outsider pegasus. I’d already be in chains and Lords Silver and Gold would be here too.”

“Lords Silver and Gold are on their way and they’ve been informed of everything,” Barnaby coldly told him.

“Well what a waste of a trip you’ve had them go on then!” Lord Copper shouted. “They’ll see right through this pointless charade as well and know there’s no grounds to arrest me or tie me to these bombings at all. There’s not even a motive!”

“Oh for the love of—so what?!” Rainbow Dash roared at him. “We know you’re behind this, we may not be able to prove it, we may not even know why you’re doing all this awful stuff, but that doesn’t matter! If you think you can just talk your way out of this you’ve got another thing coming! I don’t care if you call it coincidences, I’ve been around the block enough times to smell a rat when I see one!”

Lord Copper’s eyes widened in fear as he stepped away from Rainbow. “C-Constable, she’s threatening me! A-As Chief Constable don’t you think you should be doing something about that!”

“Relax, Rainbow Dash,” Barnaby said and tried to calm her down before glaring at Lord Copper. “And personally, I very much agree with her and any such threats she makes against you.”

Lord Copper’s lip trembled as he angrily looked back at Barnaby. “Y-Y-You’ve always had it out for me! And now you’re just bullying me because you can’t find any legitimate reason to arrest me. Well I’m sorry to disappoint you but you won’t be arresting me for this either. I think I’ve had quite enough of the two of you!” He glanced at the clock on the wall. “I am far too busy today anyways, Oreville doesn’t wait.”

He went to walk past Barnaby and Rainbow Dash and head towards his office but Barnaby grabbed his shoulder.

“Now you wait right there, we aren’t done talking yet,” Barnaby told him.

Lord Copper huffed and retrieved a key from his suit, bringing it towards the door. “No, I believe we are quite done. And if you think otherwise then-”

He didn’t get the chance to finish that sentence as an explosion went off from inside his office and blew apart the doors, blasting Rainbow Dash, Barnaby and Lord Copper to the floor.

For the third time in recent memory, Rainbow Dash got up in a daze with her blurred vision only slowly coming back into focus. Burning rocks that formally made up the doors to Lord Copper’s office lied all around the three of them and the furniture had all been knocked over. Barnaby and Lord Copper were both struggling to their hooves as well. Still groggy and confused—Rainbow Dash looked towards the office Lord Copper was about to step into.

It was a devastated inferno. Any desk that may have been inside at some point was completely gone, the high walls were covered in flames climbing to the vaulted ceiling and the large glass windows that made the back of the office were completely blown out. Rainbow Dash could hear voices from outside shouting in a panic at what had just happened. Lord Copper’s large, spacious, office was nothing more than a smoked crater.

Rainbow Dash was staring in stunned silence at it, Barnaby in disbelief, and Lord Copper finally manged to gulp and turn to the Chief Constable.

“P-Perhaps you believe me now?”

Rainbow Dash blinked and looked over at the haggard Lord. He was a sweating, disheveled mess. And she still didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him.

The administrative building of the Copper Section was a mess of activity after the bombing. The fire department had been on the scene within minutes and constables as well as concerned and outright curious citizens also flocked to it. Thankfully because the explosion was contained to one area the fire didn’t spread to the rest of the building and it was put out without too much trouble. Of course that was only the case for the physical damage. Who knew what the psychological affect would be of seeing one of the centers of government in Oreville bombed. The one consolation the citizens could take was that at least once more there were no deaths.

In an office building across the street from the administration building, quite the gathering had occurred. Rainbow Dash, Barnaby, Lord Copper, Lords Silver and Gold, and a host of other lower-level administrators and secretaries working under the Lords had gathered in a conference room to discuss the recent happenings. Lords Silver and Gold had arrived in Copper Section not too long after the explosion and Lord Silver believed it would be better to meet somewhere else, something both Barnaby and Lord Copper concurred on.

Now Rainbow Dash sat next to Barnaby at the end of a long table, with Lord Copper on the other side of the Chief Constable. All three of them still looked like wrecks after the explosion.

It seemed nopony wanted to start talking—and Lord Gold was staring off into space—so Lord Silver took the initiative.

“Chief Constable, when we received your message we were shocked beyond belief,” Lord Silver started. “I couldn’t fathom that Lord Copper could do such a thing-”

“I didn’t! I’m innocent! I almost just got blown up!” Lord Copper interrupted, standing up out of his chair and repeatedly slamming his hooves on the table.

Lord Silver held up a hoof to silence him. “I know. I was hoping this has all been a huge mistake and after the events of today I believe that the Chief Constable must be wrong.” He looked at Barnaby. “Constable? Is there any real proof of Lord Copper being behind the bombings?”

Barnaby and Rainbow Dash shared a look, Barnaby grinding his teeth together before he finally sighed. “No. There is no solid evidence. Just many, many coincidences. We have some other criminals in custody right now but they have so far refused to say who hired them to remove the TNT that was used for the bombs. And there are multiple other things. Unfortunately one of the only ponies who may have been convinced to speak blew himself up—as I notified you of in my message.”

“Yes, a tragedy that is. From what else was in your report though, he was the one responsible for placing the other bombs?”

“We believe so,” Barnaby nodded.

“And he said nothing of who made him do this?”

Barnaby’s jaw clenched but he nodded once more. “Yes.”

Lord Silver frowned and looked between Barnaby and Lord Copper. “Chief Constable… I do not believe it would be in the best interest of Oreville to continue with investigating and badgering Lord Copper. It is clear to me that after today he’s also a target of whoever is truly behind these bombings.”

“But my Lord, there isn’t just-” Barnaby said.

“I am a victim of a conspiracy!” Lord Copper interrupted and folded his hooves in front of his chest. “I-I almost died just now but you and your pegasus friend are still going to say I’m responsible? You couldn’t even prove anything even before the three of us almost all got blown up!”

Rainbow Dash rubbed her forehead with her hoof as Lord Copper went on. She didn’t know what to think, and her head was still pounding thanks to the explosion in the first place. She just felt like she had failed. Dolph, Eleanor, Barnaby, Oreville… she thought they could take down Lord Copper because it was so obvious he was guilty even without anypony naming him. Now everything had been turned on its head. They had no proof. They had no motive. And now Lord Copper was a “victim” too. Was it truly somepony else behind all of this? Rainbow Dash knew if she was just a little smarter or more perceptive like Twilight she’d be able to figure all this out. She knew there were so many things wrong about all this but she couldn’t put it together.

“Chief Constable, you must continue with your investigation,” Lord Silver said. “However it must also be clear that Lord Copper is not the focus of it. This is a time where all of Oreville must be unified and that cannot happen if a Lord is suspected of blowing it up. The citizens must be able to look to all three of us and feel safe and secure.”

Rainbow looked at Barnaby with a weak frown on her face. He was shaking a bit before he finally lowered his head.

“Yes, my Lords. But I promise you that I will still figure out who is behind this and why.”

Lord Silver nodded. “Good, because the situation has gotten so bad I think there are other measures that may need to be taken.

Rainbow, Barnaby, and Lord Copper even, all looked at him as he said that.

“What do you mean?” Lord Copper asked.

“This is unprecedented in Oreville. This kind of thing should not be happening in our peaceful, wonderful city.” Lord Silver said. “So far it has been contained to Copper Section but what if it spreads? What if bombs start going off in Silver and Gold Section too?” He shook his head. “This cannot be allowed. Chief Constable, if even one more bomb goes off, if a murder happens, if anything strange seems to be going on in Copper Section, we will enter lock-down.”

“Lock… down?” Lord Copper repeated, a slightly nervous timber in his voice.

“Yes,” Lord Silver confirmed. “Every way in or out of Copper Section will be sealed. The mines will be sealed. The tram tunnels sealed. And no stone will go unturned until the culprit in this, this, disaster! Is found.” He sat back. “Due to the special nature of the situation as well as to reassure the citizens, my own guards will take up positions at the entrances and exits to Copper Section, including the main gate and all the main mine tunnels. If anything happens they can be instantly alerted and seal things up.”

“I… I see. I acknowledge your wisdom on the matter, Lord Silver,” Lord Copper said. He bit his lip and looked down at his hooves with a look of dismay on his face.

Rainbow Dash took note of that but she couldn’t say anything right now—this was all so crazy.

Barnaby though had something to add. “A suggestion to your ideas, Lord Silver.”

“Yes?” Lord Silver raised an eyebrow.

“To make sure no more TNT can be stolen I would like to place the warehouses here directly under my control. I will choose trusted constables to watch over the warehouses and keep track of everything that goes in and out. Even if Lord Copper wasn’t responsible for the theft it’s still proof that his employees can not be fully trusted with such an important thing,” Barnaby glared out the corner of his eyes at Lord Copper.

Lord Silver seemed to muse on it for a second before nodding. “Agreed. Until this whole matter is taken care of, I want you to keep those warehouses under lock and key. Only your constables will be allowed to hoof off TNT to ponies taking it to the mines.”

“Gladly,” Barnaby nodded. “Now regardless of whoever is responsible for these bombings they wont be able to make anymore bombs. Not unless they want to try committing a very obvious and very forceful robbery of the warehouses.”

Lord Copper quietly clicked his tongue, another thing that Rainbow picked up on.

“Good. Is there anything more to discuss?” Lord Silver asked.

“Hold on,” Rainbow Dash held up a hoof and watched as the other eyes in the room fell upon her. “I… I just wanted to say that whenever it’s put in the newspapers or whatever, that Dolph shouldn’t be blamed for what happened. He was a victim too and the only reason he did what he did was because his family was threatened. I don’t want it to be like he was one of the bad guys too.”

Lord Silver rubbed his chin and looked at the Chief Constable. “Barnaby?”

“I agree with Rainbow Dash. Dolph and his family’s name shouldn’t be dragged through the mud,” Barnaby said.

“Very well,” Lord Silver nodded and turned a sad face towards Rainbow Dash. “And you, Miss Rainbow Dash, I am deeply regretful that you came here at a time like this—seeing Oreville at its worst. My sincerest apologies, I would ask you if you wish to please take up residence in Gold Section while-”

“No can do. Sorry Lord Silver and thanks for the offer, but I’m with Barnaby on all of this. I want to help too, it’s just the kind of pony I am. Doesn’t matter if Oreville isn’t my city,” Rainbow Dash shook her head.

“Well… it certainly does reflect well on you and your home,” Lord Silver offered a sad smile. “Though I feel we’re being out-shined here when we’re the ones who should be impressing upon you the best we have to offer...”

Rainbow grinned. “Don’t worry about that, Barnaby’s doing a great job of showing me the best of Oreville.”

Lord Copper scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Sure he is...”

“I’m grateful for your words, Rainbow Dash,” Barnaby said, ignoring Lord Copper. “And I think everypony else here is as well that you haven’t decided to simply leave us behind during this time of catastrophe.” There was a chorus of agreement (sans Lord Copper) from the rest of the conference room. “We want to show you we can overcome this so you have nothing but positive things to say about Oreville when you move on.”

Rainbow gave him a hoof bump. “Right on. I believe in you, dude.”

“I think that covers everything important then,” Lord Copper sneered. “If we’re quite done here I obviously have much to do. Not to mention fear for my life. Who knows when I’ll even get to use my office again, and the paperwork that’s going to have to be done...” He stood up from his chair. “Yes, I think with the absolute mayhem that I now have to sort through I better get started as quickly as possible.”

“Yes, we all have a lot to do now. Lord Gold and I will depart. We trust the Chief Constable in the rest of this matter absolutely,” Lord Silver said. He stood up and motioned for one of the secretaries to help up the oblivious Lord Gold.

“Thank you,” Barnaby said. He and Rainbow Dash got out of their seats and the Chief Constable looked Lord Copper dead in the eye. “And Lord Copper, I apologize for being so unfair to you. I will never accuse you without evidence again.”

Lord Copper’s lip curled and his hooves shook, but he said nothing as he stiffly walked past Barnaby and Rainbow.

“Good one,” Rainbow winked at him. She then bit her lip as she looked at all of the other ponies filing out of the conference room. “But now what?”

“We still have a few leads to go on. And I won’t rest until the truth of these bombings is uncovered,” Barnaby said.

“Do you still think Lord Copper is behind it… even after he almost got blown up? He’s definitely suspicious and up to something but now I’m not totally sure if it’s that simple. He seriously did almost get vaporized,” Rainbow asked.

Barnaby bit his lip. “I’m not entirely sure either. Everything pointed to him, but we have no solid proof, no motive, and now he was almost blown up just like we were so he looks even less guilty. We just… don’t have anything provable. Going after him hasn’t led anywhere substantial—but Malthus and his gang might have the answers we want. I think we should go back to the correctional facility and interrogate them next.”

Malthus and the other members of his gang were no longer in their cells. Apparently their release had been ordered by none other than the Chief Constable himself, after all, his signature was on the paperwork. The last anypony had seen of them they were being escorted out of the premises earlier. None of the constables on duty could recall just who had delivered the papers and escorted them out. There were some severe punishments handed out, but Barnaby knew it was no better than a temporary fix for the problem.

Barnaby and Rainbow Dash now stared at an empty cell. Their lead was gone. There could be no more bombings but there was also no way for them to get to the bottom of them now. Oreville wasn’t in danger for the moment, but it wasn’t saved either.

“Now what?” Rainbow asked Barnaby.

“Now… we have nothing,” Barnaby sighed.

Rainbow Dash stood outside apartment 204 with her hoof halfway raised to the door. She had been like that for a solid minute, hesitant to finally knock. This isn’t the kind of thing she was used to. Normally Rainbow Dash came bearing good news and telling ponies how she had just saved the day. Not coming to tell newly widowed wives that she had completely failed to uphold her promise. Eleanor didn’t even know she was a widow yet. Her kids didn’t even know that… that…

The blue pegasus shook her head and took a few deep breaths to try and calm herself down. This wasn’t getting her anywhere. She didn’t want to do this but that wasn’t the point—she had to do it. And she had to just make herself do it already.

Rainbow Dash first ran her hoof back through her mane before at last gently knocking on the door. She ended up standing there awkwardly for a moment before she heard the door handle being turned and it was slowly pulled open. Her ruby eyes widened in shock at what she saw.

Eleanor, dressed all in black, with a veil over her face to hide her despair-twisted face that was covered in dry tears. Behind her the small apartment was full of similarly dressed ponies, including her children who were all huddled together and looked like they had been crying on and off as well. Eleanor’s mother was seated in her rocking chair and slowly going back and forth while some of the other guests greeted and spoke to her. Rainbow’s eyes took this all in and she stiffly looked back at Eleanor with a quivering jaw.

“Y-You… already, I...”

“We were told yesterday,” Eleanor’s voice was quiet and dull. “A messenger from Lord Silver came, shortly after the administrative building was bombed. He told us everything.”

Rainbow felt her eyes tearing up. “I-I’m sorry… I was s-supposed to… I was going to be the one to tell you what happened.”

Eleanor shook her head. “You don’t need to apologize.”

“But I do!” Rainbow’s voice cracked. “N-Not just for that, but for promising you-”

She paused as the others in the apartment had all turned to look at her, wondering what was going on. Rainbow realized she recognized a few of the guests as Dolph’s friends from the mines.

“I...”

“Would you like to come in? It’s a memorial service before the official funeral,” Eleanor asked and held the door open.

Rainbow’s lip quivered but she nodded and stepped inside. It seemed about ten others in addition to the rest of the family were here, and Eleanor’s kitchen table was full of food and drinks. A small table had been set up in the middle of the living room with numerous photos of Dolph and his family on it. Rainbow tried to avoid looking at it. Eleanor stood with her while a couple of the other miners nodded to Rainbow Dash, she wasn’t sure how much any of them really knew how involved she was in the investigation and Dolph’s death.

“Do you want something to eat or drink?” Eleanor asked, her voice like a phantom cutting through Rainbow’s thought.

Rainbow stiffly shook her head. “No, no thanks.”

Eleanor stood there and stared at her for a second. “I don’t blame you.”

“Huh?” The startled Rainbow Dash took a step back.

“I don’t blame you for not bringing him back to me. Learning about everything that happened… what he had been involved in… it was never going to be a happy ending. In fact I want to thank you for giving me that little bit of hope before it all ended,” Eleanor said. “I’m not left wondering or lost now anymore am I? I know what happened and why. I can make peace with that, so thank you.”

“But if it wasn’t for me—I was there when he-” Rainbow tried to explain before getting cut off.

Eleanor shook her head. “I already know. And I don’t blame you.” A softer look came over her face as her eyes sparkled with fresh tears. “But… what did he say? Did he say anything?”

Rainbow winced and put her hooves on Eleanor’s shoulders. “He said he did it all for his family.”

“I-I see...” Eleanor quivered and sniffled, bringing up a hoof to rub her eyes, but it didn’t stop the tears. “Thank you… t-that idiot.”

“Uhh, l-let’s uh, you know something to drink actually does sound good!” Rainbow quickly tried to change the subject. She looked over her shoulder and saw everypony else in the apartment still watching her and probably listening in too. “Aw geez...”

“Okay...” Eleanor nodded and she and Rainbow Dash walked over to the kitchen table. Eleanor grabbed a bottle of wine and quickly poured two glasses—making Rainbow wonder if this wasn’t her first of the day—and hoofed one over to Rainbow.

The dark red liquid swirled around in the glass and Rainbow Dash downed it all immediately in one gulp. Not exactly her preference but it still tasted good and the mild warmth it spread in her body felt nice. Eleanor was much slower with how she drank, either not being able to handle so much at once or wanting to savor it. Rainbow Dash stood around silently with her in the kitchen as the other guests in the apartment got back to talking with one another. The three colts of Dolph and Eleanor were standing in the corner and talking together, Rainbow kind of wanted to talk to them too but she had no idea what to say. Did she ever ask Applejack what it had been like when she lost her parents? No—that would’ve been rude. Now she was stuck here not knowing how to act though. She had cheered up Scootaloo and other kids tons of times for a myriad of reasons but she didn’t have the experience for something like this.

Eleanor poured herself and Rainbow another glass once she had finished.

“What are you going to do for the funeral?” Rainbow asked.

“Hm?” Eleanor seemed not to reach what Rainbow was getting at.

“I mean… there isn’t a body… to bury. Is what I’m getting at,” Rainbow awkwardly looked at the floor.

“We don’t bury our bodies in Oreville. Is it different in Equestria?” Eleanor asked. Upon seeing Rainbow’s look she elaborated: “I’ve read about you in the news since you left, and heard about you from others.”

“Oh, well, yeah. We bury our dead in coffins and put them in graveyards where anypony can go and visit them,” Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck. Why did she bring this topic up? All it did was make her uncomfortable.

“I see,” Eleanor nodded. “In Oreville we cremate the bodies of the dead and spread their ashes in the deeper tunnels. Since Dolph is… since his body already… we’ll just have a funeral for formality’s sake.”

“Sorry...” Rainbow winced.

Eleanor chuckled briefly in sad amusement. “Stop apologizing. That’s all you’ve been doing since you came here. Everypony here is so morose—me included—but I want to celebrate Dolph’s life, not agonize over his death anymore. Me and the kids did enough crying when we first heard the news. I want to remember all the happy times we had, his smiling face, how he played with our kids, all the fun stories he told about hanging out with his friends.”

“He seemed like a really good guy. I may not have gotten to know him but anypony willing to do all that for his family can’t be a bad guy,” Rainbow said. Her eyes eventually roamed over to one of the pictures of Dolph and Eleanor. “You really had a great thing with him.”

Eleanor sniffled and took another drink of wine. “I did. W-Why don’t you talk with some of his friends from the mine for a moment? I’m sure they’d like to hear from you what exactly happened. Excuse me.”

The widow quickly set her glass down and walked past Rainbow, heading down the hallway towards the apartment’s bedrooms.

“Shouldn’t have said that...” Rainbow groaned and rubbed her forehead.

“Your name is Rainbow Dash, right?” A voice said from behind her.

Rainbow turned and saw one of Dolph’s friends from the mine, she remembered him from that first brief investigation. “Uh, yeah. And you were Kent, right?”

“Oh, you remember me?” He seemed surprised.

Rainbow nodded. “Totally. It was a pretty big deal being down there, and I think you talked the most. How uh, how are all you guys doing?”

Kent’s eyes drifted to the pictures as well. “We miss our friend.”

“Yeah...” Rainbow sighed.

“Do you… do you know who threatened him into doing all of this?” Kent asked her.

“I-” Rainbow Dash bit her lip. Did she say anything about Lord Copper? Did she give them false hope? Either way the investigation had totally stalled and she and Barnaby had nothing to go on. “I don’t know. We haven’t really figured it out yet. There’s just guesses, really.”

“I’m sorry that Dolph blew himself up like that, it could’ve killed you too couldn’t it have?”

“Yeah but he didn’t see any other choice. He was only thinking about his family, all the way to the end. I just wish he had talked to me. If he knew me better he knew I could’ve protected him and his family and brought down whoever is behind all this,” Rainbow’s eyes narrowed as she looked at Kent. “Which I still intend to do. Cause it just wouldn’t be awesome leaving this place like that.”

Kent’s eyes widened. “You’re every bit as interesting as the papers say. Is everypony from Equestria like you?”

“Nopony is like me. I’m totally original,” Rainbow grinned.

“Well, thank you for caring. I didn’t want to voice this to other ponies but I just don’t think Oreville is good at handling what’s going on right now,” Kent said. “It’s still amazing that so far the only pony that has died is Dolph, and that was because he, well, you know. But it just makes me think of how much worse it could be. Imagine if more bombs went off in the mines, the damage they could do, the safety that would be ruined in this city. Even if nopony died I think things would change a lot here.”

“Yeah… I just wish I knew why all this was happening anyways. That’s still something neither Barnaby or I can figure out. Why is the pony who’s doing this doing it at all?” Rainbow asked.

Kent shrugged. “Couldn’t tell you.”

“I feel like if we could just figure that out we’d be able to solve this whole thing,” Rainbow said. “Well, at least you don’t have to worry about any more bombs going off in the tunnels—or anywhere else for that matter—things are back to being safe in Oreville. Maybe not perfect, but safe for now.”

“I’m going to enjoy being able to work in peace. Just so you know, a lot of miners were pretty worried ever since the first bomb went off. Ponies have been afraid and taking extra special care of where they’re working and what’s going on around them,” Kent said.

“Really don’t blame you.”

“On that topic, are you ever going to be coming back into the mines?” Kent asked.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Dunno. Mostly still letting Barnaby show me around and following what he’s doing. We were sidetracked by the investigation for a while too so I’m not sure what he might want to do next. He’s been kind of depressed ever since yesterday.” Rainbow poured herself another glass of wine and took a drink. “I wouldn’t mind going off on my own but I feel like I’d get lost—and I’m not sure if Barnaby would think that’s totally safe. Plus, I get the feeling most of the ponies here still wouldn’t really act normal around me. I mean, even though you’ve read about me I haven’t really been like super visible around Oreville, you know?”

“I understand. I feel like most ponies wouldn’t know how to talk or act around you, unfortunately,” Kent nodded.

“Yeah...” Rainbow finished her drink and set the glass back down, looking at the other guests and members of Dolph’s family crammed into the small apartment. “Hey, when Eleanor is back can you tell her thank you? And that I wish her well?”

“Of course. Are you leaving?”

Rainbow nodded. “Honestly I don’t know if I should have even come in. I hope she’s doing okay, but I have to get back to Barnaby anyways. Just one last thing to do before I go.” Rainbow said and walked over to the three colts in the living room, all the eyes of the other ponies were on her. “Uh, hey.”

The three kids looked up at her, the oldest looking one venturing to say something.

“You’re the pony who came by before, you’re from that other place, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Are-” the youngest one started. “Are we going to get to see our dad again?”

A knife stabbed into Rainbow’s heart and she slowly let out a deep breath. “I’m sorry...”

The three colts started crying together, the oldest one holding his younger brothers. “Mom told us that-that...”

Rainbow reached out to pat him on the head. “You had a wonderful father who loved you very much. Never forget that. He’s wishing the best for you too.” Rainbow took her hoof away and backed off. “You kids need to be strong, for yourselves and your mom.” Her mouth opened and closed a few more times but Rainbow couldn’t decide on anything to say. She looked at Eleanor’s mother and gave her a curt nod, and then another nod to the other guests before she stepped to the front door of the apartment and left.

None of this was how she wanted things to go here at Oreville.

“You ever get the feeling that ponies are staring at you?” Rainbow Dash asked Barnaby as the two of them walked down the streets of the Copper Section.

“Considering you’ve been an outsider and have a—if I’m being totally honest—incredibly eye-catching appearance, I would think you’d be used to that by now.” Barnaby answered.

“True. But this is a different kind of staring. Like, the worried and unsettling kind,” Rainbow said as she looked around at the other ponies on the streets.

“You’re not wrong. I’ve noticed it too pretty much from the get go this morning. But it’s not only centered on you, the stares are coming for both of us,” Barnaby breathed out his nose and looked around. As soon as his eyes met another pony, they instantly averted their gaze. “It’s fear. Simple fear after everything that has happened. And they know we’re at the center of what’s going on and trying to uncover it.”

“So wherever we go they’re going to think...”

“That it concerns the bombings. And that perhaps they don’t want us around.”

“Ugh,” Rainbow Dash facehooved. “Just great, this is what I really wanted, to scare ponies wherever I went.”

“You have to understand, Rainbow Dash. The unusual, the unexpected, it’s scary. These ponies aren’t used to change or conflict of any sort. For generations now we’ve lived peaceful and quiet lives in Oreville uninterrupted by anything or anypony else,” Barnaby.

“And then I come along and bombs start going off at the same time.”

“Yes...”

Rainbow looked around and saw a few ponies turn away from her with fear on their faces, not even the fear that something was going to happen right now, but an all-encompassing general fear. A mother quickly hurried her child down a side-street and a pretzel vendor grimaced in the hopes that Rainbow and Barnaby wouldn’t come over to his cart. There were times in the other places Rainbow had visited on her journey where ponies and other creatures reacted similarly to her, and where her presence caused distress. Rainbow just knew she had to get through it and leave Oreville better off than it was now. That would erase this atmosphere of fear.

But they had no leads and nothing to go on for finding the culprit behind the bombings and setting the populace at ease. That’s why she and Barnaby were out here just mindlessly walking around in the first place.

“Come on, let’s go to one of the local business parks and relax. Maybe it’ll set the minds of my ponies at ease if they simply see us having an ordinary day just like them,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Whatever you want to do, you’re still basically my tour guide. If we aren’t looking for bombs and crazy criminals I guess I might as well try and have fun another way.”

“I know you appreciate a good rest,” Barnaby smirked.

“Yeah, but not when there’s way more awesome stuff I could—should—be doing,” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I can take a nap after the cool stuff.”

“Sorry but the “cool stuff” looks like it’s going to be on hold for a good while. And personally I don’t quite consider it as cool as you do,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow winced. “Look, I didn’t mean-”

“Relax,” Barnaby chuckled. “I’m messing with you. Although it’s true I want things to go back to being quiet and peaceful here I know you like things a bit more exciting.”

“Yeah but I don’t want anypony getting hurt either. I like having a big, obvious, villain right in front of me who I can punch and laugh in victory over!” Rainbow thumped her chest. “But, ugh, this is so not turning out like that at all. You know if it had been like two or three days of nothing happening down here when I first got here I would’ve just left? Just totally flown away looking for a more action-packed adventure.”

“So are you happy or sad about what’s occurred here?” Barnaby raised an eyebrow.

“The answer that doesn’t make me sound like a jerk,” Rainbow groaned and dragged a hoof down her face. “It’s complicated, okay?”

“Life is,” Barnaby shrugged. “I can’t really say I understand exactly where you’re coming from or what drives you. You’re such a larger than life pony I don’t think anypony else can. But I’m certainly not judging you.”

“Thanks, it’s just… after what happened with Dolph, and with how important the mines are to you guys, it’s kind of awful of me to wish for something to happen again. Isn’t it? That’s just going to make the ponies here more afraid. And who knows what else might happen,” Rainbow sighed.

“I don’t think you’re just craving fun for your own sake when you’re wishing for something to happen though,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow looked up at him. “Oh yeah?”

“I think you’re wishing for justice and true peace and happiness that can happen after you do something awesome. Deep down that even you may not have noticed it yourself,” he grinned at her.

Rainbow Dash gave a brief laugh before a smile came over her face. “Heh. Well it at least sounds better than what I was saying.”

“Do you want a snack to eat while we walk? Pretzel? Snowcone? Churro?” Barnaby asked as they passed by a few different carts and stands selling snacks on the street.

“Naw, not right now at least, most of these ponies look like they might faint if I talk to them,” Rainbow said.

“Good point,” Barnaby nodded.

Their stroll took them in-between some of the larger skyscrapers, where smaller buildings and business popped up all around the surface level of the streets and thoroughfares between the huge structures. Rainbow couldn’t see far off into the city anymore because the buildings were clustered so closely together. As were the ponies. It said something of Oreville that even with the budding fear over recent events that hundreds were still out and about going along with their normal lives. Barnaby took her to a pavilion where a number of stone benches sat around an area dotted with stone statues and several fancy fountains that dripped water in a weave of streams.

“So we’re just here to chillax?” Rainbow asked.

“I’m not entirely sure what that word means but I can venture a guess,” Barnaby said. “So yes. Just let the ponies see us doing nothing, staying calm, having fun.”

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby sat down on a bench and watched the civilians of Oreville walk on by at a brisk pace. She noticed immediately that most of the ponies walking by had also taken note of the two of them but were either trying not to look or had picked up their pace to get by faster. It made her snort in annoyance, she hated having this weird stigma attached to her. Though even though this was supposed to be a temporary solution, Rainbow Dash was pretty sure it wouldn’t be fixed for good until she brought down the pony behind the bombings.

She looked at one of the statues of a pair of marble mares standing up on their back two legs and holding a ball between them. Rainbow didn’t care much for art but even she could appreciate the symbolism of something that said “unity”.

Her wings felt itchy and Rainbow Dash looked at her sides and gazed at the bandages still wrapped around them. So annoying. Her wings were constantly twitching and moving around inside the bandages and it was especially troublesome when she was trying to sleep. She felt so wrong with her wings clipped like this. It wasn’t just that they were injured but that they were contained, held down, caged. She wanted these dumb bandages off already so she could fly around freely and just feel normal again.

“Seriously need to go back to Abernathy and see when I can get these bandages off,” Rainbow grumbled.

“Hm, I wouldn’t imagine it’ll be too much longer,” Barnaby mused. “Maybe a day or two. When you do get them off I have something special to take you too as well.”

Rainbow’s head swiveled up at him. “What is it?”

“It’s a surprise, I can’t tell you yet,” he smirked.

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah whatever. Better be worth the suspense. Whatever you’ve got in mind, let’s go back to the hospital tomorrow anyways. The sooner I get these off the better.”

“I’m sure Nurse Abernathy will enjoy seeing you again too,” Barnaby said.

“When I’m not injured for once,” Rainbow couldn’t help a small grin. She then let out a short breath through her nose as the grin left her face. “Are you afraid that you can’t really trust a lot of your constables?”

Barnaby frowned. “I’m afraid that I’m unable to clean house like I truly need to. Chief Constable I may be, but the Lords would kick up too much of a fuss if I suddenly fired half of my force and personally tried to find and screen every new recruit. They might think I was up to something.” He snorted.

“And so instead you just have to deal with a bunch of corruption...”

He shrugged. “I make it work. The ones guarding the TNT now are the ones I fully trust, and right now in the city that’s all I need. As long as we can make sure no more bombs go off… well that’s all I can ask for at the moment.”

“Don’t have to worry about the factory or anything?” Rainbow asked. “What if Lord Copper, or whoever, tries to steal from the source?”

Barnaby shook his head. “Not possible. The TNT is carefully manufactured on an assembly line from the raw materials and chemicals that go into it. Once it’s done it’s immediately shipped off by cart to the warehouses. The insides of that factory are carefully guarded and protected by the owners, an old family who have been in the TNT business for generations. I wouldn’t be surprised if Lord Copper attempted to buy the factory as well but was rebuffed. Even he would have trouble dealing with them. Not only are most employees and workers at the factory either members of the family or close family friends, but Lord Copper wouldn’t have the facilities or know-how to make bombs with any stolen chemicals. He would need finished TNT.”

“So I guess trying to spy on him or the factory won’t get us nothing either,” Rainbow folded her hooves. “I was thinking how wicked cool it would be to set up a sting...”

“Sorry to burst your bubble,” Barnaby laughed.

Rainbow shrugged. “It’s alright. Just throwing ideas out there.” After she said that, a family walked through the pavilion and looked over at Rainbow Dash. She smiled and waved at them and much to her delight, the children waved back. The parents only offered up some awkward smiles but Dash was okay with that for now. “Not too bad.”

“I think it’s all worth it to see a smile on a child’s face,” Barnaby said. “Stop me if that sounds too schmaltzy.”

“It does,” Rainbow gagged.

“Well, to each their own.”

“Also—is it really going to make that big a difference for the ponies in here if some of them see us like this? No offense, but most of them are just going to keep walking by without giving us a second thought. And Copper Section is a really big place,” Rainbow sighed and unfolded her hooves, propping them up and instead resting her chin in them.

“We’re not going to be able to change the whole city, but it still matters for these ponies here. Ponies talk and word spreads. A few more days of everypony around Copper Section seeing us not stressed out or chasing down criminals and things will get back to normal for the average pony. They’ll be happy and get to live their lives in peace. And we’ll still deal with the culprit whenever another lead comes up for us to follow,” Barnaby said as he watched one of the fountains shoot out a complex pattern of water spouts from multiple different nozzles.

Rainbow Dash breathed out her nose and watched a few more families and business ponies go by. She blinked a few times with an even expression on her face, thinking about all the things she had been through recently and seen in Oreville. “I guess it’s worth being bored for a little while.”

“Alright, let’s get those bandages off of you,” Nurse Abernathy said as she held a pair of clippers in her hooves.

“Finally,” Rainbow Dash groaned in relief.

“You wouldn’t believe how much she’s complained about having those bandages on,” Barnaby said with a slight smirk on his face.

“Well health and recuperation comes first,” Abernathy frowned. “I hope you didn’t try removing them yourself at any point?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “No, mom, I didn’t. Come on, I’ve been in the hospital plenty of times before coming here. And they’re my wings. It may be annoying but I treat these babies with all the care they need… when I’m not totally pushing myself. But that’s not the point.”

“That’s good then,” Abernathy said, ignoring the mom comment. “With the medicine we used and the bandages keeping you from stressing them, I’m sure your wings have fully healed. Um, it’s still just an educated guess though. I still have to take a look to be sure. Even if they haven’t fully healed though I don’t think you’ll need the bandages anymore.”

“Good, whatever, anything that lets me actually move my wings around. I miss feeling them and my feathers are going to be a mess,” Rainbow flexed, her wings twitching inside the bandages.

“Then let’s not waste anymore time if you’re that antsy,” Abernathy smiled and brought the clippers towards the white bandages covering Rainbow Dash’s right wing.

The clippers glided right through the soft material like they were absolutely nothing and the bandages fell free from Rainbow’s body. As soon as they were off she spread and flexed her wing, sighing in relief at the wonderful feeling. Abernathy quickly brought the clippers around to the other wing and swiftly sliced through the bandages there. Rainbow’s left wing shot out and she gave them both a stretch and very lightly flapped them both to get the blood flowing. Nurse Abernathy walked in circles around Rainbow, inspecting the unfamiliar appendages and occasionally poking and rubbing them in places.

“Hey, that tickles,” Rainbow giggled.

“Sorry, just giving them a final check-up,” Abernathy said while her scrutinizing eyes never left the wings.

Rainbow again had to patiently stand there and not immediately start flying around the small hospital room until Abernathy was done with her last visual inspection. It was difficult.

Nurse Abernathy finished up walking around Rainbow and stopped in front of her with a smile on her face. “Okay! Everything looks great!”

“No more damage or anything?” Rainbow asked.

The nurse shook her head. “None whatsoever! Your wings look perfect, good as new even.”

“Yes!” Rainbow Dash pumped her hoof and flapped her wings to shoot up over the floor, careful enough to still mind the ceiling though. She buzzed around in circles over Abernathy and Barnaby’s heads before settling down and landing. When she tucked her wings in they just felt so much better than when they were covered and held down by bandages. “You have no idea how much better this is.”

“I imagine it’s similar to one of us getting a cast off after a broken leg, but I’m happy for you,” Barnaby said.

“I’m just glad I was actually able to treat your wings...” Nurse Abernathy said.

“You did a good job with em,” Rainbow winked at her.

“Well you’ve been a wonderful patient but I hope I don’t have to treat you again anytime soon,” Abernathy said with a wry grin.

“Me too,” Rainbow nodded.

“Me three,” Barnaby smirked.

Rainbow Dash snorted and turned to the Chief Constable. “So now what? I can do anything now with my wings back—I’m down for doing absolutely anything. So what did you have in mind?”

“Actually it’s something I’ve been thinking of ever since you told me more about Ponyville. Specifically a certain place of business you have there,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “What?”

In the most high-class part of the Copper Section, Barnaby and Rainbow Dash stood outside a particular business. The building was made of pink marble, polished to perfection and standing two stories high with circular black windows and a very inviting facade. Pink steps went up to a set of glass doors flanked by numerous exotic looking (but fake) plants. Above the door was a sign with very stylish wording on it reading: The Copper Exclusives

“Uhhh, I’ve got two ideas on what this place might be and I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t take me to one of them,” Rainbow Dash said as she looked at the building.

“It’s a spa.”

“That’s what I figured.”

“Not just any spa either, the best place for hospitality and relaxation you can find in Oreville. Not even just Copper Section, the whole dang city. The masseurs, hairdressers, stylists, they’re all top-notch. Normally I’d never be able to get in here but thanks to your Diplomat visa we’ll both get the VIP treatment,” Barnaby grinned.

“Ohhh, so it’s a gift for yourself too, huh?” Rainbow chuckled.

Barnaby coughed. “Perhaps...”

“Well whatever, I could use a nice spa visit anyways. Specially after having my wings stuck in those bandages for so long,” Rainbow said.

“That’s why I was waiting. I figured you’d want them to get a good massage and you can’t really take a dip in any of the hot tubs or mud baths with those bandages still on,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow Dash looked back at her wings and gently flapped them a couple of times. “Yeah they could definitely use a massage to get the kinks out. Let’s go inside!”

“Right this way,” Barnaby said and led Rainbow up the steps and to the glass doors. He grabbed a golden door handle and pulled it open for Rainbow Dash.

Immediately she was hit by a humid breath of hot air as she walked inside the establishment. Oreville was naturally a little on the cool side but The Copper Exclusives felt like a jungle on the inside. It almost looked like one too. The floor was carefully sculpted dark green tile while plastic palm trees and other bushes either decorated or crawled up the walls. Over her head, “vines” entwined with lights hung down and cast a twilight glow through the interior. A single gold and white quartz fountain sat in the middle of the lobby, with deep blue waters dancing and falling across it’s different levels and basins.

As soon as the door closed, a silk-clad mare with flowers in her hair glided up to Rainbow Dash and Barnaby. “Welcome~” Her singsong voice whistled out from her lips. The mare was obviously quite lithe under her silks, she had a narrow face and sharp emerald eyes that went well with her daisy-yellow coat.

“What’s up,” Rainbow Dash waved.

If the mare was put off by the not exactly formal greeting (and appearance) of the two guests she didn’t show it. Her eyes quickly scanned over Rainbow’s wings and she smiled. “The ambassador we’ve heard about, a pleasure that you would come here to The Copper Exclusives. What services would you like to receive from us? And of course, you needn’t worry about the expenses.”

“Give her the works,” Barnaby cut in. “The best treatment you’ve got, she deserves it. As for me I’ll take the Golden Stallion treatment.”

Rainbow just shrugged. “Yeah, I’ve been to some spas before—uh, n-not like I go to them all the time or anything—but I don’t really know what your specialties and whatever might be. So I’m all for just letting you decide what’s best.”

“I’ll be sure to have you worked on by our most delicate masseuse. For a pony with wings only the most expert of hooves will suffice~” the mare’s melodic voice said. She turned and began to walk towards the fountain, further back in the lobby, Rainbow saw a number of velvet curtained off hallways leading elsewhere in the spa.

“Please follow me~” the mare said to Rainbow before glancing at Barnaby. “As for you, sir, another will be out to help you shortly.”

“Have fun, Rainbow,” Barnaby said with a smile and waved to her.

“Shouldn’t be too hard,” she grinned and gave him a salute before following her guide through one of the velvet curtains and emerging into a hallway covered in fake vines and roses lit up by candlelight. Rainbow Dash thought it looked pretty snazzy, especially compared to what the rest of Oreville looked like. She then looked ahead at the silky mare walking in front of her. “So what’s your name? I’m Rainbow Dash.”

The mare giggled. “I know, it says so on your visa.”

Rainbow looked down at the visa dangling in front of her chest. “Oh yeah.”

“And I read about you in the newspapers already, The Copper Exclusives is truly honored to have you, as will the masseuse I select to perform your massage and guide you through the rest of your treatment,” the mare smiled. “And my name is Maria.”

“Nice to meet you,” Rainbow smiled.

Maria slightly nodded her head in acknowledgment and continued to guide Rainbow Dash down the hallway. Occasionally they walked past other doorways that were blocked off by the same velvet curtains, Maria taking no mind of them but Rainbow kept trying to peak inside. They also passed by a few more silk clad mares, and stallions too for that matter, who always politely greeted Rainbow Dash. It seemed they had been walking through the foresty interior for a while when Maria guided them down a corner and into a room with twelve different little rooms blocked by oaken doors. Maria took her to one on the right side of the room and opened it up for Rainbow Dash.

“Please, make yourself comfortable and your masseuse will be in shortly~” Maria told her and then bowed her head low and walked backwards out of the room.

“Alright, don’t keep me waiting for too long,” Rainbow teased and took a look around the room once the door closed.

It was small but cozy and warm, not humid like the rest of the building had been. The floor was white carpet and the walls were also painted white with a lamp hanging from the ceiling. In the corner there was a decorative vase with a few sticks lying next to it. Rainbow hated to admit that she recognized it as an incense burner. The middle of the small room was taken up by a comfortable looking massage table. Rainbow Dash shrugged once and hopped up on it. The only other thing in the room she noticed was a clothes bin that she obviously didn’t need. Rainbow stretched and found just the right spot on the table before lying down and relaxing her head.

“If all I did was take a nap in here it would be worth the trip...” Rainbow told herself as she closed her eyes.

But she had barely closed them for long before the door was opened and another mare walked in. This one was a very light orange with a wavy blue mane and tail. She was a bit older, with slight lines under her eyes, but her smile and the way she walked was still youthful.

“Hello, Rainbow Dash. I will be your masseuse for today, my name is Fleur,” she stepped over to the table and looked at Dash’s wings. “I was told to be extra delicate with your wings, would you tell me if there’s anywhere you’re sore and would like to receive special attention?”

Rainbow Dash just wryly grinned at her. “Everywhere.”

After a full hour of having her body worked over by who may well have been the best masseuse in the world—Rainbow Dash was in heaven. All the soreness, knots, and kinks in her muscles had been taken care of and she felt like jelly. It had been a long, long, time since she had felt this relaxed. Fleur was like a magician when it came to the art of massages, even though it was her very first time with wings it was like she had worked with them her whole life. She was going to have to thank Barnaby a lot for this and the spa trip wasn’t even close to being over yet.

Fleur brought her to the next part of the special spa treatment: the mud baths. Rainbow Dash didn’t really think it was her kind of thing but as soon as she dipped down into that warm mud and had the facial cleansing mask placed on, her thoughts evaporated into pure pleasure. The tingling sensation all over her body, revitalizing her coat and skin, felt just as good as Fleur’s amazing hooves.

Similar to when she was on the table, Rainbow Dash nearly fell asleep with everything below her neck submerged in that special mud. A light chime from a brass bell told her her time in the mud bath was over though and Fleur came to collect her and help Rainbow out.

“Did you enjoy your time in our mud bath?” Fleur asked her as Rainbow’s body was still dripping mud, practically covered with it like it was chocolate frosting.

“Yeah...” Rainbow’s voice was light and floaty.

Fleur giggled. “Please, let me take you to the shower and then you can go to the indoor hot spring. After that will come the mane and tail treatment and then you’ll be done.”

“R-Right on,” Rainbow’s legs shook like gooey jelly as she tried to walk.

Fleur just smiled and took her by the hoof to the shower in the mud baths room to clean off before the next part of the spa visit. After the powerful jets of water had rinsed away all the mud, Rainbow Dash was toweled off and taken to a new room. The doors to it were large and painted gold, Fleur pushed them both open together and a wall of steam came billowing out. Rainbow let the warmth wash over her as she stepped inside and took a look around at the true spa of The Copper Exclusives. It was a very large room, with a central spa in the middle that was more like a shallow pool than anything, the hot steamy water inside it being fed by a stream of water coming from the stone mouth of a lion at the far end of the pool. The floor was a sleek white while the edge of the spa had a golden shoulder going all around it and the walls of the room were actually huge mirrors—making the room seem even larger. Fake plants and rock formations to give the spa a more natural look decorated the entire room as well, some rocks even dotted the interior of the pool.

Rainbow wasn’t the only one in here either, other guests were relaxing in the water or lounging beside the pool on chairs, being tended to by others like Fleur.

“Nice place you’ve got here,” Rainbow couldn’t help being cheeky about the sheer extravagance before her.

“Please, take a rest in the waters and relax for as long as you feel the need to,” Fleur said and bowed her head, backing away from Rainbow.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Works for me.”

When she first dipped her hoof in, the water was just barely below the point where the initial dip was painful. Rainbow smiled to herself and walked down the steps at the only spot the gold didn’t cover until she was submerged in to her neck. It was so much better than just taking an ordinary warm bath or shower. There must’ve been some kind of special treatment or thing added to the water, that was the only explanation Rainbow had for why the water of the spa just felt so darn good. Her hooves hit the stone floor of the spa and left her head above water—right until Rainbow Dash gently dunked it in as well to get her mane nice and soaked too.

As she waded out into the waters her tail fanned out behind her like a large rainbow fan. She looked around at some of the other mares enjoying the spa and realized that thanks to the customs of Oreville this was the first time she was seeing ponies from here not wearing clothes. It didn’t bother her at all but it did feel kind of weird.

Rainbow gently traversed the entire hot spa, going from one end to the other and even swimming around the spout that was ceaselessly pouring fresh water into the pool. She unfurled her wings and used them to move her body through the water for a while instead of her hooves. It was a nice way to give them an easy workout while relaxing the rest of her body. Rainbow could pretty much fly while asleep so this was much easier.

Soon even that stopped and Rainbow Dash just allowed herself to lazily float on by until she came to rest by a rock, leaning against it and just letting the water do its wonders.

She wondered if she really could just stay in here for as long as she wanted? She was getting some kind of special treatment after all, right? And Barnaby probably wouldn’t care even if he had to wait around for her. Right now she really didn’t feel like ever getting out of this spa. So Rainbow Dash tilted her head back against the surprisingly smooth rock and allowed herself to drift away. Her thoughts were as light and fluffy as her body felt.

When her eyes closed it was impossible to tell how long they had been shut before Rainbow Dash opened them again.

But she did feel perfectly relaxed and rested. Rainbow pushed away from the rock and allowed herself to swim back towards the steps leading out of the pool. Somewhat unsurprisingly, Fleur was already there waiting for her with a towel.

“Did you enjoy it?” She asked as Rainbow stepped out of the pool with warm water dripping from her body.

“Oh yeah,” Rainbow grinned and grabbed the towel.

Three different ponies worked on her mane and tail at the same time, taking numerous different types of shampoos, conditioners and oils through the prismatic colors. Combs brushed through it, hair-ties were used as needed, and any attempts by the ponies to cut or style her hair in a different way were refused. Rainbow liked how her mane naturally looked.

At the end of it though they were both still a glossy and silky pair of masterpieces. Even Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but check out how stunning her mane and tail looked in the mirror. Rarity would be jealous of how good they looked right now.

“Wow, you guys are good,” Rainbow said as she turned around in a circle to see herself from every angle.

“We’re glad you enjoyed our services. Your mane and tail were a wonder to work with,” one of the silk-clad manedressers said.

“That concludes your treatment as explained to us by Maria,” another said. “Please allow me to escort you back to the front.”

Rainbow Dash took the short walk with her from the mane salon to the front lobby of The Copper Exclusives that she and Barnaby had first entered hours ago. The pleasant temperature and humidity of the building just added to the experience and kept Rainbow Dash relaxed even as she was finished with getting massages and other treatments.

Once she passed the velvety curtain she saw Barnaby and Maria waiting for her by the fountain. He looked far more chipper and cleaner than normal as well. Seems they both got something they really needed.

“Welcome back, I take it from the time you’ve been away that you enjoyed your visit to the spa?” Barnaby said with a smile.

“Yes,” Rainbow instantly replied.

“Your approval of our enterprise honors us greatly~” Maria said. “And hopefully you’ll come again.”

“We’ll see how long I’m here,” Rainbow smiled at her.

“I think regardless of everything else this would be a perfect place for you to revisit right before you leave Oreville. You’ll be perfectly rejuvenated for travel,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Maybe, thanks for this though.” She looked at Maria. “You too.”

Maria bowed and stepped away from the two of them while Barnaby motioned her to come with him. “Come on, we should get something to eat after all this, and there’s still plenty else for you to see in Oreville.”

“Problem is I think it’s going to have a hard time measuring up to this place. Maybe you brought me here too soon,” she grinned at Barnaby.

He laughed and pushed open the doors to take them outside. “So be it then.”

“Okay, now this—this here? Twilight would never leave this place if she came here,” Rainbow Dash said as she looked around the gigantic Copper Section public library.

As far as libraries went the only two she could think of that surpassed this one were the Canterlot archives and the Crystal Empire’s library. This Copper Section library took up an entire building and there were multiple levels to it. Shelves upon huge shelves covered the first floor and the walls above, quiet tables, chairs, and reading alcoves could be found all over between the bookcases as well. Rainbow really could just imagine Twilight squeeing in delight and prancing up and down on her hooves.

“I hope you’ll be able to appreciate it just as much as your friend,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Nopony could appreciate it as much as Twilight. But I’ll try to get like—halfway to how she would be. Anyway I’m not really sure where I should start, truthfully I’m trying to think of what she would want to see most. Cause she’s going to want me to tell her a lot about Oreville and what kind of stuff you guys have in here.”

“You know… your inquisitive friend would want to know the most she could about this unknown part of the world, wouldn’t she? And probably the history of Oreville rather than any fiction books we read for fun,” Barnaby said.

“Yeah, probably,” Rainbow nodded.

“Well then instead of a leisure trip we can make our visit here a learning experience,” Barnaby said.

“Oh. Great,” Rainbow rolled her eyes.

Barnaby chuckled. “Come on, I know exactly where we should go in here.”

The two of them went down the rows, passing numerous sections like Geology, Seismology, and Biology. And to be fair, Twilight Sparkle—the egghead among eggheads—probably already knew everything there was to know about those subjects. Rainbow Dash only spotted a few others in each part of the library, she wondered if it wasn’t busy hours yet or if there were always this few ponies in here. Would kind of be a shame if it was the latter. Even Rainbow Dash could appreciate libraries nowadays. She bet Larkon would also have loved to see a place like this.

Once they got to the History section, Barnaby took a turn and led them down a particular bookcase. They ended up in a little alcove surrounded on all sides by shelves with a small table with a lamp in the middle of it. A sign hanging above the entrance gave the name to this little sub-section: Cartography.

“These shelves are full of maps drawn by the ponies of Oreville over the centuries we’ve been here—and elsewhere for that matter. While we are not particularly traveled, especially not in the recent decades, these maps will still give you a detailed view of this part of the world,” Barnaby said. “Truthfully I wouldn’t know where to start, it’s not exactly my domain, and some of these historical maps are very old and very out of date.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll figure it out and try to soak up as much as I can—got a natural sense for maps and geography anyways. Comes with being a pegasus always flying above the ground,” Rainbow Dash cracked her neck. “And gotta make sure I can fill up this noggin all the way too so Twilight doesn’t complain when I get back home.”

Thankfully the shelves with the various maps and atlases were organized by date so Rainbow was able to trot over to the more recent ones and pull a book out. Barnaby briefly glanced over the date on it.

“Oh, that’s only 125 years old. Should be as up to date for a map as you can find here in Oreville.”

“Ponyville didn’t even exist 125 years ago...” Rainbow grumbled.

She opened up the heavy book to a random page and saw a mess of grids and scribbled notes laid over a foreign landscape. But maybe not so foreign. It was part of her natural ability, as she had figured out with Twilight’s help a while ago, but Rainbow Dash was able to effortlessly remember any landscape she had flown over or seen while flying. And she vaguely recognized what she was looking at even through the grids and other notes. This was a topographical map of the mountains and landscape above Oreville. She could make out a lot of the mountains she had seen before coming down and first making her way into the Copper Section. Rainbow flipped a few more pages and saw that it was more of the same, more pages going over these mountains in details, some of them devoted entirely to one mountain or the land between them while others were huge sweeping maps of the entire range.

“Really gives a sense for how huge this place is,” Rainbow said.

“The mountain range is bigger than Oreville. The city and various sections don’t spread out entirely underneath it,” Barnaby said. “From what we know though, the mountain range spreads all the way across this side of the world like a belt, before hitting two other mountain ranges that go from north to south.” He pointed out at the edges of the map Rainbow was looking at.

Rainbow thought about it for a moment and pictured where those mountains would be if she was on the other side of the world, back home. “Yakyakistan… and the snowy mountains north of Griffonstone.”

“Hm?” Barnaby raised an eyebrow.

Rainbow shook her head. “Just getting an idea of how the world looks.”

It was weird how even though the Ore-Range Mountains that Oreville sat under were at the same latitude as the icy, snow-capped mountains on the other side of the world, they were completely temperate. So was the landscape and forest right outside the Gate of Winter, while if Rainbow was at the other entrance to the True North she would’ve had to go through the snow and ice of the Yaket Range and the Crystal Empire before it. Maybe it had something to do with the gate itself?

Rainbow turned a page and saw a detailed drawing of a lone mountain to the east of Oreville—The Weeping Mountain. Another page and she saw something that was labeled “The Sloth Forest” to the west. She couldn’t recall Barnaby or anypony else mentioning that before. Another page showed a map of the forests and smaller mountains to the south, along with a place called “Pinetree Warren”. There were a few other small dots placed on the map to the east and west of Pinetree Warren labeled things like Wildflower Grove, Dagget’s Rush, Rockfall, Summerlight, and others. They must’ve been the towns and villages that supposedly existed south of Oreville.

She turned a few more pages in the hopes she’d find a map of the desert that also supposedly sat to the south but all she found were more maps of the mountains and the lands directly around them.

“I think once I leave Oreville the first place I hit up next is going to be this Pinetree Warren place,” Rainbow said as she scratched her head.

Barnaby peered over her and looked at the map. “An apt choice it seems. Maybe they’d have a map or at least some knowledge on what the desert that lies beyond them is like.”

Rainbow shrugged. “Would be nice but I’ve been fine not knowing what’s coming next anyways. Er—maybe not fine, but it kind of makes the adventure more fun like that. Right now I’m just doing this to mostly learn about where I already am. For Twilight’s sake.”

“What a wonderful friend you are then,” Barnaby rolled his eyes. “I suppose if you’re truly invested in informing your friend about this side of the world when you return home, you’ll want to read through our dullest, most tedious, and longest history book on the founding of Oreville.”

Rainbow Dash blanched. “Y-Yeah...”

It took less than 5 minutes of going through that dusty old tome of a history book before Rainbow Dash felt like falling asleep. Everything just slipped right out of her mind. The only thing that really stayed with her was how apparently the ponies who founded Oreville had migrated from the south and discovered these resource rich mountains. As the northernmost settlement on this side of the world they managed to be the last stop for any traders and travelers and survived on their exporting of precious metals and jewels before becoming totally self-sufficient. It would be easier to read on the history if there was any sort of flavor to the text whatsoever but instead it was like reading a dictionary. She didn’t even manage to see where they had started to live entirely underground. As much as she wanted to help Twilight out, this just wasn’t the kind of thing her brain could work through. Twilight would have to deal with the bare minimum.

“Ugh,” Rainbow Dash slammed the book shut and then slammed her head onto the table in front of her. Perhaps a little too loudly for a library.

“Tired?” Barnaby asked.

“What do you think?” Rainbow mumbled without looking up.

“Sorry you can’t take a book or map, or even just a notebook with you when you go,” Barnaby shrugged.

“Yep, gotta keep it allll in here as best I can,” Rainbow sighed and pivoted her head so her chin was resting flush against the table and her bored eyes were peeking out from behind her mane. “When I go, huh?”

“Something the matter?”

Rainbow sat up and leaned back, staring up at the library’s ceiling. “Sorry to be a downer but I’m just thinking how I haven’t really accomplished anything here. Nothing major at least, in fact I may have made some things worse. And now it’s like, I don’t even know if I will be able to do anything. I’m worried that I’m going to leave here like that. I can’t stay forever after all. When I think about all the other places I’ve been to, I was at least able to do something at them.”

Barnaby was quiet for a moment as he took a seat beside her, letting out a deep breath and thrumming his hoof on the table. “Well, it may not be a huge deal or anything, but I do think you did do at least something here.”

“Yeah? What?” She scoffed.

“Made a new friend.”

Rainbow Dash blankly stared at him.

“I mean, with how much you ponies of Equestria seem to value friendship, it seems like making a new friend in a far away land should be a pretty big deal,” he smiled.

Rainbow looked back up at the ceiling and blew an errant strand of mane out of her face. “Honestly, you’re right. Making friends is important. I like doing it. And it should be a big enough accomplishment on its own.”

“But you want more.”

“Yeah. I want to be more awesome,” Rainbow nodded.

“It’ll come. We’ll find something somehow,” Barnaby tried to comfort her.

“That’d be nice,” Rainbow said and stood up out of her chair. “Well, I think I’m done here though. If I read anymore of this my brain’s going to melt. Got the maps down at least.”

“It’s pretty late in the day so we might as well head out,” Barnaby nodded.

“Before we go back to the facility let’s get something to eat again. All that reading made me hungry,” Rainbow grinned.

“Works for me,” Barnaby patted his belly and stood up to follow her.

As the two exited the history section though, they almost walked smack into a large group of young fillies and colts being led by a single older mare.

“Woah!” Rainbow said as she backed up to not accidentally trample any of them. Immediately she was subject to a chorus of shocked gasps and hooves being pointed at her in disbelief.

“It’s her!”

“The pegasus!”

“Look at her mane!”

“She has wings!”

“I read about her in the news!”

“Mom and dad were talking about her!”

Rainbow Dash sheepishly grinned and blushed at the attention being heaped on her from the kids. Meanwhile the older mare, their teacher most likely, was trying to corral them. And not having much success.

“Students, please quiet down! This is a library!” She said to them as they all rushed past her and mobbed Rainbow Dash.

“Your name’s Rainbow Dash right?”

“Is that mane real?”

“Your wings are so cool!”

“You’re from someplace called Equestria?”

Rainbow Dash coughed and decided she might as well indulge these kids. “Yes, yes, they’re totally awesome, and yes.”

“Oh, students… please...” The embarrassed teacher said but her pleas fell on deaf ears. As she tried to calm them down, Barnaby came up to her with an amused grin on his face.

“Well, miss, what do you think about turning this library visit into an impromptu lesson on Equestria?” He asked her.

The teacher bit her lip as she looked at her students and how enraptured they were with Rainbow Dash before she finally sighed in defeat. “I think that’s going to happen no matter what I say now.”

“So, if you kids are so curious about me and Equestria, let me start you off by telling you about something called the Sonic Rainboom...” Rainbow Dash grinned as she began to tell her story.

Two die rolled out of Rainbow’s blue outstretched hoof and onto the green felt of the Craps table, they tumbled down its length before colliding with the end of the table and coming to a stop. All eyes of the ponies surrounding the table were glued to the small dots on the face up sides of the die. Chips were piled up at numerous spaces, their destiny tied to the roll of the dice. A lot of money was riding on this single roll. On every roll.

A four and a three.

“Lucky seven!” The dealer exclaimed exuberantly as he moved his rake to gather up the dice for Rainbow Dash while most of the crowd cheered around him.

Lots of winners on that roll.

Barnaby looked over at the grinning Rainbow Dash with a surprised look on his face. “And you’re sure you’ve never played this before?”

“Pretty sure.”

“How?” He wondered aloud as he scratched his head beneath his helmet. “How do you win on every single roll? Is it just beginner’s luck?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “That’s just how it is when I play games like this. I never lose.”

“The casino might end up getting suspicious and kicking us out at some point then...”

“Bunch of sore losers if they do,” Rainbow snorted. She grabbed the dice but instead of throwing them again she passed them along to the next shooter. “Here you go, pal. See if your luck is as good as mine.” It probably wouldn’t be and all the other gamblers at the table groaned in disappointment as their meal ticket left.

The casino of Copper Section was pretty large, as large as the main building of Las Pegasus’s resort and much bigger than the small casino she had briefly visited in the Metal Mountain earlier on her journey. Dozens of tables for all kinds of different games and hundreds of rows and circles of slot machines filled it up while mares and stallions from all trots of life came to hopefully make a fortune and not just throw their money down the drain. Mares and stallions in pin-striped uniforms worked as dealers or waiters/waitresses bringing drinks around to ponies in the casino. Free of charge of course, they wanted to give you a reason to stay. All in all it led to a cacophony of ringing noise and beeping from the machines as slots rolled and from ponies as they threw everything on the line.

To Rainbow Dash it was just a fun place to be right now.

She walked up to one of the slots and Barnaby offered her a coin to put in. Rainbow Dash pulled the lever and watched as it spun and spun until all three wheels stopped and showed her a gold bar. A celebratory ring came from the machine and dozens of coins fell out into the tray at the bottom of it. When Barnaby gave her a questioning look, all Rainbow Dash could do is shrug.

“I’m just a lucky pony. Watch me play poker, I’ll get a Royal Flush.”

“Do you mind if I put down a lot of money on you? I could use to make some extra cash,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow Dash just laughed. “Go right ahead. Hay, put your life savings on the table. I may lose a hoof or two but I always come out ahead.” She grinned at him. “Thanks for bringing me here, needed something a little more exciting lately.”

“Well that goes for me too. And after some of the stories you’ve told I figured you’d enjoy this place, even if you didn’t play any games or do some gambling of your own I thought someplace lively would do you a lot of good,” Barnaby said.

“And it does,” Rainbow nodded. She looked at the coins that had come out of the slot machine. “I don’t really need any of this so you can keep it, or we can just give it to somepony else.”

Barnaby coughed into his hoof. “Let uh, let me get a bag...”

“Yeah, you do that,” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and wandered over to some of the other tables where they had Poker, Blackjack, Baccarat and Roulette. She didn’t even know how Baccarat was played but she figured she’d probably win anyways even if she tried it, or if she put some random chips down on the Roulette table.

Maybe I should get into gambling when I go back home? Rainbow thought. Totally an easy way to make some extra bits.

She saw an open spot at a Poker table and hopped on, waiting for Barnaby to get back since she wasn’t carrying any chips or money on her. The ponies at the table were obviously a bit surprised to see their new arrival but Rainbow Dash just gave them an easy grin. “I’ll join in on the next hoof, you guys play another round first, then you can go back home bragging about how you got to play a game of Poker with the Rainbow Dash.”

That got a round of smiles and laughter from the others and shortly after Barnaby came back and found her. He stood behind her while Rainbow Dash traded in some of his newly obtained coins for chips to play with. After that it was just easy as pie for Rainbow. Ugh, not pie, make it cake.

Rainbow Dash cracked her hooves and casually sat back as five cards were dealt to her. So it wasn’t the same kind of Poker she had played back at the Metal Mountain, this was just standard 5 card Poker. You could still bluff easily enough but you didn’t have any guesses as to the possible hooves that the other players might have. No problem for Rainbow, she’d still just win it all anyways. She picked up her cards and made sure to hold them close to her so nopony but her and Barnaby looking over her shoulder could see them.

Queen of Hearts, 5 of Diamonds, 5 of Spades, Queen of Diamonds, 2 of Diamonds.

Barnaby rolled his eyes.

After a few quick hooves, Rainbow Dash was pretty much surrounded by piles of chips. The table was like a revolving door of gamblers now who came to play with her and fill in the spots of those who didn’t want to lose anymore. The whole time Barnaby was just shaking his head in disbelief.

“How do you get drawn four Kings? How?!” He pulled at his mane.

“I dunno, dude. I’m just awesome like that,” Rainbow shrugged and got ready for the next hoof.

“I wish I had your luck,” he grumbled.

“There’s not enough spare luck in the world for that,” she winked at him.

Five cards quickly came at her and Rainbow Dash held them up to find three 10’s a 7, and a 2. Rainbow Dash discarded everything except for the 2. Barnaby shot her a befuddled expression but Rainbow Dash completely ignored him for now and called all the bets placed by the other players. Her four replacement cards then came.

2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

Barnaby’s eye twitched.

None of the other hooves on the table could beat the Straight and Rainbow Dash once again took the pot. That was the end for her, she had won enough at Poker.

“Alright, hope you all had fun!” Rainbow Dash said with a big smile on her face. “Whoever wants these chips can take em!” She said and quickly hopped out of the chair while the ravenous crowd around her all dove for the small fortune.

“Uhh, perhaps there was a better way to give those away,” Barnaby said as he walked away with Rainbow.

“Maybe. Anyways, gotta find something else to kick butt at in here,” Rainbow said, looking around the floor of the casino. “You got any games or sports to bet on?”

“Not the season for anything like that,” Barnaby shook his head.

“Guess I could just pull a few more levers and make you rich...” Rainbow considered.

Barnaby coughed. “Ahem, well, while I appreciate the sentiment I’m not sure how I feel about using your supernatural luck to essentially scam the casino.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Oh come on, it’s not stealing. And this is a casino, they’ll be fine.”

“Still, I think the amount you’ve already won for me is decent enough. I mostly prefer to work for my money,” Barnaby said.

“You and Applejack would get along great,” Rainbow laughed.

Something else caught her eye then, and it wasn’t a table. Rainbow Dash walked right over to a mare carrying a tray of drinks and caught her attention. “Yo! Once you’re done hoofing those out, bring me back something tasty!”

“Of course, Miss diplomat,” the mare smiled and walked away to finish delivering her drinks.

Rainbow Dash watched her go, quietly, and then turned to Barnaby. “I still feel weird being called that. Especially since I’m not really doing much diplomatic stuff. I’m just doing whatever I want, really. Having fun and stuff. I wish I could ask Twilight or the Princesses right now and get some advice on what they would do in my situation.”

“Considering I’ve essentially conscripted you into my own business I don’t exactly think you should be blaming yourself,” Barnaby said.

“If I really wanted to though I could refuse, nothing stops me from doing what I want, if I wanted to be a real diplomat and really give my all to making friends with this place and connecting you to Equestria I could have… but I went along with you cause it was more fun,” Rainbow sighed.

“Hasn’t been very fun at all though,” Barnaby gave a short, mocking laugh.

“Whatever,” Rainbow said and sat down at a small table in a lounge area of the casino, waiting for her drink.

“We’ll get Lord Copper though,” Barnaby said as he sat down with her. “We definitely will.”

“If he really is the mastermind. Honestly after meeting him a couple of times he seems too dumb to be the pony that could threaten Dolph and the others so much that they wouldn’t dare speak out against him,” Rainbow said.

“They didn’t know him personally. Probably not at least. They just knew about his power and had likely heard bad rumors. That’s all he needed. I’m still sure it’s all him,” Barnaby frowned.

“Would make things simpler. And I don’t think that stooge is capable of being too much of a threat, but he might do something stupid,” Rainbow shrugged. “The two of us will take him down the moment he tries anything.”

The waitress then came back with Rainbow’s drink, a white cocktail of some sort with a mint leaf stuck on the top. Rainbow had to admit that it tasted pretty darn good. She looked across the small table at Barnaby and shot him a questioning glance.

“Did you want anything?”

“No, no, I’m fine like this. Just thinking.”

Rainbow Dash look out across the casino at everypony gambling and having a good time inside the exciting venue. “Me too I guess.”

Lord Copper crumpled up a piece of paper and angrily threw it off his desk before slamming his hooves down. “Why? Why did things have to go so terribly? It’s all Barnaby and that stupid pegasus’s fault! Things would be done already if it wasn’t for them!”

He fumed and sat back in his seat before swiveling his chair around and staring out the window. This new temporary office he was using didn’t have near the same view his old one did, but that had been a necessary sacrifice. He had been backed into a corner with no other options other than try his best to shift suspicion from himself and appear to be a victim as well. It worked temporarily but in the aftermath he had been cut off from his most important resource and ever since he’d been trying to come up with a new plan to work around it or somehow get his hooves on TNT again.

It hadn’t been going well, as evidenced by his current frustration.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid… I can’t believe I’ve been reduced to this!” Lord Copper growled. “Oreville should be sitting in my hooves.” He turned and knocked everything else off his desk in a rage aside from his intercom. “There isn’t anything else I can do, I need that TNT. It doesn’t matter what problems it may cause—if I can just get my plan rolling again everything will turn out fine.”

He bit his hoof as he mulled the idea over in his head. It wasn’t a new idea, it was a last resort he only wanted to do if he couldn’t come up with anything better. Which unfortunately he hadn’t been able to. It was a risky gamble he was about to set into motion but it was all he had.

Lord Copper took a deep breath and stared at his intercom before bringing a shaking hoof to it and buzzing his secretary.

“Yes, Lord Copper? Is there something you need?”

He swallowed. “Could you contact my chief of security and have him bring both his A-squad and my special guests to my office? He’ll know what that all means.”

“Yes, my lord, right away!”

The intercom buzzed off as soon as he removed his hoof and Lord Copper sat back in his chair, trying not to sweat. There was no turning back now with this decision. By tomorrow, no matter how it turned out, it would all be over. He clasped his hooves together and let out a slow breath, wishing that he had a cup of coffee or at the very least some water to drink.

One dozen ponies on Lord Copper’s security force along with four other ponies he had a business deal with were now gathered in his office. Everypony in the office knew that whatever was going on was extremely serious purely thanks to those who were here. Lord Copper leveled his gaze at his chief of security and the orange band worn around his uniform. He trusted him and his underlings completely, after all he had been paying them a small fortune under the table, what reason did he have to doubt their loyalty? The other four—Lord Copper turned his attention to Malthus and his thugs—simply knew they weren’t going to get any help if they came clean so they might as well stick with Copper.

Lord Copper let them all stand at attention for a moment longer as he gathered his thoughts. He really wished right now he had a speech or something prepared, but unfortunately he hadn’t been thinking that far ahead. They needed to act fast anyways, he just didn’t want to come off as not absolutely certain and in control to his employees. The situation had already gone sour enough.

“I think you can all figure out the reason I’ve called you here tonight to a degree,” he finally said, glancing at the clock on the wall that showed the time as but an hour before midnight. “But regardless of how much you grasp, let me tell you now that it is finally time for me to act and begin the final part of my grand plan. There will be difficulties involved, and dangerous risks since new problems have arisen, but what happens now will be no simple show or farce. This is the real deal and I’ll need all of you to play your parts.”

He continued- “You’re all well aware that we’ve lost access to the TNT we need for the bombs and that’s why nothing has been done lately. However, it’s become apparent that there is nothing we can do about that except for one thing.” His eyes narrowed coldly. “Break into the constable-guarded warehouses and steal more crates of TNT immediately.”

The mouth of his chief of security hung open in shock. “Sir, is that—can we really do that? Not only the danger but the constables and other Lords will know immediately, and what if they connect us to you?”

“That’s why you’ll wear casual clothes while doing it,” Lord Copper’s eyes narrowed. “Either way we need to do this. It’s more TNT or nothing. The longer Barnaby and that pegasus are suspicious of me the more likely it is that they unravel the whole thing.”

“What is this grand plan of yours anyways?” The uneasy Malthus asked.

“That’s none of your business. You’re just muscle hired to do the dirty work, and you’ve caused me a considerable amount of trouble so just shut your mouth and do what you’re told today,” Lord Copper spat.

Malthus’s jaw clenched as he glared at the floor but he and his gang decided it was best to keep quiet.

“Alright,” Lord Copper tapped his hoof on his desk. “You know that not only must this be done fast but much more TNT will be needed than before. Two or even three crates, and it must be used all at once. It can’t just be a small danger like that first bomb—it must be a massive, serious threat to Oreville or it’s meaningless! The plan won’t work otherwise, do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.” His chief of security nodded.

“Good. You already know what needs to be done once you’ve acquired the TNT. So get to those warehouses and get it as quickly as possible! There’s no time to waste and we’ll be on a timer once the break in happens so you’ll have to work even faster at the second part! Now get out of here!” Lord Copper ordered.

The chief of security and his underlings swiftly saluted and turned to leave the office, marshaling Malthus and his gang with them.

Once they were gone, Lord Copper turned in his chair and looked out the window at Copper Section. His Copper Section. “Everything is going to be fine. It will all be over with soon.”

Jarvis, the chief of Lord Copper’s security forces, was fairly wary of the task he was currently undertaking. And he could tell from the tense atmosphere he wasn’t the only pony who felt that way. Both his fellow security officers and the slimy thugs they were working with had a lot to worry about. None of them had the courage to voice any of it though, especially not back in front of Lord Copper. He was just going to have to get the TNT and hope everything turned out alright. There was still a lot more work to be done after this point.

In truth he probably shouldn’t even be thinking that far ahead, he needed to stay focused on the present. There were likely a lot of constables guarding the warehouses now but Jarvis and his group had the element of surprise.

Now close to midnight, in the washroom of the main warehouse, a grating on the shower floor was popped open. Jarvis, Malthus, and everypony else quietly came up one by one until the whole group was gathered inside the washroom. The grating led to a secret tunnel in the sewers that few knew about, it was far too narrow to bring a crate of TNT back through it but it was useful to get into the warehouses and get the drop on the constables. Walking through all that dreck had been a pain but the next part of their business was probably going to be even worse.

“So do we just try and sneak a few crates out of here?” Malthus asked Jarvis.

“Sneak?” Jarvis looked at him like he was an idiot. “There’s no way the Chief Constable hasn’t explicitly instructed his constables to guard this place at all hours of the night. We won’t be getting these crates out the front without being seen, there’s bound to be too many around for that.”

“Well then what’s the plan, genius?” Malthus scowled at him.

Jarvis glared back at him. “There’s only one thing to do; we charge out of this washroom, hit them hard and fast in this warehouse, and run out of here with three crates before most of them can react and get here.”

“That’s not even really a plan at all...” Malthus shook his head. “We’re all going to end up dead or arrested, aren’t we?”

“Since you’d be rotting in a cell already if it wasn’t for Lord Copper you better still do your part anyways,” Jarvis narrowed his eyes.

“We will,” Malthus looked at his gang, who all nodded back to him.

“Then let’s do this. We’re already wasting too much time standing around and talking,” Jarvis said. He looked at his fellow security officers. “Are you ready?”

“Yes, sir,” they snapped a salute to him.

Jarvis nodded. “Good.” He took a deep breath. “Right out of the washroom, knock out and incapacitate everypony you see, try not to let them activate any alarms, and then the crates. It’ll take us all working together to carry the three crates we need.” He walked over to the door leading into the main part of the warehouse and put his hoof on the handle.

A lot of last second worries and regrets went through his mind right then but he snuffed them all out and quickly yanked the door open.

Almost twenty ponies ran out into the warehouse, closer to the back end where the office was. Jarvis immediately ran to the office with two others since he knew for sure there’d be at least one pony in there keeping watch. The rest fanned out and ran through the rows of crates of TNT to find and incapacitate any other constables that may be in here. Nopony yelled or screamed, they didn’t hide the sounds of their hooves running across the floor but they didn’t need to so obviously alert everypony else to what was going on.

Jarvis passed by the window of the back office right as the constable inside was sitting up after hearing the commotion. So Jarvis grit his teeth and threw open the door, stepping inside with his two comrades and pointing a hoof at the constable. “Stop right there!”

The eyes of the constable flickered to a conspicuous button on the side of the wall.

“Don’t even think about it,” Jarvis warned.

The constable didn’t listen, he ran to the alarm with an outstretched hoof—but he was intercepted by Jarvis, who grabbed him and put him in a headlock before spinning him around and slamming him into the filing cabinet by the desk. With a pained grunt, the constable tried to fight his way to his hooves but the other two security ponies came forward and kicked him repeatedly in the ribs. Jarvis ended it with a final punch across the jaw to knock the pony out cold.

“Well we don’t have to worry about that alarm going off anytime soon,” Jarvis said and then looked out the window at the quickly growing chaos inside the warehouse. “Come on, let’s hurry and finish up in here so we can get those crates out.”

Outside the office, Malthus was leading the charge against any constables who had been unlucky enough to be roaming around inside the warehouse keeping watch over the stockpile of TNT. They had already taken down three of them before the rest seemed to realize that something was wrong. Malthus only hoped that none of them were smart enough to go running outside for help. The other ponies in his gang and a few of Copper’s security guards were trailing behind him.

A constable came around the corner of a few stacked up crates of TNT, his red uniform easy to make out in the dim lighting of the warehouse. Malthus charged forward and body-checked him into the crate behind him before the constable could react. He then reached his hooves forward and grabbed the constables head and repeatedly slammed it into the heavy wooden crate. It felt good to be on the giving end of a beatdown after Barnaby and that pegasus had humiliated him a week ago.

“What’s going on?!”

“Stop!”

Two voices yelled from where the other constable had emerged from and Malthus looked to see two other uniformed guards coming at him. Malthus didn’t waste any time with talk, he charged at the two constables while his gang came behind him to back him up. To their credit, the two constables didn’t try to run away like cowards, they stood their ground even as they were tackled to the floor and beaten senseless.

Some of Copper’s guards came to a stop around the painful melee until Malthus was finished and got up.

“How many more do you think are in here?” One of the security guards asked him.

“Who cares? Can’t be too many,” Malthus said. “Your boss should come help us out so we can start moving these darn crates already.”

After that there were only about five more constables inside the warehouse that the group had to take care of. It was easy thanks to them having much superior numbers now after taking out some of the others by surprise. They had no idea how many might be patrolling outside, or at the gate, or in the other warehouses, but they were lucky to clear this one out. Jarvis and Malthus made sure everypony was knocked out and wouldn’t cause any trouble, then met up at the large front doors of the warehouse. The lights above only barely gave enough illumination inside here but it was all they needed. Multiple stacks of crates sat right in front of the large doors, just waiting to be moved.

“Alright, we’ll take down three, throw the doors open, and run for the gates. Somepony will need to be in front to either take out whichever pony is guarding the front gate or to just open it up for us in case nopony is there,” Jarvis said.

“I’ll do that,” Malthus volunteered. “Don’t want to help carrying one of those huge things anyways.”

Jarvis nodded. “Fine. Now let’s hope there aren’t any constables right outside when we open this up.”

Once they had gotten the crates down, five stallions each went to carry one with Malthus staying at point. The crates were heavy even for five stallions and it would be a mess of trouble if they didn’t get out of here with them soon. The huge doors that opened up into the yard of the walled off warehouses now needed to be opened. Thankfully that was easy. There was one metal drop rod that needed to be lifted out of its hole at the bottom of the door and turned aside. Then Malthus could easily push the doors open and they could make a break for it.

Malthus pulled up the rod to unlock the door and placed his hooves on them, briefly looking back at Jarvis. “Ready?”

“Ready,” Jarvis answered.

Malthus bit his lip and threw the doors open. Him, Jarvis, and all the others moved their hooves like their lives depended on it. Since it was the dead of night, most of the yard was dark and the lights built into the ceiling of the cavern weren’t turned on yet. There was one light on inside the pillbox at the front gate, a desk lamp, like a lighthouse showing exactly where they needed to go, and there were several constables roaming around with flashlights elsewhere in the yard. So it wasn’t exactly a perfect situation but it could’ve been worse.

The ponies flat out ignored the other constables, who noticed something was up but were slow to react, and ran straight for the front gate.

The constable stationed in the pillbox both heard and saw their shadowed approach. Trying to get a better view he pulled out a flashlight of his own and shone it at the running ponies. What he saw shocked him and he got out of the box to confront Malthus leading the charge.

“Stop there!” The constable yelled and whistled for help.

Malthus meanwhile just kept running at him, he could tell that not only had this constable realized what was going on, but he recognized Malthus as well. He must’ve been a pony that Barnaby trusted or at least kept up to date on recent important arrests. Either way, Malthus wasn’t going to let him off easy. He needed to take this constable out quick and open up the gate before more arrived.

The constable dropped the flashlight to the ground to keep his hooves free and went for a straight punch as soon as Malthus got close. Malthus cross-countered it, throwing his hoof right along the constable’s outstretched leg while ducking under the hoof coming for him. His hoof landed across the constable’s right jaw, knocking a tooth clean out of the pony’s mouth.

Blood was spat from the constable’s mouth as he took a few steps back while Malthus threw another punch to his face. But this time the constable blocked it and managed to uppercut a surprised Malthus instead. Meanwhile the three crates were practically right behind them and at the gates already.

“Malthus!” Jarvis shouted. “Hurry up and get the gate open!”

“What does it look like I’m trying to do?!” Malthus shouted back and tackled the constable.

The both of them fought to get on top of the other as they rolled across the hard ground and traded close blows with each other. Malthus ended up on top and slammed his hooves into the constable’s shoulders to keep him pinned, and then headbutted him with all the strength he could muster. The constable’s head snapped back and his skull echoed off the ground, his eyelids fluttering and his pupils losing focus. Satisfied that that was enough, Malthus quickly got off him while rubbing his own bruised forehead and ran into the pillbox.

There was a switch inside at the desk that he flipped and the metal gate started automatically rolling back into the stone wall. As soon as there was just barely enough room to fit through, Jarvis and the other ponies made a beeline for it and Malthus came running right after them.

“Come on, we’re not in the clear yet,” Jarvis said as the first crate made it past the gate. “We’ve gotta get the bombs ready and into the mines as fast as we can!”

“Whatever!” Malthus said and went to help carry the last crate as well.

In just a few seconds all three of them had been taken past the gate and were now being carried down the dark streets of the Copper Section. While finally a few of the other constables in the yard made it to the gate and noticed their downed comrade and his discarded flashlight.

“H-Hey! What happened?!” The first one yelled as he knelt down and tried to shake the semi-conscious guard back into coherency while the others shined their lights out into the street for a sign of where the ponies and crates of TNT had gone.

The eyes of the gate guard came back into focus for a brief moment as he coughed up some blood and spittle onto his uniform. “M-Mines...” His eyes then rolled back as he lost consciousness.

At the checkpoint right inside the front door that led to the main city center of Copper Section, an incredibly bored pony sat on a stool behind glass. Formerly this had been a position held by security guards of Copper Section, but Lord Silver had changed that. Now it was a personal guard from Lord Silver’s security forces that sat here and monitored the main tunnel in and out of Copper Section. A boring, empty job, but a job nonetheless.

Herman sat with his eyes half-closed, threatening to fall asleep, and stared at the turnstiles and gates that made up the checkpoint outside his little booth. His shift still had a few hours to go and he doubted those hours were going to be flying by. Near the entrance to the tunnel, the metal door stayed closed, the pulley system used to make it retreat up against the ceiling currently idle. Despite the hour the lights were on in the tunnel (they always were) and he could see the inner side of the door.

It was crazy to think a pony had actually come here for the first time in... how long? He wouldn’t have been surprised if that door went another hundred years without being-

*Knock knock knock*

The echoing of a hoof knocking on the outside of the metal door reverberated through the tunnel and made it to Herman’s booth. He practically fell off his stool.

“You’re kidding me?” He blinked a few times down at the door, wondering if maybe he had just imagined it.

*Knock knock knock*

Nope, there it was again.

Herman rubbed his head and looked at his clock: it was still a couple hours before the lights would come on in Oreville, it was still night outside too. Who the hay was coming here at this time of night? And why? His eyes looked at the button to raise the door that was sitting right on his desk, and even though he was confused and surprised, it was still his job to open up the door for any visitors and travelers.

The security guard shrugged and pushed the button, watching as the door slowly lifted.

He looked out past the glass of his booth and down the tunnel and once the door had risen by a few feet, the figure of a lone pony appeared to him.

Rainbow Dash was snoozing on a ratty old couch in Barnaby’s office while the Chief Constable himself was snoring his way through the night in his desk chair. Neither of them were particularly comfortable but this was one place the both of them considered safe in Oreville. Rainbow’s hooves and wings moved around a bit in her sleep as she dreamed of a race, she was just about to cross the finish line when-

The door to Barnaby’s office was thrown open with enough force to make the handle smack into the wall on the other side. The loud noise startled and woke up both ponies inside, with Rainbow Dash accidentally slipping off the couch and falling to the floor.

“Wha-what’s happening?!” The half-asleep Rainbow asked as she launched herself to her hooves and looked around.

“Ch-Chief Constable!” The pony who had opened the door said, he was sweaty and out of breath. “There’s been a break in at the TNT warehouses! Several crates were stolen, I just got it on the radio with the constables stationed there!”

“WHAT?!” Barnaby yelled and jumped out of his chair.

“I-I came to get you as fast as I could,” the constable said.

Rainbow Dash shot Barnaby a knowing look and he nodded back at her.

“Let’s get over there right now,” Barnaby said.

The lights had come on in Oreville by the time they made it to the warehouses and the rest of the city was starting to wake up, ponies were walking down the streets to work and wagons were carrying things already. The rest of the city had no idea what had happened yet.

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby were now right inside the front gate where most of the rest of the constables had gathered. Some of them looked injured, as if they had just gotten out of a fight, while one was still lying on the ground with his head being supported by a pillow another constable had brought. Barnaby was fuming but he wasn’t angry at his subordinates this time. He tilted his helmet back and looked around at all of them.

“Tell me exactly what happened.”

“We figured out that they came up from the sewer beneath the washroom of the main warehouse,” one of the constables said. “We’re not sure how many there were, maybe twenty, but they overwhelmed the constables inside the warehouse and ran out with a few crates of TNT. Then one of them attacked Xavier here,” he nodded at the constable lying on the ground. “And opened up the gate.”

“This aint good...” Rainbow Dash grimaced.

“And you lost them?” Barnaby asked. “Do you know who they were or at least where they were taking the TNT?”

“T-That’s what we were waiting for you on, we wanted to be sure of what you wanted us to do,” the constable said, rubbing the back of his neck, he looked nervous and scared at the same time.

“What do you mean?” Barnaby raised an eyebrow.

“Xavier heard something... and he and some of us thought we recognized some of the ponies that stole the TNT...” The constable said.

Before Barnaby or Rainbow Dash could tell him to spit it out already, Xavier coughed and weakly opened up his eyes.

“Mines... bombs... to the mines...” the pony said.

“That’s what he’s been saying,” the first constable said.

“They’re going to set off more explosions in the mines... we can’t let that happen!” Barnaby said.

“Why are you all so dang slow to act?!” Rainbow Dash said to the constables. “If you know where they were going to be taking bombs to-”

“Malthus... security guards...” Xavier coughed.

Barnaby and Rainbow Dash looked at him while the first constable gulped.

“T-That’s the thing. We think some of the other ponies who came to steal those crates were some of Lord Copper’s security guards. Some think they recognized the face of his chief of security. I-If Lord Copper is involved... I’m sorry sir, but we know what happened earlier between you and him and Lord Silver. If we’re wrong about him again won’t you be in a lot of trouble?”

Barnaby shook his head. “That doesn’t matter right now. Whatever Lord Copper is planning to do with those bombs has to be stopped, consequences be damned. And if you can identify some of the ponies that stole the TNT as his security forces I think it’s certain that he’s the one behind this. He always was.”

“What do we do now?” Rainbow Dash asked him. She then shook her head. “Scratch that. I know what we do now.” She punched her hooves together.

“Right,” Barnaby nodded. “But it’s a little more complicated than that. If three crates were stolen and all the TNT in them was used to make bombs and they were taken to the mines... that’s the worst case scenario and I don’t want to rule it out. It wouldn’t just be a single collapsed cave we’d be facing, there could be catastrophic damage that could put the entire Copper Section at risk. Finding the bombs and stopping them from going off is more important than apprehending Lord Copper right now.”

“But he has to know exactly what’s being done with them!” Rainbow said.

Barnaby bit his lip. “You’re right but we aren’t even sure where exactly he is right now and his security could cause us problems if we try to force our way into his building...” Barnaby paced back and forth and tried to think of what to do. “Rainbow Dash, can I ask something of you?”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Yeah, what?”

“It’s easier for you to travel through the Copper Section, and I know you’re perfectly capable on your own, I don’t think his security officers are a danger to you if you’re fighting back,” Barnaby said. “I want you to find Lord Copper and get him to spill the beans on everything, tell him we know for sure he’s behind things now. Threaten him if you have to. But in the meantime I’ll be taking my constables into the mines, I can meet up with Crom and his teams and we’ll scour the mines together to find the bombs. I can grab a pair of long distance radios back at the correctional facility and give one to you so we can stay in contact with each other.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “You can count on me, and I know you won’t be upset if he ends up with a few bruises.”

“Not at all,” Barnaby smiled back. “Now come on, we need to get back to the facility quickly.” He looked at the other constables. “Some of you stay here and watch over the injured, get in touch with the hospital, but the rest of you get to the elevators that will take you into the mines right now and wait for me! Together we’ll go down and tell Crom what’s going on.”

“Yes, sir!” The constables saluted and began to break off into groups to do their duties.

Barnaby gave them a last nod and shared a glance with Rainbow Dash before they both zoomed out of the warehouse grounds. He was running at full speed and she was keeping pace in the air right beside him.

“So Lord Copper finally ran out of patience and made a move I guess?” Rainbow Dash said.

“Must have,” Barnaby answered. “I’m still not sure what happened with that bomb that blew up his office last time though. And I still have no idea what his goal with all of this is.”

“Actually, I think I can piece together what that whole explosion in his office was about,” Dash said.

“Really?”

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah. I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I’ve got a nose for picking out lies and evil jerks. Now that we know for sure he’s the one doing this, I’m finally getting what happened back then.” She narrowed her eyes as she looked ahead and thought back on that day when they confronted Lord Copper. “This guy had to know we were suspicious of him and would be coming after him sooner or later after surviving that explosion at your home. So he got himself some insurance to try and throw us off his back or at least make himself look like a victim and sympathetic or whatever to the public and Lord Silver.”

“But the timing-”

“It was just like with Dolph,” Rainbow Dash said. “That bomb wasn’t on a timer like the one that blew up your place. It was activated by him pushing some kind of detonator. I bet Lord Copper had one that worked both ways, do you remember how he was acting? And how he looked at the clock right before he went into his office?”

“Yes... yes, I do.” Barnaby said, thinking back on the moment as well.

“I think he was checking to make exactly sure when that bomb was going to go off. The moment he saw us in the hallway I bet he pressed a detonator he had concealed in his clothes or something. And after that it was just stalling and waiting for the right time. He cut us off and tried to get out of the conversation right before the bomb exploded. That was too perfect to be a coincidence, he knew the bomb was going to explode right as he was about to open the door,” Rainbow said. “And then the way he acted after it exploded and during the meeting with Lords Silver and Gold was just a show.”

“Except Lord Silver’s proclamations caused new problems for him,” Barnaby suggested.

Rainbow nodded. “Exactly. And that’s why this is happening now. Still don’t know what his main goal in all this is though.”

“We can figure that out later, let’s just get the radios we need and work together to stop him and those bombs. I get the feeling we don’t have all the time in the world,” Barnaby said.

Carter whistled as he walked down the Copper Section tunnel to start his shift as checkpoint guard today. It was early morning now and he was preparing to relieve Herman who worked the night shift. Unlike most others from Silver Section, Carter actually volunteered to come out here and help since it meant getting away from his wife and in-laws back in Silver Section. Besides, it was a nice easy job and you hardly had to do anything at all. He always brought a book with him to pass the time, technically he wasn’t supposed to but nopony was going to come out here and find out.

As he made his way down the tunnel he suddenly shivered thanks to a cold breeze blowing down it.

“Brrr... what the?” Carter tilted his head. “Why’s there a breeze?” He looked down the lit up tunnel until it became little more than shadows. Was the door open or closed?

He quickened his pace a bit to make it to the checkpoint and the booth that Herman should be in. Did he fall asleep and accidentally open up the door or something? Only a bit further along did he get to where he could see the checkpoint and the entrance to the tunnel beyond that. He had to squint for the moment but he was pretty darn sure the door was open and the very first glimmer of sunlight was starting to peak in.

“Herman? Herman!” Carter shouted at the booth as he quickly trotted up to it. “You fall asleep?”

Carter reached the door on the side of the booth and opened it up with his key. As soon as he opened the door and looked inside, he dropped his keys in shock. Herman was fallen on the floor of the booth, his stool tipped over, and glass from the broken window in front his station lying all around him.

“Herman!” Carter yelled and ran over to his coworker. He grabbed his body and rolled him over, checking for a pulse and to see if the security guard was still breathing.

A pained wheeze from Herman told Carter that at least the other pony was still alive.

“Hey, hey! What happened?! Were you attacked?!” Carter shook Herman a few times to try and get an answer.

Suddenly Herman’s eyes shot open and he gripped Carter’s shoulder with his right hoof. A sharp intake of breath made his entire body shudder and his grip loosened, his limbs going limp and his eyes almost rolling back into his head. “Hahhhhh...” He choked out, trying to speak.

“What is it?” Carter stopped shaking him so as not to accidentally hurt him.

“Danger... t-tell Lord Silver... m-monster...everypony is in danger...” Herman choked in another lungful of air. “Run... tell everypony... run...”

Herman’s back arched as he finished his last words and his eyes rolled back into his head completely, before his body fell slack in Carter’s embrace. Carter stared at the corpse he held for a few moments longer before realization hit.

“H-Hey? What... this can’t be real can it?” Carter said as his body went cold and he accidentally dropped Herman’s body back to the floor. “M-Monster?”

Carter’s eyes glanced up at the booth’s desk. A newly placed radio sat there that would give him a direct line to the Silver Section government offices. He stood up on shaking hooves and walked over to it, pale in the face and lightheaded, turning it on and trying to make the call.

“Pick up, pick up, please pick up soon...” Carter said as the radio buzzed and a cold breeze continued to blow in from the outside.

Lord Copper had his nicest, freshly cleaned, suit on for this important morning. A watch around his left hoof told him the time and he wore a small radio with a microphone in the neck of his suit that he could use to quickly communicate with others. The outfit was finished with him wearing a confident and happy smile on his face. He briefly looked out the window of his office at Copper Section before turning to the security ponies he had gathered here. Not Jarvis and his squad, who didn’t have the time to make it back here after doing their job and who he couldn’t risk being seen with, but another group who he had also firmly bought the loyalty of to escort him today. After all he needed witnesses he could trust when it came to what he was about to do. Jarvis, Malthus, and the others were safely waiting in the sewers and old abandoned tunnels that only Copper really knew about.

A glance at his watch told him they still had plenty of time but that they should probably get moving now anyways. No reason to cut things dangerously close.

“Alright, my ponies, today is the day that change comes to Oreville. You’ll all be part of it and greatly rewarded, I promise you,” Lord Copper said to his guards. “A new Oreville with one ruler is about to be born. No more sections, no more lords, just Oreville.”

His grin somehow widened even further as he walked through the guards towards the door. “Let us be off.”

“I’m going to have every available constable come with me, the mines are vast and there’s no telling how many bombs could be down there,” Barnaby said as he and Rainbow Dash rooted through the main supply room of his office.

“All good, I can handle Lord Copper and any guards he has with him. No offense but I don’t think most ponies in here can put up much of a fight,” Rainbow said.

“None taken. Considering what you’ve been through and some of the other opponents you’ve dealt with I think we’d all be little more than punching bags for you.” Barnaby opened up a locker and finally found what he had been looking for. “Aha!”

He pulled out the pair of radios and hoofed one over to Rainbow Dash. “Put that around your neck and put in the earpiece. Turn it on to frequency 1. I’ll keep my radio on that frequency too and we’ll be able to talk to each other just fine even when I’m down in the mines.”

“You got it,” Rainbow said and quickly affixed her radio.

Barnaby took a deep breath and smiled at her. “Rainbow Dash, I have to thank you for everything. Things would be even worse right now in Oreville if it wasn’t for you. Who knows where Lord Copper would be now. What we’re about to do is definitely dangerous, but it’ll all be worth it in the end. We’ll have taken down a dangerous lunatic and you’ll have gotten your adventure.”

Rainbow Dash grinned and raised a hoof. “Right on.”

Barnaby grinned and bumped it. “I’ll treat you to another meal once this is over and done with.”

“That’s gonna give me even more motivation then,” Rainbow said and cracked her neck. She then stretched her limbs and opened up her wings. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna fly.”

The pegasus then blasted out of the room, leaving a whirlwind behind that Barnaby had to shield his eyes from. She was probably out of the entire correctional facility in moments. Barnaby chuckled to himself, knowing Rainbow was getting a fast start on scouring the Copper Section for Lord Copper. It filled him with ease despite the potential danger. There was nothing else for him to do now but gather up his constables and get to the mines, once he was there he could get in touch with Crom and have him and the other miners help out as well. They were working against the clock, he just wished he knew how much time they had left.

Barnaby left the supply room and went to the intercom at his desk, there he could send an announcement throughout the entire facility. He pressed the button that would enable him to send an emergency message through every speaker in the facility.

“Good morning constables of Oreville,” he spoke calmly. “I’m afraid I have a very serious announcement to make...”

Though Barnaby knew not every constable on his force was the paragon of loyalty and justice, it didn’t matter right now as the threat to Oreville was too great. He hoped that all of those he brought along with him, even those who may have been bought off by Copper at previous times, would see that. Right now what was going on was bigger than any individual pony.

Civilians in the streets of the Copper Section gave them a wide berth as Barnaby and two-dozen other constables jogged to the main elevators that would take them down into the mines. Nopony else knew what was going on yet, and Barnaby didn’t want to scare any of them, but they could tell that something serious was up. At the mine entrances there were a number of his more trusted constables who had made their way over from the TNT warehouses. It made him happy to see that they had listened to orders well. A lot of the miners seemed perturbed and worried about what was going on but Barnaby couldn’t help that.

He came to a halt with the others in front of the warehouse group and got a swift salute from all of them. Barnaby returned it with a salute of his own and looked over his force of constables he had gathered here.

“Alright, you all know what the situation is and what we need to do now. Follow my lead to the staging area and then follow Crom’s lead if he asks anything of you. We’re going to need to split up into a lot of different groups so obey any orders Crom or the senior miners give you. They know the mines better than we do. Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir!” The constables responded together.

Barnaby nodded. “Good. It’s going to be a tense day.”

The large group of constables quickly filed into the elevators and got ready to ride them down to the staging area. Barnaby had to make any other miners stop from coming down with them and told them to tell anypony else coming that the elevators were out of order. He tried not to sweat or show any hint of nervousness while he made the long trip down the elevator with his constables. It wasn’t easy.

He hated just standing here when he knew they needed to act fast. There was no telling where the bombs were, when they would go off, or how many there were in the first place. The ponies working with Copper had several hours to do their work and plant bombs in the mines. Barnaby wasn’t sure how but he knew there were plenty of other tunnels and entrances aside from the main ones, Lord Copper must have had more detailed knowledge of them than Barnaby. But Crom at least would give them an edge, he’d know all the places any bombs could be secretly planted.

The elevator finally came to a lurching stop and the grate in front opened up and allowed Barnaby and his constables to pour out. He ran right past the other miners minding the elevators, letting one of his subordinates tell them what was up, and traveled straight through the tunnel towards the staging area and Crom’s office. Just like above, a lot of miners were pretty darn confused to see what was going on.

Barnaby ignored it all as he emerged into the staging area, seeing so many other ponies milling about, not even knowing they were in danger, it lit a fire beneath his hooves. He charged to Crom’s office and threw the doors open while his constables came to a stop behind him.

“Crom!” Barnaby yelled.

The veteran miner spat out some coffee he had been drinking and started coughing. He was at a desk surrounded by some of his other foremen and chiefs. “W-What the? What’s going on?”

“We’ve got a huge problem and I need you to stay calm and help me out!” Barnaby said as he walked towards him.

“Have you lost your marbles?” Crom raised an eyebrow at him.

Barnaby grit his teeth and shook his head. “No, Crom, this is serious. Bombs have been placed inside the mines! It’s not just one this time either, there could potentially be dozens of them. I brought as many constables as I could on short notice down here but we need you to help us out too.”

Crom stared gapingly at his friend, looking past him at the horde of constables standing just outside the office as well. “You’re... you’re serious, aren’t you?”

“Unfortunately,” Barnaby nodded. “There’s no time to waste now, I need you to send a broadcast through the mines telling everypony to evacuate, but I’ll still need you and your top miners to help me and my constables look for the bombs. Got that?” Barnaby grimaced and bit his lip. “If... If you want to evacuate too though, I’ll understand.”

“N-Now don’t be deciding nothing like that on your own. We’ve got your back,” Crom answered and looked at his fellow miners. “We can gather up some of the other tunnel supervisors as we go. But let me send out that broadcast over our radios first.”

“Thanks, Crom,” Barnaby smiled at his friend and sighed in relief.

“Don’t thank me until those bombs are found and deactivated or whatever,” Crom grumbled as he went over to the radio station in the office.

“Yeah. I’m going to take a few constables with me onto the tram so we can get a head start. If you need to contact me, use frequency 2 on your radio, I’m keeping 1 for me and Rainbow Dash,” Barnaby said.

“Alright... geez, I didn’t expect my day to go like this,” Crom shook his head and turned on the radio.

Barnaby left him and the miners to their own devices for now, walking out of the office and to his gathered constables. The staging area had become much more still and quieter than normal as most of the miners in it were looking at the constables and wondering what was going on. At least they’d all be out of here and safe soon. Barnaby grabbed the four closest constables to him and lead them on the way to the tram.

“Come on, you’re with me, the rest of you wait for Crom. We’re finding these bombs now.”

Lord Copper and his entourage of guards calmly walked down the streets of the Copper Section. Much like Barnaby and his constables, they were gathering quite a bit of attention from other ponies as well. He just happily waved to all those who looked over at him though. This was a momentous occasion and his spirits were high.

Some ponies had to make way to let him and his guards pass on this side of the street, Lord Copper tipped his head to them and smiled. “Good morning, my fellow citizens. And what a lovely morning in Oreville it is.”

The ponies smiled back. “Sure is, Lord Copper!” One of them said.

“Have a nice day now!” He waved and kept trotting along.

Ah, this is truly wonderful. I feel on top of the world. He thought. Everything’s going to be so much better for me after today, I’ll finally be able to do what I truly want with my home.

A blue missile crashed into the street in front of him and his guards, kicking up a cloud of dust and startling the ponies around them.

“W-What?!” Lord Copper screeched, stepping backwards and nearly tripping over his own hooves.

Rainbow Dash stepped forward from the cloud of dust and stared him cold in the eyes. The security guards formed up in front of Lord Copper but she completely ignored them. “Hey. You and I have something to talk about.”

Lord Copper’s eyes glanced down at his watch.

“Yes sir, I found him and he... n-no sir, I don’t know. He said it was a monster and... yes sir, a monster. He said that and said we were all in danger... l-lockdown? I don’t know sir, he... yes but he said we should run... I understand sir... I-I don’t know, but whatever did this has to have been in the Copper Section for hours now... a-are you sure that’s what... y-yes sir.”

Carter turned off the radio after finishing talking to Lord Silver and realized he had been having a cold sweat the entire time. Herman was still lying there on the floor but it would be some time before anything could be done about that. Carter brought a shaking hoof up to his forehead and wiped away as much sweat he could before looking down the tunnel at the open door. He bit his lip, unsure if this was the right course of action or not, but there was nothing else he could do. His hoof came down and hit the button for closing the main entrance into the Copper Section, the door gliding down its track and landing on the ground with a thud, securely shut.

Elsewhere throughout Copper Section, the rest of the lockdown was now beginning.

“Barnaby? It’s me, I’ve found Lord Copper and I’ll keep you posted,” Rainbow said into her microphone before clicking the radio off and glaring back at Lord Copper.

His guards took a step towards her but Rainbow Dash just huffed. “If you don’t want your guards to be a big pile of broken bones, I’d tell them to back off.”

At seeing just how serious Rainbow Dash was, his guards became a little uneasy and they looked back at him for any orders. Not only that, all of the other ponies on the street had stopped to look at what was happening. A huge crowd was forming around Lord Copper and Rainbow Dash. The lord swallowed a nervous gulp and coughed, trying to put on his most intimidating and confident face.

“J-Just what do you think you’re doing anyways? What reason do you have to come to me right now? Obviously you know not to bother me after last time,” Lord Copper said, projecting his voice so the civilians could hear him clearly.

“I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me what I’m doing?” Rainbow Dash said.

“Excuse me?” Copper raised an eyebrow.

“I came here to stop you from doing whatever it is you’re planning. So why don’t you tell me exactly what I’m stopping?” Rainbow glared hard at him.

Her eyes made Lord Copper wilt. “R-Ridiculous... I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Then what are you doing out here with these guys?” Rainbow said as she looked back and forth at the various guards.

Lord Copper looked around at the curious ponies and swallowed. “I-If you must know, we were going to the mines.”

“To check on the bombs you planted?” Rainbow accused. Her voice was still even, she wasn’t shouting, but there was an icy ferocity in her words all the same.

That sent a rumble through the crowd and they began muttering and talking to each other while Copper’s guards sweated and Lord Copper himself looked like he was about to have an aneurysm.

“Bombs?! That I planted?! Don’t be ridiculous you... you... vomit-maned outsider!” He shouted at her. “For your information, the only reason I’m going there is to check up on things. With all that’s happened lately, I thought it would be wise if the lord of Copper Section himself came down to the mines to reassure everypony and get a first-hoof look at things. Bombs? I have no knowledge of such horrid things and I certainly hope there’s nothing so sinister down in our mines right now!”

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I told you.” She said as she opened her eyes and glared at him once more. “I told you to stop and not do anything stupid that you couldn’t handle. I told you. So I’m giving you one more chance to tell me where the bombs you’ve planted are, this is serious and ponies are in danger. So quit lying to me and just come clean already. Barnaby is down in the mines right now and he’s going to find those bombs, but we don’t know how long it is until they go off, everypony is still in danger. I don’t want ponies to get hurt. And... I don’t think you really do either.”

Unconsciously, Lord Copper looked down at the watch on his hoof again. “I-I-I really don’t know what you’re getting at. I was almost blown up! N-Now of course I don’t want to see any ponies hurt, but if you really care about that then how about letting me through to the mines so I can conduct my own inspection!”

“No deal, I’ve got a direct radio to Barnaby right now, just tell me where the bombs are!” Rainbow Dash’s wings flared opened and she menacingly took a step forward.

“G-Guards! Stop her!” Lord Copper commanded.

The captain of this squad looked at the very dangerous looking pegasus and then back at his lord. “Um, sir-”

“What am I paying you for! Stop that pegasus!” Lord Copper spat at him.

“Y-Yes, sir!” The captain turned and faced Rainbow Dash. He swallowed his fear and took a few steps towards her. “Okay, look, you’re outnumbered and we can’t let you threaten Lord Copper. So stop all this and come quietly and we can-” He blinked and she was gone. “Uhh... where’d she-”

His sentence was cut off as a lightning fast kick from a flying pegasus knocked him into the side of the building next to the street. He smacked off the stone facade and fell limp to the ground while Rainbow Dash landed right where he had been standing just before.

“I’m not playing around here,” Rainbow said.

The rest of the guards were shaking as they seemed to weigh the odds on fighting her and disobeying Lord Copper. However, Rainbow Dash wasn’t in the mood to waste any more time and let them come to a decision on their own. She was a blur as she shot towards the next two closest guards, simultaneously throwing a punch at one and a kick at the other. Both were knocked out by the singular blows and fell over limply onto the street. The rest of the guards now jumped at Rainbow Dash on instinct, trying to overpower and wrestle her to the ground with superior numbers.

Rainbow threw that plan right into the wood chipper when she grabbed the leg of the closest guard who had jumped at her and swung him over her shoulder using his own momentum and into one of the guards coming at her from the other side. That was two momentarily taken care of. The next closest she ducked under his attempted grab and headbutted him in the chest, making him wheeze and drop his head down, where she then elbowed him in the temple and knocked him out. Another guard each came at her right and left. Rainbow just rolled her eyes and flapped up, letting them run into each other, and then landed on the both of them and smashed them into the ground. The guard she had thrown earlier finally recovered and came at her with a swinging right hook. It didn’t compare at all to some of the attacks she had had to deal with on this adventure. She deftly moved her head out of the way and punched him straight between the eyes, finishing him with a spinning kick to the side of the head.

One last guard, blinded by adrenaline most likely, came rushing at her wildly. Rainbow Dash stepped inside his reach and brought her wing up, chopping him in the throat with it. The guard sputtered and coughed and Rainbow finished him off too with a strong elbow to the back of his head.

The only guard remaining was the one she had thrown the other into. And he was doing the smart thing and staying on the ground.

Rainbow Dash cracked her neck and started stalking towards Lord Copper again. “Your turn. Unless you want to talk?”

Lord Copper didn’t fancy either of those options. His lip quivered as he took a few steps back from Rainbow Dash, hearing some of the rumblings from the crowd, and their shocked voices at what Rainbow Dash just did to the guards, he got an idea. “C-Citizens of Oreville!” He yelled, looking out across the crowd. “H-Help me! This pegasus outsider is attacking me! They’re some kind of deranged lunatic, g-go get help! Get the constables! Protect me from her! Protect your lord!”

Rainbow Dash paused as the emotion of the crowd changed in an instant. A lot of ponies angrily began to converge on her position, mostly working stallions but even some mares, emboldened by the crowd, joined in. Oreville ponies up and down the street were forming a mob around the pegasus outsider, shouting and angrily staring her down. It’s not like she was in any real danger but they could make it impossible for her to get to Copper and do what she needed to do.

“No, stop!” Rainbow Dash shouted to the crowd. “I’m not the one you should be angry at, he is!” She pointed to Lord Copper. “Lord Copper is the bad guy here!”

“Preposterous!” Copper attempted to shout her down before anypony could think about it. “I am Lord Copper, lord of the Copper Section of Oreville, and I have done nothing but work for these ponies all my life! Why would they believe you over me?! You’re nothing but a dangerous outsider stirring up trouble and attempting an attack on an esteemed public figure!”

“That’s right!” A stallion said. “What do you think you’re doing, outsider!”

“We thought you were a diplomat from another country, why are you attacking Lord Copper?” An angry mare asked Rainbow.

“Y-You attacked Oreville ponies already!”

“What were you talking about with those bombs earlier? Are you going to blow something up?”

"Get out of here!”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip, the crowd continuing to encroach on her. She looked through the mess of ponies and saw the smug face of Lord Copper smirking back at her. Rainbow Dash furrowed her brow and flexed her wings, powerfully flapping them once and sending wind through the crowd of ponies to temporarily startle them. She levitated off the ground, staying just barely at a level slightly above the heads of most ponies, and took in a deep breath.

“Listen to me!” She shouted with enough force to silence the crowd. “I know I’ve only been here for a short time, I know you’re scared, and I know you don’t really have a reason to trust me, but you need to. I’m here to help! Lord Copper is the one who’s behind all of this, all of the bombings, and he’s planning to commit even more right now!”

“That’s a lie!” Lord Copper interrupted, a frenzied scowl on his face.

Rainbow Dash ignored him. “I’m asking you all to believe in me, so I can put a stop to this and save Oreville! Look at me and look at him, and please, just put your trust in me today!”

Lord Copper clenched his jaw shut and looked around at the quieting down crowd in a panic, with some sweat dripping from his brow. To his horror, some of the ponies seemed to actually be considering her words. A lot of them still looked angry and unsure at her, but he didn’t want them thinking at all right now!

“Y-You’re not seriously thinking of believing her right now, are you?!” Lord Copper screamed at the crowd.

“I believe her!” A voice called out from deeper in the crowd.

Rainbow Dash, Lord Copper, and the rest of the ponies looked over as the crowed parted and a mare stepped forth.

“Eleanor...” Rainbow Dash whispered and came floating back to the ground.

“I believe Rainbow Dash!” Eleanor repeated for everypony to hear. “M-Most of you probably haven’t gotten to know her personally, but I have! She comforted me when my husband died, and I believe what she’s saying now!”

“So do I!” Another voice called from the crowd and Nurse Abernathy pushed her way through it. “If it wasn’t for Rainbow Dash, Chief Constable Barnaby would be dead right now. She risked her life and got hurt to save him, there’s no way she’s lying about this now!”

“Abernathy...” Rainbow smiled, the faith of the two mares warming her heart.

The attitude of the crowd shifted once again, and now most ponies were looking in Lord Copper’s direction.

He began to sweat even more. “T-This... y-you can’t...”

Rainbow Dash blew a breath of air out her nose as she narrowed her eyes at him. “It’s over, dude. Tell me where those bombs are right now so we can end this.”

“I-” Lord Copper started.

But he was immediately cut off as a blaring siren began to ring throughout the streets. It was deafening and it came from all around them, the entire Copper Section was being drowned out by the siren. Ponies looked around in confusion and fear, worried that maybe another bomb had gone off or something else had happened. Both Lord Copper and Rainbow Dash were completely surprised as well.

“The emergency alert siren... but-” Lord Copper said, his eyes then narrowed. “Lord Silver. But why?”

The siren shortly cut off but then a crackling noise like from an old speaker buzzed on and the air was filled with static.

Bzzt!

“Hello, Copper Section,” A voice spoke through the streets. “This is Administrator Darren, direct subordinate to Lord Silver. This is an emergency broadcast to inform you that lockdown of the Copper Section is commencing. The trams will be taken offline, tunnels leading to and from Copper Section are closing as I speak, and the entrances to the mines are being closed as well. Please calmly return to your homes and wait until lockdown has been lifted, thank you.”

Lord Copper’s eyes widened in shock and he once more looked at his watch, the seconds and minutes continuing to pass by.

Down in the mines, Barnaby and the others had no idea what was going on just yet. He in particular had been far too preoccupied with trying to find the bombs he and Rainbow knew Lord Copper had placed. Unfortunately they hadn’t had any luck yet. Wherever those bombs were they were well-hidden. It didn’t make any sense to Barnaby, Copper’s cronies shouldn’t have had so much time to find places to hide all the bombs they could’ve made. But everypony had reported on finding nothing. Not in the most structurally important parts of the mine, or the new tunnels, or anywhere in the staging area, or anywhere else. The phantom bombs had so far escaped both the constables and miners trying to find them.

Barnaby was riding one of the trams right now into a new area of the mines nopony had checked yet. The tram drivers had been some of the few workers down here who Crom didn’t have evacuate, since they needed them. The four other constables Barnaby had brought along were standing in the same car as him, all of them nervous and worried. The Chief Constable was feeling the same way, but just not showing it to make things worse.

The tram came to its next station and Barnaby and the other constables poured out of it. They quickly fanned out to all the nearby tunnels, most of the area completely devoid of other ponies after being evacuated.

“Keep your eyes sharp!” Barnaby shouted. “We need to find these bombs, there’s no time!”

He said that but in truth he wasn’t sure if they were going to be anymore successful than they already had been. Barnaby quickly jogged down the tunnel closest to him, checking every alcove and every spot a bomb could be hiding before reaching the end, where a smaller elevator went down a mineshaft. Still nothing here but there could be something placed at the bottom of the mineshaft or in the tunnel it led to. Barnaby stepped onto the elevator and pressed the button to lower himself down.

In the meantime he turned on his radio to reach out to Crom and see if he was having luck.

“Crom? You hear me? Have you had any luck finding the bombs?” Barnaby asked.

Bzzt!

“Hey, Barnaby, yeah I read you loud and clear. But we haven’t found nothing yet. And I mean nothing. We’ve been canvassing the whole darn place, checking everywhere they could’ve put a bomb, but we haven’t found any.”

Barnaby bit his lip and pounded a hoof against the frame of the elevator. “We know they’re down here, there must be something we’re missing, or maybe they were all placed in one spot we haven’t been to yet.”

“Maybe. That’d be a monster of an explosion if that happened.”

“Right now I’m in-” he looked at a sign on the elevator. “Area 3-Z. I can take the tram to Area 4 once I’m done here.”

“Good luck... how much time left do you think we have?”

“I don’t know. Rainbow Dash contacted me earlier and said she found Lord Copper but I haven’t heard from her since. It sounded like she was somewhere with a lot of ponies around them, I’m sure he’s planning something so if we’re lucky then maybe the bombs aren’t planned to go off for a while longer.”

“I’m gonna need a stiff drink after this...”

“You and me both.”

Barnaby turned off his radio and sighed. A moment later the elevator came to a stop and he stepped out and into the tunnel it led to. There was fresh equipment and tools that had been dropped all over by ponies who had recently evacuated, along with minecarts full of harvested ore and half-filled crates that would normally be brought back up by the elevator. Barnaby checked every single crate and cart to make sure he wasn’t missing a hidden bomb. The one positive in this situation was the evenly spaced lightbulbs on the ceiling of the tunnel. If there was less light down here he’d be in trouble.

There was a small supply closet down here where a batch of TNT was stored but not an actual bomb. There was a radio station that had been left on but nothing else was around it. There was a barrel full of pickaxes that he rooted around in to see if anything was hidden at the bottom. There was a tarp on the ground that he ripped up to see if anything was hiding beneath it.

In the end though it all came to nothing.

Barnaby angrily kicked over a bucket and watched as the rocks inside scattered across the ground. “Why can’t I find anything?!” Sweat was collecting beneath his helmet and he had to lift a shaky hoof up to wipe some of it away. “Darn it... what’s the answer?”

Finished down in this tunnel, he quickly made his way back to the elevator. The entire time a swarm of negative thoughts and ideas were passing through his mind. Something was wrong. They should’ve been able to find the bombs by now with how many ponies were looking for them and with Crom’s expert knowledge.

Once he finished riding the elevator he started going back to the tram. There wasn’t much distance to backtrot over and he ended up being there before any of the other constables were back. Since it would be pointless to go down any of the other tunnels, Barnaby just scowled and hopped up onto the platform, pacing about in front of the tram. The mines were huge but that also meant that the ponies who had planted the bombs couldn’t have gone too far into them before getting back out before most miners had come in for the day.

Maybe he should have brought more constables along even if it would’ve taken a little extra time to gather them all?

Maybe he shouldn’t have had Crom evacuate most of the miners and had them help look for bombs too?

Maybe there was something else he was forgetting or missing when it came to what Lord Copper had done?

As he was pacing, a buzzing noise suddenly came from his radio.

“Rainbow Dash?” Barnaby wondered aloud and flipped on his radio to frequency 1. “Hello, Rainbow Dash? Have you learned anything new?”

“Not quite,” Rainbow said as she scowled across the way at the frantic Lord Copper. “But something’s going on up here. Lord Silver had Copper Section placed under lockdown, I don’t know why though, but the entrances and exits and the mines are totally sealed off now. But anyways, Copper is totally freaking out about it and I’m about to find out why. I’ll call you right back real soon.”

Meanwhile Lord Copper was indeed having a freakout.

“No, no, this can’t be happening. Why is this happening? I need to get into the mines right now!” He loudly said.

The last guard of his that was still conscious nervously looked around at the crowd and Rainbow Dash. “S-Sir, we need to-”

“Shut up!” Lord Copper screamed at him. “Don’t say a word!”

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash said as she finally flew right to Lord Copper and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. “I don’t know if you’re responsible for this lockdown too or whatever and honestly I don’t care! Tell me where the bombs are!”

“Y-You’re talking crazy...” Lord Copper’s eyes darted around, refusing to directly look at her. “J-Just let me go, I need to i-inspect the mines, it’s very important!”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes at him. “Just what are you playing at? And the mines are closed, you’re not getting down there.”

He looked at his watch and his face went white as if finally realizing something. “This can’t be happening... this shouldn’t be happening like this. Y-You need to let me go!”

Rainbow noticed how his demeanor changed as soon as she saw his watch. “You... you already...” Her eyes widened and she started shaking him back and forth. “Copper! How much time is left?! How much time?!”

“Why... why lockdown? Why did you and Barnaby have to do this?” He kept whimpering in her grip.

Before Rainbow could open her mouth again, panicked voices came from all around her. The former mob of ponies was now turning into a frightened crowd again. They didn’t know what to do after the announcement and with what Copper and Rainbow Dash had been speaking about. And especially after what they had all heard Lord Copper just now yelling about. Rainbow saw the confused faces of Eleanor and Abernathy, the both of them looking to her for answers, and she just didn’t have any to give.

“Get to the mines, I have to get to the mines, everypony is in danger,” Lord Copper said, actually genuinely crying slightly now.

Rainbow Dash dropped her hooves from his collar and scowled at him. “You put new bombs in the mines didn’t you? Barnaby hasn’t found them yet or he would’ve contacted me. Tell me where they are so I can tell him.”

Lord Copper whined, shaking his head. “None of this was supposed to happen. I-I didn’t mean to...”

“Just tell me!” Rainbow roared, scaring the crowd too.

“I didn’t... I’m not the one... I-I almost died too, remember?” He tried to convince her, still pulling out the same old story even though he probably knew as well that it wasn’t going to work with her.

Rainbow Dash slapped him, making him wince and hold a hoof up to his cheek. “Enough of that! Come clean and let’s try and set things right!”

Lord Copper froze. He looked at his watch and shook his head. “It’s too late. It’s already over.”

“How much-” she grit her teeth and grabbed his hoof, looking at the watch. “How much time is left, Copper? Just give me a solid answer and we can stop this! If you tell me where they are, maybe Barnaby and the others can stop them in time!”

Tears fell down Lord Copper’s cheeks as he sniffled. “There’s no time left.” He pointed at the second hand of the watch as it started a new revolution around the face of the clock. “They’re about to go off. Why didn’t you just let me past? Why didn’t you let me go down to the mines?” He cried some more.

Rainbow Dash held back from outright decking him as she turned on her radio again to try and reach Barnaby. “Where are the bombs, Copper?!”

He looked at her with empty eyes and then lowered his head, staring at the ground. “The trams. Bombs were attached to the undersides of every tram in the mines.”

A buzz came from the radio as the line opened and Rainbow shook as she yelled into the microphone. “Barnaby! Barnaby, listen to me right now!”

The other constables he had brought with him still hadn’t gotten back from their tunnels. Though he doubted they’d come back with any good news even when they did. It left Barnaby alone on the platform, the tram right in front of him with only its confused and in the dark driver around. His hoof was impatiently tapping on the wooden platform, whether because of his slow constables or annoyance at his own failure he wasn’t sure. He had half a mind to get in the tram and tell the driver to just go now so he could search more.

Bzzt!

Barnaby jumped a bit in surprise and looked at his radio and flipped it on. Maybe Rainbow Dash had gotten something out of Lord Copper. “Rai-”

“Barnaby! Barnaby, listen to me right now!”

His ears perked up at how loudly she was yelling and just how scared she sounded. “Rainbow Dash? What is it? Did you learn something from Lord Copper?”

“Barnaby, you have to get out of the mines now! Tell everypony they have to get out of there, there’s no more time! The bombs are under the trams and they’re going to blow now!”

The Chief Constable of Oreville didn’t answer her. His heartbeat didn’t even increase for the moment. His mouth was stuck halfway open in stoic realization as he blinked and the world seemed to come back into focus around him. With a sharp gasp of air he ran to the edge of the platform and jumped off onto the track, directly in front of the tram. The driver saw him and stood up from his seat, trying to see out the window at what the hay Barnaby was doing.

“Barnaby? Barnaby?!”

He ducked his head under the metal casing of the tram and looked at the undercarriage. Nestled among some of the metal struts and axles were a series of boxes with wires interconnecting all of them and a small clock in the middle. The second hand was just about to reach 12.

“Oh.”

An intense wave of pressure and heat was the last thing he ever felt.

A fiery explosion tore apart the tram and spread through every inch of the station before the fireballs spread into the surrounding tunnel, showing absolutely no signs of stopping. The tunnels were the perfect enclosed place for the fires to grow and keep burning as they sucked up all the air and ignited the dust in the mines. This was no mere blast like the first bomb. This was a violent, deadly inferno that was tearing through the mines and only growing stronger until it exhausted all the available oxygen. The rock walls of the tunnels were cracked and weakened, all the wooden and metal supports were either burned or blown away, and the explosion and resulting fireball caused permanent, unfixable devastation to the mines under Copper Section.

And it was only one of many identical explosions that all happened at the same time.

Everywhere in the mines, the trams exploded and tore apart the mine around them while fiery death spread through the tunnels. Miners and constables both were consumed—some of them not even getting the chance to scream. Caches of TNT that were being held for blasting only created more explosions and destruction when the initial fireballs reached them. The Copper Section mines were being utterly destroyed.

Crom felt it before he heard anything. A rumble and a shaking that went through the entire tunnel around him before a crack opened up in the ceiling and a pebble dropped onto his nose. A wave of hot air came gushing in from behind him and he turned around to watch as a bright light was pouring from the tunnel he had just traveled down.

Right before the fireball came bursting around the corner as well.

He had just enough time to close his eyes before he was burned away. The other miners that had been with him and at the nearby tunnels didn’t fare any better.

There was so much damage to the mines that the explosions and fierce fireballs were causing cave-ins and entire tunnels to collapse. That had one side-effect of at least snuffing out some of the fires but the sheer force of the collapses, the weight of all the rock crashing down, the lack of support now in so much of the mines, caused an even worse problem. The entire system of tunnels started to collapse in on itself. And that spelled a very, very, big problem for the city above. The foundation of bedrock above the mines was now with less support while still trying to carry the buildings and mountain above it. Fissures and cracks ran through the ground, threatening to make the entire city of Copper Section fall apart and sink. Streets wavered, pavement shattered as huge cracks and faults opened up, buildings wobbled, some shot up or depressed into the ground. A skyscraper had all of its windows shatter in an instant as the building shifted just an inch.

And meanwhile cracks climbed up and up the walls of the massive mountain cavern. Stalactites hanging in the ceiling shook while dust and small rocks fell from them. The lighting system flickered on and off and some lights as well fell loose and shattered on the streets below. The rumbling terror was spreading throughout all of the Copper Section and even into other parts of Oreville.

At last down below, one of the fireballs reached the mine’s staging area and spread its haunting flames all throughout. Burning and immolating every little building that had been set up by the miners of Oreville until it reached the huge stockpile of TNT that was kept there.

Once it did, an explosion that made all the others so far look like mere whimpers erupted in the mines. The entire staging area was obliterated, the roof of the cavern expanded upwards and created a bulge like a volcano trying to erupt in the ground above. But the flames had another way to go too… they shot through the tunnels towards the elevators and fired up the shafts before pouring out into the building and open air of the Copper Section’s street level, and devoured dozens of Silver Section guards, miners, and other ponies around the large office building and freight elevators that led down into the mines.

Now not contained in the narrow confines of a tunnel, the explosion flowered again as the flames blew apart the mine building as if a huge bomb had been placed inside it the whole time as well. Burning debris flew for hundreds of feet in every direction, damaging more buildings and putting dozens, hundreds, of other ponies in danger. The huge bonfire continued to burn in that spot that it emerged from the mines, visible to ponies across the entire city. Everything around it was just gone.

Rainbow Dash blinked in disbelief and horror at what she was witnessing even as a crack snaked through the pavement right by her hooves. Her radio was dead silent. Lord Copper gripped his mane in his hooves so tightly it looked like he was about to yank it all out. His eyes were wet with fresh tears.

And the other ponies screamed.

The groaning sound of a huge skyscraper twisting as a crack shot right through its midsection made Rainbow Dash look up at it and finally brought her back to reality.

Her sharp eyes turned to Lord Copper but before she could say anything she was interrupted. The emergency siren began to blare again and a voice once more spoke over the surprisingly still working system. But it wasn’t the same voice as before.

“Emergency. Emergency. This is a recorded message. Dangerous seismic activity detected. Please calmly evacuate the city to the surface. Go to designated exits across the city and take your elevators to your safe zones. Please remain calm. Please remain calm. Evacuate the city.”

After ten seconds the message started to repeat again. The crowd of ponies around her started to run, dispersing across the streets and city in a panic. There was nothing “calm” about any of this. Eleanor and Abernathy were both washed away by the crowd too.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen...” Lord Copper cried again.

Rainbow Dash clenched her jaw as she reached down and tore off her radio, and her ID card along with it, throwing them to the ground. “Why? Why would you do any of this? Barnaby is… Crom… everypony else down there… and now...”

“I-It’s not my fault… the bombs were never supposed to go off!” Copper said.

“Not. Your. Fault?!” Rainbow roared and jumped on him, pushing him to the ground and slamming her front hooves beside his head. “Why did you even plant those bombs in the first place?! And look around you! The entire city is collapsing! How many ponies are… have already...” She quivered as tears started to fall from her eyes. “Dang it… just why?”

“I didn’t want anypony to get hurt… I didn’t want Oreville to get hurt! Everything I’ve done has been to make Oreville better,” Lord Copper whimpered. “This was supposed to bring everypony together. And to change things here...”

“By blowing things up?!”

Lord Copper swiftly shook his head. “I told you they weren’t supposed to go off. I-I was going to the mines to stop them and deactivate the bombs myself… that’s why I just wanted to get away from you and get down there.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes opened wide in realization. “You were going to play the hero. You were going to act like you had just discovered and prevented a huge disaster.” She backed up off of him and sat down, lifting a tired hoof to her forehead. “I don’t understand… you’re already Lord Copper. Oreville was already such a nice place and it was just growing even bigger. To make Oreville better?” She narrowed her eyes at him. “How?”

“T-This system is broken!” Lord Copper said as he stood back up, most of his guards were regaining consciousness as well and throngs of ponies were still running down the streets around the two of them. “A-All my life I’ll have nothing but being Lord Copper because of the way things work. But why? Lord Gold is senile and Gold Section doesn’t even contribute to anything anymore, neither does Silver Section or Lord Silver really. I’m the only pony who actually does anything important here! I’m the only one who ran and managed the section that gave life to Oreville! But I’d never be able to do anything more or improve things elsewhere because of this stupid three Lord system! If it was just me… if it was only me, I could rule over Oreville and bring out the best in it, expand us even more, make this city the shining example of pony greatness in the entire world!” He sniffed and looked past Rainbow Dash at the large smoking fire. “I-I needed something that would skyrocket my popularity, make me a true hero, something that everypony in Oreville—not just in Copper Section—would love and respect me for. Then I could lobby that popularity into convincing my ponies that one ruler would be better than three. One ruler who knew what he was doing and had their best interests in mind.”

“Their best interests,” Rainbow Dash sarcastically spat.

Lord Copper defensively cringed away. “I never wanted this. N-Nopony was ever supposed to be hurt… but the bombs needed to be real. The threat had to be real, ponies needed to know how much danger and destruction I had saved them from!”

Rainbow glared hard at him. “So you didn’t want to hurt anypony? Not even Dolph? Or his family? Or me and B-Barnaby when you tried to blow us up?”

“N-No—well, not really. I-I just needed Dolph and some of the ponies working under me to think I was ruthless and would hurt them. And the Chief Constable… y-you and him were dangerous. You suspected me. I-It was the only thing I could think of,” Lord Copper replied. “This is all so wrong… everything is over.”

“I was right about you,” Rainbow Dash snorted and shook her head. “You’re a stooge, not a real villain. An idiot with delusions of grandeur who tried to do something that was way too much for him. You’re not even really evil. You’re just a stupid, selfish, greedy, pony.” She blinked, feeling more defeated and depressed than anything. “Well look around you, Lord Copper, look where you’ve gotten yourself because of that selfishness and greed and pride. If you really cared about Oreville and the ponies here, you would’ve told me immediately where the bombs were when I confronted you. But you didn’t. You should’ve known it was over right then and there, with me here and Barnaby in the mines. But you just couldn’t face it.”

She looked around at the chaos in the Copper Section, one stalactite the size of a house broke off the cavern’s ceiling and crashed down to the street, obliterating a large part of it. Buildings continued to shift and the ground wobbled as the collapsing of the mines went on beneath them. More huge cracks crawled along the walls of the city, breaking huge chunks of rock free that crushed everything beneath them. And thousands and thousands of ponies still ran for safety. Rainbow knew she should be going out and trying to help them, in whatever meager way she could right now, but she couldn’t just leave Lord Copper either.

“Did you even really think about what you were doing and how dumb it was? I bet it didn’t even cross your mind,” Rainbow Dash said. “Barnaby and I were already suspicious of you, If you had oh so coincidentally found the bombs right before they went off we would’ve known it was you who planted them. Was your idea to just do a surprise inspection of the mines and act like what you were doing was normal?” Rainbow shook her head. “This is the kind of stupid plan I would come up with if I was a villain.”

“I-I wasn’t-”

“Some of your ponies who stole the TNT were even recognized. They didn’t even wear masks. How much of this did you actually think through? This was so short-sighted, and you said you wanted to be the rule of all of Oreville. That you’d be the best for the job,” Rainbow coldly scoffed and walked up to him, poking him in the chest with a blue hoof. “You’re scum.”

“I am not!” Copper yelled.

“You are!” Rainbow Dash shouted him down and made him shrink back. “You are, you are, you are!”

“I wanted things peaceful and better in Oreville for everypony!”

“Yeah, but you most of all,” Rainbow rolled her eyes.

“That’s not-”

“Shut up,” Rainbow cut him off. “I’m done talking with you. Now I’m going to talk to you.” She glared at him until she was sure he wasn’t going to interrupt her. “I don’t know if this whole place is going to collapse or not, but there are a lot of ponies in danger right now. I’m going to do what I can to help them and you’re coming with me. Even if it’s just a little bit, I’m going to have you make up for what you’ve done. Once this whole place is evacuated and the danger has passed we’re then going to go visit some important ponies.”

Lord Copper gulped as Rainbow continued. “That’s right, Lords Silver and Gold are going to be thrilled to see you again and hear about what you’ve done. You’re going to come clean about absolutely everything. Every. Last. Thing. You did this for Oreville? You want to make it a better place? Well congratulations, cause you’re going to get to do that for the rest of your miserable life.”

A skyscraper cracked near its foundation, almost threatening to fall over just a few streets away from them. Rainbow Dash grimaced and grabbed Lord Copper by the collar once more. His guards now didn’t seem to know what to do either but Rainbow doubted they’d attempt to stop her. After all they were in just as much danger as anypony else right now.

Rainbow Dash sighed and looked at the streams of ponies running past her to wherever the emergency exits were. “Alright, we’re gonna-”

“Hi, Rainbow Dash!”

Rainbow Dash froze as the light, chipper voice reached her ears. That happy and dreadfully familiar voice that shouldn’t be here. Suddenly the collapsing city and all the scared ponies around her didn’t seem so pressing. Suddenly she found herself accidentally letting go of Lord Copper in shock. Suddenly her blood turned cold and her face went as white as a ghost. Lord Copper and his guards were looking at her, and behind her at the source of the voice, in confusion. They didn’t know. They didn’t understand.

“No way,” Rainbow Dash said as she glacially turned around and looked at the pink pony that was standing in the middle of a mob rushing past her. She seemed totally apathetic to everything going on around her. “There’s just no way.”

Heartless smiled brightly at Rainbow Dash and clasped her hooves in front of her chest. “I’m so happy to see you again!”

“I don’t think it’s safe to be down here anymore,” Malthus said as he, his gang, Jarvis, and a number of other security ponies working under Lord Copper stood gathered in a secret part of the sewers close to the Copper Section administration building.

“Judging by those explosions we felt I doubt it’s safe to be anywhere right now. Especially for us,” Jarvis said as he exasperatedly rubbed at his forehead.

“So something happened to that moron boss of yours? There must have been something that kept him from the bombs. Or he screwed up on deactivating them,” Malthus snorted.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s dead, yeah,” Jarvis nodded. “Obviously things didn’t go as planned and now… I can’t even imagine the devastation.”

“Lucky this place didn’t cave-in or get destroyed...” Malthus said.

He was right about that, Jarvis thought as he looked around. When the explosions happened, this hideout was rocked heavily and all of them were tossed around. Pipes broke apart and cracks formed in the ceiling while the ponies caught their bearings. Jarvis immediately knew what had happened and ever since he had been internally debating exactly what they should do. His hope was they could just get out of here and nopony would ever know what they had done. But he didn’t want to be seen with Malthus and his gang. And if Lord Copper was still alive but Jarvis ditched him… that could cause even more problems. A lone radio sat in this sewer-hideout with them. Lord Copper was originally going to use it to communicate with them when things were over and done with. Now he was expecting to hear some very bad news from it if Lord Copper ever did contact them over it.

“I’d say we’re even luckier that this thing didn’t explode when all those quakes started,” one of Malthus’s gang members said as he pointed at a box on the floor.

Jarvis looked down at it too. An extra bomb. After all the bombs they made with the three crates worth of TNT and all the trams they had wired, they had this one left over. Jarvis was wary being around it, for obvious reasons, but he figured there might be some use in keeping it as well. Maybe if Lord Copper got brought down for this he could hoof this bomb over to the authorities as evidence? Maybe get himself off without prison time of his own. Unlikely, but he’d hold out hope.

“Either way I think we should just leave,” Malthus said. “Being underground is going to be a death sentence here soon. Forget about everything else, I just want to survive.”

Jarvis had to admit he had a point. If all those bombs went off then not just the mines but a lot of the Copper Section above them was going to collapse at some point too. That went double for these sewers they were in. “Yeah… yeah, alright. We should get out of here, maybe hide in the administration building instead, or try and get out of Copper Section. In fact, Lord Copper has something just for that purpose. If things went bad for him he might try using it now.”

“Using what?” Malthus raised an eyebrow at Jarvis.

Jarvis was about to answer when the radio buzzed on.

Rainbow Dash and Heartless stared at each other—one with their face a twisted grimace of fear and confusion, the other one with a happy smile.

“How?” Rainbow Dash broke the silence again. “Y-You should be-”

“Dead? At the bottom of a whirlpool?” Heartless shrugged. “I told you it wouldn’t stop me for long. Nothing will.” She took a step forward and Rainbow took a step back. “I had to walk so far to find you again but now here you are in front of me. It’s wonderful.”

“W-What’s going on?” Lord Copper asked, looking back and forth between the pink and blue ponies.

“Shut up,” Rainbow Dash said to him. She didn’t know what to do now. Fighting Heartless was out of the question for a multitude of reasons, but now she couldn’t just run either. She still needed to make sure Lord Copper didn’t get away. And yet meanwhile the city was still falling apart around them all. Lord Copper’s guards had also all recovered and were starting to form up again so that was another issue.

“You know, no matter how far away you were your life was like a shining beacon of light that I could always follow. Even now surrounded by so many others you still outshine them all,” Heartless said.

“Yeah. I know. You’ve told me that kind of stuff before,” Rainbow bit her lip.

Heartless took another confident step forward. “You can’t run this time, Rainbow Dash. I don’t think there’s anywhere for you to go.”

“T-This pony is an outsider too, isn’t she?” Lord Copper said. “The two of you are-”

“I said shut up, I’m trying to think!” Rainbow Dash barked back at him.

“Oreville is falling apart! My Oreville! A-And it’s because of you not letting me go! I won’t stand for you continuing to treat me like this. T-Things aren’t over for me, they’re over for you!” He looked over at his security force. “W-Well?! Are you going to help your Lord or just stand there?”

Rainbow Dash shot an angry glare at them. “Go ahead! Try it again!”

Lord Copper sneered at her. “I haven’t lost. Nopony important truly yet knows what’s happened. As long as you don’t get out of here...”

“Oh for the love of-” Rainbow Dash grit her teeth. “You should know when to give up! I’m not letting you get away with this!”

“643,117.”

All eyes turned to the smiling figure of Heartless. Rainbow Dash tilted her head in confusion at the pink pony who had just been nonchalantly standing there.

Heartless smiled wider. “That’s how many lights there are in this place. Bright lights, dim lights, young lights, old lights, warm lights, cool lights.” Her eyes drifted to the ponies still stampeding through the streets just a few feet away from her. “Lights right next to me. And lights far away.” She then looked dead straight at Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow Dash. I’m not letting you get away this time. You can either come to me and let me feel and take the overwhelming, powerful, entrancing warmth of your life. Or… I can take the life one by one from the 643,117 other lights in here instead.”

Rainbow Dash stared in open-mouthed horror at her. Even Lord Copper and his guards caught onto what she was saying, and whether they believed she could or would do anything like that, they too were clearly disturbed by the pink pony.

Heartless lifted her right hoof and stretched it towards the crowd of ponies at her side, running by her without any awareness of what she was, and then slowly brought it around to point and beckon at Rainbow Dash. “It’s you or them, Rainbow Dash. Come to me.”

While Rainbow Dash’s mind was a mess of horrified thoughts and bad ideas that she was trying to think of for dealing with Heartless, Lord Copper was being much more proactive. Seeing how distracted Rainbow Dash was, he steadily inched away from her until he could make a break from it. The Lord of Copper Section turned and ran through the crowds in the opposite direction of where they were going. He pushed his way through them and started running down the street back to his building.

“H-Hey!” Rainbow Dash did a double-take as he went.

“Out of my way! Make way for your Lord, you specks!” Copper shouted as he fought through the crowd. His guards then looked at each other and nodded, running after him.

“Stop!” Rainbow flapped her wings and got ready to take off after him-

“Oh Rainbow Dash~ I’m waiting~” Heartless’s singing voice came from behind her.

Rainbow Dash looked back to see Heartless motioning towards the ponies running by her. “No! Don’t!”

“You know what will make me stop,” Heartless giggled and started walking towards Rainbow Dash again, her light white mane, speckled with pink like glitter, framed her smiling face. The big red heart outlined in black on her flanks bounced with each step.

“Why couldn’t you just stay in that whirlpool?” Rainbow gulped.

Heartless shrugged. “As long as you’re alive I’ll come after you. Your life calls out to me, and nothing is the same anymore. Ever since that first day we met and I felt how warm and powerful your life is, how greater it is than every other creature’s, I’ve needed you. I can’t even tell what it is that compels me—I’ve always been like this—but I know that now I truly desire something in a way I never have before. It was just instinct and boringly taking the life of other creatures around me just because it was nature and I enjoyed it before you. Now I have a passion. And all the other lives in the world can’t fulfill that.”

Rainbow Dash paused at Heartless’s words, a dangerous idea forming in her head. It was a dumb, reckless, idea that had the potential to backfire horrifically. So it was a really Rainbow Dash idea. She just had to play off what she knew about Heartless’s simple and single-minded nature. So Rainbow Dash licked her lips, stopped herself from wavering, threw back her mane, and plastered her most confident and self-assured grin on her face. “Heh, sorry Heartless but that’s not going to work on me. You’re not getting me today.”

Heartless tilted her head as the smile momentarily left her face, blinking a few times in confusion. “Why?”

“Think about it,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “You said it yourself how many ponies are in here. How long would it take you to actually chase them all done and get them? How many months? Meanwhile I’ll have flown so far away you’d never catch up to me again. So come on, we both know you’re not going to do that.” Rainbow smirked even more condescendingly at the pony. “So what’s it gonna be? Me or them?”

Inside her head she was hoping that Heartless would be so focused on the bait—so focused on Rainbow Dash—that she wouldn’t stop and think.

Please, please, please, please. Rainbow Dash thought and tried not to sweat.

Heartless actually frowned a bit and brought a hoof up to her forehead as if she was having a migraine. “But that’s… you can’t...”

“You think I’d care about it if you killed these ponies? While you’re doing that I’ll be halfway around the world.” Rainbow tried to appear as casual and apathetic about it as possible so Heartless wouldn’t figure out she was bluffing.

The pink mare groaned and held her head in her hooves. “Nggg...”

“Geez, Heartless, you sounded like you were so miserable after not seeing me for so long, can you really go even longer without seeing me again?” Rainbow taunted. “And seriously—what if one day while I’m out adventuring I bite off more than I can chew? What if I die and you lose me forever?”

Heartless looked up at her in sheer horror.

That felt good. To scare her for a change. Rainbow Dash grinned. “Well, Heartless?”

“That isn’t fair!” Heartless slammed a hoof on the ground and pouted. She was acting like a child throwing a tantrum as she stomped her hooves a few more times. “This isn’t fair, Rainbow Dash!”

“Tough break,” Rainbow snorted in derision. “I’ve got stuff to do and I don’t feel like entertaining a crazy monster like you.”

Heartless stopped stomping her hooves and stared at the ground. “Fine.” She said as she raised her head and smiled again like normal at Rainbow Dash. “Well, then of course I’m choosing you. So ready or not, here I come!” And she took off running towards Rainbow Dash.

“Oh crud,” Rainbow’s face fell and she flapped her wings to take to the air. She started flying over the crowd of ponies on the trail of Lord Copper, staying low so maybe Heartless wouldn’t get the idea to fly too, and so she could get to her target faster.

“Where are you going, Rainbow Dash?~”

Rainbow ignored the voice for now, knowing she would have to deal with Heartless sooner or later but not letting the pony get to her.

Meanwhile Lord Copper was frantically yelling into his radio while running after turning it on and contacting the one that was set up for Jarvis and Malthus.

“Jarvis! Malthus! Are you there?! Answer me right now!”

The buzzing voice of Jarvis came back through; “Boss? Is that-”

“Shut up and let me speak!” Lord Copper instantly cut him off. “I don’t care what your situation is like, I need you to get to my secret escape tunnel and help me! That stupid pegasus is after me! We’ll leave through my tunnel and regroup, I can fix all of this, things will be fine, but she’s still chasing after me for now. If she catches up to me I’ll need you to take care of her!”

“Y-Yes sir...”

“I don’t need any hesitation! Just get to the tunnel and get to the exit! I won’t have the time to wait up for you, just follow on your own! Is that clear?!”

“Crystal, sir. We’re on our way.”

“Good, bring everypony with you. This pegasus is dangerous,” Lord Copper said and switched off his radio.

Just in time to get tackled to the ground by that very pegasus.

“Argh!” Lord Copper yelled as Rainbow Dash landed on top of him and knocked him to the street, almost getting him trampled by the horde of Oreville ponies. “Why you little-”

Rainbow Dash put a hoof on the top of his head and pressed down to keep him pinned. “There’s no way I’m letting you get away so you can lie and get off the hook for this! You’re not going to ruin Oreville anymore! Barnaby would’ve wanted that, even after everything that’s happened, there might still be a chance for this city as long as you’re not in power.”

“I-I’m the only chance Oreville has!” Lord Copper yelled.

Right as he said that another stalactite fell from the ceiling and obliterated an apartment block on the street next to them.

Rainbow Dash flatly stared down at him. “You were saying?”

“Grr!” Lord Copper growled and tried to wriggle out from under her.

“Seriously, just give up and let me take you to Lord Silver and Lord Gold. It’s over for you. And now I’ve got a way, way worse thing to somehow deal with too. You heard her back there. Honestly she’s probably the reason the whole section went into lockdown, I bet she did something really bad that Lord Silver found out about and then...” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Anyways, enough talk! I’ve got you again and-”

This time it was Rainbow Dash who was tackled to the ground, by one of Lord Copper’s guards. She grunted in annoyance as the guard struggled to hold down her wings while they rolled around the cracked pavement in the street. At the same time most of the other guards were coming at her too. She managed to shoot out her powerful wings and throw his hooves off of her before headbutting him and kneeing him in the stomach to get him off her. Rainbow took a breath of air and stood up just to find herself surrounded again by Copper’s guards.

“Excellent work! Keep her at bay!” Lord Copper said as he scrambled to his hooves and took off running again. “Just for long enough for me to get to my secret escape tunnel!”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at the moron yelling about his “secret” escape tunnel before focusing her attention back on the guards. “You guys really want to do this again? Don’t you even care about what he’s done to your city?”

“What’s an outsider’s opinion on Oreville worth?” A guard sporting a black eye said to her while glowering.

“After what’s happened we’re done for if Lord Copper is brought to justice,” another said.

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes and let out a disgusted huff. “So selfishness is just the name of the game for you ponies, is it? Guess I should’ve figured that anypony who sided with him in the first place would be thinking that way.” She cracked her hooves and got ready to fight.

“Excuse me, you’re in my way,” Heartless said to one of the guards on the outside of the circle and lightly touched his cheek.

“Hrk!” His body seized up and his eyes rolled back into his head as he collapsed dead onto the street in an instant.

The other guards screamed in fright and backed away from her as Rainbow Dash paled. The two sides about to fight each other now practically formed a united front facing against Heartless.

“W-What did she just do to Carmichael?!” One guard shouted.

“He’s dead!” Another yelled, looking at the fallen guard’s face.

Heartless just smiled. “And the rest of you will be too if you don’t get out of my way.”

“Ahh!” One of the guards who had spoken to Rainbow Dash earlier ran away, melting into the crowd of ponies trying to get out of Copper Section.

“Run!” Another decided that was the right idea and the rest followed him.

So much for a united front.

“Are you going to try and fly away like back at that place over the whirlpool?” Heartless asked Rainbow Dash. “There doesn’t seem to be an easy way for you to escape from me here. Even if you do try, I’ll catch you at this point.”

Rainbow Dash backed away, her hoof nudged a rock that had fallen from the roof of the cavern. “I’m not the type to give up.”

She kicked up the rock and smacked it with her wing straight at Heartless’s head.

Most any other pony would’ve been knocked out, fallen down, their skull cracked and blood pouring down their face. Heartless took the blow like she took a weak punch or a tennis ball thrown at her. It was like she didn’t even feel the rock at all as her head slightly snapped back while the rock bounced off her onto the street. There was only the slightest discoloration on her forehead that quickly changed back to her normal pink as her body healed instantly.

Heartless kept on smiling. “I like that about you.”

“You don’t give up either...” Rainbow muttered. For every step Heartless took forward Rainbow Dash took one back. But she couldn’t just mirror the pony for long, time just wasn’t on her side.

“I think I could’ve just grabbed you from behind when I made it here but the moment I really saw you I was just overwhelmed with joy. I had to say hello,” Heartless said.

“Thanks for the courtesy.”

“That’s all though. You’re so strong I get the feeling that even if I did wrap you up in a big hug you’d still fight so much longer than any other pony even as I drained every little ounce of life and warmth from you,” Heartless smiled. “Maybe you’d even get away. So what’s the problem with saying hi before that happens?”

“I can’t even begin to tell you how messed up you are,” Rainbow Dash shook her head.

A resounding crack shot through the mountain cavern—Heartless ignored it but Rainbow Dash briefly glanced up to see the tip of a great stalactite about to break off and fall to the street. Rainbow Dash bit her tongue and deftly started backing away and to the side. Heartless of course started to mimic her without a second thought.

“You wouldn’t be the first to try,” Heartless giggled. “I still don’t really get any of it, and I stop paying attention when anypony starts lecturing me, or just kill them.”

“That’s exactly what I mean. I wish I could lock you somewhere you’d never get out of so you could never hurt anypony again.”

“Hurt, hurt, hurt. Ponies are just warm lights and I take those warm lights for myself, I don’t understand what you mean by hurting or what’s so wrong when they stop shining. It makes me feel good, how can it be bad?” Heartless said.

“You know, everything you say makes me so mad I just want to fly at you and start pummeling you in the face, stupid as that would be.” Rainbow Dash said. “But unfortunately for you, I’ve got something else to do. I’ll see you later.”

“What do you mean?”

Rainbow didn’t answer as another crack thundered through the cavern and the end of the stalactite broke off, falling directly towards the two of them. Rainbow Dash jumped backwards and Heartless noticed the approaching shadow on the ground.

“Hm?” She said right as the massive chunk of rock landed on her with enough force to obliterate most of the pavement on the street and shatter the rock itself, sending bits and pieces everywhere and even knocking over a few other nearby ponies.

Rainbow coughed and stood up, looking at the devastated street and pile of rocks that was formerly a stalactite right where Heartless had been standing. And as much as she hated to think—she knew this wouldn’t keep Heartless down for long. Rainbow Dash clicked her tongue and turned around to fly off on the trail of Lord Copper. Secret escape tunnel? He had to have the entrance to it hidden somewhere back in his building.

As she left, the pile of rocks started moving and a pink hoof knocked some of the rubble away to free itself…

Lord Copper reached his administrative building only to see what a poor state it was in now. The front facade of the building was split in two and the glass doors had shattered completely, rubble sat everywhere while cracks spread from the bottom of the building to the top. To his dismay it looked like the entire top floor had even collapsed in on itself. But that didn’t matter now, as long as he was alive it was okay. This could all be fixed.

He ran inside the lobby—the front desk was completely buried under another pile of rubble as part of the second floor had also seemingly collapsed on top of it. He paid it no mind and ran down a lopsided corridor, the lights were flickering in it and cracks ran across the walls and ceilings. As he passed a dark doorway he heard a pony’s voice call out from it:

“H-Hey, help! Somepony help me!”

“Shut up! Help yourself!” Lord Copper yelled and ran right by.

Lord Copper knew exactly where he was going at least, drilling this escape route into his mind dozens of times just in case he ever actually needed it. He hated the fact that he did but it was sure paying dividends right now. A secret, fortified tunnel beneath his building that led to old abandoned mines and further tunnels that would take him south of the main Copper Section mountain and outside. It was a grave danger to use them right now, who knows if they were damaged or the tunnels still intact at all after the explosions and quakes, but if he could just lose that infernal pegasus and get to Gold Section it was okay. A problem though was that while he knew the route through the old mining tunnels in his head he had never actually gone all the way through them. That may cause issues in the future if something unexpected came up but Lord Copper wasn’t going to dwell on it for now.

He reached the back of his building and the purposefully out of the way door to the basement. The door had been damaged by all the movement so he had to strain to yank it open but he was eventually able to pass through. A quick, and fairly unsafe, trot down the stairs brought him to a basement that was on the books used as storage for old records. And sure enough there were loads of filing cabinets down here, many of which had fallen over and spilled their contents onto the ground, making it a pain for Lord Copper to travel over them.

“Stupid things!” He shouted, his voice echoing up out of the basement.

At the back of the basement though were three doors placed along an indent in the wall. Two were unlocked and led to dusty supply closets. One was locked and no janitor, guard, or any other worker in this building had the key to it.

Only Lord Copper did as he pulled the key from one of his pockets and opened up the door with a grin on his face. He flipped the light switch on on the other side and was rewarded with a steel-beam reinforced tunnel and staircase waiting for him. He was so exuberant and rushing that he didn’t even close the door behind him when he ran down the stairs.

Reaching the bottom he emerged into the rocky interior of a mine that had been abandoned more than a century ago. Totally forgotten about, partially thanks to him expunging most of the records on it. Dust was everywhere and cracks and broken off pieces of rock that probably weren’t there before today decorated the mine, but none of the tunnels leading out of it had caved in. The lights going down the tunnel still worked as well thanks to them being part of a far newer electrical system he had set up when he refurbished this place for his own uses. They were connected to that first switch he had flipped when he opened the door.

Lord Copper sighed in relief. “Finally things are looking up.”

This part of the mine was rather large and the reason for it was plain to see when one looked at the side of it opposite the tunnels: dozens of old minecarts lay on several rows of tracks that ended here. This place used to either be some sort of depot or station for minecarts to be stored in. Lots of them still had rusty shovels, buckets, and pickaxes lying inside them. They were an older style but still basically the same as any modern minecart, with a lever at the front that when pulled either right or left could slightly steer it or when pulled towards the minecart activated the brakes. Each cart on the tracks also had wooden blocks placed in front of their wheels to keep them from sliding down the tracks on their own.

“Time to get out of here,” Lord Copper said and looked at the four tunnels and tracks that left the depot. “Second to the left… that’s it.”

He ran over to the first minecart on the second line and removed the wooden blocks, the wheels creaked quite a bit but a slight push from Lord Copper and a full turn later and they were good to go. With a happy grin he hopped right in and started riding it down the tracks to freedom. As soon as his cart reached the tunnel the tracks dipped slightly and he sped up. He’d be out of here in no time.

Rainbow Dash flew like a rocket into Lord Copper’s building and hovered in the middle of his lobby. The place was wrecked and she seriously had no idea where he might’ve gone in here. If it was an escape tunnel then probably down somewhere but she didn’t know where the entry to the basement or whatever in this place was.

“Tch. Come on, come on,” she flew around the lobby a bit, looking for hoofprints or any other clues.

“Stupid things!”

Rainbow Dash’s ears shot up as she heard his voice echo from deeper in the building. She grinned and flew down the hallway she was sure his shout came from.

“H-Help!”

Rainbow Dash halted in midair and backed up a few spaces, sure she heard another pony calling from help from a dark room along the hall. “Yo, somepony in there? Are you in trouble?” She floated into the room and reached along the wall looking for a light switch.

When she finally managed to turn it on and illuminate the room she saw a destroyed office and a stallion lying underneath a fallen bookcase.

“Whoa!” Rainbow Dash flew down to him and started lifting the bookcase off of the unfortunate pony. “You’re gonna be alright!”

“T-Thank you,” the stallion said. “I-I thought nopony was going to come for me...”

“Nothing to worry about anymore, dude, just get to one of the emergency exits as fast as you can. You can still move, right?” She asked as she managed to lift the bookcase just enough for him to wriggle out from under it.

The stallion nodded and pulled himself free. “Y-Yes, I just didn’t have the strength to get the bookcase off me on my own...”

Rainbow Dash grunted and let the bookcase fall back down. “Whew… careful outside too okay?” She started to leave the room before pausing. “Oh! And if you see any creepy smiling pink mares, take my advice and go the other direction.”

“Um… I will. Thank you,” the stallion smiled.

Rainbow Dash grinned and saluted to him before zooming on out and following Lord Copper once more. She was pretty sure she could hear a noise like hooves clanging on metal, or something metal being moved, and she followed that far into the building until she reached a half open door. She had to drop down and squeeze past it but then got right back to flying down into the basement. Luckily now things were a lot easier for her, as she could spy a trail of pushed aside filing cabinets on the floor and an open door with a slight light emitting from it at the back of the large room.

“Heh,” Rainbow Dash flew to the door and glided right down the small tunnel until she came out at the bottom, looking around at the mine and all the tunnels leading off to who knows where. She didn’t see her target just yet though. “Which one?”

Rainbow Dash walked towards the tunnels and closed her eyes, turning her head to the side and focusing her ears on them.

The small sound of a rolling minecart came back to her.

Rainbow Dash looked at the second tunnel from the left and nodded. She didn’t need any minecart, flying would be faster. With a powerful flap of her wings she shot into the tunnel with enough force to kick up a storm of dust behind her.

A few short minutes later and the exhausted group of Jarvis, Malthus, and the rest had all arrived at the minecart depot too after sprinting over here.

“Well he definitely didn’t wait for us...” Malthus panted. He then glared at Jarvis. “And what did you bring that thing for anyways?”

Jarvis moved the bomb on his back to make it a little more comfortable. “It could be useful and I’m not letting this thing out of my sight.”

Malthus shook his head. “Whatever. Which tunnel?”

Jarvis bit his lip.

“Well?” Malthus asked.

“I don’t know which one,” Jarvis answered.

“Oh you cannot be serious right now!”

“He never gave me any other details on this escape route of his, okay?!” Jarvis yelled back. “Forget it, let’s just choose one and go, everypony else can cover the other tunnels.”

“Fine!” Malthus angrily said and walked over to the far-right track of carts. “You and me in this first minecart then.”

Jarvis nodded and then looked at his subordinates and the few members of Malthus’s gang left. “The rest of you follow right behind us, make sure at least one of you covers each tunnel.”

“Yes, sir!” His subordinates saluted.

Jarvis and Malthus both got in their minecart together, with Jarvis carefully placing the bomb down and Malthus grabbing an old shovel just in case he needed it. Malthus knocked the wooden blocks away with the shovel and soon enough the two of them were on their way as well. The leftover guards then got into gear, preparing to separate into pairs and follow. Malthus’s gang ponies on the other hoof weren’t quite as enthusiastic.

“Geez… we really doing this too after everything?” One of them said, all three of them closer by the stairs leading back up to the basement.

A guard overheard him and glared over at the goons. “Yes, now—hey, who’s that behind you?”

The thug who had spoken started to looked over his shoulder before a hoof touched the back of his head. Without even a gasp he fell dead to the ground.

The other thugs backed away and the guards looked at the pink pony who had just appeared in shock.

Heartless smiled back at all of them. “More ponies getting in the way of me and Rainbow Dash? Seems everywhere I go it’s like that.”

Lord Copper’s minecart sped through the tunnels like a bullet, going so fast he was actually a little bit scared. He really didn’t know how to properly use this thing and when to apply the brakes and when to just let the cart glide freely along the tracks. Thankfully so far he hadn’t hit any sharp turns but he was worried that if any part of the tracks were in poor condition he would be going too fast to stop in time.

“S-Stupid tunnel, I should’ve done more work on you,” Lord Copper said as he clung onto the edge of the minecart for dear life.

Though in reality he was just incredibly angry that he had to use his last resort escape tunnel at all. That pegasus, and Barnaby too, they had ruined everything. All of this was their fault, if they hadn’t stuck their noses in his business, if she hadn’t stopped him from getting to the mines, nopony would’ve been hurt and Copper Section wouldn’t be falling apart. All. Their. Fault. Not his, theirs. His jaw clenched in anger the more he thought about it, his wonderful city of Oreville, that he loved, that he should be on the fast-track to ruling and making even better, was now in this sorry state. And the poor ponies living there too, even if some had proven to be ungrateful trash, were suffering.

One day he’d fix all of this. He wasn’t a villain or a stooge or a selfish idiot, he just knew what was best for Oreville and didn’t want it to be held back by anything. That pegasus was wrong about him.

One day everypony in Oreville will love him just like they should.

The minecart came out of the narrow tunnel it was in and started speeding through an elaborate honeycomb of a mine, with lots of wide open spaces, treacherous holes, and other tracks that were now visible going through other areas. Bridges, both natural and pony made, arced around the open mine and had old tracks running over them. None of them were in use now though aside from his, but he wondered just how many times they criss-crossed and met each other like this. From the old plans of this mine he had studied there were lots of open caverns and parts where two or more tracks ran parallel to each other. A number of switches that would change your cart’s track if they were flipped also stood up between the tracks every now and then. He didn’t need to bother with those though, sticking on this track was all he needed.

His cart went once more into its own separate tunnel and Lord Copper temporarily relaxed. Nothing to worry about anymore, he was on his way out of here, the pegasus was gone, Jarvis would be meeting up with him later, things were okay. While he couldn’t exactly say he had won today his enemies hadn’t won either.

“HEY!” A shout echoed down the tunnel.

Lord Copper’s eyes went wide and he looked back to see an angry pegasus flying right at him. “Ahhhhh!”

Rainbow Dash crashed into him and the both of them sprawled to the floor of the cramped minecart. She had practically banged herself up just as much as him when she did that.

“Ngh! You have to be kidding me!” Lord Copper roared as he tried to sit up but found himself quickly receiving a kick in the stomach. “Oof!”

“Stay down! I’m bringing a stop to this!” Rainbow said and crawled over him, reaching up to the lever and pulling it back to activate the brakes.

A grinding noise came from below the cart and sparks flew as the brakes locked in, slowing down the minecart considerably. The rocky tunnel around them stopped being such a blur, but not for long as Rainbow Dash felt Copper’s hooves wrap around her waist and yank her backwards. She lost her grip on the lever and the brakes clicked off the wheels, letting the minecart resume its journey while Rainbow Dash was thrown against the back of the minecart, her head clanging off the metal. Despite the temporary stars in her eyes she jammed an elbow into Lord Copper’s ribs on reflex and made him release her and slide away to the other side of the minecart.

Rainbow Dash was tough, but her strength primarily came from the speed she could put behind her blows. The same type of speed she really couldn’t built up fighting inside a cramped space like this. And despite everything else, Lord Copper was still an earth pony and he was quite a bit sturdier than most pegasi.

Lord Copper reached out to punch her but Rainbow batted his hoof away with her wing and punched him in the face in return.

“Ow, my nose!” Lord Copper yelped and covered his face with his hooves.

Luckily he was also still just a pansy.

“Are you seriously going to keep trying to fight me?” Rainbow Dash asked as she stood up and kicked him in the stomach again. “Your guards didn’t have a very good time and you’re even less of a fighter than they were.”

She grasped the lever as he wheezed and put on the brakes again, the minecart slowing down some more. “You don’t know me very well at all. If you did you’d know I wouldn’t give up on getting you so easily.”

“This isn’t even your city, you shouldn’t even be meddling with us!” Copper yelled from his prone position on the minecart’s floor.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Barnaby said something similar, but for different reasons. Even if this isn’t my home, ponies in need are still ponies in need. I’m not going to turn a blind eye to that. If you didn’t want me to meddle with Oreville, you shouldn’t have been playing as a villain.”

“I’m not a villain!” Lord Copper screamed and jumped up at her with enough energy that it surprised Rainbow Dash and caught her off guard. He grabbed her and knocked her into the side of the cart, lever coming loose again, and tried to wrap his hooves around her neck and strangle her.

He had the physical strength to do it but he wasn’t thinking about what Rainbow Dash could do to get out of it. A punch across his face and a knee into his ribs made him collapse with a pained groan against the other side of the cart. Rainbow Dash panted slightly as their cart emerged into a large cavern with multiple different pathways, levels, and tracks running through it. She grasped the lever and started to apply the breaks again.

“I said playing the villain. You don’t even deserve to be called a real villain,” Rainbow said to him.

As the cart slowed down though, another familiar sound reached Rainbow’s ears. She looked down another tunnel just in time to see a second minecart with two ponies riding in it come shooting out of it. The one holding a shovel she recognized while the other she didn’t but she doubted he was friendly either.

“Lord Copper!” The pony she didn’t recognize shouted as soon as he saw the slumped over lord. “Are you alright?”

“W-What does it look like, Jarvis?! Just save me already!” Lord Copper shouted.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t happy to have the opportunity to bash that pegasus’s skull in,” Malthus said as he glared at Rainbow Dash.

“Great, just what I need,” Rainbow Dash shook her head.

Their minecart came by on the track that was running right next to Rainbow and Lord Copper’s. And thanks to them not pulling the brakes, they quickly caught up to them. Rainbow Dash clicked her tongue and let go of the lever while Malthus brought up his shovel. She was about to fly out of the minecart to get away for the moment when Lord Copper bit her wing.

“Ow!” Rainbow yelped right as Malthus swung at her.

Instead of going over it she ducked under the shovel instead and it swung right above the minecart, Jarvis and Malthus then sped past Rainbow and Copper. Rainbow Dash shoved Lord Copper off her and punched him in the face again to keep him down for at least another minute longer. Jarvis grabbed the lever of his minecart to slow them down so they could attack Rainbow again and once she put her head back up she had to dive under another quick swipe from the rusty shovel.

“Stupid bird! Stay still!” Malthus yelled.

“Make me!” Rainbow Dash stuck her tongue out at him.

Malthus tried swinging again but a sudden change in the tracks had them drift away from her and Lord Copper.

“Curses!” Jarvis growled, trying to look ahead to see if they would ever come back alongside each other.

Rainbow Dash saw her opportunity to fly over to them—when her minecart suddenly passed under a stone bridge that she would have accidentally smashed herself into. She took a much more careful look around the cavern and saw how messy and riddled with random stones it was. Not a good place to fly and chase ponies through. It might’ve been best for her to stick in her minecart until it hit the end of the tracks and then she could deal with them all.

“Jarvis, look up there!” Malthus pointed ahead at a switch in the tracks. The manual switch in-between the two tracks could be hit and their minecart would be switched right over to the same track as Rainbow and Copper’s.

The chief of security grinned. “Use that shovel!”

Malthus grinned right back at him and put his shovel out, smacking it into the switch and making them change tracks. Their minecart glided over the steel tracks and came to end up almost smashing into the side of Rainbow Dash and Lord Copper’s cart. A quick pull of the lever by Jarvis and the brakes slowed down his cart just enough where they came up sliding in right behind Rainbow Dash and Lord Copper instead.

“Really?” Rainbow Dash grunted in annoyance and got ready to fight.

Jarvis let go of the brakes until their minecarts were practically touching and Malthus had free reign to swing his shovel at Rainbow Dash all he wanted. He brought it down at her in a heavy over-hoofed strike but because they were so close together now Rainbow Dash was able to reach up and grabbed the neck of the shovel right beneath the blade. She and Malthus both fought over it as their minecarts sped along until Jarvis joined in, reaching across the gap between the carts and trying to punch Rainbow and dislodge her hooves from the shovel.

“Oh, two on one? You should’ve brought a whole squad!” Rainbow Dash bragged as she knocked his punches away and tried to hit him too.

“They’ll be here soon, diplomat! And then you’ll be finished,” Jarvis said.

“I can’t wait to prove you wrong,” Rainbow grinned.

Just as she said that the sound of more minecarts coming through the tunnels reached them, looks like they had caught up because of the slower speed Rainbow and the others were going right now. One minecart emerged from a tunnel on a level above theirs, carrying two frantic and terrified looking ponies in it. When they saw Rainbow and the others below, one of them applied the brakes to slow down a little.

“Boss! Lord Copper!” The other yelled.

Jarvis grinned up at them. “Alright, now we’re talking. Where are the others? We need all the help we can get.”

“They’re dead!” The guard responded.

“Huh?” Jarvis’s face fell and even Rainbow Dash and Malthus both glanced up at the two guards while Lord Copper slowly stirred.

“This p-pony—this mare came from nowhere and killed everypony else!” The guard shouted. “She’s-”

The sound of a speeding minecart from another tunnel grew louder and the two other guards paled and looked back up the tracks.

“Oh no...” The one holding the lever whispered, letting go of the brakes to try and make up for the lost speed.

Rainbow Dash bit her lip and used the distraction to wrench the shovel out of Malthus’s grip and toss it behind her into the minecart next to Lord Copper. “Sorry, but I know who that is, and none of us can afford to be fighting like this now.”

“What in the hay are you talking about?!” Malthus growled at her and took a swinging punch at her head.

Rainbow ducked under it and punched him as hard as she could, making him fall down into his cart. “I just said—look! If you want to live then help me out right now, we need to speed out of here faster so she doesn’t catch us!”

“Who’s she?” Jarvis asked.

He had his answer as a minecart came shooting out onto the same tracks as the other one, going so fast it didn’t look like the mare riding it had ever even considered touching the brakes. The two guards screamed as she collided right into their minecart, knocking them down and almost bumping it off the tracks altogether. But the pink mare reached out a hoof to grab the edge of the minecart and hold it steady, connecting the both of them. She smiled as she turned her head and stared directly at Rainbow Dash.

Heartless waved at her and winked.

“That’s her,” Rainbow Dash frowned.

“W-What’s going on?” Lord Copper said as he regained his senses.

The two dazed guards got back up only to practically freeze in fear as they saw the pink pony right there. Heartless turned her sweet face to them and started climbing over into their minecart.

One of the guards jumped out immediately, not caring about the deadly speed and the rocky ground he was jumping out onto. He just had to get away from her. Rainbow and the others watched as he landed with a sickening thud and rolled into a stalagmite before he disappeared behind them. The other guard just backed away, muttering to himself and crying until Heartless jumped into the cart beside him and touched him on the cheek to make him drop.

The others gaped up at her in shock but Rainbow only narrowed her eyes.

Heartless looked right down at the four ponies and placed her hooves on the edge of the minecart like a dog happy to see its owner coming home. “Alright, you’re next!”

“Oh forget this!” Malthus said and reached into his cart.

“What are you doing?” Jarvis asked him, a bead of sweat falling down the side of his head.

Malthus answered by picking up the bomb they had and holding it for all to see. “I swear if any of you try anything I’ll blow us all to piece with this! So you-” he pointed up at Heartless. “You crazy mare, whoever you are, you stay away! And you-” he glared at Rainbow Dash. “How about you just fly out of here and let us go?”

“Why do you have a bomb?!” Lord Copper yelled in shock.

“You can shut up too!” Malthus frothed. “I’m not letting things end here for me, so everypony just shut up and listen to me!”

“Malthus you idiot, you’re going to get us all blown up!” Rainbow said.

“Not if you don’t get-” Malthus’s sentence was interrupted as both his and Rainbow Dash’s minecarts hit a slight bump in the track.

The bomb flew out of his hooves and landed right between Rainbow Dash and Lord Copper in their minecart. Luckily it didn’t explode immediately but as it bounced back and forth before finally lying down, there was a distinct sound coming from it: tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick...

“Uh oh,” Jarvis gulped.

Rainbow and Lord Copper both shared a look before both lunged for the bomb, fighting for control over it.

“C-Copper! Let go!” Rainbow Dash said.

“You let go! Unlike you, I know how to disarm this whenever I want! I’ll keep you away with it you interloper!” He said.

“Would you both please get some sense and just disarm it right now?!” Jarvis yelled at them.

His and Malthus’s minecart then lurched once more as a pink pony jumped through the air between her cart and theirs and landed on the back of it, her hooves just barely gripping the back edge. For most ponies, jumping at that high speed and at that distance would’ve been a suicidal attempt. Most would’ve been too afraid to even attempt it. Heartless didn’t feel fear. And she wasn’t smiling now.

Jarvis and Malthus gasped and backed up against the front of the minecart as Heartless pulled herself in. Her blue eyes darted right to the gang leader.

“No one can harm Rainbow Dash,” she said and reached a hoof out towards him.

“W-Wait-” Malthus begged before Heartless’s pink hoof tapped his forehead and his eyes rolled back, the life sucked right out of him.

Jarvis slowly turned his head with tears forming in his eyes as he looked at Lord Copper. “B-Boss...”

Heartless tapped the back of his head and Jarvis’s body fell forward, draping itself over the front of the minecart. Her smile was now right back on her face as her eyes glanced up to Rainbow Dash. Their carts then both entered a new tunnel, separating from the multiple other tracks and larger cavern to once again travel at high speed with nowhere else to run or fly through.

“Your turn.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes darted to Lord Copper. “Five second truce?”

“T-Truce!” Lord Copper squealed and let go of the bomb.

“Smart,” Rainbow Dash grinned and tossed the bomb over Heartless’s head and back into the other cart while the pink pony was climbing over Jarvis and getting ready to jump into theirs. She then picked up the shovel and hit Heartless in the hoof with it, making her lose her purchase and fall against the front of the cart as well. Although naturally it didn’t hurt the pink pony one bit.

“Hey, Heartless?” Rainbow Dash said as she held up the shovel.

Heartless glanced up at her and tilted her head. “Yes?”

“Bye,” Rainbow Dash stabbed the shovel down at one of the front wheels of the cart. The blade of it caught under the wheel and dislodged it from the track, wrenching the shovel out of Rainbow’s grip as well.

Heartless’s cart screeched as it caught on the track and flipped over, dumping Heartless and the other contents along the track where they and it continued to bounce a few times, shooting up sparks and banging itself and the track up. Rainbow Dash and Lord Copper sped away, disappearing around a corner in the tunnel and leaving Heartless alone. What would’ve killed probably any other pony was nothing but a slight inconvenience to Heartless though and she calmly picked herself up while surrounded by the destroyed pieces of the minecart and dead bodies and prepared to resume her chase of Rainbow Dash.

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick...

Heartless glanced down at the bomb sitting on the tracks right next to her. She sighed.

“This is going to take forever to dig my way out of...”

A huge explosion rocked the mine and completely caved in the tunnel, burying Heartless under tons of rock and cutting off Rainbow Dash and Lord Copper from the rest of the mines. A blast of hot air rushed from the explosion and buffeted the two of them while their minecart continued along. But otherwise the two were unharmed. Rainbow Dash wiped the sweat from her brow and even Lord Copper sighed in relief. The two then blinked as they remembered who the other pony with them was.

The five second truce was over.

“It’s back to just the two of us,” Rainbow Dash said to Lord Copper.

“S-Seems so,” Lord Copper gulped.

“Given any thought to letting me take you in or am I just going to have to beat you senseless?”

“I-If you beat me senseless you won’t know where to go, you’ll be lost down here.”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes at him. “Alright. Then I’ll almost beat you senseless. It’s time for you to wake up and face reality. You’re not beating me in a fight, you’re not getting away from me, you’re not getting out of here clean, understand?”

“Y-You know it’s only going to be your word against mine again, t-there’s absolutely no proof to what you’re going to accuse me of.” Lord Copper said. His eyes darted about as he spoke, refusing to look directly at Rainbow Dash. Truly he just wanted to keep talking and try and stall for time until he came up with a new plan.

“There are ponies who heard and saw our confrontation up there earlier. And Lord Silver will believe me when I tell him what Barnaby was doing and believed in too,” Rainbow calmly said.

“You really think that?” Lord Copper scoffed. “That after he shut you down earlier that now he’s going to side with you? And you’re some nobody outsider, I am the Lord of Copper Section.”

“Then try and defend yourself,” Rainbow Dash replied.

Lord Copper raised an eyebrow at her.

“Seriously. Try and defend yourself when I accuse you. When I tell everypony what a sniveling, selfish, idiot you are. What are you going to say in your defense? What are you going to do? How angry are you going to get? Everypony is going to see exactly what you are. They’ll see a liar, a moron, and a jerk, clearly guilty with snot dripping out of his nose. And they’ll see me, cold and awesome as I tell them about every miserable and horrible thing you did,” Rainbow’s expression grew darker. “I’m not going to just tell Lord Silver what happened behind closed doors. I’m going to drag you out wherever the ponies are, in the middle of a huge crowd, and put you on display. If Lord Silver is a pushover and Lord Gold is senile, let the ponies of Oreville themselves who you’ve wronged judge you.”

Lord Copper paled the more she spoke until he was shivering. “B-But I… but you… I can still...”

“You’re. Not. Winning,” Rainbow said.

Lord Copper stared at her in disbelief as they exited their tunnel and came out into another cavern. It was still only their track around but there were another few tunnels to the right side of the tracks in an area of the mine that looked like it had once been the center of a decent amount of activity. To the left was a small underground pool of water that had probably been undisturbed for the past century or more. The tracks curved around side it sharply, and at the speed they were going they’d probably have to brake or shoot right off the rails and into the water.

Rainbow Dash and Lord Copper both noticed this and Rainbow reached towards the lever to slow them down a bit so they could take the turn. As soon as her hoof brushed the lever though, Lord Copper reached up and grabbed her, trying to keep her from using the brakes.

“No!” He shouted.

“Hey! Let go you idiot!” Rainbow said and tried pushing him away, she flapped her wings to try and just get out of the cart altogether but he pulled her down.

“No! I refuse to give up on my victory! You’re not getting the better of me!” He said as he kept pulling her hoof and keeping her from using the brakes.

“We’re both going to crash, do you seriously think you have a better chance of getting out of that than me?!” Rainbow yelled.

“I’m not just going to sit back and let you do what you want!” His eyes were alight with fury.

Rainbow Dash realized just how desperate he was then. She had maybe pushed him too hard and he had lost it, his fear and sense of danger had gone flying out the window. Now making sure she lost was just as big a goal for him. Revenge. Anger. They were overriding his self-preservation at the moment. He probably still wanted to get out of here safely but if he could at least take her down with him it wouldn’t be a bad consolation prize.

The minecart hit the turn and the weight and momentum started to do the rest, slightly lifting the wheels on the right side of the cart. Rainbow grit her teeth and tried to put her weight down, also pushing back against Copper and trying to force them to the other side of the minecart to balance it better. Copper unfortunately realized he could just do the exact opposite. The angry Lord pushed back against Rainbow Dash and used his superior weight to overpower her. Both ponies smacked into the left side of the minecart as it reached the apex of the turn.

The wheels left the track completely then and the minecart started to tip over, preparing to dump both Rainbow Dash and Lord Copper into the water.

It almost seemed like things were going in slow motion as the cart fell over completely and the two ponies fell right out of it. The minecart bounced once against the ground before rolling into the pool of water and kicking up a great fuss while Rainbow Dash and Lord Copper were thrown deeper and splashed into the pool. By sheer chance, Rainbow’s head hit a rock submerged just barely below the water line and she was temporarily stunned. Lord Copper was much more fortunate, getting a dunk but able to come right back up at once.

He realized Rainbow Dash wasn’t immediately on him for whatever reason so he quickly paddled towards dry ground and pulled himself up beside the tracks. Without sparing a glance in her direction or bothering to shake any water off, he started running down the tracks at full speed.

A dizzy and waterlogged Rainbow Dash shot up out of the pool a moment later, coughing up water and gasping for air. She was dizzy and her head hurt, but her instincts and reflexes had at least kept her from drowning. She flapped her wings to get out of the pool and took herself over to the tracks. Rainbow Dash rubbed her head and caught her breath before trying to move again.

“Stupid rocks,” she scowled and looked down the tunnel the tracks led into. “Did he keep going down there?”

She closed her eyes again and tried to listen in—sure enough, she heard the sound of a pony running with their hooves echoing off the ground coming from inside that tunnel.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “You can’t seriously think you’re going to outrun me...”

She flapped her wings to get off the ground and zoomed into the tunnel.

Lord Copper panted as he sprinted down the tunnel, if he could just get to a point where his escape route changed, he might be able to lose her. She didn’t know the route like he did. If his memory was holding up, there was a side tunnel behind an old door coming up in here that he needed to take. All he had to do was stealthily slide into it and run, she’d be none the wiser and would keep heading down the wrong tunnel.

“Yes, yes, that can work,” Lord Copper said to himself. He was panicked but not exactly panicking or throwing a fit anymore. He would get out of here.

The deeper he went into the tunnel the more strained he got until his muscles and lungs were both burning. That stupid door had to be here soon!

Just as he was thinking that, he skidded to a stop in front of an old wooden door built into the right side of the tunnel. It must have been some sort of access in the past or took ponies into a part of the mines where tracks and minecarts were unfeasible. Whatever it was, right now it was the door that would take him one step closer to the exit. The thing was old, dusty, and covered in cobwebs but it was also unlocked. He threw it open and ran inside the next tunnel—but also still remembered to close it as he went.

Where he was now was a far more narrow cave system, with tunnels and pathways designed for a single pony to walk through at once. There had clearly been a lot less work done here than in most of the rest of this mine and it showed in roughly carved steps and lots of hanging stalactites and other rocks just sitting around. Lord Copper brought up the map in his head and started running through the tunnels and caves. There wasn’t much longer until he’d get to the true exit of this abandoned mine. And as long as Rainbow Dash wasn’t on his tail it was a win.

It was a win, it was a win, it was a win. He’d get back to Oreville first and make himself come off smelling like roses.

Rainbow Dash flew down the tunnel as a frown deepened on her face. She didn’t hear his running anymore and he shouldn’t be far enough ahead where she couldn’t see him. Where was he?

She shot right past something different in the tunnel that she only barely registered with her eyes, but she still noticed it. Rainbow Dash came to a screeching halt in midair and floated back to the thing that had caught her attention: a door. She narrowed her eyes at it, there was no other way Lord Copper could’ve gone. On the ground in front of the door, some dirt was displaced due to a few skid marks.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Amateur...”

She opened up the door and flew inside but had to stop as she was faced with a narrow passage that had a bunch of different ways to go. Rainbow Dash growled and exasperatedly rubbed at her eyebrows. This was really getting on her nerves. And she couldn’t hear his hoofsteps anymore—he was either going slower or quieter somehow.

To fix that, Rainbow Dash took a deep breath of air and puffed out her chest as much as she could. “COPPER!” She screamed at the top of her lungs.

The yell echoed throughout the entire cave system and Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and brought a hoof up to her ear to listen to anything in response.

A stumbling sound and then the rushed scrambling of hooves came back to her. Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and grinned.

“Gotcha.”

“COPPER!”

The loud yell startled him and practically shook the small tunnel he was in. Lord Copper accidentally tripped over his own hooves and squawked in surprise when he hit the ground, pulling himself back up and running towards the next part of the tunnels. At the end of this passage he was in there was a ladder he had to climb up to get out of here, and after that there was a bridge to cross and then he was practically home free.

“So why’s she still have to be coming after me?” He grimaced as he reached the ladder and started climbing up it. “Why does the world have to be so unfair?”

He was exhausted by the time he made it up the ladder but he knew he couldn’t stop to catch his breath. The chamber he was in now was quite a bit different from anything else in the mine before it. He was at a steep ledge that seemed to fall into a chasm that reached down hundreds of feet into darkness. One slip and that would be it. The chasm was both wide and long, cleanly dividing this part of the mine from the rest.

But his saving grace was still here, an old rope and plank bridge stretched across it. Didn’t exactly look like the safest thing but there was no other option.

Lord Copper threw out safety and caution altogether and ran across the bridge. He just didn’t have the time to do anything else. A wild smile was on his face as he made the journey, his hooves clicking and clacking against the wooden planks. He was almost there. He was almost safe.

The moment he reached the other side he practically kissed the ground. But first—he turned around and started untying the ropes that kept the bridge in place, removing them from the stakes driven into the stone here.

“Hah!” He laughed as the ropes came loose from his side of the chasm and the entire bridge fell away, swinging to the wall on the other side and smashing itself to pieces when it hit. “Now she can’t… oh wait.”

Right as he finished that thought, a blue pegasus flew up from the same tunnel he had come from earlier after not bothering with the ladder. She spotted him from the other side of the chasm and frowned, looking at the destroyed bridge and raising an unamused eyebrow at him. Obviously she had heard the bridge shatter while coming up and had put two and two together.

“Really?” She flatly asked him.

Lord Copper gulped and turned to run off again.

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and flew after him.

The tunnels, passages, and caves Lord Copper navigated through now were dilapidated to a degree that no other ones probably in all of Copper Section were. Broken equipment sat around everywhere and partial cave-ins covered up a lot of what had once been a hive of mining activity. Abandoned really was the best word for this place.

But it was still close. The exit was still close. A forgotten doorway that led out of the mines and into the southern mountains, it could even be considered an entrance into the mines depending on where you were coming from. But it had been boarded up ages ago, that was what the records said. Not an issue though. Not truly. He could easily break some boards and get out.

That would be the case if it wasn’t for-

“Haaah!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she plowed into Lord Copper from behind, knocking the both of them down a slanted tunnel until they hit a pile of rocks together.

“You madmare!” Lord Copper shouted and pushed Rainbow Dash off of him.

She grabbed his tail and made him trip but as soon as she tried to jump on him and keep him down he grabbed one of the nearby rocks and hit her in the side of the head with it.

“Ngh!” Rainbow Dash grunted as she fell to the ground, that was twice she had taken a blow to the head now.

Lord Copper tried to use the opportunity to scamper away from her but ended up getting pegged in the back of the head with a rock himself. Instead of trying to run he should’ve made sure she was knocked out. He collapsed to the ground and groaned in pain, rubbing his injured skull.

“Get over it you baby, it wasn’t even a big rock and I didn’t throw it that hard,” Rainbow Dash said as she walked up to him.

Lord Copper glanced to the side and saw the rock in question, desperately he grabbed it and stood up, swinging it at her. “Hah!”

Rainbow Dash easily stepped away from it, and then kept moving and dodging out of the way as Lord Copper tried to hit her. She looked bored. The stallion was just tiring himself out the more he swung at her, trying to get rid of the pest that had been hounding him for far too long. On one swing though he lost his grip and the rock sailed out of his hoof, clattering against the wall of the mine.

“Y-You...” Lord Copper panted heavily and backed away from Rainbow Dash.

“I’ve told you enough times to shut up, so I’m not going to bother anymore,” Rainbow Dash said and pushed him.

Lord Copper felt the ground give way behind him and he gasped as he ended up falling down an old ramp that he hadn’t noticed in his wild flailing. He roughly bounced and slid off it before coming to a halt on the hard rock ground once more. Rainbow Dash lightly landed on her hooves right in front of his face.

“So that’s it, huh?” She said, looking past him.

Lord Copper looked over his shoulder and saw an old boarded up doorway that the barest sliver of light was shining through. It was wide enough to accommodate a minecart if necessary. At one point it looked like there might have been a sign or placard above it, but whatever it was had rotted away. The Lord of Copper Section groaned and stood up, walking over to the door despite Rainbow Dash being right there.

“It’s all boarded up though,” Rainbow Dash said. “What do you think the best way to get out is?” She said to him.

He looked back at her with a raised eyebrow just in time to see her fly forward and spear him right through the door. The old boards of wood exploded into splinters and the both of them careened down the side of a hill. Lord Copper coughed heavily as he came to a stop in a patch of grass before looking up at the blue sky and the clouds above him.

Rainbow Dash was floating there too, looking at the beautiful day.

“Been a little while since I’ve seen the sky,” Rainbow said before lowering herself to the ground. Pine trees sat all around them, flowers grew, birds chirped, from the outside the mountain looked totally healthy and normal. It really was a beautiful day.

She sighed and turned to Lord Copper the moment her hooves landed. Her eyes were completely cold and made of ruby ice. “Alright, it’s over.”

“W-Wait...” Lord Copper sputtered and tried to crawl away on his back.

Rainbow Dash stalked towards him and raised her hoof.

“Stop! Please!” He begged.

“Why should I?” Rainbow growled.

“B-Because...” He looked around, trying to think of something, anything. “Because we’re even!”

Rainbow Dash stopped. “What?”

“We’re even!”

She lowered her hoof and stared hard right at him. “Even?”

“Y-Yes! Even! Y-You have to know that the only reason you made it out of there is because of me. You wouldn’t have even known about my escape tunnel otherwise. T-That other pony, the pink one, you would’ve been stuck with her if it wasn’t for me! So… so I know that you hate me for what I did, a-and I may have caused this situation in the first place, b-but then you would’ve been lost or trapped in that old mine if I hadn’t shown you the way,” he told her, trying to make this work however he could. “I’m alive, you’re alive, and we’re out here safe and sound together because of each other. Y-You have a strong sense of fairness, right? So you know it’s true don’t you? That we’re even. I-I mean even the bomb we used together to stop that mare was only there because of me! Think about it, please! What’s Oreville to you anyways? Let’s just let bygones be bygones and go our separate ways now, come on, don’t you owe that to me?” He clasped his hooves in front of his face and pleaded.

Rainbow Dash calmly stared down at him the whole time, even for a minute after he had finished his ramblings. And then a smile slowly formed across her face.

“Even, huh?” She grinned and chuckled and eventually started to laugh all out. “Even?”

“Y-Yes...” Lord Copper whimpered.

Rainbow Dash reached a hoof up to her face to wipe away a tear. “Well you know… I guess you’re right, Lord Copper. We are even. Nice and square. You’ve got a real point there.” She smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “Totally even, it’s true I might be dead or stuck if it wasn’t for you—so I guess I do owe you this one. We just went through a lot together so might as well let us both leave happy. Bygones and all that, no sense in keeping grudges.”

“T-That’s right, that’s exactly right!” Lord Copper nodded fervently, a happy smile on his face.

“So I guess I’ll be going,” Rainbow Dash shrugged with an easy grin on her face. “Bye, Lord Copper.” She extended her wings to take off—but then paused, blinking and folding her wings back in as a contemplative look came over her. “Oh. Wait. I just remembered something.”

Lord Copper’s smile froze and he tilted his head. “What?”

“Do you remember when we first met? When I first came into Oreville?” Rainbow asked him, holding a hoof beside her face as her eyes narrowed.

“V-Vaguely...”

“Well I was just thinking about it and I remembered something. Something you said, a favor you did for me,” she took a step forward and leaned down, looking him square in the eyes. “You said to make sure I got a “Warm welcome”, didn’t you?”

Lord Copper sputtered. “U-Um, I-I...”

“So we’re not even, are we? Cause I owe you for that, don’t I?” Rainbow Dash grabbed him by the collar so their faces were just about touching as she raised her blue hoof right beside their heads. “So let me give you a. Very. Fond. Farewell.”

“AHHHHHHHHH!”

“Everypony calm down, calm down! The danger has passed!” Lord Silver said to the huge crowd of ponies atop one of the Silver Section mountains. He, his direct subordinates, most workers in his administration buildings, and a host of civilians had all evacuated to this emergency muster zone. Much like over Copper Section, dozens upon dozens of safe zones existed in the mountains just in case something like this happened. While most damage from the explosions and collapsing mines was contained to Copper Section, there was still a risk to Silver and Gold as well. All of Oreville had evacuated.

“But what about Copper Section? I have family there, how bad is the damage?” A frantic mare shouted over the crowd.

“We have experts and rescue teams already on the way! The quakes have stopped and things are stabilized, I promise it will be okay,” Lord Silver answered.

“How did this even happen in the first place?!” Another stallion yelled.

“Yeah, what’s going on?”

“We heard about a lockdown in Copper Section right before the explosions!”

“How many ponies were down in the mines?!”

“My ponies, please!” Lord Silver said. “This is getting us nowhere—please just trust me for now and I will have answers for you soon. We mustn’t panic-”

A shadow flew overhead and Lord Silver and many of the other ponies on top of the mountain looked up. Silhouetted by the sunlight, Rainbow Dash came down with Lord Copper draped over her back. Ponies standing under where she was moved around to give her space to land, but she had no intention to. Shrugging her shoulders, she tossed Lord Copper off her and threw him to the ground where he rolled to a stop right in front of Lord Silver. His face was a mess of bruises and welts, so puffy and swollen his features couldn’t even be properly made out. The slight rising and falling of his chest was the only sign he was still alive at all.

“He’s the one,” Rainbow Dash said as she flew above the ponies of Oreville. “He put the bombs in the mines. He’s why this has happened.”

“B-But...” Lord Silver stuttered.

“Barnaby is dead,” Rainbow Dash said. “If you had any faith in him as a pony and as your Chief Constable, believe what I’m saying right now. Both Barnaby and I knew Lord Copper was behind this, and when the bombs went off we were in the middle of proving it. Barnaby died trying to prove Lord Copper is guilty.” Rainbow Dash looked over the crowd of ponies and loudly projected her voice. “Lord Copper of Copper Section is the one who destroyed the mines of Copper Section and ruined the city. Hundreds of ponies died because of him.”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, leaning her head back before opening them again and staring down at Lord Silver. “Oreville is your city, not mine. I’m leaving things to you now… and I hope you can do things the right way.”

Rainbow turned and got ready to fly away-

“Your fault...”

She stopped, her eyes, and the eyes of Lord Silver and the other ponies looking to Lord Copper.

He was glaring at her through puffy, swollen, eyelids with his one visible eye, immobile on the ground. “It’s your fault… you’re the one… it’s your fault the bombs went off… your fault all those ponies died… your fault the lockdown happened...” he put all his strength into lifting up a hoof and pointing at her. “Your… fault. If you had never come to Oreville… nopony would have died, nothing would have gone wrong… if only you never came here.”

Rainbow Dash dispassionately looked down at him and calmly exhaled. “You can keep blaming me all you want, but in the end there’s only you.”

She shot off into the sky without another word, breaking through the clouds, and started to fly south. Rainbow didn’t wait for any questions or for the ponies left there to speak again or see what they would say about Lord Copper or herself. Oreville, Lord Copper, Barnaby, all of it was left behind as a tear fell from her eye.

Rainbow Dash flew over a quiet redwood forest that existed south of the Ore-Range mountains. Compared to her usual exuberance, and her usual excitement of getting to see something new, she was very subdued. There just didn’t seem like there was anything to be happy about today. She wasn’t even flying that fast, in fact she was going very slow by her standards, but she just couldn’t find the energy or motive to do anything about it. The sea of trees beneath her was tranquil, but cold. Almost a reflection of how she was feeling right now. Only a soft wind was blowing right now, Rainbow Dash almost thought about closing her eyes and just letting it carry her along.

Nothing was right.

Nothing felt right.

There was nothing to be happy about.

She knew she had to think about it, had to reflect. But she just couldn’t right now. She didn’t want to think about everything that had gone wrong and everypony she had let down. She wished she could go back in time and change things but she couldn’t do that either. Failed. She had failed.

Rainbow Dash shook her head and ascended a little higher. Trying to avoid those thoughts, she got to just under the lowest clouds and looked south. She knew that a village by the name of Pinetree Warren existed somewhere directly south of where she was right now. Or at least it had in the past. The maps that Oreville had were likely incredibly out of date.

If the village was there she couldn’t see it yet, so Rainbow sighed and swept down low again until she could smell the pine scent from the trees. The mountains had almost died down completely at this point, being replaced by hills covered in trees. A pure green forest that stretched for miles in every direction by the looks of it. Not dissimilar from the landscape she had passed over when she first came down from the True North. But the temperature was slightly warmer, it was something she noticed. While it was still in the realm of “cool” it was inching every so slightly towards temperate.

She was willing to bet that another few days of travel south and things would feel like Ponyville during spring.

As she licked her lips she was also willing to bet that she was getting kind of thirsty. The weather here looked like it could rain anytime soon, she saw some clouds that looked fairly stormy to the east that might come this way. But she wanted a drink of water now, not in a day or two. So Rainbow Dash looked down for any river or creek that might be snaking through the forest that she could visit. Even from directly above, the thickness of the trees made it a little difficult to see anything like that.

Rainbow Dash glided upwards to fix that, getting a higher view once again and using her sharp eyes to find a small gap in the trees where a river went through.

She didn’t smile at her discovery, her face was still blank as she flew right down to it. The scent of the trees, the forest, and now softly running water filled her nostrils as she descended below the treeline and landed at the grassy edge of the river. It wasn’t much to look at, just a small thing only ten feet across and not very deep. But she didn’t need anything more than that.

She was breathing a little heavily for some reason. She hadn’t been pushing herself or anything but she was almost out of breath. A trout splashed in the water before disappearing downstream and Rainbow Dash remembered why she had come down here in the first place. Just a drink. All she needed was a quick drink of water and then it would be back to flying.

Back to flying south.

Getting away from what she had left behind.

Rainbow Dash shook her head and groaned, leaning down to the water’s edge and opening up her mouth to lap up some of the cool stream. One gulp, two gulps, three gulps. It would last for now. She wasn’t dehydrated or dying of thirst or anything like that. She wasn’t that hungry either but she’d keep her eyes on the lookout for any fruit or vegetables she could eat around here. Might be good to grab some berries.

She stood by the river’s edge with droplets of water dripping from her mouth, looking at the forest on the other side but not really seeing it. Her eyes vacantly stared at nothing until a shimmer of a reflection caught the edge of her sight and she looked down. Her own face stared back at her, wavering just slightly as the water kept running.

Something disturbed the surface of the water and sent ripples through it. Rainbow Dash brought a hoof up to her face and felt wetness building around her eyes.

“Barnaby… I’m so sorry,” she said to her broken reflection. “I’m so, so sorry. Everypony… if I h-had just… if I hadn’t screwed up. If I… if I hadn’t even come...” More tears fell from her face and into the river. “It’s all my fault. Everything’s my fault...”

Rainbow Dash collapsed to the ground and started to cry. “Barnaby, why? It’s not fair, y-you didn’t deserve to die. Crom, the miners, everypony else, none of you did! Celestia… I’m so sorry. I was so selfish, and I should’ve just left, or done something else, or—I don’t know! And now I don’t even know what will happen. J-Just hope that… they’re good ponies. I know they’re good ponies. B-But if I wasn’t such a stupid failure all this wouldn’t have happened! I don’t even know if Eleanor and Abernathy are okay… and there were so many other ponies in Copper Section.”

“But I just couldn’t go back. I just couldn’t stay around anymore after all of that. And I know Heartless is still chasing me. Barnaby, you probably hate me now. Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie… you’d all look at me like I was some loser too. You’d hate how badly I screwed up and h-how I got all those ponies killed,” Rainbow Dash sniffled. “Oh man, this is so not awesome...”

She dragged a hoof across her face and sat up on her haunches. “Copper was right… so much of that was my fault. I-I was so caught up in myself that I wasn’t thinking. Caring about a cool adventure when I should’ve cared about the ponies I said I was trying to help. I… I just wasn’t awesome.” She looked up at the sky and could almost feel the phantom wing of Fluttershy draped over her shoulders trying to comfort her, and hear the chiding but supportive lecture of Twilight as she tried to convince Rainbow to do better next time.

The smiles of all her friends were there in her mind. They wouldn't hate her, she knew that.

But it made her feel worse. She didn’t deserve those smiles. Not according to her, not after what had happened.

“I have to do better. I have to be better. I have to make up for this and make sure I never screw up or fail again,” Rainbow said. “Not for me. But for any other ponies or creatures in need I meet out here.”

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and gently flew over the river before coming back to her hooves and walking through the grass. She just didn’t feel like flying right now. A sign of her current state more telling than anything.

An image of walking down the streets of Oreville with Barnaby flashed through her mind and Rainbow Dash bit her lip, a few fresh tears coming from her eyes. The journey was going to be slow for the near future.

Rainbow Dash sat slumped against a tree in the middle of the night. It was pretty cold in the forest and a fire probably would’ve done her some good, but she didn’t have any rocks or really anything to contain it with and she didn’t want to accidentally burn the forest down. So for now she was just shivering in the chilly night and completely unable to get to sleep.

At least there weren’t any bears, or Ursa Minors, out to give her trouble. That’s the least of what she needed right now.

She looked up at the sky through the canopy of redwoods and saw a few clouds floating under the bright full moon. A cloud bed would probably be much more cozy and comfortable right now but Rainbow Dash was too apathetic to bother. When she got tired enough she’d curl up in the roots of this tree and sleep like that. If she woke up a shivering mess then whatever, no big deal.

“Hoo, hoo~” The hooting of an owl reached her ears, Rainbow looked up into the branches of the trees around her but she couldn’t spot it.

“Hope you’re having a better night than I am,” Rainbow mumbled. There were probably lots of other owls and small critters in the forest, most of which would keep their distance from her.

A breeze blew through the trees and Rainbow Dash shivered, wrapping her hooves and wings around her body. Already she was regretting letting this malaise she was in make her make stupid decisions. Extra punishment for letting herself get into such a funk and depression in the first place. She should’ve been more active, working harder to get over it or deal with it better. Crying and mourning was one thing, falling into this slothful mode was another. This wasn’t about being contemplative anymore it was about her simply being unable to move past it.

Oh she really wished she had a fire and some food right now.

At some point she had fallen asleep and she woke up to a bank of fog rolling through the forest. Seemed like it was just barely past dawn, a lot of moisture was in the air along with that same kind of early morning chilliness. She shivered herself awake before she had even opened her eyes and stood up from the base of the redwood tree she had slept by. In truth it was hardly the worst sleep she had gotten or the most uncomfortable she had been upon waking, but it wasn’t great either.

With nothing else to do, Rainbow Dash resumed her walk south through the forest. Despite the fog and the early hour, it was still fairly bright out and Rainbow Dash could see far into the forest. It was nice to not be snow blind at least. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a rabbit dart from tree to tree, something that would normally elicit at least a small smile from her but just did nothing now.

After a few more feet of walking, Rainbow Dash sneezed. Rubbing her nose she frowned down at the ground. “Great, just great, wonder if I’m coming down with something now?”

She looked up at the sky she could still just barely see through the branches and needles. “Wouldn’t be a surprise...”

Her physical condition would just match her mood then. Still, Rainbow wasn’t the type to just stand around and sneeze or worry about being sick. She had places to go after all. Even if she didn’t really know what might come after Pinetree Warren or how long she’d stay in a small village like that to begin with. It would probably help her out to be around some new ponies with new faces and new friends to make.

Weird how much she tried to avoid slow, relaxing, boring places on this adventure normally but that’s what she was craving now. Just a place where she could sit down, eat a nice dinner with a friendly family of ponies, and catch up with herself for a day or two before moving on. She just needed to channel that part of her that loved naps and being lazy when there wasn’t anything cool to do.

Because for the moment it made her cringe when she thought of adventure. It felt selfish. It felt like she wasn’t considering at all what had happened, and she knew it was wrong to just say “Oh well, time to go be awesome somewhere else!” without really taking into account how serious things could be. And without giving respect or thinking enough about the ponies she had failed.

“Ugh,” Rainbow Dash shook her head and kept walking along. “Stupid feelings. I’ll find a way to deal with this my own way.” Considering how much she was used to brushing things off or talking it out with her friends, she really didn’t know how to deal with this all alone right now.

Before she had even noticed it, her hooves came to a slight gap in the forest where the ground had changed beneath her. No longer dirt and grass but gravel made up the ground and it went in a long path heading northeast and southwest before disappearing down a curve in both directions.

She had found a road.

Rainbow Dash kicked a few loose pieces of gravel by her hooves, it was impossible to tell when the last pony or vehicle had traveled down here, and she wasn’t sure if she should start traveling down it either. According to the maps, Pinetree Warren existed directly south of the mountain she had come out of. And if there was any obstruction that this road was made to circumvent it wouldn’t really matter since Rainbow Dash had wings. Walking down it would probably just be an inconvenience that made her trip take even longer.

Wondering if there were any other roads like this though, Rainbow Dash used her wings for the first time today and flew high up above the redwoods.

The fog had more or less lifted by this point and Rainbow Dash was able to spot a few gray lines etched out in the forest that indicated more roads. It seems they roamed all over the forest and hills now, probably going to Pinetree Warren, those other places Rainbow had seen on the map in the library, and maybe all the way up to Oreville or even as far as the Weeping Mountain. No matter which one she looked at though she didn’t see any ponies traveling down them at the moment. This part of the world was rather quiet—barren might have been the better word.

And since she still wasn’t in the mood to fly that much and had gotten all the information she needed, Rainbow Dash descended back down to the forest floor.

She stretched her hooves and body when she landed, some soreness from her poor sleep still with her, and started walking again. The forest that existed past the road was full of overgrown grass and shrubs and she kept a lookout for anything edible once again. If need be she could just eat the grass but she really wanted something a little more filling and tasty.

After another hour of walking her hooves had gotten tired and Rainbow Dash decided to take a short break.

“Wonder if this place has a name?” Rainbow idly thought as she looked around at the tall redwoods. Some of their trunks were considerably thick and the tallest might have gotten close to 300 feet. “Everfree Forest, Whitetail Woods, Hayseed Swamp… The Big Dumb Forest?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and got back to walking after less than five minutes. She would never consider herself a forest pony at all but she had sure been in a lot of them in her life. Not so many on this adventure but that was already changing after she came to this side of the world. And she’d probably be in this one, or at least in a foresty area, for a good while longer.

She just couldn’t think of a good reason to hurry up yet.

It was raining. The storm clouds had rolled in from the east and the downpour began. Rainbow Dash was pretty well sheltered at the bottom of the forest thanks to the trees but a consistent drizzle still got through. It wasn’t even as bad as some of the storms that had hit Ponyville to be honest. Even if she was flying up above, unprotected, it would just be an ordinary heavy rain. And down here it was almost sort of pleasant.

She was directly underneath the thickest part of the tree branches of one of the redwoods and as she looked up a few drops of rain peppered her face. Thanks to the dampening effect of the trees it wasn’t very loud of a downpour either.

Rainbow had no intention of sitting here just waiting for the storm to pass, a little water never hurt anybody. With how slow walking already was she didn’t need to waste around and do nothing while it rained. She’d rather get through this storm and forest. As soon as she walked a few steps and the branches above thinned out slightly, she felt more raindrops hit her back. At first just a few, then a few more, and then a constant pitter-patter along her back, the top of her head, and her wings. It was kind of refreshing though. At least it was a change.

Moving from tree to tree quickly got her soaked from mane to tail. Not something she cared about now but if she couldn’t dry herself off and spent another cold night out here she’d likely catch that cold she was worried about. As soon as the weather cleared she should probably take the opportunity to shake and squeeze the water off of her before attempting to start a fire. Which was going to be a pain with everything wet.

Or she could just start flying through the storm to get out quicker—or above the clouds to avoid it entirely.

She looked back at the wings folded by her side, they felt so much stiffer and heavier than normal. She used them when she needed to but… it’s like she was too depressed to fly freely through the sky right now. There was something she needed to do with herself or finally get past before she was ready to fly like normal again.

So for now she walked through the rain, through the trees, over the ground soaking all the water up. The plants here were certainly happy for the rain, as were most of the animals too probably, aside from the ones who were getting their burrows flooded right now. She didn’t envy them. But a rain like this would feed the trees and flowers for a good long time, Rainbow Dash knew that well enough from her time on the weather team. She had no idea how often rainfall like this came to this forest but she doubted it was usually as heavy as this. If there was a rainy season and a dry season up here though she could be wrong and it might storm like this every couple of days or more.

Rainbow Dash intentionally stepped out into a small clearing where the rain fell mostly unobstructed. She ended up completely soaked in seconds, holding open her wings and moving them around to get them soaked all the way through too. Her normally wild mane lay flat against her head and she looked up at the sky with her mouth open to get a big drink of fresh water.

Done with that, she walked through the puddles of water on the ground—the dirt already reduced to a sloppy mud beneath them—and shook like a dog once she got under the next tree. Sort of a pointless gesture but it still made her feel a little nicer.

Thanks to the rain, even most of the forest floor that had trees covering it was getting very muddy. As Rainbow Dash walked along her hooves sank an inch with each step at the minimum and she had to fight a couple of times to get them out. Applejack wouldn’t have a problem with this, she was used to it, Rarity though—a ghost of a smile came over Rainbow Dash’s face as she pictured that.

At any moment Rainbow could just fly off and avoid this mud altogether but things still didn’t feel right.

A roar of thunder rumbled overhead, shouting for several seconds before it died down. Not a single flash or bolt of lightning though.

Rainbow Dash kept walking through the rain for several more hours like that. The downpour started to let up over time, gently at first, and eventually it was nothing more than a light drizzling everywhere. More water seemed to be falling from the tree branches of the redwoods than directly from the sky now. It was still enough to keep her pretty drenched until she found someplace to really dry off and her hooves and underbelly were still covered in mud.

But as she walked the clouds overheard started to break too and sunlight once more shone down on the forest. The sky after a storm broke was always beautiful, Rainbow wouldn’t admit such mushy sentiments to her friends, but even she knew that. It was quite a bit more time before the clouds had completely cleared though and Rainbow Dash spent it sitting at the edge of a break in the trees that turned into a small meadow before the trees rose up again a little further away.

Her face was blank as she looked around the meadow and let out a breath of air through her nose. Flowers dripped with water, grass grew long and tall, she saw a few animals coming out now, and a fresh ray of sunlight was shining on it all. It may have just been raining, pouring so hard especially on a spot like this with no trees over it, but everything was so pretty now. Everything was continuing to go on and make the best of things.

When it rains it pours but after the rain comes the shine.

She was pretty sure either Fluttershy or Pinkie Pie had first said that to her about something a long time ago.

Rainbow Dash smiled as she took it all in. “Crom, Eleanor, Dolph… Barnaby. I can’t make anything up to you if I don’t get around to doing anything, now can I?” She took a deep breath and then exhaled. “I get it now. I won’t forget anything, but I won’t keep feeling down on myself either. I need to be better.” She smirked. “And I will be.”

Rainbow Dash cracked her neck and extended her wings. With a single flap she shot off high into the sky, above where the clouds used to be, and spun in a vortex. She became a total blur thanks to the intense speeds and when she was done she was dry as a bone. “Wooh!” She combed a hoof through her mane and ruffled it up on purpose. “That’s how it’s supposed to be.”

The forest still stretched far into the distance, but Rainbow Dash wouldn’t be taking a slow walk through it anymore. Whatever was ahead, whether it be Pinetree Warren, some other town, a new adventure, or whatever else this side of the world held, she’d be flying to it like a star. Excitement and an eager desire to face her next adventure and not screw things up filled her. The way she could prove to herself and the world that she was still doing good and not just for selfish reasons. For a second she basked in the heat of the sun and took a look around at the world, the north, the south, the east, and the west—and then she was off.

Rainbow Dash flew through the air while whistling a happy and fast tune to herself. For the first time in a couple of days she was actually feeling good. That didn’t mean she was forgetting or ignoring anything, it was because she acknowledged what had happened and what she needed to do now. Rainbow knew being all depressed and lethargic wasn’t going to help anyone or anything. Maybe it had to do with her pretty “straight as an arrow” way of thinking, but there was no reason in her mind why she should be moping or crying when she could be doing something good and helpful. She had mourned. She had contemplated. And now she was back in action.

She would not forget her friend Barnaby. She wouldn’t forget the broken promise to Eleanor. She wouldn’t forget the disastrous state Oreville had been left in. She wouldn’t forget how much she needed to make up for. So it was time to be awesome again. Cause actions spoke a lot louder than words and Rainbow Dash was prepared to show the whole world what she could do.

“Awesome as I wanna be~” she sang to herself as she went up and down through the sky, doing loops and corkscrews just for fun. It was a beautiful and warm day out, the perfect kind of weather to just fly any way you wanted to.

And Rainbow Dash was embracing that right now to a ridiculous degree. A few low-hanging clouds were poofed right out of existence as she plowed through them and looked around for anymore that she could have fun with. Her rainbow form became a zigzagging hummingbird as she darted around with the only goal being to live a little. Any creature looking up at her would think she had lost her marbles with how chaotically she was flying.

But Rainbow Dash didn’t care, cause right now she was having fun. Something she sorely needed.

Ahead of her was something else that had put her in a pretty good mood, small mountains that broke the endless forest. Nothing compared to the mountain range Oreville was built under, or many other such ranges she had seen, but it beat the same boring green hills and flat forest she had seen the past couple of days. Maybe they promised something new around or right beyond them too? Like finally a glimpse of Pinetree Warren. She’d be pretty darn happy to get that.

Since now that she was flying normally again she knew she could make it to those mountains in an instant—so first she was going to finish clearing this sky of clouds. Then she could zoom over there.

The sky clearing took only another minute or two before the sun shone down on this part of the forest with nary an object to block it. Reminded her of when she first met Twilight. Rainbow Dash took a big stretch in the air and let herself feel the sun’s warmth before she smirked and looked to the south. The rest of the world was calling out to her now and she wasn’t going to deny it.

“Oh please give me something to work with,” Rainbow Dash said as she flapped her wings and went straight south.

At her altitude she was already a bit above where the mountains peaked so she could see over and beyond them easily once she got a little closer, but she still decided to stay pretty close to their level to check them out better. The mountains were a rocky gray granite that didn’t have many trees growing on them, or much vegetation of any sort, they seemed to cut a line right through the forest. She tried spying any buildings or anything notable on them but after a minute she shrugged and gave up. Just some lonely mountains. If there were at least some fruit trees or something she could eat on them… but no. When she passed beyond the mountains though she saw something far more inviting.

The ground steeply sloped down and down into a wide valley, the basin of which was at a far lower level than the redwood forest on the other side of the mountains. The trees on this side still made an impressive forest of their own, a forest of green pines, but it wasn’t quite as grand as the more northern forest. Rolling hills existed to the east and west while a few noticeable rivers and lakes dotted the valley and as Rainbow Dash dove down the cliffs to come to a rest right above the pines on the valley floor she saw what looked like might have been a settlement a little ways into the valley. There was enough open space in the forest for that at least and she was pretty sure she had seen some things that might have been buildings among the trees.

“Pinetree Warren?” Rainbow guessed. Either way she wasn’t going to waste more time getting there. She flew at a decent pace directly to the possible village.

There seemed to be kind of a green haze in the air between her and her destination though.

“No, wait...” Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes as she got closer. There were green clouds in the air. They were thin, almost transparent, green clouds that looked sort of more like clouds of green dust. They hung low, only barely above the trees—so much lower than most ordinary clouds did unless they were ones moved by pegasi for weather or something. Rainbow Dash honestly had no idea what to make of them. She didn’t think she had ever seen green clouds before. Pink ones, thanks to Discord, but those weren’t even really clouds at all.

She scratched her head as she flew closer to them. “Maybe these are broccoli clouds then?”

They stretched in a wide circle that she could see, and now even closer she could see the green vapors or whatever that made them seemed to come up from the forest itself like a fog. It was definitely an odd sight. But—she was also able to glimpse through those green clouds the telltale signs of buildings in the distance. Perfect, she was almost there now.

And since they were right in front of her, and since she had just done some previous cloud busting, why not do some more? These green clouds were making her curious after all, she wanted to see what they were like.

“Green clouds, pink clouds, what’s the difference?” Rainbow Dash grinned and shot towards the nearest one. Either she’d break it apart or see if maybe it had enough form that she could shape it into something, time to test these green clouds out. The first green cloud was right in front of her with plenty more around it, her hooves were extended before her and she flew right through the cloud-

And immediately started to violently cough.

“Haaack!” Rainbow Dash’s body heaved and she reflexively brought her hooves to her throat.

The green cloud had burst around her and scattered green motes of dust and other particles in every direction. She didn’t know what this green stuff was but she definitely, definitely, shouldn’t have flown through it. Rainbow had stopped in midair, her wings still beating just to keep her afloat, while she coughed up her lungs and an intense burning sensation came over her eyes. It was like someone had shattered a bottle of hot sauce over her face and let the sauce and the shards of glass drip down into her sensitive eyes. They were red and irritated in seconds and Rainbow’s vision went blurry. Her nostrils and mouth soon felt the same, burning heat filled her nasal cavity and Rainbow’s coughing became even worse. The next thing that happened was her throat closed up and her breathing became choked with her unable to draw in any air.

Can’t breathe! Rainbow Dash realized in a frightened panic. H-Have to get out of this!

She tried to suck in another breath but it was pointless, her diaphragm and lungs were both painfully fighting inside her body and a fuzzy heat built up inside her chest as well. Rainbow flew forward but with how pained and disoriented she was she could barely manage it at all, she accidentally dipped low and hit a tree, stumbling through the air and trying to get on the path out of here. But a dull pain was coming up through her extremities now too and Rainbow Dash looked through her red eyes to see blotchy green spots on her hooves and wings. And by the second they grew larger and began to crawl up her limbs like some kind of green mold had taken over her flesh.

The village! The buildings! Rainbow knew it was her only hope, she had to fly through the rest of this poison and make it to Pinetree Warren or she was going to die here.

But her body was starting to feel wrong, and not just because she was turning green like old mold, there was a stiffness in her limbs and joints. She could feel them but she couldn’t move them right. Paralysis. She was going numb. Whether this was truly poison or some kind of disease it had affected her muscles very quickly. Rainbow’s heart had even slowed down and she felt a coldness at odds with the painful burning spreading inside her.

Still, she was Rainbow Dash, and she wasn’t about to quit. Every last bit of strength and determination she had in her was put into flying out of the green clouds and the rest of the haze. She wobbled like a drunk pigeon and her hooves scraped against the trees, but she made progress. All the while the lack of oxygen was threatening to make her eyes roll back and send her off into a permanent sleep. She couldn’t even see herself anymore thanks to what the green dust had done to her eyes but she felt like the moldy rash had grown over most of her body. No matter how many times she tried to breath her throat kept tightly clenched shut.

“Hhhhhhh...” Rainbow could only let out the smallest of wordless wheezes as she glided to what was hopefully salvation. Her wings no longer responded to her no matter what she did so it was all she could manage.

She ended up clipping another tree and falling to the ground, barely conscious. Rainbow Dash crawled on her hooves as everything grew cold and dark, pulling herself forward as far as she could by sheer willpower, until even that ran out.

“Whoa there, sugarcube!” Applejack said as Rainbow Dash tossed down a big hoofful of recently scavenged mushrooms and fruits. “Let’s dun look over what you found to make sure we can eat it all, alright?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “If it isn’t Scootaloo it’s you...”

“Well I don’t think you wanna be making yourself sick or dead now do you?” Applejack smugly grinned at Rainbow Dash.

“Pff, no, guess not. So hurry up and tell me if I can eat any of this stuff or not,” Rainbow glared at her close friend. “And no lip either. We can’t all be outdoorsmares who know everything about camping and stuff.”

“Sure, sure,” Applejack said and looked down at the tree stump Rainbow Dash had poured all the stuff she had found on.

It was their usual camping trip, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity out here with their little sisters (and friend in Rainbow Dash’s case) and Rainbow had just gotten back from looking for food. They all had their own separate little chores, with Rarity setting up the tents and Applejack getting firewood and getting the fire pit ready. Of course with how many times Rainbow had gathered poisonous berries or whatever she wasn’t sure why they hadn’t switched jobs around already.

“Oh boy, yep, got a problem.” Applejack said.

Rainbow Dash frowned. “What?”

“These berries?” Applejack pointed to a few dark red, almost maroon, berries. “These’ll make ya sick. You’ll be throwing up in under an hour.”

“Big whoop,” Rainbow snorted.

Applejack then frowned back at her and picked up a red and white mushroom. “Okay, well this mushroom you found will send you on a one-way ticket to the big hay bale in the sky.”

“Hay bale in the sky?”

“Don’t you be snarking about my expressions, missy.”

“Sorry,” Rainbow Dash said, though she didn’t really sound so sorry about it.

“Doing this for your own good, sugarcube. And the good of everypony else camping out here. Understand?” Applejack raised an eyebrow.

Rainbow Dash bit her lip and sheepishly nodded. “Yeah, okay. I’m really sorry. So just what can we eat from the stuff I brought back? And what should I try and remind myself to never pick again?”

Applejack smiled at her and patted her on the shoulder. “Well let’s have a lookie.” She started pawing through the various “foods” again with her hoof. “Alright, these white and kind of brownish wild mushrooms are okay, we can eat those. And uh, those blue berries you found? Those are just blueberries so we can eat those too. Might wanna go back to where you found a blueberry bush and gather up as much of those as ya can.”

“Guess I can at least do something right,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

Applejack chuckled. “Just don’t go eating nothing you aren’t absolutely sure about, okay?”

“Don’t worry, mom, I won’t.”

“Yeah, yeah, why not bring Scootaloo along with you this time? She’ll keep you safe.”

The irony of that statement wasn’t lost on Rainbow Dash. “Heh, sure. Where is the little squirt anyways?”

“Around with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle somewhere I imagine. Anyways by the time you’re back I’ll have a nice campfire up and running and we can eat. Rarity should be done with the rest of the campsite too unless she gets in a fuss about something.”

“Alright,” Rainbow Dash stretched and looked around, wherever the Crusaders were it wasn’t here. Rainbow Dash turned around and threw up a hoof to wave goodbye to Applejack. “See ya in a bit Applejack.”

“You just keep in mind that if something is brightly colored or a bit unusual looking, it’s a safer bet that it’s not safe to eat than it is,” the farmer’s words floated in from behind her.

“Pay attention, class. This is all very important for the trip we’ll be taking to the Everfree and for your general health and safety in the woods around Ponyville,” Fluttershy said to her class as she stood in front of her blackboard.

Rainbow Dash was sitting in the back of the classroom with a bored expression on her face as she tried to balance a pencil on her muzzle. She was between stuff right now and decided to drop in on her friend to see how she was doing. And now she was kind of regretting that decision. Maybe it was Twilight’s fault for not letting more of the classes here be awesome? Fluttershy probably wouldn’t like it if Rainbow Dash interrupted her or bothered her while she was teaching, so she sat back and let Fluttershy lecture for now. A lot of students she recognized were here too like Gallus, Smolder, and Sandbar.

“I’m going to go over poisonous creatures as well as the sorts of sicknesses and diseases you might catch or come in contact with. This is especially important for those of you not from Equestria, you might not have immunity to the same things that ponies do,” Fluttershy said. “It’s important that you maintain good hygiene as well.”

Rainbow Dash held back a snort. The world could end and she wouldn’t bother with showering regularly.

“There are a variety of diseases endemic to Equestria in general, this area of Equestria, and then to the Everfree itself. Now—some of what I’m going to go over may not apply to you at all. After all there are some illnesses that don’t even affect every tribe of pony, such as the feather flu which only affects pegasi, and others that also might not affect a dragon for instance. However there are some things not dangerous to ponies at all that are in fact dangerous to dragons. We all have to keep these things in mind.”

It was funny to Rainbow Dash how Fluttershy could say all this with that same little smile on her face. That was just Fluttershy.

“Now you may think that so long as nothing bites or stings you and you don’t touch anything weird you’ll be okay. And this is true for the most part. However, you must still be careful with what you breathe in and the air you walk through. Pollen can cause allergic reactions, itchiness, watery eyes, sneezing, fatigue, these are just some of the symptoms that can manifest from a pollen allergy. This is something the ponies of Ponyville always have to keep in mind, because it’s a town with a lot of naturally occurring flora around. Those who have allergies usually have minor problems in the spring,” Fluttershy said and looked out across the classroom. She spotted Rainbow Dash in the back and winked at her. “That’s not all you need to be conscious of.”

Fluttershy pointed to a drawing on her blackboard of something round and fuzzy. “This is a fungal spore. Obviously they’re much smaller than this—usually far too small to see with the naked eye. But they’re what fungi use to reproduce. And you wouldn’t want to be breathing them in either.”

“How would we even know we’re doing that?” Gallus asked, he looked almost as bored as Rainbow Dash.

“Well… for starters I would say just don’t walk or fly through any strange clouds of spores and other dusty particles,” Fluttershy answered.

Rainbow Dash blinked and tilted her head.

“And now I’m going to show you various slides and pictures of the animals and plants you should avoid—not just in the Everfree but anywhere in Ponyville in case you have allergies. We wouldn’t want someone with an allergy to bees to get on the wrong side of a friendly little honeybee.”

“Uh, Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash asked from the back.

The entire class turned to face her along with Fluttershy.

“Yes, Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy questioned with a smile.

“Can you go back to talking about fungus and spores and stuff like that? I dunno why but I’m getting some weird feeling like it’s important,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Well okay, but you’re supposed to be a teacher too Rainbow Dash, why don’t you come down here and help out with the lesson?” Fluttershy fluttered her eyelids up at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash sighed but still lazily lifted herself out of her seat with her wings and floated on down to stand beside Fluttershy. “Yeah fine...”

“So what do you know about fungus?” Fluttershy asked her.

“Umm…”

“What do you know about mold?”

“It gets on bread after like a couple of days of leaving it out.”

Fluttershy wryly grinned at Rainbow Dash. “Well I’m not sure how much of a help you’ll be as a teacher. But have you ever had a fungal infection that you can tell the class about? Some first hoof experience is always useful.”

“You know I haven’t had anything like that,” Rainbow Dash frowned at her. “I barely get sick at all. I’m more the type to accidentally break something.”

“Like your head?” Gallus said and got a few laughs from the other students.

“Oh laugh it up!” Rainbow Dash glared at them. When that only got more laughs, Rainbow rolled her eyes and looked at Fluttershy. “Sorry, Fluttershy. I don’t even know what I’m doing here. Don’t know how I can help with your lesson.”

Fluttershy put a calming hoof on her shoulder. “You’re here to learn too. You slept through almost the entire lesson the first time.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash nodded. She then did a double-take. “Wait, what?”

“Well when I tried to teach about fungi, poisonous animals and plants, you drifted off to sleep very quickly. It’s why things are so fuzzy and strange right now,” Fluttershy tapped her chin.

Rainbow Dash grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes. “Fluttershy. What are you talking about?”

Fluttershy smiled. “It’s really not a surprise you don’t remember this day very well.”

“We also can’t rule out the possibility of a virus or bacterial infection,” Twilight Sparkle said as she levitated a pointer up in front of her chalkboard.

The two of them were in the library of Twilight’s castle, with one desk set up for Rainbow Dash as Twilight gave her some dumb lesson on infectious diseases and other stuff. Rainbow was only half paying attention to any of it. Twilight’s pointer glowed in her magical aura and it pointed at two very intricate and well drawn diagrams on the chalkboard of microscopic creatures.

“First of all, Rainbow Dash. I’m going to teach you the difference between a virus and a bacterium,” Twilight smiled as she went into full-on lecture mode.

“More than one having a cool sounding name and the other one having a nerdy name?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

“Yes,” Twilight frowned. “Now pay attention, this is important. You see, bacteria are truly alive. They may be quite different than us, but they are living organisms made from cells the same way ponies are that can live inside or outside a body. A virus on the other hoof is not alive. They are merely a collection of molecules and DNA that need a host to survive. Do you understand?”

“Yeah I get it,” Rainbow Dash yawned. “Can’t both of them still make you sick just as bad as the other?”

“Indeed they can,” Twilight smiled. “While some may be afraid of germs, or give undue hate to viruses, there exists no true malice in any of them. The smallest bacteria and viruses are just surviving and propagating in the only ways they know how. A virus can not change what it is.”

“Uh huh, got it.” Rainbow said as she leaned back in her chair.

“It’s the same with diseases like cancer—a mere unfortunate and tragic occurrence. But cancer cells don’t choose to be cancer cells. Rainbow Dash, what’s the sickest you’ve ever been? Or have you ever had a friend or family member with a serious illness?”

Rainbow Dash though, but aside from a flu or fever occasionally, she didn’t really get “sick sick” that much at all. And the sickest she could remember a friend being was one time when Fluttershy was younger and she caught something from some fleas one of her animals had. Or maybe it was ticks? But she ended up being fine. “Not really? I don’t think so at least.”

“Well if you can name me any illnesses you or a friend has been through I can tell you if it was caused by a virus or bacteria.”

“Riiiight.”

“Rainbow Dash, please pay attention more,” Twilight chided her.

“Fine, but it’s like—why are you even telling me all this in the first place?” Rainbow Dash said as she leaned forward and propped her chin up on her hooves.

Twilight smiled and tilted her head at her. “Don’t you remember?”

Rainbow Dash blinked and looked around the library. She didn’t remember. “Uhh… no. I don’t. And… when did I even get here? Where was I? I don’t remember coming to your castle, Twilight. Where are Spike and Starlight? How come you’re not teaching anyone else this stuff?”

“You don’t remember because you never had this conversation. This didn’t happen. But you need to remember.”

Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight. “What do you mean?”

“Those other times were memories. Distorted, but real. Dreams from your subconscious.”

Rainbow Dash dumbly stared back at her, her brain and memories were all fuzzy right now.

“It’s okay, Rainbow Dash. All you need to do is remember.”

“Remember… what?” Rainbow Dash bit her lip, the chalkboard, the walls of bookshelves, everything around her was beginning to shimmer and waver as a white fog came from the borders of her vision. Everything except for Twilight Sparkle.

“Remember who you are,” Twilight said to her as she stepped forward, still smiling pleasantly.

“I’m… Rainbow Dash,” Rainbow said.

Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder. “Remember who you are.”

Rainbow Dash unconsciously reached up to rub at something invisible on her chest. She looked Twilight in the eyes. “We… I never had this conversation with Twilight. I remember the other two, but not this.”

“That’s right,” Twilight nodded as whiteness started consuming everything around them.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “You’re not Twilight.”

“Remember.”

A sudden feeling of weightlessness overtook Rainbow Dash and she dropped away from “Twilight Sparkle” with the whole world becoming blank nothingness. Her thoughts fell away into the void as well, careening noises and words jumped back and forth in her mind, the only replacement. Spiraling down and down she went until she was finally lifted up and the surprising feeling of something soft beneath her captured her sensations. Movement. Words. All a blur.

Rainbow Dash’s mouth moved but nothing came out.

A hoof tenderly rubbed her shoulder.

An alarm clock rang and rang throughout a small cabin at the southwestern edge of the village as it had been doing for the past fifteen minutes. With absolutely no sign of convincing the cabin’s occupant to get out of bed. The cabin itself was absolutely cluttered with an assortment of papers, writing utensils, scattered journals, beakers, test tubes, broken lab equipment, medical tools and devices, plates of half eaten food, and other trash that turned what was probably at one time a cozy cabin into a garbage heap. The central table in the cabin was itself covered in charts and graphs, some kind of scientific or medical report that was written in nothing but complex jargon.

The one area that wasn’t a complete mess was the bed and a few surrounding shelves and cabinets that likely contained the occupants non-work related trinkets and clothes. Whoever was using the bed right now was completely under the covers, a quilt of wildflowers that moved about as the pony writhed underneath them. On a nightstand next to the bed opposite the alarm clock there sat a half-drunk mug of coffee. Ice cold by now, abandoned late last night. Along with it was a stained piece of paper showing some more test results with the word “negative” repeated over and over.

The alarm kept continuing to ring and ring some more while the bed’s occupant grumbled. They were awake, they just didn’t want to admit it yet.

A window above the bed was even shining light right onto it as if the whole world was saying “get up”. The drapes hadn’t been closed the night before—a horrible mistake that would not be made again. A banging sound then came from the bed as the pony in it accidentally clonked their head on the headboard in the middle of their shuffling. Surprisingly they didn’t so much as groan or grunt in pain, but it was enough for them to realize that they should get out of bed.

An indigo hoof rose out of the covers… and then smashed the alarm clock to pieces.

“Better. A waste, but better...” the groggy voice of a unicorn mare said as she sat up and tossed the flowery quilt off herself. Bleary eyes blinked from underneath a mane of vibrant orange and the mare took a big yawn before looking at the destroyed remains of her clock and sliding out of bed completely.

She was a relatively young mare, mid-20’s at the oldest, with heavy bags under her eyes that weren’t only caused by a single night’s exhaustion. She looked down at her destroyed alarm clock and rolled her eyes before walking around the bed and going towards a door in the cabin. Opening it up she walked into her bathroom and turned the faucet on the sink, splashing some water into her face before grabbing a towel and wiping it down.

There were red blotches on the towel when she pulled it away from her face. The mare frowned and looked at the mirror above the sink but there were no cuts on her face. Turning her hooves over she saw the culprit—a cut she had gained on her hoof she used to smack her alarm clock. She hadn’t noticed it until now. Looking down at the floor she noticed a trail of blood drops on the floor (and several things on the floor) leading all the way back to her bed.

“Perfect. Just perfect. What a way to start the day,” the mare sighed and reached into her medicine cabinet to pull out a package of band-aids, placing one over the cut on her hoof.

After that she grabbed a comb and a brush and started getting her mane in order, the errant locks were combed down and her frayed ends were pulled back into a tight ponytail. When she was done her emerald eyes were no longer obscured and a black hair-clip above her left eye made sure that nothing would fall out of place. Since that looked good enough to her she left the bathroom and walked back to one of the cabinets beside her bed, pulling out a white doctor’s coat from inside and putting it on in one swift motion. At the same time she levitated the mug of coffee with her red magic and carried it with her into the small kitchen of the cabin, dumping it and its contents into the sink.

She let out a slow breath of air and paused for a moment before grabbing some oats and a small bar of chocolate out of a cupboard. She would’ve liked to have some actual cooked oatmeal for breakfast but she didn’t want to waste anymore time this morning after struggling to get herself out of bed for so long. There was work to be done in town. The kind of work that didn’t wait for her.

“Not like there’s any point to it...” the cynical thought couldn’t help but slip out through her lips before she pushed it back down and shook her head. “Stop it, stop it. Don’t get like that.”

She ate her meager breakfast and stepped to her front door, once more stopping in front of it and trying to collect her thoughts before she finally managed to turn the knob with her magic and step outside. It was a bright and sunny day, a big contrast to the heavy storm that had happened just recently. But this beautiful day didn’t change anything else about what was going on in Pinetree Warren. The doctor stepped off her front porch and onto the grassy ground, her home away from the more crowded center of the village.

Idly she looked north, past the buildings and the trees, until she saw the same green haze that had been there for a while now. She didn’t know why she even bothered looking anymore, but one day she hoped she’d finally be able to look and it would be gone.

As she walked northwest to her place of work, she looked around at the various buildings and homes she passed. There used to be a time when ponies would be out to greet her every step of the way. When young fillies and colts would be out playing around. Nowadays pretty much everyone stayed indoors unless they had business. And thanks to several warning signs and roadblocks, they didn’t really have any visitors randomly coming in either.

Just about the only pony who was out was one of the village’s oldest residents, Ardent Elm, an old unicorn wizard who lived in a cabin also on the outskirts of the city. Pinetree Warren and many of the other towns and hamlets around it had a sizable unicorn population, but few ponies strove to really study or practice magic seriously. Ardent Elm was probably the only one who knew anything of the higher mysteries. She herself only used magic for mundane purposes, even though Ardent Elm had taught her and most other unicorns in the village a thing or two when they were younger. Ardent Elm was out right now watering an assortment of plants he kept in front of his cabin that he used for potions and magical ingredients—and which doctors like her also sometimes used for medicinal purposes.

“Hello, doctor,” the wizened old stallion nodded to her.

The lack of a good morning wasn’t lost on her. No one in town said that anymore.

“Hello, Ardent,” she nodded back, unable to muster a smile.

And that was it. No one had time or the energy to connect anymore, or make small talk. She walked past Ardent Elm like he was practically a stranger. The only other ponies she saw out were ones quickly walking back home with some groceries, or quickly walking from their home to get some groceries. And a stallion or two doing yard work or home repair. Hundreds of ponies lived here but it was practically a ghost town.

She glanced north at the green haze in the forest. No surprise why things were the way they were.

After walking on the outside of most of town to avoid the denser parts, she made it to her destination. At one point it had been the town’s auditorium, where meetings and events were held, but it had been requisitioned into a hospital due to their doctor’s office being far too small to deal with anything like this. Now the office was used purely to run tests and every patient, doctor, nurse, and volunteer came to this auditorium to do their work. Numerous tents were set up attached to and around it to make the triage center even larger, there were wooden roadblocks and ropes set up telling the other citizens of Pinetree Warren to not come any further as well.

Doctor Anathema walked right by all of that to the front door of the auditorium. The forest north of here had even more warning signs around it and the doctors normally didn’t go that far either. She opened up the already unlocked door without knocking and walked inside. The small lobby was occupied by the only other doctor in town, her older contemporary, Doctor Swab, and the two nurses who had the shift today, Heartwrench and Blue Rose. Doctor Swab was a unicorn like she was, the nurses were earth ponies. Several equipment lockers lined one side of the room while most of the rest was overflowing with discarded papers and notebooks not unlike Anathema’s own home.

“Ah, Doctor Anathema, did you sleep well?” Doctor Swab asked her. “I know you didn’t want to take a day off but-”

She quickly cut him off. “It’s fine, I ended up having trouble waking up this morning so I guess you were right. How are the patients?”

Doctor Swab grimaced and looked at the doors that led into the main auditorium. Heartwrench and Blue Rose despondently looked down as well. “No change.”

Anathema sighed. “So they’re not getting any worse for the moment but they haven’t responded to the latest treatment either.”

“I’m afraid so,” Doctor Swab nodded.

Anathema closed her eyes and let out a deep breath through her nose. She opened them again and looked at the lockers. “Well, let’s get in there. I’d like to do a routine check up to see how everyone is feeling myself, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course not. I did a visual check previously and took samples of the infected areas from some of the patients, but that was all,” Doctor Swab said.

“I see,” Anathema nodded. “I’ll do a more thorough examination and see if any of our patients are up for talking, you can get the samples back to the lab at our old office.” She looked at the nurses. “Heartwrench? Blue Rose? You’ll be helping me out.”

“Of course, Doctor,” Heartwrench said.

“Do you think any of them are going to be able to speak with you?” Blue Rose asked. “Yesterday they were...”

“I don’t expect much, but I hope I can get a few words from some of them at least,” Doctor Anathema replied. She went over to a locker and opened it up, revealing it to be full of thick rubber gloves, eye-guards, masks, and white jumpsuits. “Now get dressed, like always be sure to burn the disposable clothes when done, disinfect the rest, and take a thorough shower in the decontamination shower out back.”

“Yes, Doctor,” both nurses replied and together the three mares got ready for their necessary but distressing job.

In a minute they were bedecked in their protective gear and standing in front of the door that took them to the main room of the auditorium. The door had a plastic sheet over it that stretched from floor to ceiling and could be zipped open or closed. With her magic, Doctor Anathema pulled the zipper up and then pushed the double doors open.

Inside was what could only be called a nightmare of diseased origin.

The auditorium was kept almost deathly cold due to it seeming to slow down and weaken the symptoms of the disease. The doctor didn’t do so much as shiver as she walked into it. Rows upon rows of sick stallions, mares… and children filled the auditorium. All of them lying on their own bed in a wretched state. They were covered in growths and spots of green fungus that discolored their skin wherever it spread, whether you were red, yellow, or blue, it turned everything into an ugly sickly green. Only a few spots of the ponies’ original coats shone through at this point. The more green, the worse an infected got.

And so far nothing had worked to reverse any of this. Stopping and stalling had been the best they could do. Delaying the sad, painful, inevitable.

Most of the ponies in here didn’t have the strength to even moan in pain anymore, or had gotten used to it. Even the children barely whined for how much the disease sapped their strength.

Anathema walked to the nearest bed, the two nurses behind her, and came around to the pillow of the patient. A middle-aged stallion by the name of Steady Wheel, he was a carpenter in Pinetree Warren. Anathema checked his eyes, he was awake but staring off into nothingness, and she checked the rest of his body as well. The green hadn’t proceeded since her last inspection, but hadn’t receded either. His breathing was labored but steady, and his temperature stable.

“Steady Wheel? How are you feeling today? Can you talk to me?” Doctor Anathema asked him.

He continued to breath and stare off into the distance, practically comatose, and not even acknowledge her at all.

Anathema sighed and leaned away from him, moving onto the next bed.

The check-ups proceeded mostly like that for all of them. A few ponies moved a little more, or made more noise than just breathing, but almost none of them had the strength or will to actually speak. One of the ones that did was a filly who was one of the most recent patients, the green hadn’t spread over as much of her body as most others. She shook with pain that she still had trouble managing as Doctor Anathema approached her bedside.

“Hello, Turnip. Has there been any change or improvement in your condition since we last spoke?”

Turnip’s eyes turned to look at her, the most Anathema had gotten out of any patient so far.

“Turnip?” Anathema asked again.

“I want… to die,” the filly squeaked out.

Heartwrench stepped forward to the filly’s bedside on the opposite side of Anathema. She started lovingly rubbing her mane, even though she technically shouldn’t. “Please don’t say things like that, Turnip. We’re all working hard to cure you and the others.”

Turnip’s eyes slowly turned to look at her. “Mom died. Dad died. I’m going to die. We’re all… going… to die.”

Heartwrench and Blue Rose both looked pleading to Doctor Anathema, who merely shook her head.

“Get some rest, Turnip. Keep up your strength,” the doctor said.

The filly didn’t even look at her this time.

None of the other speaking ponies had anything good to say either. They felt as miserable as last time Anathema spoke to them. In a way, she wanted to consider that progress, since it meant they weren’t worse after two more days. But they weren’t close to being cured or healthy again either. With any luck, the samples Doctor Swab was analyzing right now would give them some clue if their latest treatment had any sort of effect. If it did they could work from there to try and keep improving it.

Doctor Anathema wasn’t holding out hope. Medical science had done next to nothing for them when it came to this plague.

After the rounds were done, the gloves and masks were disposed of in a bin that would itself be taken to the incinerator in the auditorium’s basement. The jumpsuits and eye-guards were removed to go through special cleaning later, and the three mares went out back where their normal clothes would be washed and a decontamination tent was strung up for them to go through. The shower was almost scalding hot but Anathema just stood in it like it was nothing. Longer than she needed to. Heartwrench and Blue Rose were out much faster.

Anathema merely stared at the shower knob until steam completely fogged her vision, then she turned it off and stepped out, her skin raw and blistered in places. She didn’t feel it and neither nurse said anything. With the shower over, the three of them took an anti-biotic and a drink of water before leaving the tent, now wearing temporary yellow gowns made of paper until their clothes were washed.

“Shouldn’t have even bothered getting ready this morning,” Anathema snorted. Though she knew why she did it—to set the patients at ease as best she could and look professional. If she came in as an apathetic, disheveled, mess, it didn’t speak well. Though judging by how the patients had been… she doubted any of them cared or noticed.

The three mares walked around the auditorium and entered another tent back near the front. This was probably the least messy of all the tents and places she worked now. A wooden picnic table sat in the middle of it, with a few boxes and a cooler filled with ice near the side of the tent, an airtight water barrel, and a single temporary bookcase full of journals and binders. Anathema used her magic to pull a journal from the bookcase and sat down with it, a cup of pens and pencils already sitting on the table. Heartwrench meanwhile went to the cooler and removed some ice while Blue Rose opened a box and retrieved three wooden flagons.

Together the nurses opened up the water barrel, dipping the flagons into it and then plunking some ice into them before bringing them over to the table. One for each mare.

While the nurses drank their water, Anathema wrote in her journal about the conditions of the patients and how the rounds had went. It was pretty much the same old thing she had written down the last few times but it was still important to keep a record. When she finished writing she pinched the bridge of her nose and grabbed her flagon to take a single cool sip.

“Do you think Doctor Swab will come back with good news?” Heartwrench asked her.

The question surprised Anathema and she almost dropped her flagon.

“Um, s-sorry for asking!” Heartwrench apologized.

“No, no, it’s okay...” Anathema shook her head. “But… I don’t think we should be getting our hopes up for anything at this point. We should just do what we can.”

“Right...” Heartwrench nodded, looking down into her flagon.

Blue Rose reached over to comfort her. “It’ll be alright. One day.”

Anathema was going to get back to her drink when the three of them all heard hooves running towards the tents from the direction of town. She frowned and stood up, the nurses following her, and opened up the tent to see Doctor Swab and a unicorn pony from town called Honey Sight running to the auditorium and tents. Doctor Swab saw her standing at the tent and waved a hoof, running to her with Honey Sight in tow.

“Doctor Anathema!” Doctor Swab yelled.

She and the nurses trotted out of the tent, her eyes looking at the beleaguered Honey Sight, He wasn’t a volunteer or part of the medical team at all, he was just some bird watcher from Pinetree Warren. “What’s going on? What is it?”

Doctor Swab glanced over at Honey Sight. “Tell her.”

Honey Sight caught his breath and walked up to Anathema. “I-I saw something just now, while I was bird watching!” He panted. “I was on my roof with my binoculars and looking out at the forest.”

Anathema nodded along, knowing Honey Sight’s home was close to the north edge of the village. “And?”

“There was a pony. A pegasus, she came flying towards Pinetree Warren just a moment ago but she… she flew into the green clouds north of the village,” Honey Sight said.

“Right through the epicenter,” Doctor Swab said.

Anathema’s eyes widened and Heartwrench and Blue Rose gasped in shock.

“She… she must’ve been a pegasus from the Weeping Mountain on a trip. She couldn’t have known about the plague,” Doctor Swab said.

“I-I didn’t think I should come through the barricades without permission, so I went to your office first and Doctor Swab was there,” Honey Sight said.

“What do we do?” Heartwrench asked.

“Did you notice if she did anything else?” Anathema asked Honey Sight.

He shook his head. “Not really. She flew through the clouds for a little bit and then I saw her fall and lost vision on her.”

“She has to be dead,” Blue Rose said. “Consistent direct exposure, and at that amount, is fatal in minutes, the green will completely consume and devour a pony’s body.”

“I concur,” Doctor Swab nodded. “It pains me to say but-”

“We’re going to get her,” Anathema said.

All eyes looked to her, including the disbelieving ones of Doctor Swab. “B-But Doctor Anathema, the danger of going so close to the epicenter, for a pony who’s surely dead-”

“We don’t know that she’s dead. What we do know for sure is that she’ll need our help,” she narrowed her eyes. “Why did you come here in such a hurry otherwise?”

Doctor Swab looked away in shame. “I… I’m sorry.”

“We became doctors for a reason, Swab,” she looked at Heartwrench and Blue Rose. “You became nurses for a reason. This pegasus, alive or dead, needs us. As long as we don’t get too close to the epicenter or come in contact with the spores directly it will be alright, we put on our protective gear and get out there. Bring a stretcher too. So let’s move, now.”

The two doctors and two nurses got into motion immediately, quickly running back to the auditorium lobby to get every bit of protective gear they needed on once again. Honey Sight was told to go back to his home and take a shower. Once they were ready, a stretcher was taken from another one of the tents around the building and unfolded. The group then made their way north around the building and towards the green haze that existed just beyond, further into the forest. They had to be very careful. A perimeter of markers still existed out here, but any further than that and they risked coming into contact with the spores. These jumpsuits would probably have to be burned too instead of just washed.

“How far out do you think the pegasus is?” Doctor Swab’s muffled voice asked.

“Hopefully not too far… if they, or their body, are still within the haze there’s nothing we can do,” Anathema replied.

Concentrated amounts of the spores and fungus would eat through their suits in a short amount of time. Anathema clenched her jaw shut—it was a lesson unfortunately learned too late by the late Doctor Jazz Dance. So they had to move a little slowly through the forest. Here the trees weren’t too thick just yet and they could get around easy. The further they moved from town the harder it would be to see any pegasus lying on the ground. But Anathema was going to make sure they didn’t leave before finding them.

Even if there was no point to it. She was still a doctor.

They had to keep moving deeper into the forest, deeper than any of them truly wanted to go. At least it was still the middle of the day and there wasn’t any clouds or bad weather out to make things worse. But the green haze and the clouds floating above the trees were starting to fill their vision more.

“We can’t go much further,” Doctor Swab said. “One more line of trees.”

Anathema frowned beneath her mask but didn’t say anything. She knew he was right, and he was just being safe, but she didn’t want to give up either. It just felt wrong.

“Hold on, I think I see something through the trees,” Blue Rose said and pointed ahead. “It’s colorful—but it might just be flowers.”

Anathema looked too to where Blue Rose was pointing and saw some dashes of red, yellow, and blue. She wasn’t sure if that was their pegasus but since it wasn’t just a bunch of green it was a decent sign.

“Let’s go,” she said and had the others painstakingly wheel the stretcher through the trees and over the forest floor. They had to go through more trees, avoid bushes, and stumble about to find the right spot, all while keeping aware of how close they were to the plague’s epicenter. At last they passed through a few close-knit pine trees and came out into a small clearing.

Where a blue pegasus mare lied on the ground, unmoving.

“Checking her vitals, get the stretcher ready,” Doctor Anathema said as she went over to the mare. There were green blotches all over her, but she wasn’t covered in them like Anathema and the others expected her to be after flying right through the epicenter. Anathema made sure that only the thick rubber gloves at the end of her hooves came directly in contact with the mare, and otherwise used her magic if she could.

“I don’t understand… shouldn’t she be decaying by now?” Doctor Swab said.

“Maybe Honey Sight was wrong about seeing her fly right into the clouds?” Heartwrench said.

“It doesn’t matter,” Anathema said and opened the pegasus’s eyelids, looking for any reaction and getting what she wanted when the pupils dilated. “She’s alive.” She checked her pulse—it was weak but there, and there was a small rising and falling of her chest. “But barely. We need to get her to the auditorium and get treatment started asap. Doctor Swab, help me put her on the stretcher.”

Together the two unicorns lifted the mare with their magic and put her onto the stretcher, Nurses Heartwrench and Blue Rose then buckled her in.

“She’s a rather colorful pony, isn’t she?” Doctor Swab remarked.

Anathema nodded in agreement and looked down at her spotty green body—for a second she thought she saw one of the green spots grow smaller but it must’ve been her eyes playing tricks on her. As they wheeled the mare out of the forest, she stirred slightly on the stretcher and moaned. Anathema reached down and tenderly rubbed her shoulder.

“You’re alright, you’re going to be alright.”

A white and feverish mess consumed her, she tried to reach out into the sky but no matter how far she reached, how far she flew, she always ended up falling away. What was happening? Was that the sun in the sky? It shined with all the colors of the rainbow and more.

Purple. Orange. Yellow. Pink. White. Blue. Stars in each color swarmed the sky and she—who was she anyways? What was she doing? What was going on here?

Something crawled along now from the edge of the whiteness. Something cold in nature but hot and painful in feeling. A murky green bubbling mass, it came forth to consume the lights and stars. One by one the stars succumbed to the green, things growing dimmer by the second as its onslaught continued. Like ravaging vines growing at the speed of fire it grew outwards trying to grasp and swallow up all. Soon there was no more purple, and all the other colors disappeared as well until only blue remained. The green tried to swallow it up too like all the rest but the blue fought against it, not giving an inch.

How long was it like that? Minutes? Hours? Days? Months? Years?

Time no longer existed in this chaotic light show where she didn’t feel or understand.

The green continued to persist in its goal of devouring all, but for every little wisp of it that attacked the blue, another part was beaten back. But the blue was painfully unable to make any progress either, it was a deadlock.

She wanted to help, she wanted to fight too, but she couldn’t move. She didn’t know how to do anything. Opening her mouth to scream only for nothing to come from it. Was she already consumed? Nothing more than a helpless watcher locked in agony and nothingness? She thought chaos was the word for her situation but things were too stable, too controlled, she was between chaos and harmony.

She kept trying to fly and speak but it was all pointless.

Voices. Words.

While she could do nothing she suddenly felt the sensations coming from others. Voices and sounds she didn’t recognize came from all over. What were they saying? What was going on? The blue light grew brighter and brighter as the voices continued, bright like the sun and more white light shined down with it against the green. The deadlock was broken and the vicious green started to fall away, disintegrating into nothingness.

The other lights and colors came back, joined by the pure white light that colored the entire world. Pain, fuzziness, confusion, green, all these things started to leave her—Rainbow Dash—and a calm serenity settled over the space of her mind.

A smile. She was smiling. On the inside if not the outside. There was no more pain or fear, she wasn’t alone and she remembered.

She remembered… what?

She was… something. Someone. A part of something. There was more, Rainbow Dash was sure of it, but the lights began to fade and Rainbow Dash fell again, her mind falling with her…

“I told you she was waking up,” the voice of a mare said.

“Miraculous. Simply miraculous,” a stallion said.

“This shouldn’t be happening at all, should it?” A different stallion said.

“No—she should be dead. Or at the very least still sick and infected. But as you can see...” the mare said.

“Is it because she’s a pegasus?” The first stallion wondered.

“Who knows?” The mare said. “Without any other pegasi for us to see their reaction to the spores it’s impossible to tell.”

“Could you all...” Rainbow Dash suddenly said, her eyes tightly shut as she shifted about in what felt like a bed to her. “Could you all be quiet for a second? I think I just got thrown into a tornado...” Her eyelids were heavy like metal and she was barely able to open them, the light from above making her wince. Everything was still a blur.

“If you’re awake and cognizant, could you tell us how you feel?” The mare asked, ignoring Rainbow Dash’s plea for the moment.

Rainbow Dash frowned and blinked a few more times, fully opening her eyes to get a look at where she was and who were the ponies talking to her. Three masked, white-coat wearing ponies looking down at her told her pretty much all she needed to know. Another hospital. She shifted about on her bed and sat up a little, feeling a twinge in her right front leg and looking down to see an IV drip connected to a vein, along with another bandage near it.

“Oh great, what happened to me now?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Well you seem alright at first glance,” the mare doctor said and held up a hoof. “How many hooves am I holding up?”

“One. What are you, a comedian?” Rainbow Dash snorted.

The mare rolled her eyes. “A healthy sense of humor at least.”

“What’s the last thing you remember?” One of the stallions asked her, the first one that had spoken, a fairly older looking one judging by the wrinkles Rainbow Dash could see on his face.

“I...” Rainbow Dash held her head. “I was flying… and then. Green clouds. Yeah… I flew into this green cloud and I started coughing and I couldn’t breathe and then… nothing.”

“So you really did fly right through the epicenter,” the mare said.

“Epi-what?” Rainbow Dash frowned. “And where am I now anyways?”

“You’re in the village of Pinetree Warren,” the second stallion said, he was more around the mare’s age by the look of his eyes.

Rainbow Dash blinked. “Oh. Good. I was looking for this place anyways.”

“You probably found more than what you were looking for though,” the mare said. “Obviously you didn’t know about the plague or you would’ve steered clear of here. Are you from the Weeping Mountain? What’s your name?”

This time Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Ugh, no, I’m not from the Weeping Mountain. I’m from a country called Equestria that’s way far away from here—and my name’s Rainbow Dash. Don’t wear it out.”

“A pleasure to meet you for real, Rainbow Dash,” the older stallion said. “I am Doctor Swab.” He gestured to the mare. “This is Doctor Anathema, and this-” he gestured to the other stallion. “Is a volunteer helping us by the name of Walnut Grove.”

“Nice to meet… you...” Rainbow Dash trailed off as she finally looked around her bed and noticed what else was around her. Other beds of ponies, but they all looked… wrong. They were covered in green blotches and all of them looked to either be writhing in pain or having trouble breathing. Rainbow Dash remembered some more of what happened to her before she passed out, the same kind of green mold had started to claim her body. Her eyes shot open and she looked down to double check her hooves, then threw the covers off herself to check the rest of her body.

Blue. Just like it should be.

“You don’t have to worry about that. We’ve been keeping an eye on you. Unlike the other ponies here you aren’t infected at all anymore,” Doctor Anathema said.

“Good...” Rainbow Dash sighed in relief and laid her head back.

“You have however been asleep for the past three days.”

Rainbow’s head shot back up and she stared at the doctor. “Seriously?”

Anathema nodded. “Seriously.”

“Your symptoms died down fairly quickly by the time we had you in bed here, but your body still needed rest,” Doctor Swab said. “I apologize that we couldn’t put you anywhere else but we couldn’t take the risk of you potentially infecting others until we were absolutely sure you not only weren’t sick but also weren’t carrying any spores on you. And as long as you don’t have any direct contact there shouldn’t be a danger of you being here with the other patients.”

“Considering she’s already been infected and recovered isn’t she immune anyways?” Walnut Grove asked.

Doctor Swab and Anathema both shared uncertain looks.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions on that,” Doctor Swab said. “We would need to run more tests first.”

That word caught Rainbow Dash’s ears. “More tests?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Forgive us,” Doctor Anathema said, taking over. “But we had to draw some blood and take it back to our lab. Obviously we couldn’t ask for your permission first, but our intentions were only to help you. We needed to know your type among other things in case of a transfusion or any other complications. Aside from that we haven’t down anything untowards to your body. We’re doctors. We would not do something like that without your knowledge and consent… no matter the situation.” A twitch in Doctor Anathema’s voice betrayed some other feelings on the subject.

Rainbow Dash ignored that and shrugged as best she could from where she was. “No big deal. Honestly I’m kind of surprised I haven’t had more crazy tests run on me in my life, what with who my friend is. But uh, anyways, thanks for bringing me here and helping me out. You found me out in the forest or something?”

“A pony from our village called Honey Sight saw you fly into the epicenter of the spore field plaguing our village,” Doctor Anathema said. “We found you and brought you back here, thankfully you seemed to have been able to make it out of the actual field, you were no longer in direct contact with the spores and fungus so it wasn’t too dangerous for us to get you. Although by the time we had started to wheel you back here, you were already healing and fighting off the disease on your own.”

“Guess I’m just awesome like that, but thanks anyways,” Rainbow said.

“It’s not that simple,” Anathema narrowed her eyes, a touch of anger in her voice. “Look around you. All of these ponies here have been infected by the spores, and quite a few before them who… who have already passed away. None of them show any signs of recovery like you. And not one of them was exposed to such a concentrated amount and over so much time as you. So why are you magically okay when all of our medical knowledge has done nothing for these ponies!”

She finished with a yell, startling both herself and the others.

“Doctor...” Walnut Grove said.

Rainbow Dash grimaced slightly as well. “Sorry, but I don’t know why I’m okay and-” she looked around at the sick ponies, the sick foals. “And your villagers aren’t...”

Anathema sighed and turned away. “I’m sorry, I just need a moment.”

“Don’t let her current mood bother you,” Doctor Swab said to Rainbow Dash. “Doctor Anathema was the reason we found and brought you to safety in the first place, and she’s been the most involved with your recovery. It’s just that seeing you become healthy again when all her efforts to help her fellow villagers have failed...”

“I get it,” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head, the motion made slightly awkward by the IV. “Uhhh, can I get this thing taken out of me? I don’t like needles.”

“Well truthfully we do think you’re totally healthy but I’d like to run another checkup on you to be sure. After that I think all that would need to be done is disinfecting you to make sure there are no traces of the spores or fungus on your body. Then you can be out of here,” Doctor Swab said.

“I’m not entirely onboard with that,” Doctor Anathema said, turning back around. “She could potentially be carrying the disease, without some more tests I think it’s grossly negligent to let her go on her way. She could spread the disease to the rest of the village and beyond.”

“But Doctor we can tell just by-” Doctor Swab started.

“I’m not satisfied with that,” Anathema narrowed her eyes.

“Uhh,” Rainbow Dash raised her hoof and the others looked at her. “Look, I don’t like being stuck here but I also don’t want to put any ponies in danger. I couldn’t live with myself if I infected ponies with this stuff. So you guys… you just do what you need to do. Whatever tests you need to run, or whatever samples you need, whatever you need to know about me, let’s do it. Especially if it might help the other sick ponies here.”

Doctor Anathema looked at her appraisingly and after a moment gave her a small nod. “Thank you.”

“But can you at least tell me how this all started in the first place? Where did that plague come from? And why are you all still even here if it’s that dangerous?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“It just showed up one day,” Doctor Anathema snorted and gestured to the north side of the building. “That green haze popped up in the forest, ponies went to investigate, and now we’ve got all this.” She shook her head and looked around at all the beds. “We still aren’t even sure what the epicenter totally looks like because no one can get close enough. At more concentrated levels the spores eat through our suits and rubber gloves and make just about as much short work of our bodies. So whatever’s truly causing this is unknown to us. Perhaps something emerged from underground or some plant mutated, who even knows.”

“Leaving did come up,” Doctor Swab interjected. “But there were a few reasons why we didn’t. For one we didn’t know just how serious and long lasting this plague would be, nor that we would be totally unable to cure it. Two is that this is an old, close-knit, village with a lot of stubborn folk in it who would never leave unless they were forced to. And three is that since we were unable to fully break the enigma of the disease, we couldn’t take the risk of potentially becoming carriers for it and allowing it to travel further. Although after more stringent tests and safety measures we’ve made sure that a lack of visual symptoms is proof enough for not carrying the virus, and it’s next to impossible to spread without direct contact with the spores in the first place, to do that-”

“She gets it, Swab. Look at her, she’s going cross-eyed,” Anathema said.

It was true, he was starting to go a bit textbooky for her tastes. “Sorry.”

“And while we can be 99% sure that you’re not carrying the disease with you, because of your unique case I don’t want to rule it out completely without more tests and observation,” Doctor Anathema said to Rainbow.

“Like I said, that’s cool with me,” Rainbow shrugged.

“Unfortunately it involves needles,” Anathema narrowed her eyes.

Rainbow Dash paled and gulped. “A-Any way around that?”

“No.”

“Before any of those tests though we’d like to know your complete medical history,” Doctor Swab said. “Obviously without your records we’re working blind here, so anything and everything you know would be helpful. Every time you’ve been sick, every disease you’ve had, every broken bone. Everything. The more you can tell us, the easier and faster this will be.”

Doctor Anathema glanced at Walnut Grove. “You can attend to the other patients now, we won’t be needing you while we talk with Rainbow Dash, thank you.”

“Of course, Doctor,” Walnut Grove said. Rainbow Dash couldn’t tell for sure because of the mask but she thought he smiled at her as he left to check up on the other patients.

Anathema took a deep breath and walked up by Rainbow Dash’s pillow. “Now we have a lot to talk about, and—unfortunately—quite a lot of work to do.”

Rainbow Dash groaned and looked up at the ceiling. “Oh goody… so where should I start?”

For the next two days, Rainbow Dash was held up in the auditorium as a series of tests were run on her. More blood tests, analyses of tissue samples and mane hair, her reaction to medicine, and of course the usual routine checkups and physicals done to make sure a pony is fit and healthy. The tests served a dual purpose of making sure Rainbow Dash had completely eradicated the infection and wasn’t a danger for the carrying of spores, and for Anathema and Swab to see if maybe they could discover what it was about her body that allowed it to fight off the disease in the first place. All in all it was a pretty miserable time for Rainbow Dash.

There was how much she hated the needles and other medical tools that Doctor Anathema and Doctor Swab used to get what they needed for their tests.

There was how much she hated being stuck in bed, not able to do anything.

But worst of all, there was how she had to be around all these other ponies the whole time, and how awful she felt for them the more she watched and listened to their torment.

She tried to say hello and strike up conversation a few times but was left with stares at best and total disregard at worst. All there was was pain around her and she could barely stand it. The beds to her left and right were both taken up by mares who were more green than their natural colors, and they stared emptily at the ceiling all day when they weren’t asleep. A stallion behind her moaned and wheezed every hour on the hour as he shifted and turned in his bed. Rainbow Dash wished for earplugs right now. The worst was the dead-eyed filly a few beds away, Rainbow had seen her and tried to get her to open up but it was like she was a ghost.

This whole auditorium felt like a graveyard waiting for the ponies inside it to die. Rainbow couldn’t help but feel guilty for being healthy and somehow overcoming the disease on her own.

It was also kind of cold.

After those two days were done, Anathema and Swab came back. When Rainbow Dash saw them come in through the front door she sat up, and pretty much immediately grimaced. Even through the protective clothing they wore that nearly covered them completely, she could see the dismay and disappointment written on their features. Though what that pertained to could still be up in the air.

“Hello, Rainbow Dash, we’ve finished running every test and diagnostic we need to,” Doctor Swab said to her.

Rainbow Dash’s mouth twisted. “And?”

“You’re fine. Completely and totally fine. There’s no danger of you leaving here and you won’t be spreading the disease to any pony either so long as we decontaminate you once you leave,” he said.

“Oh, well that’s good news,” her eyes drifted over to Anathema. “For me at least...”

Doctor Anathema sighed. “You’ve already got the idea. We didn’t find any reason for why you’re alright, you seem like a totally ordinary pony. There was nothing we learned from you that we can use to help these ponies.”

“Sorry...” Rainbow Dash frowned and looked down at the bed.

“There’s no need for you to be sorry, we’re happy that you’re healthy,” Doctor Swab said.

“So does this mean I can leave this place?” Rainbow Dash said as she looked around the auditorium. “No offense but I kind of want to...”

“Yes, you can, we just need to go through that decontamination.” Doctor Swab nodded.

“And then I suppose we can officially welcome you to Pinetree Warren,” Doctor Anathema drawled, still in a negative mood herself.

“Yeah… well I’ll be happy to see your village and everything,” Rainbow Dash said.

“On that note, I think it’s pertinent to say that you shouldn’t bring up how you were infected by the spores. Most ponies here are very skittish—for good reason—about the plague. As of now only us, our nurses and assistants, and the pony who saw you flying, know about your bout with the disease. And I think we should keep it that way if you don’t want ponies running away in fear from you,” Doctor Swab said.

“We’ll just say you’re from the Weeping Mountain,” Anathema said. “Less questions.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Yeah but-” She saw the glare in Anathema’s eyes. “Fine… alright.”

She wanted to be able to tell ponies about Equestria and what she was doing, but she figured she didn’t need to put anymore stress on this village and the doctors. It was kind of lame but it wasn’t always the time for awesome stories and making a big scene. She hated to admit that.

“Let’s get that IV disconnected and take you to the decontamination tent,” Doctor Swab said.

“Finally,” Rainbow Dash sighed in relief.

She winced slightly as the IV was taken out—still not good with that kind of thing—and happily stretched both her legs and her wings once she hopped out of bed. Anathema was still somewhat cold but Swab was smiling behind his mask. Rainbow was hoping she could get on the other doctor’s good side, especially since she was apparently only alive thanks to her in the first place. As they led her out of the auditorium, Rainbow Dash took a look back at the other patients. The feeling of guilt flashed through her once more, but she quashed it with the firm belief and promise that she’d do something to help these ponies. It may not have been a typical adventure but it was still all about helping ponies and those in need. Maybe it was fate that brought her here, but Rainbow Dash was sure she had flown to Pinetree Warren for a reason.

Agonizingly hot water poured down on Rainbow Dash as she stood in the shower of the decontamination tent. After spending so much time in the cold auditorium the contrasting temperature almost made it unbearable. Normally such hot water probably would’ve just felt really, really good to her after being stuck in a bed for so long. Five days total? She needed the hot water. Hay, she needed way more than a shower to limber up and get back into shape. Hopefully later today she could go flying around a bit.

After the shower, Anathema had her take an anti-biotic and Rainbow Dash was pretty much good to go. She also for the first time got a good look at the two doctors. Doctor Swab was actually a bit older than she expected, his black mane was thinning and he tried to hide it with a comb over that didn’t help much and it was starting to turn white to match his chalky coat. Anathema’s indigo coat reminded Rainbow Dash of Twilight, even though their colors weren’t exactly the same, the two of them even frowned in that same “I’m so annoyed at this right now” way. Doctor Swab had a cotton swab Cutie Mark while Anathema’s was a syringe, something that made Rainbow shudder the moment she saw it.

“You didn’t have any clothes but that might have been because the spores disintegrated them. Do you normally wear anything?” Anathema asked her as they left the tent.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Nope. Do ponies in Pinetree Warren normally wear clothes?”

“Half and half,” Anathema shrugged. “I always wear my coat when outside my home, but a lot of ponies don’t bother with anything. You won’t look out of place.”

“Yeah just gotta lie about being from the Weeping Mountain now,” Rainbow said.

“Deal with it. You don’t find pegasi in these parts except for there,” Anathema replied.

Rainbow Dash wanted to ask her what was making her so crabby, but even she realized how insensitive something like that would be right now. Instead she just put it behind her. “Uh huh. So no pegasi around all the other little towns and places in these forests and mountains?”

“None that we know of at least,” Doctor Swab shrugged. “I’m surprised that Oreville even kept any records of us, we only have vague stories and memories passed down from pony to pony here about them.”

“They were pretty closed off for a while...” Rainbow Dash grimaced. She hadn’t told the full story of what had gone on up there, they didn’t need the extra burden. “But you still know about the Weeping Mountain?”

“Pegasi come through these parts every year or two. It’s not especially uncommon but at the moment none are around,” Anathema said, now putting on her doctor’s coat.

“Oreville was all earth ponies but I guess there are plenty of unicorns here,” Rainbow said as she looked between both of the doctor’s horns.

“You are correct,” Anathema curtly answered.

Doctor Swab laughed nervously at her behavior and smiled at Rainbow Dash. “The town was founded by a group of earth pony and unicorn settlers from the east. It was a while ago but apparently the farmlands had gone bad and they needed to search for a new place to live.”

“Well normally I would say it looks like they found a nice place,” Rainbow Dash said as they walked through the tents and came to the front side of the auditorium where she could look out at most of the rest of the village. “Even reminds me of Ponyville a bit.”

It did. A quaint, small village surrounded by trees, not as much open space in the distance as Ponyville but it still had that lovely small town flavor. The kind of place that Applejack would appreciate and Rarity would wish was a big city, where Pinkie Pie would know everyone’s names and birthdays. Naturally the buildings all were made of wood, either boards or some of them just plain log cabins. They sat spread out through this whole open spot in the forest without anything to bother them. Chimneys gave off puffs of smoke, showing most ponies were inside, and a few dirt roads weaved in and out of the buildings. More paths than roads, really. The big difference between Pinetree Warren and Ponyville right now was the lack of ponies outside. Rainbow Dash only saw one or two. She could picture how this place normally was, with fillies and colts running through the grass and playing around, and happy mares and stallions greeting and talking with each other during the day.

Not quiet and still looking like this.

“It is a lovely place to live if I say so myself,” Doctor Swab said. “Our doctor’s office is over a bit on the east side of the village, my home is next to it. Doctor Anathema lives in her own cabin on the western edge.” He pointed out a home that had a door on the roof and a little balcony up there. “That’s Honey Sight’s home, he’s the one who spotted you earlier.”

“Guess I should thank him sometime,” Rainbow said.

“Do whatever you want, nobody is forcing you,” Anathema shrugged. “Aside from the whole Weeping Mountain business.”

“I get it,” Rainbow shot her a brief glare.

Doctor Swab meanwhile had a childlike enthusiasm as he continued pointing out houses and informing Rainbow Dash of their inhabitants or just dropping tidbits of information about Pinetree Warren. Maybe it was a combination of genuine love for the village, being able to explain and teach things to an outsider for the first time in a while, and wanting to latch onto anything positive he could. Either way not a single building went without some elaboration on his part as the three of them left the “quarantine zone” and its signs and barricades behind.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow as they passed them and she looked back at the auditorium. “Is it really okay for the two of you to leave and come with me?”

“It’s fine. There’s very little to do and Walnut Grove and another nurse of ours named Cough Drop can handle the work for today. Hardly anything changes or happens in that building now,” Doctor Anathema said, her words temporarily bringing down the mood considerably.

“Sooo...” Rainbow Dash decided to change the subject. “You guys got a mayor I should see or something?”

“Mayor?” Doctor Swab raised an eyebrow at her, Anathema as well.

“Uh, yeah? You know, a leader, a governor, the pony who runs the town—a mayor,” Rainbow explained.

Swab rubbed his chin. “Can’t say there’s anyone like that here.”

“You don’t have a leader?” Rainbow was surprised.

“Not really any reason that I can see to have one pony who makes all the decisions or whatnot. We all work and live together here, if something comes up where one pony needs to take charge or is the best for it well sure, otherwise I can’t really think of why we’d need a pony like that. If a building catches fire we all work together to put it out. Gatherers go forage for fruit and vegetables, crafters build, we keep ponies healthy, it all works just fine,” Doctor Swab shrugged.

“Huh, pretty different from Equestria,” Rainbow Dash said.

“It’s probably something that only works in small, close-knit communities like this where everyone knows and trusts each other,” Doctor Anathema said. “And you mean the Weeping Mountain.” She added.

“Yeah, right,” Rainbow snorted. Her stomach then loudly growled and she brought a hoof up to it. “Um, I think I’ve only had water, IV fluid, and medicine for like five days. Before we look at anything else in the village is there anywhere I can get a bite to eat?”

Doctor Anathema blinked and glanced at Doctor Swab briefly before looking back at Rainbow Dash. “Do you like chocolate?”

Rainbow Dash paused. “...keep talking.”

The three ponies stepped inside a small shop (that doubled as a house if the loft on the second story was anything to go by) closer to the eastern side of town, a little bell on the door rang as they walked in to notify the owner. The ground floor of the shop was a chocolatier’s bakery, with a few small (and empty) tables in the front and a display case with chocolates in the back. A bored, middle-aged, stallion was sitting behind the case and he perked up immediately when Rainbow Dash and the doctors entered. He had a wide smile on his face and he waved them right over.

“Anathema! Swab! Great to see you!” He said, his mane and coat both different shades of chocolate brown with his mane being dark and his coat being milk. His eyes then caught sight of Rainbow Dash and he politely nodded to her as well. “And to you, Miss.”

“Still slow?” Doctor Swab asked him.

The owner sighed. “Yeah, ponies just don’t want anything to do with each other if they can avoid it. Doesn’t matter how safe you say it is, after Gauze Strip-”

“No need to bring up bad news again and again,” Anathema cut him off. “We’re here so I’d say this is turning out to be a good day for you. We even have a rare guest.” She said as she looked at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash waved at him. “Sup, I’m Rainbow Dash.”

He waved back. “Hello, I’m Cocoa Bean.” His eyes glanced to the wings at her sides. “Rare indeed, we don’t see too many pegasi around here.”

“So I’ve heard. The Weeping Mountain is soooo boring this time of year though I just felt like going somewhere else,” Rainbow said and smirked at Anathema.

She rolled her eyes while Cocoa Bean smiled.

“Never been there before but I always imagined what it must be like. Wouldn’t mind visiting one day and sharing my chocolate recipes with your friends and family,” he said.

Rainbow coughed. “Uh, yeah, well, they’d probably be super happy about that.”

“How about some food, Cocoa? Can you make something fresh for us?” Doctor Swab asked.

“Of course! I’ll be right back, just hold on one second,” he said and disappeared into the kitchen behind the display case and counter.

“Figured it would be best to end that line of conversation as fast as possible,” Doctor Swab said.

“Good idea,” Rainbow nodded and looked around at the chocolate shop some more. There were some shelves where prepared boxes of chocolates sat, along with pictures of times when the shop was full of ponies and Cocoa Bean was having a good time with them. She looked in the display case and saw chocolate hearts, truffles, bars, chocolate-covered wafers and more. “So I know you guys are the doctors but is chocolate really the best thing to have after all that time I spent in there?”

“Your body needs sugar,” Doctor Anathema said and led the three over to one of the empty tables. “You can have a real meal later, but you’ve gotten the vitamins and minerals you needed while in our care. Now some sugar to get you some fast energy will do you a lot of good.”

Cocoa Bean came out of the kitchen a minute later with three mugs of hot chocolate and a plate each of chocolate bars for them. “Here you go!”

As soon as the smell hit her nose, Rainbow Dash smiled. “Guess I shouldn’t be complaining.”

“Enjoy it and the hospitality while you can,” Doctor Anathema said as she took a sip of the hot chocolate before even waiting for it to cool down. “Most ponies in Pinetree Warren just aren’t very welcoming or sociable lately. Normally I’d like you to get to know more of us but I think a brief hello with just a few is all that you’re going to get.”

Rainbow Dash tried drinking some of the chocolate the same way she did and almost burnt. After wincing she set it back down for the moment. “Not gonna force anyone to come out and say hi to me. I just hope it gets better while I’m here.”

Doctor Anathema stared at her for a moment and Rainbow Dash gave her a confused look back.

“What?”

“Nothing,” the doctor shrugged and went back to her hot chocolate.

“Whatever,” Rainbow Dash ignored the weird way the doctor was acting and blew on her hot chocolate before taking a bite out of the bar. Milk, and tasty. She smiled up at Cocoa Bean. “This is some good stuff, dude.”

“Thank you!” He beamed. “I hardly get the opportunity to have someone new try my chocolate—and lately hardly have anyone eating it at all.”

“Well it’s good stuff,” Rainbow genuinely said.

“There are other places to eat, other ponies who even make similar desserts and snacks in Pinetree Warren, but we came here because Cocoa Bean always gives the best service,” Doctor Swab smiled at the proprietor.

Rainbow Dash knew how important that was. Half of what anyone went to Sugarcube Corner for was the atmosphere and Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie. The Cakes would still be successful and making good food regardless of anything else, but she doubted as many ponies in Ponyville would love the place if it was drab and quiet inside.

Cocoa Bean left after they had finished their food and drinks, taking the mugs and plates back into the kitchen to clean. So Rainbow Dash looked over at the two doctors.

“So where am I gonna stay while I’m here?” She asked.

Anathema furrowed her brow. “Stay?”

“Yeah. Stay,” Rainbow Dash frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing, forget it. I suppose you should just stay at my cabin. That’s probably the best way to do things,” Anathema said.

“Works for me,” Rainbow shrugged.

“So long as you don’t mind the huge mess her cabin is,” Doctor Swab said, a slight grin on his face.

“I can make room,” Anathema frowned at him. She then glanced at Rainbow Dash. “It’ll be dusk in a few hours, we can stop somewhere on the way to my cabin and get some fruits and vegetables for you. Besides that I don’t see anything to go out of the ways for.”

Rainbow Dash wanted to respond with a snarky “Nice tour” or something to Doctor Anathema but she bit it down. The doctor was probably dealing with a constant, overbearing stress, and Doctor Swab had been nice at least and she didn’t want to be rude to him either. “Alright, not like I need another shower or anything else. How about showing me the way?”

“Then I suppose I will say farewell for today,” Doctor Swab said as he stood up from the table. “It was a pleasure showing you around, Rainbow Dash. If you need anything else, don’t hesitate to ask Doctor Anathema. She can get you in contact with me or show you around Pinetree Warren some more herself.”

“Yes, don’t hesitate,” Doctor Anathema droned in repeat.

“I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” Swab said to her before bowing and walking out of the store.

The ring of the bell momentarily brought Cocoa Bean back out from the kitchen and he looked into the now one pony short store. “Did Swab leave?”

“Yes,” Anathema said. “Don’t worry about anything, he loved the chocolate, he’s probably just looking to get an early night’s sleep for tomorrow. You know how older stallions are.”

“Alright. Good day to you, Anathema, and you too, Rainbow Dash,” Cocoa Bean smiled a last time and went back into the kitchen.

“Thanks for the food!” Rainbow Dash smiled after him.

“Let’s get moving then. Most ponies won’t want someone else to come by asking for food, so we’ll make our next stop a quick one,” Anathema said and stood up.

“If you say so,” Rainbow Dash got up after her.

They left the shop and started to head through the middle of Pinetree Warren in the direction of Anathema’s cabin. On the way, Anathema had them stop at a place that grew and sold their own heads of lettuce and strawberries. She had Rainbow Dash wait outside while she went in and got the food. Saying something about not wanting to startle the ponies inside or overwhelm them with too many visitors at once. It sounded more like an excuse to temporarily get away from her to Rainbow Dash. At least she came out with a wrapped up head of lettuce and a carton of strawberries. She levitated them with her magic as she and Rainbow Dash resumed their walk to the cabin.

“You know I haven’t seen you actually use your magic that much,” Rainbow Dash said to her.

“This is about all I can do with it. Levitating things when I need the rest of my hooves free is the most practical thing about it,” Anathema replied.

“You can’t do any fancy spells? Or teleport? Or make shields or fire lasers?”

“No,” Anathema frowned at her. “What would I need to do any of that for anyways, I’m a doctor. And how many unicorns are capable of such things in the first place?”

Rainbow Dash rubbed her neck. “Maybe more where I come from...”

“...there might be another pony out who will want to make your acquaintance.” Anathema said.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at her. “Who?”

“Hello,” the old wizard said as he politely bowed before Rainbow Dash. “I am Ardent Elm of Pinetree Warren.”

“What’s up, I’m Rainbow Dash from Equestria,” Rainbow grinned back at him while Anathema frowned.

He managed a smile back at her, though it was slightly forced. His very light-brown face was almost completely obscured by a flowing white beard and mustache. “It’s nice to see a new and friendly face here.” His eyes drifted to Anathema. “Not much for ponies to smile about lately.”

“Yeah, I’m really sorry to hear about all that,” Rainbow bit her lip.

“Pish-posh,” he waved her off. “What is it that brings you to my home?”

“This place she’s from, Equestria, has a far greater knowledge of magic than we do, and a lot of powerful unicorns supposedly,” Doctor Anathema explained. “I figured you’d like to meet her and talk about it together. Also—I know you don’t talk much with others but could you keep that she’s from Equestria a secret? We’re telling everyone else she’s from the Weeping Mountain.”

“Got a soft spot for ol’ me?” Ardent Elm asked her.

Anathema rolled her eyes. “You have even less contact with the rest of the village than I do. Call it doing you a favor. Maybe for old time’s sake back when you were trying to teach me about magic too.”

“Teach you more than just boring old levitation you mean?”

“Yes,” Anathema frowned. “We don’t have all day though for you two to talk, she should get some good sleep.”

“Well to be honest it’s not like I’m an expert on magic or could go into detail on any spells and stuff. I just know the big stuff,” Rainbow Dash said.

“That’s perfectly alright, I’d be happy to hear anything about the magic of another country and what unicorns there can do,” Ardent Elm said. “Just where might this Equestria be, by the way?”

“Far. Like super duper far and pretty much impossible to get to from here. We’re talking the total other side of the world,” Rainbow said, holding her hooves apart for emphasis.

“Seems you’ve been on quite the journey to get here, young lady. I wouldn’t mind hearing about that too at some point,” Ardent Elm said.

“Let’s just keep it to the magic for today,” Anathema said, her patience already wearing thin.

“Guess I should listen to my doctor,” Rainbow Dash smirked at her before cracking her neck and smiling at Ardent Elm. “Alright—so let me tell you about some of the stuff my friend Twilight Sparkle can do...”

By the end of just the brief infodump on Twilight Sparkle, Ardent Elm was staring at Rainbow Dash with his mouth wide open. The old wizard seemed in shock at some of the stuff Rainbow Dash was saying. To be fair, even Twilight would’ve been in shock hearing about what she could do when she was younger and all.

“That is… quite the capability your friend possesses,” Ardent Elm said after a while. “Such powerful raw magic and spells that can affect time and space… makes my work seem rather paltry in comparison.”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Rainbow Dash waved her hooves around. “I didn’t mean to make you feel like that or anything. Twilight’s just plain special. Even in Equestria most unicorns don’t really do a whole lot with their magic. They’re like her-” she pointed at Anathema. “I bet you’re still an awesome wizard.”

Ardent Elm laughed. “Thank you for the kind words. Now in my old age I mostly just make semi-magic potions and read though. Hopefully the journal and knowledge I leave behind will be picked up by some enterprising young unicorn.”

“I’ll make sure of that,” Anathema said. “And it’s good to see you in a better mood today than normal.”

“Well, I would think the reason for that is obvious,” Ardent Elm smiled at Rainbow Dash. “Please come back whenever you would like to talk more.”

“You got it,” Rainbow Dash saluted.

“Alright, my cabin is just right nearby now,” Anathema said and pointed ahead. “Let’s hurry up and get over there, by now I’m kind of hungry for dinner too, and you still need something real in you too.”

“I know, I know,” Rainbow said and started walking beside the doctor. She looked over her shoulder and waved at the old wizard. “Bye!”

“Good bye!” Ardent Elm waved back.

When Rainbow Dash made it to Doctor Anathema’s small cabin, it looked like a nice and cozy place to live to her. If Fluttershy didn’t already have her cottage, Rainbow Dash could picture her living in a home like this too. Of course that all changed when they walked up the porch and Anathema opened up the front door. The gigantic mess that filled up her cabin made Rainbow Dash balk. She was often considered a fairly messy pony, but she didn’t let her home ever go to this. There wasn’t a spot on the floor where the actual floor showed through and the only furniture she saw besides the bed were also covered in papers and other stuff. A dragon’s hoard of junk.

So naturally the first thing Rainbow Dash said was: “Nice place you’ve got here.”

“Very funny,” Anathema rolled her eyes. “You may want to float around with your wings while you’re in here, don’t want you stepping on some glass beakers and test tubes that are scattered all around...”

As she said that she took a step forward and-

Crunch

Anathema and Rainbow Dash looked down at the shattered test tube the doctor had just stepped on, half of it concealed by a piece of paper.

“Oops,” the doctor nonchalantly said and lifted up her hoof, a little bit of blood dropping onto the paper as she turned it over and saw a sliver of glass lodged in the bottom of it.

Rainbow Dash winced. “Uh, doesn’t that hurt?”

Anathema just blinked and lit up her horn, pulling the piece of glass out and placing it on the paper, then wadding it all up with the rest of the broken test tube. “No. I have a nerve disorder, I don’t feel pain.”

“Huh. That’s pretty awesome,” Rainbow tilted her head.

“I can assure you it’s not,” Doctor Anathema frowned and started walking through the mess, carrying the paper and glass to a trash bin that was already overflowing. “It’s not exactly a good thing when you’re a six year old filly and you don’t realize that you just broke your leg.” She huffed. “Well—that experience is what got me my Cutie Mark though.”

“Sounds like you’ve got a few stories to tell about that. I got my Cutie Mark from a race I had as a filly, flying faster than I ever had before. Pretty awesome story too,” Rainbow Dash smiled.

“You can tell it after I get a band-aid and we have dinner,” Anathema said.

“Right,” Rainbow rolled her eyes at the moody doctor. “So where am I going to be sleeping in this place anyways?”

Doctor Anathema sighed and lit her horn up once more, shoveling a great amount of junk off of a chair. “I’ll sleep here and you can use my bed. You’re my guest—and my patient—I won’t have it any other way.”

“Well it’s not like I’m going to complain about getting the bed...”

A grin almost tilted up the edges of Anathema’s mouth. “I figured you wouldn’t.”

Rainbow Dash slept well that night. Much better than the previous few. It helped that instead of just an IV drip and some water she had some real food in her stomach when she finally conked out on Doctor Anathema’s bed. Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure how long she had been out for, or how loudly she might have snored while she was asleep, but she woke up sometime in the morning when she could hear birds chirping outside and feel the sun coming in from the window. She grumbled about on top of the bed and opened her eyes after a moment—spotting the destroyed remains of an alarm clock on the nightstand next to her.

“What time is it?” She asked, finally rubbing her eyes and sitting up before looking about the cabin.

She didn’t see Anathema anywhere. The chair was empty, the bathroom door was open and she wasn’t in there, or standing by the small kitchen. Rainbow Dash was alone in the cabin. She looked back at the nightstand to see if there was a note left there or anything but it was empty sans the pieces of alarm clock.

“She have to go to work in a hurry or something?” Rainbow wondered aloud. She wouldn’t exactly blame Anathema if that was the case, that auditorium of sick ponies wasn’t getting any better and it clearly weighed heavily on the doctor’s mind. As much as she said there wasn’t much for them to do with the ponies, Anathema obviously cared deeply for the infected.

Rainbow Dash rolled out of bed—her hooves hitting the myriad of papers and journals strewn about around it. She rolled her eyes and flapped her wings to instead start to gently float above it all. There wasn’t anything different about the cabin or anything she hadn’t noticed the previous day, but she wanted to wash her face in that bathroom sink this morning. It would help wake her up completely and make her feel less grimy. She remembered only talking to Anathema a bit last evening before the doctor said they should get to sleep, even when it was just about random stuff and Rainbow Dash trying to get more casual conversation out of her, Anathema didn’t seem to care much for it.

The stream of water from the faucet came out hot and Rainbow Dash splashed some into her face before grabbing a towel and drying herself off.

“Maybe I can still catch up to her before she gets to the auditorium? Dunno when she left,” Rainbow said as she rubbed the top of her head. Her stomach though was still asking for more food, even after what she had had yesterday, so first she flew over to the kitchen counter. Half of the lettuce and strawberries were still left so Rainbow Dash could at least have a good breakfast. They should’ve taken one of those packages of chocolates from Cocoa Bean though…

“Whatever,” she shrugged and plopped two strawberries right out of their carton and into her mouth.

They were still just as tasty as yesterday and she savored the sweetness before swallowing them down and tearing off a leaf of lettuce. Rainbow Dash nibbled on that for a second as she absent-mindedly floated. She felt for this whole village, for Anathema and especially the sick ponies, but even after being sick herself she still felt detached from everything and she didn’t know why. Maybe she was still feeling weird after her mistakes in Oreville, but normally she would’ve done something like try to rally or cheer up the ponies of Pinetree Warren by now, right? Or been way, way, more aggressive when it came to what the doctors were doing and trying to help them out.

Instead she had let herself just be a patient. She didn’t know how to act. Maybe it didn’t have to do with Oreville but how powerless she felt when the spores were attacking her after she flew through that cloud. How there wasn’t a villain here to face but a problem caused by a “thing” that she didn’t know how to face.

Rainbow Dash frowned and ignored that for now, she could talk to Anathema soon this morning after eating. The doctor probably hadn’t woken up that much earlier before her and Rainbow Dash could fly right on the path to the auditorium and find her. She scarfed down the rest of the lettuce and strawberries and washed it down with some water from the sink. Good enough to drink. She stretched her limbs and gave her body a little shake right after that and went for the front door.

“If you’re still out there I’m going to find you. You can’t just ditch me like that,” Rainbow Dash said and opened up the door, flying out over the ground. There weren’t many buildings out in this part of Pinetree Warren so she only needed to stay a little bit above roof level.

Going on the way to the auditorium she passed right above Ardent Elm’s home but she didn’t see him outside. Must’ve still been asleep or doing something indoors. She really wanted to talk with him again—this time she could tell him about the kinds of stuff Starlight could do. A glance to her right and she was able to look out across most of the rest of Pinetree Warren. Occasionally she saw a pony moving around outside, or a window get opened, or a pony watering their flowers on their balcony. But for the most part the village seemed more dead than alive. Ponyville at this hour would be practically bustling in comparison.

She knew why it was like this though as she looked straight north and saw the green haze in the distance. Just a little way into the forest that green smoke, or fog, or whatever you wanted to call it started to rise up, making those little clouds of death above the trees. Rainbow Dash shuddered as she looked at it. There was something just oppressive and sickening about it being right there, in full view, and yet the ponies were still right here in town.

Stubbornness? Bravery? Foolishness? Rainbow could call it, and respect, all three. It just made her worry for these ponies. Forget about her immunity, most ponies just weren’t made to handle the tough things she could. She knew that well enough from how many times she had seen the ponies of Ponyville screaming and running around in terror.

She just… didn’t want all the ponies here to die pointlessly.

Rainbow Dash blew a breath of air out her nose and took her eyes off the green haze in the forest, looking back down at the ground to try and spot Anathema. She ended up seeing her quickly, the doctor was close to the quarantine zone around the auditorium and about to start walking past the first few ropes and barricades. Rainbow Dash grinned and swooped down, preparing to surprise her. She intentionally flew directly over Anathema so her shadow went right over the doctor and caused her to glance up and then landed on the ground right in front of her.

“I woke up and you were missing, figured I’d come find you,” Rainbow Dash smirked at her.

“Well there’s only one other place I’d be,” Anathema blinked.

“Uh...yeah. So why didn’t you wake me up?” Rainbow asked.

“Why would I? You don’t have anything to be awake for, better to just let you get as much rest as possible,” Anathema replied and walked right around and past Rainbow Dash, towards the tents and front door of the auditorium.

“Could’ve left a note or something!” Rainbow Dash frowned as she went by.

“You figured things out without one, didn’t you?” Anathema didn’t look back.

Rainbow Dash grit her teeth and yelled at the doctor. “What’s your deal?! I know you’re stressed, I know you’ve got a lot on your mind, and you’ve totally got the right to be upset. But why are you upset at me? You’re not just a little angry. You’re angry at me, I can tell. Or you’re angry about me. But it’s definitely something to do with me and not just this plague that’s bothering you.”

Doctor Anathema stood stalwartly halfway between Rainbow Dash and the auditorium. She took a deep breath and without turning to face Rainbow Dash, spoke: “Why are you still here?”

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head.

“Why are you still here?” Anathema finally looked over her shoulder at the pegasus. “You’re on an adventure, right? So why didn’t you leave Pinetree Warren the moment you could? Why didn’t you even act like you wanted to leave?”

“Well… I just… I-I don’t get what you mean! What’s the problem with me not leaving?” Rainbow Dash frowned in consternation.

“When I first saw you, I saw a pony in need. A pony who was on the brink of death who I needed to save. It didn’t take long before we saw that you were overcoming the disease on your own and things changed. I started to see a pony who could help us. Save us. I did the one thing I shouldn’t have done—the thing I tell my coworkers not to do. I got hopeful,” Anathema’s lip quivered and moisture gathered around her eyes. “I got hopeful that the key to stopping this disease—this plague, had finally come to us. And no one else would have to suffer, no one else would have to die. But in the end nothing has changed. We didn’t learn anything and those ponies in there are still just slowly dying and there’s NOTHING I CAN DO!” She shouted at Rainbow Dash. “And here you are, some carefree pony not even from around here, who healed all on her own while my friends and fellow villagers die. And because I’m a doctor and take care of all my patients, I’m obligated to do everything I can to make your stay comfortable. Like giving you my cabin and making sure you’re getting good food even if I can’t stand being around you. So why are you still here? This isn’t your village, you’re healthy, go fly off and find a new adventure or something.”

This isn’t your city, Rainbow Dash. The words of Barnaby cut right through Rainbow’s mind, just as Anathema’s were.

“I’m...” Rainbow Dash bit her lip, sadly looking down at the ground. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking about that… I was thinking about how you were feeling, or trying to, but I guess I still missed it.”

Anathema shrugged and wiped her eyes. “None of it is your fault even. I only have myself to blame, that’s why I didn’t want to say any of this, I shouldn’t be so resentful to you. It’s wrong and it just makes me feel guilty because I should know better.”

The two of them stood silently there for a moment longer before Anathema spoke up again.

“Why are you still here though? Pinetree Warren is just a small village that would have nothing to see or do in it on a normal day. From what you told us I don’t understand why you haven’t left yet.”

“Because...” Rainbow Dash ground her teeth, trying to find the right words herself. “You need help. That’s… that’s it really. Not just you, but everyone here. It doesn’t matter if I can’t just punch the problem away like I normally like to. Pinetree Warren still needs my help. And… I don’t know why I beat the disease either, but there has to be some reason I did, right? Something that could help you. I had to have come here for a reason and not just because it was a stop on the road.”

“Helping ponies at the cost of yourself. Maybe in another world you became a doctor,” Anathema laughed slightly.

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Hey… it was almost a smirk last night but now I got you to laugh too. Also, you might as well stamp that thought right out, I’m not enough of an egghead to be a doctor.”

“You’re too scared of needles as well,” Anathema grinned back at her.

“Well you can’t even feel pain so that’s totally not fair!” Rainbow folded her hooves in front of her chest and looked away.

“Don’t be such a big baby. I’m astonished that after some of the stories you told us that you’re still afraid of something like needles,” Anathema rolled her eyes. “When you saw my Cutie Mark, did it make you jump?”

Rainbow Dash flinched. “N-No...”

Anathema’s smirk widened. “Liar.”

“Look, whatever, let’s drop that subject. It’s true what you said though, I may be looking for fun and awesome adventurey stuff, but that doesn’t mean I won’t stop what I’m doing to help ponies in need. Cause that would be the exact opposite of awesome, get me?” Rainbow said.

“Yes, I get you,” Doctor Anathema nodded.

“Sooo… can we be friends now?” Rainbow asked, an eyebrow raised at the doctor. “I guarantee you it’s a lot more fun than being angry whenever you see me.”

Anathema snorted. “My mood isn’t going to swing so suddenly… I’m not going to suddenly be happy and full of smiles while all my patients are still sick and in pain. But that being said, yes, we can be friends. Or attempt to at least.”

“Good enough for me,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Right,” Anathema sighed and looked at the auditorium. “If you’ll excuse me though I do have work to do today. You can make yourself at home in my cabin, or talk to Ardent Elm, or eat at Cocoa Bean’s or do whatever else you want I suppose. Within reason. Obviously most ponies here won’t be too inviting, and I’d still like you to use the story of you coming from the Weeping Mountain.”

“I’m not going to be a freeloader,” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “I’m here to help and I mean it. So let me come in there and help you take care of those ponies. You know it’s safe for me at least.”

Anathema paused and frowned, a worried expression came over her face. “I… do you really want to? For sure? You already spent two days awake just stuck in there, you know what it’s like. Do you really want to see all of the villagers like that? Get them water to drink? Try talking to them? There’s nothing glamorous about this, Rainbow Dash.”

“If that’s the only thing I can do to help, then yeah. Unless that green stuff turns into a monster that I can beat up—that’d be cool. But uh, that’s probably not happening. So whatever I can help with in there, or whatever errands you need me to run, I’m all for it!” She clapped a hoof to her chest. “And… if there are any other experiments or tests you can think of to run on me that might help you guys learn something, I’d be okay with letting you run them too. Within reason and all that.”

“Thank you...” Doctor Anathema smiled warmly at her. “Let’s head in to work then, I’ll have some things to go over with you.”

“You got it,” Rainbow grinned and hopped right beside her. The two mares walked up to the front doors of the auditorium and opened them together.

“I still have to insist that you wear protective gear.”

“And I have to insist that you don’t need to waste any of that stuff with me.”

“It’s protocol. And it’s the smart thing to do. Haven’t you ever heard of ‘better safe than sorry’?”

“Yeah, and I ignore it all the time and things usually work out anyways.”

“You are impossible. I am not letting you inside without you wearing these clothes.”

“Calm down, mom. I know you mean well but just give it a rest. Won’t those ponies in there be happy to see someone who isn’t wrapped up like a mummy anyways?”

“I will calm down as soon as you get properly dressed. At least put on the jumpsuit and goggles if you don’t want anything wasted.”

“Hello, everyone,” Doctor Swab said as he entered through the front door. “Apologies for being late but—what’s going on?” He stopped as he saw Rainbow Dash and Doctor Anathema glaring at each other, with Heartwrench and Blue Rose nervously looking at them off from the side.

Heartwrench came over to him and whispered in his ear. “Rainbow Dash has decided to help us out with taking care of the patients, but the two of them have been arguing like this from the start.”

“Arguing about what?”

“Rainbow Dash doesn’t see the point of wearing the same protective gear we do,” Blue Rose answered.

“Well she’s not exactly wrong… as long as she showers and takes a pill after she’d probably be better off than the rest of us regardless of what she did or didn’t wear. Not like she’d be touching the green blotches on any pony directly,” Doctor Swab considered. “With her body she’s safer around the patients than the rest of us.”

“Try telling that to Doctor Anathema,” Heartwrench winced.

“You know what a stickler she can be...” Blue Rose said.

“Well she’s not wrong either,” Doctor Swab scratched his head.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at the other mare. “Okay, fine, whatever. You’re lucky all my friends would probably agree with you and want to make me wear this stuff too.”

“Sounds like you have smart friends,” Anathema glared at her.

“Ugh, out-stubborned by a doctor...” Rainbow shook her head.

“I’m not going to back down when I’m right,” Anathema said and walked over to the lockers where the clothes were. “Now put these on. And you haven’t even been introduced properly to Nurse Heartwrench and Nurse Blue Rose yet.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said and looked over at the other three, her eyes widening when she saw Swab with the nurses. “Oh, hey dude, didn’t notice you come in.”

“I just got here. So apparently you’ve volunteered to help us out here?” Doctor Swab said.

“Yep!” Rainbow saluted. “Just doing my part while I’m here in Pinetree Warren. I dunno, just feel like I have a lot to offer. Helping ponies is kind of my thing, maybe not in the same way you doctors do, but still.” She looked over at the nurses. “So… Heartwrench and Blue Rose, right?”

“They were the two with us when we first found you in the forest,” Doctor Anathema said.

“Oh yeah? Gotta thank you for that then,” Rainbow smiled at the nurses.

“Just doing our job, it was still Doctor Anathema that had us go to you,” Heartwrench said and walked up to Rainbow Dash to shake her hoof. “I’m Heartwrench.”

“And I’m Blue Rose,” Blue Rose said and came to shake Rainbow’s hoof once Heartwrench was done.

“Nice to meet both of you for real,” Rainbow said.

“You look much better than when we first saw you, and we were there a couple of times when you were still asleep,” Blue Rose said.

“You really want to help us take care of the other patients?” Heartwrench asked.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I mean, even if it wasn’t just the right thing to do I kind of owe you all for helping me out. Consider it me paying you back for keeping me alive.”

“You really are quite the good soul,” Doctor Swab smiled to her.

“Enough talk,” Anathema interrupted. “Let’s hurry up and get dressed. Our patients might not be missing us but there’s no reason for us to be late and shirk our duties.”

“Getting right on it,” Rainbow Dash said as she walked over to the lockers and stared at the equipment. “How do you put one of these jumpsuits on?”

Anathema rolled her eyes. “I’ll show you...”

“Thanks, mom,” Rainbow grinned.

“Just shut up already,” Anathema growled.

It was really uncomfortable wearing this thing with her wings. The extra appendages didn’t fit right inside the tight jumpsuit. And even with the jumpsuit, Rainbow Dash shivered slightly when they went inside the main room where all the ponies were. It annoyed her that she had seemingly lost her cold resistance so quickly. After all that time in the True North and her body was back to acting like something like this was “cold”. As if she needed to be uncomfortable physically when she was already going to be a bit uncomfortable and awkward on the inside when it came to seeing and taking care of these ponies. There was a stab of guilt that she tried crushing down, Anathema would’ve told her she shouldn’t feel guilty and it wouldn’t help anybody anyways.

She still really wished all those tests Anathema and Swab ran would’ve found something though. If even some of these ponies could be helped it would be great.

For the first time now she was really looking over all of them, not just paying attention to the ponies closest to where her bed had been. So many faces twisted in pain. So many green spots covering up bodies. So many ponies just lying back and staring emptily up at the ceiling. It was horrible, she had never seen something like this before. Not one of her many trips into the hospitals back in Equestria had brought Rainbow Dash to such a scene of abject misery like this plague created. If Twilight was here maybe she could ask her if there was a history of diseases like this in Equestria. Without her walking encyclopedia of a friend, Rainbow Dash was left with nothing.

“We’ll start with another visual checkup on everyone,” Doctor Anathema said, holding a clipboard with some paper on it and a pencil in her magic. “Rainbow Dash, you’ll walk with me while the others take their own rows. Sorry but I can’t let you do this on your own without any experience. It’s important that everything is recorded correctly.”

“Hey, no need to explain things to me. I get it,” Rainbow shrugged.

They started at the first bed in the corner of the auditorium. In it lied a mare, probably a few years younger than Rainbow Dash, but it was difficult to make out with the condition she was in. Originally her coat might have been a cyan color, but it was almost impossible to tell with probably upwards of 90% of her body being covered in green splotches. The mare didn’t move or offer any sort of acknowledgment that she noticed Rainbow Dash and Anathema even though her eyes were wide open and she was breathing steadily. She was awake yet not awake, either the pain or paralyzing effect of the spores making her more of a husk than a living pony.

Anathema only briefly looked her over and made a checkmark on her clipboard. “Soap Bubble, no change.”

Rainbow Dash grimaced at how apathetic Anathema seemed as she did that. She knew why Anathema acted so detached but it just felt so cold. “Uh, d-do we try talking to her or anything?”

“She can’t speak,” Anathema shook her head.

“Well… but do you think she would like to hear a pony speak to her anyways? Tell her a story? Even if she can’t say anything back...” Rainbow persisted.

Anathema paused and looked down at Soap Bubble, the mare’s chest slowly rose and fell as her eyes vacantly stared off into the distance. She sighed. “If you want, after the rounds are over you can come back and talk to her. But wait until we’re done with the checkups until then.” Her eyes glanced at Rainbow Dash. “Try not to let yourself be affected so much by every pony here. Are you planning on talking to and telling bedtime stories to all of them?”

“If I think they’d like it, then maybe,” Rainbow answered.

“Not like I disagree with that sentiment… I’ve just become tired after so long,” Anathema said.

“Well I don’t blame you for that… I think if I had to see this everyday it would really get to me too. I don’t like feeling helpless and not knowing what to do. I hate it. I’m a mare of action. So if I was in your position and I just had to stand around doing the same stuff and not even knowing if it would make a difference—I’d probably lose it after not too long.” She blinked and looked at the doctor. “Uh, sorry if some of what I said hits too close to home.”

Doctor Anathema just chuckled slightly bitterly. “No, it’s alright. Come on for now though, we have more patients to look at.”

The first row of patients were all pretty much the same, with various amounts of green mold covering their coats. Some actually moved around or wheezed and moaned but most simply lay still. Anathema kept checking off all of them without any change in demeanor. It took only a few seconds for her to look over each one and be satisfied—the mark of a pony who had been doing this routine for a long time. Rainbow Dash watched what she was doing and made sure to take a good look at each pony as well to get familiar with them.

That went on until they came to the bed of a young colt no more than ten.

He was covered head to hoof in green and constantly breathing heavily, his hooves pawed at nothing as he stayed lying on his side. Rainbow Dash could barely make out a Cutie Mark that looked like some kind of flower on his flank. When she and Doctor Anathema approached his bed his eyes flickered up at them, the first real sort of recognition any patient had given them.

It tore Rainbow Dash up to look at him. What if it was Scootaloo lying there? It was bad enough seeing anyone like this already…

Doctor Anathema saw his eyes move too. “Thornfall? How are you feeling today? Can you speak?”

The colt breathed in and out, his mouth slightly moving. “Doctor...”

“Yes, I’m here Thornfall,” Anathema stood close to his bedside.

“Mom… dad… can I see them?” Thornfall asked.

Anathema frowned. “I’m sorry Thornfall but they can’t come in here. Would you like me to go talk to them later today? I can talk to them for you.”

“I want… to see them...” It looked like he would be crying if he had the ability to right now and Rainbow Dash grimaced at the sight.

“I’ll bring you a picture of them from your house and you can keep it beside your bed. Tomorrow I’ll tell you everything they want me to relay to you. Try to rest now, Thornfall,” Anathema said and made another check on her board. She then nodded her head at Rainbow Dash and gestured for the two of them to move on. While they were walking between beds she leaned in and whispered to the pegasus: “That’s not the worst you’re going to see either. Try not to let it get to you.”

She was right, shortly after they came across an even younger filly called Turnip. Her eyes were practically glazed over as Anathema and Rainbow Dash approached. The doctor made a simple mark on her clipboard and was going to keep moving, but Rainbow Dash paused as she caught the filly’s eyes.

“You’re… new,” Turnip said.

“Yeah...” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head as Anathema turned to watch the two of them. “Is there anything you need? You want to talk for a bit, kid?”

Turnip breathed in and out and slowly, painfully, turned her head to look directly at Rainbow Dash. “Kill… me.”

“K-Kid-” Rainbow Dash started but found herself lost for words.

Anathema quickly walked over and put a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Turnip, please, stay strong. You’ve done such a good job, we’re all working hard to help you.”

“I… don’t… care. Kill me,” the filly said to them.

Anathema closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m going to get you some water and a stronger sedative. Please try and sleep.”

Before Rainbow Dash could say or ask anything herself, Anathema pushed her along to the next bed and explained for her. “Her mother and father were infected by the spores too… they didn’t make it.”

“Oh, Celestia...” Rainbow Dash winced, looking over her shoulder somberly at the filly.

“She’s just lost the will to go on. Everyday she’s able to speak it’s the same thing from her,” Doctor Anathema shook her head. “But I haven’t given up on curing her… even though that would only be the first step in a long journey for her.”

“She must be in so much pain already...”

“Yes. Inside and out,” Anathema nodded. “That’s what this plague has done to our village.”

“This is so wrong,” Rainbow Dash shook her head.

“What I’ve been telling myself everyday.”

The rest of the rounds proceeded pretty much the same. Rainbow Dash had to watch as numerous ponies in agony writhed or stared blankly at nothing while Doctor Anathema inspected them. Rainbow Dash kept a mental note on which ones looked like she could talk to them, or might actually enjoy having some company around. And the ones who didn’t… maybe she could talk to them anyways, even if they didn’t give her any response. It was just the right thing to do. And these ponies needed all the kindness and generosity they could get. Still though, by the end of the visual inspection Rainbow Dash was feeling defeated and worn out. There was just so little she could do and these ponies were hurting in a way none of the other creatures she had encountered in her journey so far were. Even the ponies in the Metal Mountain weren’t in this sort of constant, brutal, agony. And even worse she didn’t have a direct plan or obvious way of getting them out of their misery.

“Why does this have to be so difficult?” Rainbow Dash growled under her breath.

“Welcome to the world of infectious diseases,” Anathema mumbled back.

Rainbow frowned. “Didn’t mean for you to hear that...” She looked at some more of the beds and at the nurses and Doctor Swab doing their own inspections. “I think I meant it a little differently than you too.”

Anathema shrugged. “Does it matter? We’re both having a tough time here. And even when you leave and go on your next adventure or whatever I’m sure we’ll both deal with difficult things too, even if they’re completely different. If we ever do find a cure to this disease it’s not like my work is going to stop. Ponies always get sick and injured and I have to always be there for them. It’ll be especially tough after how taxed the village has been because of the plague.”

“I don’t envy you,” Rainbow Dash said. “I respect you, I think you’re cool, but I definitely don’t envy you.”

“Same to you. Your life certainly sounds fun but I know what my path is. I’m happy to be a doctor, and just a doctor. Even in a time like this I don’t regret getting my Cutie Mark,” Anathema said.

Rainbow Dash glanced out across the beds again. “Yeah...”

Anathema raised an eyebrow at her. “Something else on your mind?”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip and looked back at Turnip’s bed. “You… you said Turnip’s parents died?”

“...yes,” Anathema slowly answered.

“They haven’t been the only ones who died from this, have they?” Rainbow asked her.

Anathema sighed and lowered the clipboard and pencil she was holding. “No. No they haven’t been. Not by a long shot unfortunately. I remember the names of each and every pony who has passed away from this disease.”

Rainbow’s face was solemn as she mulled over that in her head. “What happens to them?”

“I’ll show you,” Anathema answered.

More scalding hot water from the shower poured down onto Rainbow Dash as Doctor Anathema stood under the shower head right next to her as the two of them underwent decontamination at the same time. The previous few hours were like a miserable blur in Rainbow Dash’s mind. After the visual inspections had finished (with the unsurprising result of there being no changes for better or for worse) they made sure all the patients had functioning IV’s and plenty of water. Rainbow tried talking with a few more ponies but none of them said anything to her. To be honest, her mind was preoccupied with Anathema’s promise. The doctor had said she would show Rainbow Dash what happened with ponies who died from the plague… why couldn’t she just tell her? Was it too complicated?

Or more likely, was it something you just needed to see for yourself?

Rainbow still had in mind some of the ponies she had seen back in the auditorium that she wanted to visit again. The ones who looked like they needed her the most. Later tonight she would come back after this business with Anathema was over and try her hardest to make things easier for them. Pinkie Pie or Fluttershy would be better suited for it, but Rainbow Dash would still try and bring smiles to these ponies’ faces.

As soon as the shower was over with, Doctor Anathema led Rainbow Dash out but not towards the front of the auditorium like usual.

“It’s tucked away in the northeastern part of the forest, away from the village,” Anathema said as she slipped on a new coat.

“What is?” Rainbow asked her.

“You’ll see.”

And that was the only answer she got as the two of them left the auditorium and the others behind, traveling into the forest. Directly to the north, Rainbow Dash knew the green clouds and everything were there, but she couldn’t see any of it through the trees from her point on the ground. Anathema wasn’t even glancing at it, instead making a beeline at an angle away from the auditorium. She had gotten completely quiet now too with her face just an impassive mask of stone. Whatever they were traveling to had the doctor in an even more sour mood than normal.

Rainbow Dash let out a deep breath and sighed, flapping her wings to start hovering alongside the doctor. She wanted to stretch them a bit after they had been kooked up in her jumpsuit for the rest of the day.

“So how far away is this thing?” Rainbow asked just to break the silence. The light fluttering of her wings not enough to occupy her.

“Not much further,” was the simple reply.

Rainbow rolled her eyes but didn’t press further. It was obvious Anathema wasn’t up for talking much. Ahead the forest started to thin a bit and in the distance she could see hills rolling and rolling further towards the east. She doubted they’d be traveling that far though, whatever was done with the dead ponies… Rainbow couldn’t imagine the villagers would want their fallen family members to be too far away. Regardless of the disease.

It was in another minute that she noticed something thanks to the slight height she had due to flying. But it looked like in the middle of a large clearing in the forest something had been dug out. The dirt was excavated in a rectangular shape, she was pretty sure. As she got closer she was able to see more, making out all the edges, and look down into it. A frown came to her face as she wondered what the hole was, it seemed about ten feet deep and there were a couple of piled up dirt ramps on the sides that you could walk down into it from.

As Anathema made it to the edge she stopped and Rainbow Dash stopped along with her and looked down into the large hole directly under this side. She hadn’t been able to see into this side of it yet because of the direction they came from. Now that she could she was able to plainly see several dozen long boxes stacked up inside it.

“Oh,” Rainbow Dash dropped to the dirt next to Anathema and folded her wings in. Those weren’t boxes.

“We have to put them here, away from anything else. Their bodies are still covered in the green mold well after death,” Anathema said as she looked out across the coffins.

“Just in one big grave?” Rainbow Dash asked her, a melancholic frown on her face.

“It’s the most practical way to do things. We’ve been forced to be practical about things,” Anathema answered. “The coffins are all marked so we know who is who at least.”

“Oh, great,” Rainbow sarcastically said.

Anathema sighed. “I know. But there’s really not much better we can do right now. When… when a patient dies from the spores we wrap them in heavy, alcohol-disinfected sheets, and then seal them in one of these pine coffins to bring here. Eventually this will all be buried, but not before we find a cure. I may not know how these spores work completely but I’m not taking the risk of a new batch growing from here, even though there’s been no evidence something like that could happen, I don’t want to contaminate the forest and the land around Pinetree Warren further.”

Rainbow Dash looked at the coffins, not wanting to picture their insides. “So Turnip’s mom and dad are in there?”

“Yes,” Anathema nodded. “Initially we thought maybe we should cremate the corpses but there were too many variables and potential dangers involved. What if the smoke is toxic and spreads the disease? What if there’s some unknown chemical reaction with the green mold? It’s pretty much the same reason we haven’t just set fire to the whole part of the forest where the spores come from.”

“No one’s brought any flowers or anything, have they?” Rainbow asked, noticing the lack of, well, pretty much everything around the large mass grave.

Anathema bit her lip and momentarily shook her head. “N-No one has wanted to come out here, for obvious reasons. And getting close to the body before it’s boxed up is...”

“I know. Sorry,” Rainbow shrugged, just tired. “Maybe when this is all over ponies can come pay their respects.”

“I hope so too,” Anathema said.

Rainbow Dash glanced at her. “Thanks for bringing me here, er, sort of. It wouldn’t have really hit the same way if you just told me. And… I didn’t know this many ponies had died from it. I don’t blame anyone in your village for not being able to smile.”

“There’s going to be more too. I hate to admit that but I know it’s true,” Anathema said, staring at the coffins. “I’m trying my best, we all are, but it’s just delaying the inevitable at this point. Look at how much extra space is left in this grave—we dug it that big for a reason.”

The two of them silently looked at the grave for a little while longer. The pine boxes stacked up along the bottom of it a grim reminder of what the plague had done to Pinetree Warren. No matter how quickly a cure was found or what was done to help the ponies currently afflicted, nothing could undo this. A bird flying overheard briefly distracted Rainbow Dash, she saw its shadow flying over the pit as it went east—far away from the green clouds of death.

Her eyes ended up drawn back to that zone of disease and suffering. Where they were now she could only barely see a vague green fog above the trees in the distance. Rainbow Dash blinked and stared at it for a full minute before she found her voice again.

“Hey, Anathema?”

The doctor turned to look at her as she was still staring to the west. “Yes?”

“I want to see the spores and the green mold and everything up close. I want to see exactly what I’m dealing with and learn everything I can about it,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’m going to that epi-whatever you call it.”

“Rainbow Dash, that’s dangerous, and you’re not even a doctor or scientist to begin with so just what do you plan on learning?” Anathema asked her.

“Doesn’t matter,” Rainbow resolutely shook her head and faced the doctor. “I don’t know what I can do here yet, but just like with this grave I need to see it for myself. That’s just the kind of pony I am.”

Anathema grimaced, her eyes drifting in the direction of the green fog. “I can’t exactly support going close to it for anything less than an emergency… but I know I can’t stop you either.”

Rainbow Dash grinned and opened her mouth but was quickly silenced by the swift slicing gesture from Anathema’s hoof.

“However. We’re going to take the necessary precautions and you are going to listen to me. Understand?” Anathema raised an eyebrow at the truculent pegasus.

The grin never left Rainbow’s face. “Perfectly.”

She had thought just the jumpsuit was uncomfortable enough but now that she was bedecked in the full protective outfit she realized how wrong she was. The rubber boots over all her legs, the suffocating mask on her face, and the eyewear all made her wish she could tear them off right now. But she had promised to listen to Doctor Anathema and follow her safety protocols so she was just going to have to live with it for now. Even though she probably wasn’t in any danger.

She wasn’t planning on getting close enough to come in contact with the spores and she would heal from them on her own anyways. Or for all she knew she was completely immune to the plague after her first encounter. But Anathema refused to take any chances or do anything unsafe, which Rainbow Dash could understand. There wasn’t any reason for her to bother the doctor about it and stress her out anymore than she already was.

It took some time getting it all together, but now Rainbow Dash was standing in the northern forest with the green fog and particle clouds of spores directly ahead. It was so thick on the forest floor, not like the clouds and the vague smoke above the trees that she had seen when she first flew into it at all. It was dark looking into the heart of it and impossible to see completely through to the other side. The green and the spores was far too dense. Even just a few trees in it started to turn into total blackness while up above more of the haze continued to lift off into the sky and form the clouds that had almost ended Rainbow’s life.

Doctor Anathema was standing ten feet behind her, also wearing full protective gear and not coming any closer. “Well? Have you seen what you wanted to see?”

Rainbow Dash didn’t answer her yet. In part because she didn’t even know what she wanted to see in the first place. She had come here on a whim because she felt that it was important. That heart of the plague looked so unnatural, so wrong, because the particles and spores were so thick in the center it almost seemed alive with how it moved. Like something was animating the plague and had turned it into this freakish nightmare.

“You should know that even for you you can’t go in there more than a few feet. The spores will eat right through your protection and then your body in that kind of concentration. Your “immunity” won’t help you, Rainbow Dash. It wouldn’t be like getting sick, it would be like a bath of acid.” Anathema told her. “For me, I would become infected and near death just from breathing in or coming into skin contact with some on the outskirts of it. As would every other pony in Pinetree Warren.”

“What do you think it’s like in the middle of all that? What do you think the place where all the spores are coming from looks like?” Rainbow asked her, pretty much ignoring the warnings.

Anathema frowned. “The origin point? I would imagine a huge pile of mold or fungus, or perhaps some kind of flowering plant that’s spreading the spores everywhere. I’m not a botanist, no one in town was sure what to make of it. Why? You had best not be getting any dumb ideas.”

“I’m always getting dumb ideas,” Rainbow Dash snorted. “But no, I’m not planning on flying into it or anything.”

If Twilight was here she could just put up a magical shield or something and walk on in, Rainbow Dash bet. But if Ardent Elm hadn’t done something like that already she doubted any of the unicorns here could. Rainbow wasn’t a botanist either, she just felt so dumb and useless not being able to offer anything right now. If only her stupid blood had actually shown Anathema the answer to curing this disease it would’ve been a happy meeting. She would’ve had a big party with Pinetree Warren, everyone would be healthy, and she’d be flying off south somewhere else right now.

There was no leaving yet though. It didn’t matter if this wasn’t her village, or if Anathema wanted her to go so she wouldn’t get sick again. She had to help. That was the only part that mattered.

“Have you tried like, catching any spores in a glass jar and taking them back to your lab to look at?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Anathema shook her head. “Too dangerous. Too risky to bring spores back to the village. I won’t take that risk and put the rest of the ponies in Pinetree Warren in danger.”

“Yeah, don’t blame you,” Rainbow said as she kept looking at the dark green epicenter.

“Come on, Rainbow Dash, let’s go. You’re not going to get anywhere just staring at that place,” Anathema said.

“You don’t know that. Maybe I’ll come to an epiphany or something. There’s gotta be something special up with this, this, thing!” Rainbow said to her.

“If there was anything special up with it I think it must also have something to do with you. But we couldn’t figure it out even with all the tests we ran on you,” Anathema said. “You’re the only pony who has shown a different reaction to the spores.” She sighed. “Not even a different reaction, you still got sick the same way, you just recovered on your own somehow.”

“I want to just say it’s cause I’m awesome but I know that doesn’t really help,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Unfortunately.”

“There’s gotta be something I’m missing—that you and everyone else is too,” Rainbow Dash furrowed her brow. “Seriously nothing you’ve tried has worked on curing the ponies that are sick?”

“We’ve only been able to delay and stall out the disease so far, but no pony except for you has actually shown an improvement and fought off the green,” Anathema told her. “We have treatments. Not a cure. And we’re nowhere close to finding one by the look of how things have been going.”

Rainbow Dash groaned and turned around to look at the doctor. “This bites.”

Anathema rolled her eyes in amusement. “Tell me about it. Let’s go back to my cabin, after today we both need a good night’s sleep.”

“Do I still get the bed?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at her.

“Yes, you still get the bed.”

Rainbow Dash and Doctor Anathema both retired to her cabin, making it back long after night had fallen due to Anathema’s steadfast refusal to allow Rainbow Dash to carry her. And because they had to change out of the jumpsuits and other safety gear they wore on their brief visit to the borders of the plague’s epicenter. Once they were back the two of them snacked on some leftover nutritional bars of food Anathema had and took turns washing up. It had been a looong day and tomorrow promised to be just as long.

The both of them were tired. The both of them couldn’t exactly say they were happy. But they were at least getting along better than before.

Elsewhere in the village, Honey Sight was once again on his roof. This time even though it was the middle of the night he was still bird watching. For it was around this time that owls from the surrounding forest would come combing through Pinetree Warren in search of mice and squirrels. His camera wouldn’t work well in this darkness so all he could do was watch silently with his eyes and take notes, but that was good enough for a passionate bird watcher like himself.

It was a warm night and he pleasantly sat still for a while before he saw the first owl. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness, the light of the moon and stars being enough for him. It had flown in from the forest to the west and came to perch on the roof of a home just a few doors down from his. Honey Sight watched as the great avian predator stared at the ground below, its sharp eyes that could see far better than his right now looking for any sign of prey.

How he wished he had a night camera or something, at the very least the artistic tools and talent to draw the owl.

The bird’s head suddenly swiveled and its eyes locked on a target below. Honey Sight couldn’t see what it was looking at but he was still paying close attention to the owl. He wanted to see exactly how it moved, how it opened its wings and talons as it dove for its prey. The bird’s legs braced and it lowered its head as it prepared to shoot off from the roof—but then it froze.

Honey Sight frowned in confusion, wondering what it was doing.

A second later the owl took off, but not towards the ground in order to snag the prey it must have spotted earlier. Instead it flew above the roofs of Pinetree Warren and took off south in a flash. Soon becoming lost in the darkness and the trees in the forest beyond the limits of the village.

Honey Sight scratched his head. “Did something scare it?”

The sounds of flapping wings, cawing, and hooting reached his ears and he looked up to see not just owls but birds of all types flying overhead. They were coming from all parts of the forest around Pinetree Warren and were flying straight south. That wasn’t the only thing either, he heard scurrying from below and looked down to see mice, squirrels, chipmunks and other rodents running between the buildings, also going south. A stampede of animals was occurring in the dead of night.

“W-What’s going on?” Honey Sight asked as the animals continued to head away from Pinetree Warren, or perhaps away from what was north of the village.

Honey Sight gasped as he turned and tried to look into the northern forest, trying to see the green fog and clouds. But it was impossible at night like this to make anything out. He gulped and sat down, shakily moving a hoof through his mane.

Heavy pounding came to the door of Anathema’s cabin. Enough to wake up both mares inside after just a moment. Anathema fell off her chair and onto a pile of papers while Rainbow Dash sat up in bed and started to rub her eyes. The pegasus yawned and stared at the front door.

“Morning already?” She asked to nobody in particular.

“No,” Anathema said as she stood up, yawning as well and pointing to the window above the bed. “It’s still dark out.”

“Who’s coming here in the middle of the night?” Rainbow wondered and hopped out of bed.

Anathema frowned. “Whoever they are, I doubt they’re here for anything good.”

The two mares trotted through the mess and over to the front door where Anathema opened it up with her magic to reveal a frenzied and panting Walnut Grove. The moment he saw the doctor he grabbed her by the shoulder and gestured off to the north side of the village.

“D-Doctor! You have to come immediately!” Walnut Grove yelled.

“Why? What’s going on?” Anathema questioned while Rainbow Dash bit her lip and tried to see out into the dark as far as she could.

“The patients! It happened in the middle of the night shift, everyone started screaming in pain and writhing around in their beds. It’s like their infections just got worse all at once! Blue Rose and Heartwrench administered more medicine but it wasn’t doing anything! I came to get you and Heartwrench ran off to find Doctor Swab. W-We don’t know what to do!” Walnut Grove explained.

Anathema grit her teeth. “I don’t understand… why so suddenly? It shouldn’t be like this. What about their skin? Was the green getting worse on any of them?”

Walnut Grove nodded. “Y-Yes, we didn’t check all of them but the ones we saw had their green spots growing bigger.”

“How in the—ugh, forget it! We can talk about the how later, now we need to help them, let’s go!” Anathema said and bolted off her cabin’s porch, Walnut Grove running after her after he finished catching his breath, and Rainbow Dash flying alongside her.

“What do you think’s going on?” Rainbow asked her.

“I don’t know! This doesn’t make any sense! None of the other patients had such a rapid deterioration in their condition. Maybe it has to do with them being all stuck together like that—or a side effect of some of the medicine and treatments we’ve used, or anything! This is so infuriating! I-I just hope I can figure out some way to help them...” Anathema almost started to cry as she ran.

“Hey, don’t worry about that. We’ll do something,” Rainbow Dash resolutely said to try and reassure her.

“Y-Yeah...” Anathema stuttered as she nodded.

The two of them made it back to the auditorium in record time, with Walnut Grove pulling up the rear. Anathema and him had to put on their jumpsuits but for this time the doctor didn’t force Rainbow to wear one thanks to the rush they were in. As soon as Anathema and Walnut Grove were ready, Rainbow Dash opened the doors and they walked inside the auditorium. Where they were greeted with a wailing chorus of moans and pained crying. Compared to the zombie-like state most of the ponies were usually in, this was a madhouse.

Blue Rose went from bed to bed in a panic, trying to get as many of them to drink water as they could and swallow down some pills. She was the only one inside right now, Swab and Heartwrench hadn’t returned.

Anathema clicked her tongue and glanced at Walnut Grove. “Sorry to do this to you after you just got dressed, but I want you to leave and go notify every volunteer and nurse about what’s happening. We’ll need everyone.”

“I understand,” Walnut Grove said. “I’ll get everyone as quickly as I can.” He nodded to her and turned about, heading out of the auditorium.

“It’ll take a while for that, he’ll need to decontaminate again thanks to stepping hoof in here. So it’s just us for now,” Anathema said. She looked at Blue Rose and shouted over to her. “Blue Rose! How much medicine is left?”

“Plenty, but it’s not doing anything!” The nurse shouted back as she held the head of an elderly patient and practically forced water down his throat.

“Doesn’t matter. Give them a dose and then start loading up everyone with sedatives. Even if it doesn’t fix anything in the long run we need to keep ponies calm and still to work,” Anathema ordered. She turned to Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow Dash, help out, try and calm ponies down and feed them their medicine and a sedative if they wont stop moving. Tell me if you see anyone whose green spots are getting much worse.”

“You got it,” Rainbow saluted.

“When Swab comes we can figure out a more lasting solution… if there is one. Now let’s move!” Anathema shouted and all three ponies went into double-time.

Rainbow Dash flew up a bit and used her sharp eyes and memory to pick out the ponies she thought would be most in danger: the very young and the very old. Those were going to be the first ones she made sure had what they needed. She dove down to the bed of a young colt and saw a green blotch practically crawling up his muzzle as it threatened to cover all the skin of his face. He was writhing around and sweating despite the cold, groans of pain wheezing up out of his lungs.

“Hey champ, you just sit tight okay? The doctor and I are gonna make you all better real soon,” Rainbow Dash told him, squeezing his hoof for comfort. She then flew off to where they kept the medicine, most of it she recognized from when it was used on her.

The sedatives were the only thing that actually did anything though. The green was unaffected by any medicine Rainbow and the others made them take but the sedatives at least calmed them down. Doctor Anathema was a mess as she went from bed to bed, checking each pony and seeing their green spots get worse. It was a horrific scene and they were running out of time.

“Where’s Swab?” Anathema moaned. She held a hoof to her chest and tried to calmly breathe in a few times. “If we had some ice, or could just make it colder in here...”

“Make it colder?” Rainbow repeated.

“Of course. You already know how cold it is in here, it slows down the disease’s progression—at least we think it does. Maybe if it was freezing it would stop it now too,” Anathema said.

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. “Okay, I’ll take care of that.”

“Huh?” Anathema tilted her head at her. “What do you mean?”

“I mean it’s about to get really cold in here,” Rainbow said and flew up towards the ceiling.

“What are you doing?” Anathema yelled up at her.

“Just sit tight, okay!” Rainbow yelled back and started flying in a circle around the perimeter of the ceiling.

In just a few moments she had started to form a small tornado, the winds were making the sheets and anything else not held down whip about but it was indeed also spreading the cool air around and making the temperature drop further. Rainbow Dash was acting like a living air-conditioner and filling up the auditorium with freezing cold winds. To her it was like she was back flying around in the True North. To everyone else it was like they were sitting inside a freezer. It was chilly enough where Anathema and Blue Rose were shivering and even most of the sedated patients were reflexively curling up or looking for more sheets to cover themselves with. With that happening, Anathema walked towards a few of the nearest beds and checked on the status of their green blotches.

“It’s-It’s actually working!” She shouted, looking up at Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow Dash, please keep that up as much as you can! We’ll find another way to get things colder in here soon.”

“No need to tell me twice!” Rainbow shouted back.

The auditorium was kept freezing even as Doctor Swab and a couple of nurses finally entered.

“W-What’s going on?!” Doctor Swab asked, his teeth chattering.

“Temporary measure to delay the disease!” Anathema said to him. “What took you so long to get here?”

“When I heard what was happening I knew we needed something different if the usual medicine wasn’t working,” Doctor Swab said as he swiftly walked over to her while levitating a box behind him. “I’ve strengthened the medicine, doubled the amount in one dose.”

“You can’t just do that!” Anathema roared at him. “The dosage for our medicine is carefully tested, this could lead to all sorts of adverse effects, if not just outright kill the patients!”

“Do you have a better idea? Or any idea at all? Nothing’s working, Anathema, let’s at least give them a fighting chance to survive for one more day. Sometimes we need to take risks as doctors too,” Swab countered.

Anathema bit her lip from behind her mask, looking at Rainbow Dash flying around, all the sick patents on their beds, and finally back into the eyes of Doctor Swab. “F-Fine, give them more of the medicine. Hopefully it’ll at least do something. Then we can work on keeping it freezing cold in here for as long as possible.”

The two doctors and the nurses worked as hard as they could to give dangerous double doses of medicine to every patient in the auditorium. Walnut Grove and the other volunteers came back in the middle of it and started to help out too. By the time they were done, it was morning in Pinetree Warren and Rainbow Dash was still flying to keep the temperature down as much as possible. She was only just starting to get a little bit tired. The good news was that all the ponies seemed to be in a stable condition, but at the same time the green blotches on their body had clearly gotten worse.

A tired Doctor Anathema leaned against the wall and looked up at Rainbow Dash, she shivered under her jumpsuit. “I think I have an idea on how to keep it colder in here at least.”

Doctor Swab—equally tired and standing right next to her—glanced over. “How?”

“Lots of fans and ice. We gather all the ice in the village, get a few fans in here and we’ve got an extra air-conditioning system going on. It’ll make things even colder and Rainbow Dash won’t have to fly around anymore,” Anathema explained. “All the nurses and volunteers should go clean up and get the stuff we need.”

She wiped her hoof over her brow, a pointless gesture. “Rainbow Dash, how long can you keep going?”

“Pff! I can keep this up for hours!” Rainbow answered.

“That’s good, because you’re going to have to,” Anathema said. She got off from the wall and stretched, looking out over the beds. “Come on, we should do another checkup to see how they’re doing and how much worse the green has gotten on each of them.” She said to Doctor Swab.

“Right,” Swab said and joined her.

More hours passed by, the hectic night had turned into a new busy day and most ponies that didn’t have the energy reserves of Rainbow Dash would probably be getting pretty tired. But there was no rest for them when it came to this sort of work and all the ponies relying on them. The entire village was pilfered of all its ice and every spare fan that could be found. Every last thing that could help was scrounged up over the next few hours, much to the concern and confusion of the villagers. By the time it was done, every single pony inside the auditorium was shivering as the temperatures were kept at a freezing level. Anything more than this and it would’ve been just as dangerous to the patients as the disease itself was.

“I-I think I’m really going to enjoy that hot shower out back after this,” Doctor Swab said.

“In truth it feels mostly the same for me,” Anathema frowned.

“I’ve felt colder than this but it still isn’t a lot of fun...” Rainbow Dash said.

Anathema nodded and turned to her. “Thank you for your quick thinking, you really helped us out.”

“Just doing my part,” Rainbow shrugged.

“I’m still wondering why this all happened in the first place,” Doctor Swab said. “Just in the middle of the night, completely out of the blue...”

“That’s what Walnut Grove said too. I don’t understand it,” Anathema said.

“If it was just one then maybe we could chalk it up to a pre-existing condition or something, but all of them?” Swab shook his head.

“There has to be a reason for it. This disease has been an enigma to us for too long, we have to figure out what’s going on,” Anathema sighed and held her head in her hooves. “There must be a key or trigger that we’re missing.”

While the three of them sat there, stuck in this quandary, Heartwrench walked over to them after receiving notice of something from outside the auditorium. She tapped Doctor Anathema on the shoulder to get her attention. “Doctor?”

Anathema looked up at her. “Nurse? What is it?”

“Um, apparently Honey Sight has something important to tell you and Doctor Swab. He says he’s seen something again,” Heartwrench told them, her eyes looking back and forth between the three ponies.

Anathema furrowed her brow. “What could it be now?”

“Not good news, likely,” Doctor Swab sighed.

“Hey, no need to be super pessimistic about everything,” Rainbow Dash said. “Come on, let’s get cleaned up and see what Honey Sight’s got to say.”

“It’s bigger,” Honey Sight said to the three ponies.

“What do you mean?” Doctor Swab said.

“I’m telling you, it’s gotten bigger,” the bird watcher repeated.

The four of them were standing outside the quarantine zone on the edge of the auditorium, the two doctors and Rainbow Dash having just gone through decontamination, and Honey Sight was reiterating to them something he had allegedly discovered. Ostensibly, the part of the forest that had been overtaken by the spores and green haze had grown last night.

“You’re saying there’s more green smoke and clouds? It’s expanded outward?” Anathema asked him.

Honey Sight nodded. “That’s right. Late last night, all the birds and animals in the forest and in the village suddenly ran away or flew away in a fright. I saw owls, and squirrels, and everything else just heading south. I-I knew it had to have something to do with that plagued part of the forest. But it was so dark out I couldn’t see anything until morning. Once the sun came up I checked from my roof and… it’s bigger. I’m telling you that it’s taken over even more of the forest.”

Rainbow Dash frowned and shared a look with Anathema. She then flew up into the sky and looked over the auditorium, towards the north and the green death in the forest. There were green clouds and the green fog rolling around it the same as always and… it might have expanded outwards a bit. She clicked her tongue and looked below at the other three.

“I think he’s right! The whole place might’ve grown a bit!”

Anathema and Doctor Swab now shared a worried look and the mare thought about all the patients on death’s door inside the auditorium. The sun continued to shine down from above, by all accounts it was a beautiful day.

“I need to get sick again.”

“Rainbow Dash, that. Is. Insane.”

The two ponies fumed at each other as they stood in the forest north of Pinetree Warren, still at a safe distance from the plagued area. No more than an hour had passed since Honey Sight had come to them with the revelation that for some reason the green plague had spread even further and Rainbow Dash had gotten another signature dumb idea in her head. Naturally Doctor Anathema was there with her in an attempt to curb any dumb, suicidal, ideas. Which is what brought the two of them to an impasse.

“Is not,” Rainbow Dash stomped a hoof on the ground. “We know I’ll be okay. Maybe if you get a look at me from start to finish and see how my body fights off the disease you’ll learn something!”

“I will absolutely not allow a pony to willingly infect themselves with that plague! Especially when being okay is not a guarantee!” Anathema shouted back at her.

“It is!”

“The green has just now acted in an unusual way compared to how it’s acted before! There’s no telling whether you will be as immune as you believe yourself to be! Not to mention that you still almost died and could potentially harm yourself if you go through more of those spores again.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Why can’t you just put a little faith in me?”

“Because it’s illogical, unreasonable, unscientific, and negligent! I can’t, as a doctor and as a thinking pony, allow it!” Anathema nearly headbutted her in response, glaring right into Rainbow Dash’s determined eyes.

“Take a risk! I’m the one putting myself in danger here anyways, not you. We both know how bad things are now, if you’re not willing to take bigger risks to stop this plague then what are you going to do?” Rainbow countered.

Anathema bit her lip and looked down. “There’s… there’s no reason for you to hurt yourself over something pointless.”

“Anathema...” Rainbow sighed.

“I’ve been refusing to accept how pointless what we’re doing is. But I can’t anymore,” the doctor shook her head. “The patients in the auditorium are doomed—and soon we’ll have to abandon the village entirely. It’s hopeless, Rainbow Dash. Don’t hurt yourself chasing a pipe dream. Don’t make a pointless sacrifice for some village in the middle of nowhere that isn’t even your home.”

The words of Barnaby echoed in her head once more and Rainbow shook herself to ignore them. She grasped Doctor Anathema by the shoulders and stared intently into her eyes.

“Don’t ever give up hope. And especially don’t ever count out what I can do.”

Anathema sniffled. “This is too reckless...”

Rainbow Dash snorted and let go of her shoulders, flapping her wings and hovering above the ground. “Reckless is practically my middle name. It’s never done me wrong before now.”

“That’s not reassuring after the way I met you, you know?” Anathema said, but a smile still appeared on her face.

“Well it worked out, that was my luck kicking in too,” Rainbow Dash cockily shrugged and grinned down at the doctor. “Don’t worry about this at all, just a quick dash around the outsides so I can get some spores on me and then I’ll be right back out before I go unconscious. You can watch over me the whole time, I’ll be fine.” She grimaced. “Okay, well, maybe not at first because it’s going to be really painful and uncomfortable but that’s what you’re here for.”

Anathema sighed and nodded. “Yes, that’s what I’m here for. I’ll make sure you’re okay.”

“Okay then,” Rainbow Dash saluted her. “Time to do something awesome, dumb, heroic, and Rainbow Dash all at once.”

She zoomed off towards the green fog of spores, keeping low to the ground so if it made her seize up all at once she at least wouldn’t crash so hard. In the back of her mind her instincts were screaming “Stop!” but she ignored them. Still, she couldn’t help but sweat the closer she got, it was an unconscious reaction after what her body had been through the first time. It was like holding your hoof over an open flame.

Rainbow Dash breathed in to calm herself. She didn’t need her heart beating in her chest like crazy while she was doing this. She started to come in towards the fog at a curve so she could just skirt alongside it and get right out as she flew past. There was no need to throw her whole body into a cloud, she just needed to come in contact with the spores a little bit. And she didn’t want to breathe any in and choke either.

As soon as she hit the border of the green fog, she felt the tip of her wing start to burn once it dipped into the airborne spores. A quick glance showed her a green blotch growing over it, climbing up the rest of her wing. Rainbow Dash grit her teeth and threw more of her body into the spores. All four of her hooves and her belly became covered in the green, it caused her to wobble in air and her body was screaming in pain and protest. Sensations of burning and numbness traded off across her body and her muscles started to seize up and disobey her orders. Rainbow Dash put all the strength she could into her wings and shot herself away from the spores.

Her wings gave out pretty much right after and she fell to the ground, rolling to a stop over the grass and dirt. Even though she hadn’t breathed any spores in this time she was having trouble breathing and all of her limbs felt like lead. It was impossible for her to stand up and she couldn’t see where Anathema was from where she was lying on the ground.

Rainbow Dash was wheezing and moaning, trying to shift around until she heard hoofsteps coming up to her.

“I swear, you’re going to get yourself killed one day doing something like this,” Anathema said to her.

Rainbow Dash tilted her head to look up at the doctor and grinned.

“She’s already fighting the disease off considerably even after just a few minutes,” Doctor Swab said as he looked over Rainbow Dash’s sleeping form while she lied on a bed in the auditorium again.

Compared to how much green had covered her when she was brought in, a large portion of it was already gone and back to its usual sky blue color. Anathema, Swab, and Nurse Cough Drop stood around her, checking her vitals and analyzing everything about her condition. Rainbow Dash shivered in her sleep at the cold while with every passing minute the green spots on her body got smaller. It seemed like she had been right about being fine. However, that also gave Anathema and the others less to work with.

Doctor Anathema levitated a syringe from a bedside stool and brought it towards one of Rainbow Dash’s legs. “Let’s take some blood samples and cultures while we can. I don’t expect finding much but it will be better than nothing.”

They worked tirelessly and relentlessly during the brief time they had to try and uncover both the mystery of the disease and Rainbow Dash’s unique resilience. Even more attention and care was paid this time than before, now with things in much more dire straits. And with the crunch of time bearing down even harder.

“If there was just another pegasus in Pinetree Warren who had gotten sick we could at least see if her immunity has to do with pegasus physiology or not,” Doctor Swab sighed in frustration.

“No sense crying about what we don’t have. Now even if another pegasus flew here from the Weeping Mountain we couldn’t ask them to get sick to find out,” Anathema said.

“I’m just trying to think,” Swab said.

“I know but… let’s just work. We haven’t found anything yet and we’re not going to unless we give this our utmost focus. This plague is like a medical lockbox, or puzzle, there’s never been something so difficult to understand and decipher,” Anathema said. “After all we still don’t even really know what it comes from.”

“If we were able to get to the origin point and harvest some direct samples...” Swab muttered.

“That’s another pointless line of thought. We just have to work with what we have. And what we have is Rainbow Dash,” Anathema said.

“Speaking of which-” Doctor Swab said and looked over at Cough Drop. “How are her vitals?”

“Stable, Doctor. And she’s breathing well,” the nurse replied.

“Good, get her some water too,” Swab said.

“No, hold off on that,” Anathema cut in. “I don’t want us to give her any water or medicine. I don’t want any sort of outside interference going on, let’s see exactly how her body and her body alone fights off the disease.”

Cough Drop and Doctor Swab both shared a look with each other but the other doctor still nodded right after.

“Believe me,” Anathema said to them. “Rainbow Dash would be more than confident in herself to stay fine.”

As the ponies continued to work, Anathema brought a magnifying glass up to her eye and focused on some of the remaining bits of green around Rainbow Dash’s hooves. A microscope would’ve shown her far more but she couldn’t fit a hoof under one. At least with the magnifying glass she could watch as millimeter by millimeter the green spots dissolved and disappeared as if they had been exposed to acid. It was so vexing to see, there wasn’t anything on Rainbow’s skin or anything wrong with her coat that would explain this behavior.

Doctor Anathema sighed and put down the magnifying glass. Was this just it? Another fruitless series of tests where they were no more closer to figuring things out than before?

Why is this happening to us? Anathema thought as she took another blood sample from Rainbow Dash.

Medicine was her special talent. But she couldn’t figure out how to cure this disease. She became a doctor because she wanted to help ponies. But so far she hadn’t been able to help anyone. Pinetree Warren was her home. By the rate things were going, they were all going to have to abandon it. Despite all her studying and effort it felt like her entire life was pointless just because of this plague.

Looking down at the blue pony she remembered how when she first saw her how she thought they had finally found salvation. She thought this pony would be the key, they could find something with her body that would help them cure the others. But it just never materialized. Rainbow Dash had certainly brought some much needed positive energy, but deep down Anathema still hated how she had allowed herself to get hopeful.

Where were the answers?

In another hour, Rainbow Dash was pretty much back to normal. Unlike the first time, Anathema expected her to wake up less than a day after falling unconscious.

“Do we have anything?” Anathema asked Swab.

“It’s just more of what we already knew,” he shook his head. “At best I could say that maybe a blood donation from her might do something, but not everyone has the same type of blood she does, nor does she have enough to give in the first place.”

“And we don’t even know if it will work, her blood has always appeared completely normal. It’s no more of an answer for her strength than anything else,” Anathema said. She turned to Cough Drop with a sigh. “Nurse, please clean up Rainbow Dash and have her ready when she wakes up. And you can get her some water now too.”

“Yes, Doctor,” Cough Drop nodded and walked away to get some.

As she did, Anathema took a deep breath—and kicked a nearby stool as hard as she could, sending it clattering down past bed after bed, startling the nurse and Doctor Swab. Nurse Cough Drop gulped and kept walking on her errand while Swab sighed and shook his head.

“You may have just broken your hoof, you know?” He said.

“I don’t care.”

Rainbow did wake up only a few hours later. The hopeful mood she had before reinfecting herself was unfortunately brought down by Swab’s silently shaking head and Anathema’s absence. Her latest bid of bravery had failed, and the doctors were still left with nothing.

Rainbow Dash lied on top of Anathema’s bed as she stared absently at the ceiling of her small cabin. After the failure of yesterday, she had retired here to find Anathema and to try and cheer her up. The doctor wasn’t in much of a mood for it though. She sported a fresh bandage around her hoof that she explained was the result of “frustration”.

Now Anathema was poring over every medical book she had on hoof to try and learn anything helpful. Or perhaps just to keep her mind off the reality of the situation. After all, she had read through all of these books multiple times by now. Her eyes were bloodshot and heavy bags sat below them, she hadn’t slept in over a day.

Rainbow Dash turned over and looked at Anathema as she sat at her messy table, her face a hard frown as her eyes scanned through page after page. “You should go to sleep.”

“No, I can sleep later,” she swiftly replied.

“You can have the bed this time.”

“Be quiet, Rainbow Dash, I’m reading.”

Rainbow frowned and exhaled through her nose, rolling off the bed and walking over to the doctor. “When was the last time you ate anything either?”

Her eyes glanced up and glared at Rainbow Dash. “I can take care of myself, I’m your doctor, not the other way around.”

“True enough,” Rainbow nodded and jumped up to sit on top of the table. Anathema ignored her and kept on reading. “Know how much you mean well and everything, you’re doing this for the whole village. Who cares if you collapse or hurt yourself in the middle of reading some old book?”

Anathema huffed but didn’t respond otherwise.

Rainbow Dash sprawled out on the table and rolled over onto her back, staring upside down at Anathema. “You have any hobbies? Like before this all started what did you do for fun around Pinetree Warren?”

“Stop bothering me.”

“Cause you see, when I’m not out adventuring I like racing, stunt flying, reading awesome Daring Do books, and napping. Gotta remember to keep some time for yourself.”

“...”

“Like, I told you about most of my life and home before coming here, right? But there was this one time too where I was supposed to be doing something but I was taking a nap first—okay, that describes a lot of times actually, but I’m thinking about one in particular. I was supposed to clear the clouds around Ponyville but I knew I could do that in a flash so I really just wanted to relax and enjoy a good nap first. But someone came and egged me on to do my job, so I totally showed her what was up and did it. She was totally well-meaning, just being a busybody you know? I knew the importance of a good nap and not stressing out over what you need to do. Especially if you know you can do it easy,” Rainbow sighed and rolled over again to look at Anathema straight on. “And sometimes even when you don’t know if you can do something.”

Anathema finally looked back up at her and narrowed her eyes. “The point you’re trying to make is muddled and stupid, leave me alone.”

“Okaaay, I could leave you alone. Or I could take that book and throw it out the window. Or you could just go to bed right now. Even if you can’t feel it you’re hurting yourself and not helping anybody by doing this right now,” Rainbow said.

“The pony with nothing invested in any of this is going to give me advice on the matter, hm?” Anathema snorted.

Rainbow twitched and reached forward to grab Anathema by the shoulders. “Hey. Even if this isn’t my home, and I don’t know these ponies like you do, don’t you even think to say something like that.”

Anathema attempted to glare back at her… but shortly sighed and slumped down in defeat. “I-I’m sorry… I know I shouldn’t have said that.”

Rainbow Dash let her go and fluttered off the table, landing beside her. “I know. Now come on, go to bed, even if it’s just to nap for a couple hours.”

“Alright,” Anathema stood out of her chair and walked towards the bed, stumbling slightly after forgetting her hoof was injured so Rainbow had to come and steady her. She hopped into bed just fine and sprawled out on top of it. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“When I wake up… can you tell me some more things about your home? It’s always sounded like a nice place,” Anathema asked, her heavy eyelids already falling shut.

Rainbow Dash smiled at her. “Sure.”

“Maybe I’m wrong, but I’ve still been thinking that maybe there’s something else about you that keeps you healthy,” Anathema said to Rainbow Dash as she lied on the bed and Rainbow Dash hovered above her eating a bar of chocolate. “Some unknown medical condition, something you caught before back in Equestria, something that makes you special.”

“There’s a lot of stuff that makes me special,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

Anathema rolled her eyes. “I’m aware, you’ve gone on about how amazing you are. But what in particular is it that’s special about you? Are there any other ponies like you back home?”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t help the smug grin that formed on her face. “Come on, there’s no other ponies like me. I’m one of a-”

Her eyes shot wide open as she paused in the middle of her sentence, causing Anathema to raise an eyebrow in confusion. Rainbow Dash hovered there and slowly frowned, lifting her hoof up towards her chest and rubbing at something that wasn’t there. “Or maybe six of a kind...” She quietly said.

“Rainbow Dash?” Anathema questioned.

“I...” Rainbow Dash bit her lip and scratched her head. “I just remembered something… and I think that maybe we’ve been looking at this thing the wrong way. Like you haven’t been taking something else about this plague into consideration.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well what if this isn’t just a normal disease?”

Anathema frowned. “We know it’s not some normal disease, it’s-”

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “No, that’s not what I meant! What if it’s not like just a disease at all? What if it’s magic?”

“Magic?” Anathema shot up, her brow furrowed. “You think it’s some sort of spell?”

“I-I dunno… maybe part of it. Like, what if it didn’t just naturally start up? What if there was something magical involved, like either a spell, or a curse, or some other kind of crazy thing? And so no matter what you do as far as medicine goes you can’t cure it because there’s still the magical part of the disease?” Rainbow said.

“Why do you even think it’s magic in the first place? This doesn’t make any sense to me.”

“Well for one, none of this has made any sense, has it? Like you’re a doctor but has anything about this plague followed logic or your medical knowledge?” Rainbow asked.

Anathema had to admit it did not. “Not… especially.”

“And it’s also cause about something to do with me. You wanted to know about other ponies like me? There are five of them. Me and my friends are something called Elements of Harmony and it’s all kind of a long story, but I embody the Element of Loyalty and together the six of us have defeated all sorts of villains with the magic of friendship,” Rainbow told her.

“And you think the magic of friendship has something to do with this plague?” Anathema didn’t look convinced.

“No, not the magic of friendship, the kind of magic that the Elements of Harmony is all about fixing and getting rid of. Chaos magic. I know a thing or two about chaos magic, this is definitely way different from what I’ve seen it used for before but it can do practically anything. I’ve got experience, trust me.” Rainbow told her. “It also explains why I’m like, immune, or at the least why my body can heal after getting out of the spores. I’m a natural anti-chaos pony. I know you might think this is crazy, but me being an Element of Harmony is the only thing I can think of for why I’m able to do what I do when it comes to the plague.”

“I… I have no idea how to verify or figure out any of this,” Anathema said. Right before a smirk appeared on her face. “But we both know someone who might be able to.”

The two ponies knocked heavily on Ardent Elm’s door in the hope that he would answer immediately. That hope proved correct as the older, bearded stallion soon pulled open his door to see what the ruckus was about. His eyes roamed over the two and he tilted his head in confusion over what the two could possibly want.

“Yes?” He asked.

“Sorry to bother you,” Anathema said. “But do you know anything or have any books on sensing magic or analyzing certain magical signatures?”

“I… have a few books in that area or relating to it, I believe. Why?” Ardent Elm asked again.

“Do you think you can sense chaos magic?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Chaos magic?” Ardent Elm leaned back slightly. “That’s not something you see every day. It is quite distinct though so yes, with the proper spell, focus, and if this suspected magic was close enough I think I could. But what could you possibly think involves chaos magic here in Pinetree Warren?”

Rainbow Dash and Anathema both shared a look.

Ardent Elm’s eyes widened. “You can’t mean...”

“It’s exactly that. Rainbow Dash believes that the spores aren’t some simple natural phenomenon. She thinks chaos magic is involved and that’s why nothing we do is able to heal anyone infected by them either,” Anathema said.

“Which is why we want you to come see if there’s anything magical with the big area full of spores and green fog in the forest,” Rainbow Dash said. “If you need to look a spell up or bring a book with you then fine, but we gotta figure this out as quickly as possible. So come help us sense if that place is full of chaos magic.”

Ardent Elm stalwartly nodded, his mouth settling into a serious frown. “Of course, let’s go immediately.”

That “immediately” still turned out to be about five or ten minutes as Ardent Elm had to search through his home for the right spellbooks and tomes of magical lore. He carried it out with him in a vibrant yellow aura of magic and the three ponies raced to the northern limits of Pinetree Warren to get as close to the epicenter of the problem as possible. Adrenaline was running through their veins, especially Anathema’s. She had allowed herself to become hopeful again. She couldn’t help it—the certainty of Rainbow Dash was intoxicating. It was right. It would work. She could feel it.

It didn’t take long for them to get to where they needed to be. Close to where Rainbow Dash and Anathema had stood before Rainbow reinfected herself. A safe distance, but still close enough for Ardent Elm to work his magic.

He had his books on the ground in front of him and was looking through them for what he needed. Mumbling to himself as he read through each page to make sure he was getting things right and not missing anything. Rainbow Dash and Anathema both looked towards the green haze, the smoke rising up, the clouds over the trees. Both of them were hopeful that this place would soon no longer hold any power or create so much fear in Pinetree Warren.

“Okay,” Ardent Elm finally said. “I know what to do.”

“Do you need anything from us?” Anathema asked.

He shook his head. “Just quiet.”

The old wizard then sat down and closed his eyes, pointing his horn towards the spores. A yellow glow lit it up, followed by a powerful pulse before a circular ray of magic shot out to the green. It flashed as soon as it hit the spores and Ardent Elm squeezed his eyes shut even tighter as sweat gathered along the base of his horn. The flash of magic then suddenly turned black and Ardent gasped before deactivating his spell and falling backwards.

“Ardent!” Anathema shouted and knelt by his side. “Are you alright?”

“What was that?” Rainbow Dash asked as she looked at the lingering black light in the green before it faded away completely.

“That was chaos magic,” Ardent Elm panted as he sat up with Anathema’s help. “You’re correct, Rainbow Dash. This is no ordinary plague.”

“Alright, now that we know the truth about this plague, how do we cure it?” Doctor Anathema asked the assorted ponies inside Ardent Elm’s home.

Rainbow Dash, Doctor Swab, and Heartwrench were there alongside the homeowner. All of them gathered at Ardent Elm’s kitchen table while the wizard had an assortment of magical books and potion ingredients gathered around.

“Ahem,” Ardent Elm coughed. “The very first thing that I need to do is analyze Rainbow Dash’s magic. When I can replicate her magical signature as part of a potion or spell it should give us what we need to cure the magical part of these infections.”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him. “Analyze my magic? I don’t have any magic.”

The wizard shook his head. “Every pony, pegasus, unicorn, and earth pony, has a unique magical signature. It’s part of why every Cutie Mark is different. I will use the special harmonic magic you possess, and then I believe we can mix what I come up with with the doctor’s medicine to create a true cure for the plague.” Ardent Elm took a deep breath and sighed. “There’s a problem with that though; time and ingredients.”

“Same here,” Doctor Swab said. “In truth we’re running low on medicine… we were going to be out completely soon enough.”

“I as well only have the magical power and ingredients here in the village to make a few doses. Not enough to cure everyone,” Ardent Elm said.

Anathema raised a hoof. “Look, let’s deal with that somehow when the time comes. For the moment we don’t know if this will actually work at all. We’ll need to test it on one of the patients.”

“I can work with Rainbow Dash then and make a single initial batch. Once I’m done we can see if it works,” Ardent Elm said.

Anathema nodded. “Agreed. Rainbow Dash? Any questions or concerns?”

“I mean I’ve already kind of let myself be a guinea pig for a while here haven’t I?” Rainbow shrugged. “Let’s just do this and cure some ponies.”

“Well said,” Anathema smiled.

“I’ll go back to our office then and see what I can do about the medicine,” Doctor Swab said. He then looked to Nurse Heartwrench. “You can head back to the auditorium, help out Doctor Anathema and the others with anything they need.”

“Of course, Doctor,” Heartwrench nodded.

“I don’t think there will be much for us to do today with the patients,” Anathema said. “And I already have one in mind for using the first cure we have on. Let’s just go and make sure everyone is as comfortable as possible and things haven’t gotten worse again.”

“See you later,” Rainbow Dash said to the other three as they got up from the table and went off to do their own business.

“Next time we see each other it will hopefully mean the two of you have a cure for us,” Anathema smiled at Rainbow and Ardent Elm.

“I promise we’ll be successful,” Ardent Elm said.

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash grinned.

Anathema waved goodbye to the two of them and left Ardent Elm’s home with the others, closing the door as they went and just leaving Rainbow Dash with the old wizard. Rainbow Dash turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow. “So how is this going to work then?”

Ardent Elm chuckled and closed some of the books in front of him. “Just sit still for a moment...”

“Can do!” Rainbow saluted and sat back in her chair while Ardent Elm’s horn lit up in its yellow aura again. There wasn’t a beam or anything that came out, but shortly afterwards a yellow aura appeared around Rainbow Dash’s body as well. It tickled slightly and some of her hair started to stand on end but otherwise she couldn’t really feel anything. She had to sit still like that for almost five minutes though as Ardent Elm silently worked his magic. It seemed to be causing him a bit of strain too, he had begun to sweat and he was panting fairly hard. It could’ve been the spell being intense to perform or his age taking a toll on his stamina.

In the middle of the spell, he pulled up an ornate glass bottle and put it on the table between himself and Rainbow Dash.

Ardent Elm’s horn, and the aura around Rainbow Dash, both glowed brighter and soon a matching light appeared inside the bottle as well. The aura around Rainbow Dash then detached from her and shrunk down, diving like a stream of water into the bottle and filling it up. It sparkled for a bit before the magic seemed to settle down and turn into a milky white liquid.

Ardent Elm let out a deep breath and the light from his horn faded. “There.”

“That’s it? That’s the magical cure?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head.

“The base of it. I need to put more spells and ingredients into it before it’s finished,” Ardent Elm said.

“How long is that going to take?” Rainbow asked.

“Not very long,” Ardent Elm shook his head. “Once I’m done you can take it with you to the auditorium. I think Anathema will want it as quickly as possible.”

“Yeah I think you’re right about that,” Rainbow said as she got out of her chair and started pacing around the kitchen. She needed to stretch, and she was anxious as well. Anxious but still happy and excited. This was all really working now, they had some answers, they had a cure, things were really turning out good for them now.

A nagging reminder at the back of her mind temporarily soured her mood though. It was something she had been refusing to think about ever since the revelation.

How did this magical chaos plague start?

Who started it?

It’s not the kind of thing that could just occur on its own. Someone had to use chaos magic in the first place, either accidentally or on purpose. The only creature she knew of who could use chaos magic was Discord but he would never do something like this. And she was on the other side of the world right now, maybe there were other creatures who could use it?

Rainbow Dash shook her head and banished the thoughts from her mind for the moment. It didn’t have anything to do with what was going on in Pinetree Warren right now and it certainly wasn’t the result of any of the villagers’ actions. Anathema and everyone else didn’t need more stress piled on them. She couldn’t even think of a reason for why someone would create this plague anyways.

She paced and paced some more while Ardent Elm finished up his work. It was better to stay positive since now they could at least end the dumb thing. Rainbow Dash’s own infectious positivity had done a lot of good for Anathema, she could tell, and she wanted to keep it that way. Ardent Elm meanwhile had been working with the bottle of milky liquid and was close to being done. The liquid inside the glass bottle seemed to shimmer different colors depending on how you looked at it. He lifted it up in his yellow magic and gave it an approving nod.

“It’s done, thanks to your magic we have a cure,” he said.

“Awesome,” Rainbow said and took the bottle from him. “I’m going to take this to the auditorium right away.”

“Alright, you won’t need the whole bottle to cure your first patient either. A third of it should be enough,” he told her.

“Even better,” Rainbow nodded and grinned. She flapped her wings and started hovering in his kitchen. “I’ll come back when we need to make more or if there’s anything else going on. See ya!”

Before he could even respond she zipped right out of his home, front door opening and closing in a flash.

Ardent Elm sighed as he looked at the door. “Even better? It still means only three at a time can be cured, and a new batch can only be made...” he shook his head. “This plague isn’t beaten just yet.”

Rainbow Dash entered the freezing auditorium with the bottle of magical liquid in her hooves and saw that Swab was already back as well. “Yo!” She said and flew over to the group. Anathema, Heartwrench, Blue Rose, Swab, and Walnut Grove were all standing around one bed in particular. Rainbow Dash immediately recognized the young filly lying in it when she got there.

“Is that the magical potion?” Doctor Anathema asked her as Rainbow Dash came to a stop by Turnip’s bed.

“Yep,” Rainbow nodded and looked down at the filly. “She’s the one we’re making sure it works on?”

“I couldn’t think of a better patient to choose,” Anathema said.

Turnip’s eyes were open but if she was even aware of the other ponies here she didn’t show. Ever since the sudden advancement of the disease, no one had been up for talking and most seemed practically comatose the same way Turnip was now. Green covered almost her entire body and only the faintest of breaths came in and out of her lungs.

“Yeah… I think I agree with you on that,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Did Ardent Elm give you any special instructions as to how this cure works?” Doctor Swab asked her.

“Not really instructions or anything, you just drink it, but he said only a third of this bottle is needed to cure a pony. I guess if we have Turnip drink it and take your medicine at the same time she’ll finally be back to normal,” Rainbow Dash said.

“That’s the hope,” Anathema said and then leaned down close to Turnip. “Turnip? If you can hear me right now, we’re going to be giving you some new medicine. Just relax, it’ll be fine and you should be feeling much better soon. Can you move right now? Do you think you can drink anything?”

The small filly didn’t move, she only slowly blinked.

“I think we’re going to have to help her drink it,” Doctor Swab said.

Anathema nodded. “Yes, we’ll have to keep her head tilted and hold her mouth open.”

They did their best to get the filly ready, being gentle with her as they moved her body into a sitting position on her bed, propped up by a pillow. The whole time she just stared ahead and Rainbow Dash watched. She set the bottle down and Doctor Swab got out a cup that he first put the strengthened medicine in before he carefully took the bottle of magical potion.

“Here goes...” he said and uncorked the lid.

A stream of shimmering white liquid poured into the cup where it fluctuated with every color of the rainbow. Doctor Swab carefully poured enough into the cup so only a third remained in the bottle.

“Did Ardent Elm say how it was going to taste?” Anathema asked Rainbow Dash.

“Nope,” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “What’s magic supposed to taste like?”

“I suppose Turnip will be able to tell us in a moment...”

Heartwrench’s gloved hooves opened up Turnip’s mouth and held her like that while Doctor Swab brought the full cup over and prepared to pour it down her throat.

“She may gag out of reflex, be careful when pouring,” Anathema told him.

“I’m aware,” he looked at Heartwrench. “Hold her as still as possible.”

“Yes, Doctor,” the nurse said and made sure she was holding the filly steady.

Doctor Swab took a deep breath and tilted the cup just slightly above Turnip’s open mouth. The liquid poured from it and into the filly’s mouth, steady, just a few drops at a time. She didn’t show any reaction at first so Swab poured more in. Once she had swallowed half the cup, Rainbow and the others could see her eyes begin to twitch and her body quiver. Her jaw wanted to reflexively close but Heartwrench kept it open. Coughing and sputtering sounds came up from Turnip’s throat but she hadn’t thrown up or spit up any of the brew yet. After Swab finished pouring it all in, Heartwrench closed Turnip’s mouth shut to force her to swallow it all. The filly writhed around a bit but eventually she had to just drink it all, gulping it down and lying back against her pillow.

Now everyone waited.

Turnip turned about and shifted in her bed, her hooves pawing at the sheets and her jaw clenching up. She shivered and started to groan before her body straightened up. All of the other ponies watched on as the green covering her body started to dissolve and fade away. It happened slowly at first, the green just barely flaking away, before soon it acted like it did with Rainbow Dash and it all started to completely wash away. The green covering her was reduced to tiny blotches and then to nothing as the filly’s body finally returned to normal.

She was shivering and her eyes flickered around for a while after it was over, Anathema and Swab waiting for her to recover enough to speak. Her breathing soon calmed down and Turnip sat up to look at the doctors and other ponies around her bed.

“Turnip? Do you feel better?” Anathema asked.

“...cold. It’s cold in here,” the filly said.

A smile lit up Anathema’s face under the mask she was wearing. “I’m going to see that as an improvement.”

“Unfortunately we’re just nowhere near out of the woods yet,” Anathema said to Rainbow Dash and Doctor Swab in one of the tents outside the auditorium. Heartwrench and Blue Rose were helping to treat and decontaminate Turnip so she could finally be released as healthy. Meanwhile there was still a lot to discuss when it came to the plague and cure.

She held the bottle of magic in her hooves. “This can cure two more ponies out of the dozens of sick patients we have. I have to assume there’s a limit to Ardent Elm’s magic and other means or he would have made more. Adding to that, we’re almost totally out of our normal medicine and supplies.”

“Yes, and we have no way of getting more in an easy or timely manner,” Doctor Swab said. “A trade caravan coming through could have helped us but...”

“We put up all those warning signs on the roads coming to Pinetree Warren,” Anathema sighed.

Doctor Swab nodded. “Correct. Now the best we could do is travel to… Wildflower Grove or Summerlight maybe and see if they have what we need. But going there and back would take a few days.” He glanced at Rainbow Dash. “Even if it was Rainbow Dash flying there it would take a full day and she might not be able to carry back all we need.”

“So we’re kind of in trouble?” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck.

“Potentially,” Anathema said. “We’re looking at who even knows how long before we’re actually able to cure everyone. Months?”

“It’s not just that either. Curing everyone of their infection now is only one step, it doesn’t protect them from becoming infected again, as Rainbow Dash has shown,” Doctor Swab said. “As long as those spores exist—Pinetree Warren will always be in danger. That green death out in the forest isn’t just going away.”

“It’s worse than just that...” Anathema coldly said.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at her. “What do you mean?”

“You remember the night when everyone suddenly got sicker? When they all would’ve died if it wasn’t for your quick thinking?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded.

“That happened right as the whole plague space grew bigger. I didn’t think much about it because it didn’t make any medical sense, but knowing this plague is magical it makes me think that every infected pony is connected to whatever the plague originates from. As it got stronger or grew bigger, the infections got worse. And if that happens one more time, everyone in that auditorium is going to die. In short… I think we might have been looking at this backwards. Instead of curing the individual ponies, we should’ve been looking for a way to annihilate the entire plague and forest of spores,” Anathema said.

“Even if that isn’t the case, Pinetree Warren would soon need to be abandoned if it kept growing bigger anyways,” Doctor Swab added.

“So then… what? What do we do?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I think we have an answer,” Anathema said as she looked at the bottle. “If we can bring this magical potion to the origin point… I think if you poured it onto the thing creating the spores it would be killed. Like a pesticide or defoliator.”

“You want to use it for that?” Doctor Swab frowned. “That’s a precious cure and we don’t even-”

“We don’t have the time or resources to just sit around and slowly cure each patient one by one!” Anathema shouted. “At worst we lose a day or two by using the potion for this, at best we cure everyone and solve the whole problem at once. Got a better idea?”

Doctor Swab bit his lip and lowered his head. “No… No I don’t.”

Anathema took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. But after so long, after so many failures and so much suffering, it’s finally in sight. We’ll finally be able to save Pinetree Warren.”

“Um, I just have one question?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Yes?” Anathema tilted her head to her.

“Sorry to burst the bubble but… how is anyone supposed to pour that where the spores are coming from? They eat right through protective clothing at higher concentrations, they cause immense pain and paralysis, deeper in the forest towards the center they’d probably melt a pony in seconds,” Rainbow Dash frowned. “Even me who can recover from them in a day would still have died from them if I didn’t get away. I wouldn’t be able to survive going in there and pouring this potion, so how are we going to do it?”

Doctor Swab rubbed his chin in thought, but Anathema just looked right back at her.

“It’s okay. I already thought about that.”

Rainbow Dash felt a worrisome pit form itself in her stomach. “And?”

“I’m going to do it.”

Rainbow Dash and Doctor Anathema sat inside Cocoa Bean’s shop, sitting across from each other at one of his tables and snacking on some chocolate he had brought out for them. The both of them were being fairly quiet and not really looking at the other. Cocoa Bean had noticed the odd atmosphere and wasn’t bothering them. Rainbow Dash took a bar of bittersweet chocolate and started chewing it bit by bit while Anathema took a sip of hot chocolate and started tapping her hoof on the table. They’d been in here for over an hour now just doing this and things like it without really talking.

As soon as she was finished with the chocolate, Rainbow Dash deeply breathed in through her nose and then right out, finishing by staring at Anathema. The doctor, for her part, stared right back at her. Both mares stared down the other, both stubborn and defiant with neither one of them wanting to be the first to look away.

“So-” Rainbow finally started after too long of a silence. “You wanna tell me why you have a death wish?”

“I don’t have a death wish. I have a desire to save the ponies of Pinetree Warren,” Anathema answered.

“And it’s just that the only way to do that is to kill yourself.”

“Sacrifice, Rainbow Dash. If as a doctor I need to sacrifice myself for the sake of my patients, then I will.”

Rainbow Dash slammed her hooves down on the table and stood up. “Well I don’t accept that! I don’t accept that one bit! You don’t even know if you can do it or if it’ll work at all!”

“Rainbow Dash...”

“And if anyone tries it it should be me! I can fly, I’m tough, I’m resistant to the spores and everything!” Rainbow glared at her. “You can bet I’d be willing to sacrifice myself too to save ponies in need. You don’t need to do this!”

Anathema shook her head and continued to stare down Rainbow Dash. “This isn’t your village to sacrifice yourself for, Rainbow Dash.”

This isn’t your city, Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow grit her teeth. “So what?! So what, so what, so what?! Does that mean it’s okay for you to just go out and die?”

“Better me than anyone else,” Anathema replied. “I’m the only one who can do it. I’ll put on as much protective clothing as possible to last longer before it starts to reach my body. And with my inability to feel pain I’m going to be the only one who could force her way further through the spores, you know it’s true. I’ll be loaded up on medicine too to try and make myself as resistant as possible.”

“But you’re still going to-”

“I know, Rainbow Dash. There’s no coming back from it. Even if I drank some of the potion while I was out there, it still wouldn’t save me,” Anathema sighed. “But I’ve already made my decision. This is the way it has to be. You said it yourself, you’d sacrifice yourself for other ponies if you had to. I wish there was another way too but there isn’t. It has to be done.”

“You make it sound like I’m just going to let you do it, but I’m not. There’s no way I’m letting any pony die on my watch!” Rainbow angrily shouted. “I-I’ve already seen enough of that.”

“I hate to make you see more, but I don’t want anyone else to die on my watch either. I’ve helped put so many ponies in coffins over this disease already, Rainbow Dash. If I can stop that I will. If I can make sure no one else in this village has to see a loved one die, I will. Just like how I wish I could go back in time to before Turnip’s family died and save them too,” Anathema sadly said to her.

“Ughhh!” Rainbow grabbed her mane in her hooves and pulled. “This isn’t fair! There’s gotta be something else we can do, we just haven’t seen it yet!”

“You were already one miracle. We can’t hope for two,” Anathema shook her head.

“You should have some more faith in me then… hold out hope for a way for us to get through this without losing anyone,” Rainbow grit her teeth.

“I’m sorry.”

“Shut up,” Rainbow Dash bitterly refused any apology for the moment. She grabbed another bar of chocolate and took a big bite out of it. “We’re not done talking about this yet. Any of it. Not by a long shot.”

Anathema gazed down at her hot chocolate for a moment and shifted in her seat. She chewed on her lip for a moment and seemed to be thinking of saying something before giving up. “Fine. Let’s enjoy our snack here first.”

“That’s right,” Rainbow said. “Then maybe we’ll see if Ardent Elm can help us out. Maybe he’ll know some protective spells or some other way to deal with the plague.”

The mood in the chocolate shop really didn’t improve any and the two still barely talked or looked at each other. Cocoa Bean kept bringing out new snacks for them in an attempt to liven things up but it didn’t do much other than cause them to slowly chew some more. Rainbow could tell that Anathema just wanted to leave. She wanted to finish things with Rainbow Dash entirely and go marching into the forest. But at this point she had to know that Rainbow wasn’t going to be letting her out of her sight at all. The magical potion was left at the auditorium, Rainbow was not going to let Anathema convince her of this sacrifice and let her go get it.

Anathema finished drinking her hot chocolate and put the empty mug back on the table. “I’m ready to go if you are. It’s obvious nothing else is going to get done by us talking here.”

“That’s fine by me,” Rainbow said.

“Let’s go back to my cabin first then. After that we can visit Ardent Elm,” Anathema said and stood up from the table.

“Yeah, sure,” Rainbow said and got up too.

“Thank you for the food, Cocoa Bean. It was as great as always,” Anathema smiled to the baker.

He was startled a bit by the sudden acknowledgment from where he was standing behind the counter. He awkwardly forced a smile and waved to the two of them. “O-Oh, well thank you too, Doctor.”

The two mares left his shop and started walking through Pinetree Warren back on the way to Anathema’s cabin. Rainbow Dash had a hard frown on her face but Anathema had a much more neutral expression as she quietly looked around at the other homes and buildings. It was still so empty in the village, but she could imagine that finally being different soon. She could picture things being back to normal with smiling ponies and happy families going outside and enjoying their time together. More than anything, Anathema wanted things to be able to return to that.

When they made it back to her cabin, Rainbow held the door open and watched Anathema go inside before following her in.

“What? You planning on locking me in here?” Anathema asked her.

“The thought occurred to me.”

“You’re being silly, Rainbow Dash. And you’re living in denial.”

“You’re being defeatist,” Rainbow poked her in the chest. “I-It’s like you’re giving up all over again. The alternative is too tough for you to face so you don’t even care if you die. What about the ponies who are going to miss you?”

“It’s not just about that and you know it. It’s how I’m still the only one who can do it,” she closed her eyes and took a calming breath. “And it’s still better me than anyone else.”

“No it’s not...” Rainbow frowned.

Anathema rolled her eyes. “Agree to disagree. I’ve made my peace with what needs to be done, Rainbow Dash. And yes, it does need to be done. We shouldn’t be wasting time like this. Ponies are still suffering, they’re still in danger right now.”

“I know that. I know it,” Rainbow Dash groaned and started pacing back and forth over Anathema’s messy floor. “But… there’s… we’ve...”

“Rainbow Dash...”

“Shut up!” Rainbow glared at her again. “We’re still not done talking about this. I-I don’t care if I can’t think of something right now, this is one thing you’re definitely not going to out-stubborn me on. Got that?”

Anathema sadly looked at Rainbow Dash. “Yes, Rainbow Dash. I understand that perfectly well.”

Rainbow frowned at her. The way she said that was kind of weird. “Well… good.”

“Let me freshen up a bit in the bathroom, then we can go talk to Ardent Elm like you suggested,” Anathema said and stepped by the pegasus to use the bathroom.

Rainbow Dash ended up wandering over to the bed and sat down on it with a sigh as she heard Anathema run the water in the sink. She hated this and she hated not being able to come up with a real answer or response of her own. But she wasn’t letting Anathema die on her watch. She had already failed and lost Barnaby earlier, she almost lost Larkon too on the other side of the world. This was part of her adventure and she was trying to make it so no one would suffer or die again. That was one of her goals, that was what a Rainbow Dash adventure should be, right?

“Not dying on my watch...” Rainbow Dash mumbled, staring out the window.

The faucet turned off and Anathema came out of the bathroom. She walked over to Rainbow Dash and waited for her. Rainbow Dash blinked and looked over at her before jumping off the bed.

“Hey, so we’re heading out then?”

Anathema just stared at her.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “Something up?”

“I just...” Anathema started and then stepped forward, wrapping Rainbow Dash in a warm hug.

Rainbow Dash was surprised but quickly smirked and returned the hug. “Heh, I’m pretty used to giving hugs, you just needed to ask. Didn’t think you’d be up for something so mushy though.”

“I just have to thank you, for everything,” Anathema said as she hugged Rainbow Dash tighter. “And to tell you I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for-”

Rainbow didn’t finish that sentence as she felt a sharp pinprick in her front right leg. She pulled away from Anathema to see the doctor holding a spent syringe in her magic. A numb sensation was running up her leg and Rainbow Dash started to feel light-headed. The doctor in front of her put the syringe away back into her coat and reached forward to tenderly rub Rainbow’s shoulder.

“A-Anathema...” she muttered, teetering about on her hooves.

“Goodbye, Rainbow Dash.”

The floor and darkness came to meet Rainbow Dash all at once.

Less than an hour later and Doctor Anathema was standing at the northern edge of the forest, in full view of the green spores of death. She wore a double-wrapping of clothes around her entire body, had shoveled medicine and anti-biotics into her mouth, and she carried the bottle of magical potion upon her back. And she felt… calm. Peaceful. Right. It was like she had been born to do this, not just as a doctor but as herself.

Doctor Swab wasn’t happy. Neither were the nurses or volunteers. But they had seen how resolute Anathema was and knew how important what she was doing was. In the end they hadn’t offered up any resistance. Swab gave her a tearful hug and that was all.

A letter she had written for Rainbow Dash and put on her nightstand contained the last words she would share with another pony.

Anathema began to walk towards the green haze, keeping her eyes forward and centered on the heart of it. No one else could do this. It had to be her.

Strangely, she felt a smile come onto her face and she picked up the bottle with her magic, carrying it in front of her. All these years I’ve spent hating my lack of pain, and now it’s only because of it that I can do this.

The inside of the auditorium was completely quiet as Swab and all of the various nurses and volunteers had been gathered for the day to watch over the patients. Anathema had told them that they might need every hoof ready. Right now Swab went up and down the rows in a fugue, only barely conscious of what he was actually doing. That was until most of the patients started to shiver and writhe around in their beds. He and his helpers watched as the green spots on dozens of ponies flaked away and vanished over the span of just minutes. Ponies formerly at death’s door sat up and looked around, and Doctor Swab began to cry.

“I’d like you all to meet one of my new friends,” Rainbow Dash said to everyone in Twilight’s Castle as she stepped aside and gestured to the pony behind her. “This is Doctor Anathema, I met her on the other side of the world while I was on my adventure! Told her to come visit when she finally could so she could meet all of you and see Equestria, took her long enough but she finally made it here.”

“Um, h-hi...” The doctor nervously said and waved to Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy as they all sat at their seats in the Cutie Map room. “Rainbow Dash told me a lot about you back when she met me for the first time in Pinetree Warren. It’s great to be here and meet you all.”

“I’m very excited to meet a new friend of Rainbow Dash’s as well,” Twilight said with a friendly smile on her face. “And one from so far away—you’ll have to tell me about your home in as much detail as possible when we have the time.”

“She can do the boring stuff after the fun stuff, Twilight. Right guys?” Rainbow said to the others.

“Yep!” Pinkie Pie said, suddenly shooting up out of nowhere right in between Rainbow and Anathema and making the doctor jump away in shock.

“Gah!” She grabbed her chest.

“Heehee, sorry!” Pinkie giggled. “But I’ve totally already got a bunch of ideas for your ‘Welcome to Ponyville Party’!”

Rainbow Dash wryly grinned and put a hoof on Anathema’s back. “That’s Pinkie Pie, she does that sometimes.”

“Pleased to meet you...” Anathema said.

“It’s very nice to meet a doctor,” Fluttershy now said to Anathema. “I have nothing but respect for ponies in your profession. My name is, um, Fluttershy.”

“Well it’s not always all it’s cracked up to be but thank you,” Anathema smiled to her.

“Miss Anathema, was it?” Rarity said as she got out of her chair and came over, eyeing Anathema up and down and walking around her in a circle. “Hm, yes, yes, I can certainly work with this...”

“Um, work with what?” Anathema asked.

“Oh, sorry dear, I was just thinking about what would look good on you. I’m a fashion designer and I’d love to make something for you before you left. Either something you can wear with your coat while you work or perhaps something for more casual occasions. Your indigo and orange coloring is quite striking,” Rarity narrowed her eyes as she inspected Anathema’s mane.

“Thank you...” Anathema said and tried stepping away from the white unicorn.

Rainbow Dash luckily stepped between them. “Okay there, Rarity. Personal space kind of still exists.”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “But I’m trying to get some inspiration here, darling.”

“Get some over there then,” Rainbow pointed back at Rarity’s seat.

The unicorn huffed but backed off and sat down, still looking at Anathema with her very appraising and discerning eye.

“Guess I oughta say hello now then too?” Applejack asked with a wide smile as she trotted out of her seat and right up to the doctor. She grabbed Anathema by the hoof and shook it vigorously. “Howdy! Name’s Applejack, you should be sure to visit my family farm sometime while you’re in town. I guarantee you you’ll find the best apples you’ve ever tasted and you’ll get a front row seat to Apple family hospitality.”

“That sounds nice,” Anathema said. She meant it too, but if she could feel pain her hoof would've felt like it had nearly been torn off.

“That’s everyone here right now, isn’t it?” Twilight Sparkle raised an eyebrow. “Now, boring as it may be to some ponies, I’d still like the doctor to tell us a little more about where she’s from.” She then grinned at Pinkie Pie. “And then we can have some cake and party.”

“Woohoo!” Confetti shot out of Pinkie Pie’s mane and she bounced back to her seat.

“I’ve got no problem with that either,” Doctor Anathema blushed. “As probably the first pony from that part of the world to come here it’s probably something I should be required to do anyways. And unlike Rainbow Dash I don’t find it to be boring. I’d love to tell you all about Pinetree Warren, but first I’d really like to thank Rainbow Dash for making this possible in the first place and making me welcome here. She spoke so highly of Equestria and her friends, I had to come and visit.”

“Aw geez...” Rainbow Dash blushed and awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck.

“You must tell us how the two of you met. What kind of adventure did Rainbow Dash get herself into where she came across you?” Rarity asked.

“I’m curious too,” Fluttershy said. “Normally Rainbow Dash wouldn’t stick around with a doctor any longer than she absolutely needed to.”

Anathema shot Rainbow Dash a knowing look and the two smiled at each other.

“Oh boy… now that’s a story,” Anathema said. “Why don’t I take it from the top?”

While Rainbow Dash listened (and chimed in when needed to make herself look better) Anathema retold the story of how she and Rainbow first met and how they tackled the problem of the spore plague together. The other girls gasped when appropriate, laughed when appropriate, even clapped their hooves together a little. It wasn’t exactly the happiest of stories but it was important for Anathema to tell it so the others could understand what she and Pinetree Warren had been through. By the time Anathema had gotten to the end of the story, the other girls were crying.

Rainbow Dash felt a drop of water hit her hoof and looked down. More drops were falling onto her hooves.

She lifted them up and started wiping at her cheeks, trying to clean away the tears that were streaming from her eyes.

“Why are you crying, Rainbow Dash?” Anathema asked.

“Because… because none of this is real, is it?” Rainbow Dash sniffled loudly and looked at her friend. “This is all a dream isn’t it?”

Anathema sadly smiled back at her and nodded her head. “Yes. I’m sorry.”

Rainbow Dash reached forward and pulled Anathema into a hug, crying against her shoulder.

“Anathema!” Rainbow Dash shot up in bed, flinging the comforter off herself and looking around while a sweat broke out over her body. She was in the cabin. The sun was shining in from the window, it was the middle of the day. By her side was a table covered in small boxes, flowers, and baskets of fruit and other sweets.

Doctor Swab was sitting beside her bed, a strawberry held halfway to his mouth.

“S-Swab!” Rainbow said, rolling out of bed on shaky legs. “T-The plague, we have to go get Anathema, she… she’s going to...”

The doctor set the strawberry down and shook his head at Rainbow Dash, a morose expression on his face. “I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash, but it’s already over.”

“Don’t… don’t say that,” Rainbow Dash glared at him.

“Anathema is gone.”

The strength left Rainbow’s body and her anger evaporated into despair as she collapsed onto the floor. “Don’t say that!”

Swab knelt down and hugged her. “I’m so sorry, Rainbow Dash. I’m so, so, sorry.”

“What… what’s happened?” She choked out.

“She succeeded. The spores are gone, the forest is back to normal, and all the patients have been cured. I was inside the auditorium when it happened. The green spots covering everyone just disappeared. Everyone is okay,” Doctor Swab sadly smiled. “Almost everyone. I-I went into the forest shortly after things ended to try and find her… and I did. There wasn’t much left.”

“Ohhh...” Rainbow moaned.

“We got a coffin for her, a nice pine box just like the less fortunate patients, and we were going to be burying her and the others soon. But I wanted for you to be able to say your goodbyes first,” Swab said.

“Thank you...” Rainbow Dash sniffled and stood up. She looked at the table of gifts next to the bed. “What’s all this?”

“That’s from my fellow villagers,” Doctor Swab proudly beamed. “Everyone has heard of your important part in saving the infected ponies and how much hard work you’ve been putting in despite not even being from here. They’ve sent gifts to you while you’ve been resting here. I, uh, took the liberty of eating one of your strawberries.”

Rainbow Dash looked through the various bags and boxes and found a plate of blueberry muffins. Her stomach was pretty empty so she grabbed one and started morosely eating it herself, just to try and overcome that sorrowful feeling. “Tasty… so Pinetree Warren is back to normal?”

“Yes. There’s been a lot of celebrating going on. And mourning as well, it hasn’t all been happiness and the villagers are getting ready for the burial as well. But for the first time in a while the village is truly alive again.”

“Anathema would be happy to hear that.”

“Yes, she would be. She’d be happy to know what she’s helped accomplish.”

Rainbow’s lip quivered. “Why couldn’t she just… why couldn’t she just hold out hope for a little longer?” She looked at Swab. “Why did you let her do that?”

“I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash. I know you weren’t going to like that, but to us there wasn’t another way and we all believed in the doctor. We did what we did for our patients. That was always the only thing on Anathema’s mind: how to save these ponies from the plague,” Swab told her.

“I could’ve done something...” Rainbow muttered. “Tch, I don’t deserve these gifts. I don’t deserve anything.”

“Yes you do. Not even just the cure, if it wasn’t for you we all would’ve lost hope already. The patients would’ve died the moment the disease got worse. Don’t sell yourself short, Rainbow Dash.”

“Not being able to save Anathema is just another failure. I should be better than this. I should be able to save everyone—anything less than that and I can’t even call myself awesome,” Rainbow Dash smacked over some flowers. “I just… I’m a hero. And a hero saves everyone, so why? Why did I fail again? The plague is gone but, but… I know I can do more and Anathema should still be alive. I’m not a pony who fails.”

“You didn’t fail,” Swab said.

“I did by my standards.”

Swab frowned and sighed, reaching to the table of gifts and finding something else that was left there. A small letter. “I have something else for you.”

“Yeah what?” Rainbow Dash snorted.

“A letter from Anathema. She left it for you.”

Rainbow Dash sucked in her breath and grabbed the letter from him. It was in an unsealed envelope that she still tore open anyways, once she saw the letter her eyes scanned back and forth to read Anathema’s last words:

Hello, Rainbow Dash. By the time you’re reading this I will be dead. Hopefully though, the plague will be gone and all of the sick ponies will have been cured. I’ve moved you to my bed so you can rest comfortably by the way. I’m sorry for sedating you but it had to be done and I think you’ll agree with me when it comes to the fact that you would never have let me go otherwise. I need to thank you for everything, and I know you’re going to be very angry at me right now too but still, thank you. And I’m sorry things couldn’t turn out better. You were right about hope. I couldn’t see it the same way you could. When that first bit of hope reached me, it drowned out everything else and there was nothing I could do but grab onto it and refuse to let go. I don’t regret what I’m about to do but I’m sorry that I’m just going to have to leave you behind with this letter. Without you none of this would be possible and I don’t just mean your magical resilience and how you helped us cure things that way. I mean how much you brightened things up in these last few days. Thank you, Rainbow Dash. Goodbye and take care out there.

You can use my bed and cabin for as long as you need to.

Rainbow Dash was crying heavily by the time she finished, holding onto the letter so tightly she was almost tearing it. “Crying… crying is so lame.”

She had been here before once with Anathema but now today there were many more ponies from Pinetree Warren around. The large mass grave that was made for everyone who had died from the plague was being filled in today. Ponies had come to say goodbye to their loved ones and also to pay respects to Anathema. Her coffin hadn’t been put down with the others yet, it rested on top where others could come by and say something before moving on.

Rainbow Dash saw quite a few ponies she recognized from the auditorium out here, and in turn she was recognized by many of the villagers thanks to her unique looks. It ended with her and Doctor Swab being on the receiving end of many thanks and him trying to get Rainbow Dash some space.

For once she wasn’t in the mood to be the center of attention and get heaps of praise thrown on her. Thankfully most of the villagers could tell she needed to speak to Anathema as well. The box was sitting by the edge of the grave, Rainbow Dash rested her hoof atop it once she had walked close.

“We wrapped her remains and put in some of her personal items,” Swab told her. “Anathema never cared to write any instructions for what to do after her death.”

“Sounds like her,” Rainbow said.

“Do you want to say anything? Should I give you some time alone?”

Rainbow Dash grimaced but nodded. “Y-Yeah, sorry but I’d like some time alone...”

“You don’t need to apologize for that,” Swab smiled and stepped away. “Take all the time you need, I’ll be talking with some of the families here.”

As soon as he left, Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and stared down at the pine box that her friend was resting in. “I… I really don’t know what to say. Or if I should even really try saying anything. You’re right about me being angry, even though I’m happy for the village, and happy the danger’s gone. I know you’d be happy if you could see it all right now too. I know you’d say it was all worth it.” She shook her head and started scratching her mane. “Idiot. You big idiot… I’m going to miss you. I’ll make your bed before I leave.”

Rainbow sighed. “I’m not used to this. At least it’s not a real funeral, I’d be even more out of place.” She dragged her hoof across the top of the box and stepped away. “Goodbye, Anathema. You did a good job.”

Rainbow Dash walked along the edge of the grave for a bit, not going back to Swab yet. She saw a few other ponies standing by the edge as well and throwing things like flowers and other items down on the coffins. Despite most in the village having reason to be happy, it was still a fairly sad occasion right now. Her eyes drifted over in a different direction, towards where the spores and the green clouds used to be, where it was now just another empty and peaceful part of the forest. Anathema had done a good job. Rainbow just couldn’t accept the cost.

“Excuse me? Your name is Rainbow Dash, right?” A small voice called from behind Rainbow.

She turned around to see Turnip standing behind her.

“Yeah, it is,” Rainbow said, nodding to the young filly. “And you’re Turnip, right?”

“Mhm,” The filly nodded.

“What’s up?” Rainbow asked. She knew she had to be a little careful around this filly—remembering that she didn’t have any family left. That begged the question of what she was going to be doing now and who was going to take care of her, but Rainbow assumed someone in Pinetree Warren had already stepped up.

“Um… I just wanted to thank you. For not listening when I said I wanted to die,” Turnip kicked at the dirt.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “No duh I wouldn’t listen to something like that, kid.”

“I’m sorry about what happened to Doctor Anathema too. I saw you at her coffin. My parents are down in the grave already,” Turnip said.

“I’m really sorry about what you’ve been through too,” Rainbow Dash said to her.

Turnip sniffled slightly but shrugged. “I’ve had a lot of time to just lie in bed and think about things. It’s tough telling how I feel sometimes. Everyone in the village is being really nice to me though.”

Rainbow Dash stepped forward and affectionately rubbed her back. “One day at a time.”

“Anyways, that’s just what I wanted to say. Thank you for everything you did for me and the other patients. I remember you being in there helping us,” Turnip said and hugged Rainbow Dash briefly before turning and going away.

“No problem, kid...” Rainbow Dash sighed and watched her go.

She sat down by the edge of the grave and had a few more ponies wave hello or give nods of acknowledgment, but for the most part she was left alone while the rest of the service continued. At some point, Doctor Swab sat beside her and put a hoof around her shoulders. Ardent Elm, Honey Sight, and Cocoa Bean showed up shortly after that. Cocoa Bean had a box of chocolates tied in a pink ribbon that he tossed into the large open grave. Honey Sight threw in a drawing of a bird, and Ardent Elm a picture of himself and Anathema.

“Almost time?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Almost,” Swab said.

“I saw it when it happened,” Honey Sight said. “All the green just disappeared and I ran right to the auditorium to tell everyone. Of course they already knew what had happened.”

Cocoa Bean looked over at Rainbow. “If you’d like to come by later, food will be on the house. I just figured you might want someplace warm.”

“That actually does sound pretty nice,” Rainbow smiled.

“I’ll join you if you don’t mind?” Ardent Elm asked. “If you just want someone to talk to. I could also use that.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Sure. I really don’t know how much longer I’m going to stay here, but I can make it at least one more night.”

Some extra chatter from the ponies around got Rainbow Dash’s attention and she looked over to see the villagers crowding around Anathema’s coffin. Along with another group that had shovels milling about on the other side of the large grave. It seemed like it was time to finally bury the victims of the plague. Rainbow Dash stood up with her acquaintances and joined the main crowd. She was quiet as she watched it all proceed, there just wasn’t anything else she had in her. It was a cold, depressing moment. Another good friend of hers was gone and she felt even more helpless this time.

The coffin was carried down into the ground.

Rainbow Dash spent the next few hours watching as the grave was slowly refilled. As soon as the dirt fully covered the last bit of Anathema’s box, she felt a tear roll down her cheek.

The inside of Cocoa Bean’s shop was a busy place tonight as quite a few ponies had gathered to eat, celebrate, and mourn at the same time. Much like the ceremony, it was being used as an opportunity for a lot of ponies to reconnect and get back together after so much time apart. Right now, Rainbow Dash was at a large table with most of the group from the burial service along with the nurses Heartwrench, Blue Rose, and Cough Drop, who had joined up with them later. The entire group was eating some of Cocoa’s best food and happily talking together. Rainbow Dash didn’t exactly feel left out but she didn’t have as much to talk about as the rest of them.

She listened as they talked about stories from the past—either about Anathema or some of the patients who hadn’t survived. Things Rainbow Dash just had to listen to and learn about for the first time. All the while she ate at a plate of delicious truffles that had been prepared for her. It ended up being Ardent Elm who saved her from her inability to join in.

“I’d like to propose a small toast to Anathema,” the old wizard said. “For saving us from the plague and letting things return to normal.”

“That sounds good to me,” Rainbow Dash suddenly interjected.

“I’ll tell Cocoa Bean to get us some drinks to toast with,” Swab said and briefly got up from the table.

“If we’re toasting that then we should toast Rainbow Dash as well,” Heartwrench said and reached over to squeeze her hoof.

Rainbow Dash grimaced and shook her head. “Uh no, no, I didn’t really do anything-”

“Better just get over it,” Ardent Elm said. “You’re not talking your way out of this. And don’t try and play down your role either.”

“Ugh, fine...” Rainbow let him have his way, as much as it annoyed her.

Swab shortly after came back with a tray full of several steaming mugs of hot chocolate that he hoofed out to everyone else at the table. Rainbow Dash took hers but didn’t so much as take a sip yet, instead introspectively staring into it. She was fine with giving a toast to Anathema but besides that she was pretty much ready to go back to the cabin and sleep her way to next morning. Now there really was no reason for her to stay here. The day was saved, despite her displeasure at how some of it had turned out, and adventure called again.

“If no one has any objections, I would like to start the toast,” Swab said.

No one did so the doctor continued.

“As her coworker, I feel I probably knew Anathema best. Though she had become more bitter in recent months I still remember the smiling face of a young doctor who always looked out for her patients. Of course even at her best she was often quite the stubborn and difficult pony to work with, something I’m sure my nurses can also agree on,” he winked at Heartwrench and the others. “Anathema was always the one who let things get to her the most. Even though she liked to act detached, things hurt her on a level I can’t comprehend. I think that’s part of why she made the decision she did. Anathema… she was a wonderful, wonderful, doctor and I loved her very much. I’m going to miss her.”

Swab was silent for a moment—the others at the table remaining silent as well—until he smiled and looked over at Rainbow Dash. “Her sacrifice is not in vain, not so long as we all go on living our lives. And it was a sacrifice that would not have been possible were it not for Rainbow Dash here.” He clapped a hoof down on her shoulders and she fought back a wince. “Rainbow Dash is really the one who kept our heads above the clouds, I think we all would’ve lost hope without her. You were a breath of fresh air that Pinetree Warren sorely needed.” He sighed and raised up his mug. “And now I’d like to toast both Rainbow Dash and Doctor Anathema.”

“Hear, hear!” Honey Sight cheered, he and the others raising their mugs to join in.

Rainbow Dash chewed on her lip in discomfort but raised her mug as well.

“A toast, to the two mares who saved Pinetree Warren!” Doctor Swab said and everyone clunked their mugs together.

While the rest cheered and smiled at her, Rainbow brought the mug to her lips and took a big drink. That warm tasty liquid was just what she needed right now and it went a long way to lifting up her mood. It might’ve just been a placebo but Rainbow Dash didn’t care for the moment. She didn’t need to bring down the mood or act all sullen with these ponies right now. Especially since it was probably the last time she was going to be speaking to most of them.

“So what do you think of Pinetree Warren anyways? Not having to do with the plague or anything like that,” Blue Rose suddenly asked her. “Do you like it? Does it seem like a nice village?”

“Yeah, it does,” Rainbow said. “It reminds me of the town I come from, you know, a quiet, close-knit sort of place?” She didn’t mention all the insanity that occurs in Ponyville, or how she intentionally sought out adventure for fun, but she didn’t need to. It was the truth that Pinetree Warren was a nice place. The kind of place she would enjoy stopping at and making new friends in if the situation was normal.

The kind of thing she would’ve done if it wasn’t for the plague. She had only planned for Pinetree Warren to be a brief stop before she found another adventure. It turned out to be both more and less than she hoped. She had made and lost a good friend.

“I think… I think Pinetree Warren seems like a really great place,” Rainbow said after a pause. “I wish I could’ve seen you guys under better circumstances.”

“Well, same here,” Honey Sight said.

“I think we all wish that none of this happened,” Ardent Elm said. “We’re lucky we had such capable ponies taking care of us—and that a stranger from out of town had such a big heart.”

“And that you know your magic,” Rainbow snorted.

Ardent Elm shrugged. “I’ll let you young folk who actually figured things out and took charge get the credit. Anathema would’ve been just as annoyed and trying to refuse all this praise as you are right now.”

“That is very true,” Swab nodded.

“Fine, whatever, I’ll let you give me credit and do whatever… I’m probably going to be leaving here early tomorrow anyways,” Rainbow said.

“I had figured,” Ardent Elm said.

“Do you truly need to go so soon?” Honey Sight asked.

Rainbow Dash nodded. “The thing is, I’ve always been going from place to place and haven’t really stayed anywhere longer than I’ve needed to. There’s just more out there for me. With the plague gone I don’t have anything else to be here for. I’m on a journey around the whole world right now, and I’m searching for fun adventures while I’m doing that. Pinetree Warren, thankfully, doesn’t have what I’m looking for.”

“We get to have peace. At least now we do,” Ardent Elm said.

“That’s right,” Rainbow said.

“And I think I speak for all of us when I say how thankful we are for that,” Swab said and was joined by a chorus of agreements.

“Seriously...” Rainbow muttered and glanced up at the ceiling before looking over at Swab. “Hey, Swab? Early tomorrow morning do you wanna meet with me near the south edge of town? Got a few last things to talk about and then I’ll be on my way.

“Of course,” Swab shrugged.

“And that being said, I think I’m going to turn in for the evening,” Rainbow said and scooted her chair back, putting her now empty mug on the table. “I’ll remember you guys… and Anathema most of all. But it’s time for me to head out.” She looked over at Cocoa Bean, who was busy working behind the counter, and whistled to get his attention. “Yo! The food was great again.”

“Thank you!” He smiled widely back at her.

Rainbow Dash waved goodbye to him and looked at the others at the table. “Honey Sight, Ardent Elm, Cough Drop, Blue Rose, Heartwrench. Thanks for everything, goodbye.”

“Goodbye, Rainbow Dash,” Ardent Elm said.

“Farewell,” Honey Sight waved to her.

The three nurses stood up and each gave Rainbow Dash a hug and a goodbye in turn, thoroughly embarrassing Rainbow Dash.

“Okay, okay, that’s enough of that,” Rainbow said and backed away. Her eyes found Doctor Swab before she reached the door. “And I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“That you will,” Swab nodded.

Rainbow Dash gave him and the others one last smile before she opened the front door to Cocoa’s shop and went outside. A second later she was in the air and gliding over the rooftops on her way to Anathema’s cabin. There were pomies actually out now, kids and families having fun, voices that carried up from the ground. It was a real village again. It was a beautiful thing, Rainbow Dash only wished that Anathema could see it too. She shortly made it back to the cabin and went inside, smiling at the table of gifts by the bed before plunging herself below the covers. It was so different. All the attention, all the praise, this time it only filled her with regret and shame.

Rainbow Dash sat on the south side of town, past any houses, and stared at the forest and hills beyond. “So what am I going to see next? I hear there’s a desert just a little ways south from here.”

“That is correct,” Doctor Swab said from right beside her. “Just a short ways beyond those hills, especially by flight, and you’ll end up at the Great Camel Desert.”

“Oh, so it’s got a name and everything?” She raised an eyebrow at him.

“It’s a massive, massive, desert. I visited the edge of it once and Pinetree Warren gets quite a few traders and travelers coming from it,” he said.

“Gonna be a lot hotter than I’m used to on this trip...”

“Oh, guaranteed.”

“Anything between here and the desert? Like any last little settlements?” Rainbow asked.

“You’ll find a small river that goes into those hills and if nothing has changed on the other side since the last time I was there you’ll see a mill and a few other small buildings that act as an outpost for ponies and other creatures coming up from the desert, and speaking of that desert I do have some other minor knowledge.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“Well it’s called the Great Camel Desert because it’s populated primarily by camels. And from what I’ve heard they’re quite nasty—not violent but just mean to ponies and any other creatures that aren’t camels. I doubt you’ll get a warm welcome down in the desert,” Swab told her.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “That’s fine, I’ve gotten enough warm welcomes to last a lifetime.”

“I hope things turn out well for you...” Swab grimaced.

A grin came across Rainbow’s face and she patted the doctor on the back. “You don’t have to worry. Remember, I’m looking for adventure and pretty much asking for trouble. Even when bad things come up, I’m pretty good at handling myself.”

“I suppose that’s true,” he chuckled along.

“Yeah, so don’t sweat it.”

“So I suppose you’re going to be leaving soon then?”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yeah. I think I’m about to get on out of here.”

“I’m happy you came here, Rainbow Dash. I know you’re not in the best mood right now, but I’m glad to have met you,” Swab said as he got up and hugged her. He offered her another smile after breaking the hug before turning away and starting to walk back to town. “Well, if by some odd chance you ever find yourself back in this part of the world, just remember you’ve got friends you can come and see.”

Rainbow smiled and watched him go. “I will, Swab.”

Once he was gone she turned and looked back to the south and the hills that hid the desert beyond them. It’s true, she wasn’t as melancholic as when she departed Oreville, but she wasn’t great either. This wasn’t a failure in the same way that was, but it wasn’t the kind of success she had been looking for on this adventure. The death of Anathema would always hang over her. Just like Barnaby’s. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath, then looked up at the sky overhead.

“Are you perhaps finally regretting coming to this side of the world?”

Rainbow’s jaw clenched and her eyes narrowed immediately. “I’m not in the mood.”

“Oh? So for once I’m bothering you instead of the other way around?” Harlequin Grey said as he walked in front of Rainbow Dash. His impeccable mane and sharp eyes peering at her. “I told you, didn’t I? And now you’re the cause of untold destruction and the deaths of hundreds. Do you want to know exactly how many died in Oreville? I know the number. Even here you couldn’t even save one pony from death. Congratulations, Rainbow Dash.” He started mockingly clapping his hooves together. “You’ve done an excellent job on this adventure so far.”

“I screwed up but I’m not a quitter,” Rainbow glared at him. “I-I’ll have regrets but I’m not going back on what I’ve said or set out to do.”

“You’re going to do worse and worse if you keep going,” Harlequin Grey huffed. “That pink thing is still coming after you as well, do you even care? Do you even know what will happen if she’s just allowed to do whatever she wants? What will she look for after killing you? You should just go now before you cause even more problems down the road.”

“No,” Rainbow stalwartly refused.

Harlequin Grey’s eye twitched. “I would think that after such a grand failure you might have changed a little. Seems I was too hopeful.”

“I… I have changed. At least in how I’ll take things more seriously, and stop being selfish and only thinking about my own fun. I’m not going to screw up like this again. But you know what hasn’t changed? And why I’m still going on this journey and not listening to a lying scumbag like you? It’s the fact that there are still ponies out there who need my help. Oreville showed me that. Pinetree Warren showed me it too. And so long as there are ponies who need me, I’ll be there. The rest of the world isn’t just sleeping and waiting for me to discover it. Things are probably happening right now and if I hesitate and start worrying about stuff it’s only going to make it worse. Mistakes pace the way for future success—I know Twilight told me that more than once. And if I just quit now, I’d never be able to make those mistakes up. I’d never be able to face Barnaby and Anathema. So here I go, going out looking for a new adventure, and looking for where in the world needs my help next, cause if Oreville and the plague here were any indication, this side of the world has plenty bad for me to deal with,” Rainbow Dash finished with a strong grin.

Harlequin Grey rolled his eyes in derision and shook his head. “Fine. Miserable pony. But you had best hope that we don’t see each other again.” He flapped his wings and started to take off into the sky before stopping. “And by the way, it’s “pave the way for future success”, moron.”

And he shot straight up into the clouds, disappearing from sight.

Rainbow Dash just glared up after him. “Yeah, yeah, cry about it. Heh.” She smirked and flew up into the air a little bit, looking back down south again before she took off towards the hills.

Harlequin Grey watched her go with a cold frown on his face. “Tch, I should’ve known a simple plague wouldn’t be enough to stop her. I can’t use my magic again unless it’s a last resort now.” His eyes drifted up slightly, looking south as well to the desert beyond where Rainbow Dash was. “Supernova, for your sake you had best not fail me.”

Rainbow Dash followed above a winding creek as it went downhill and south from Pinetree Warren, just as Doctor Swab had said. It started a little northeast from the looks of things and made its way through the hills Rainbow was now currently traveling through, keeping her flight fairly low to the ground so she didn’t miss the small settlement that supposedly existed fairly close by. This forest was just as pleasant and full of life as the rest had been and it lifted Rainbow’s spirits for her to see such a nice little place. At one point she dove low and got herself a nice drink of cold water before she flew along the side of the creek and ate up some tasty wildflowers for breakfast.

It was nice to know that the rest of the world was still moving on. The horrors of the plague were behind her, the entire forest was safe, and hopefully it would all be normal like this for years to come. The ponies of Pinetree Warren and the animals living here deserved that.

She started whistling a tune to herself the further she went, just something light and fun. To her surprise she heard some of the birds she passed by join in. She thought that kind of thing only happened with Fluttershy.

Fluttershy… Rainbow honestly had to wonder how happy she and the rest of her friends would be with how Rainbow had handled Pinetree Warren and how she had left it. She figured they would reassure her, tell her she did her best, and not blame her for anything. They would know Rainbow was out of her element and didn’t have much to work with. Those words of praise and reassurance though would probably just bother her even more. She didn’t want to be told she had done all she could. The same with Oreville.

But either way, it was behind her now. Just like with Oreville, again, Rainbow wouldn’t forget or ignore it, but she would move on and grow.

Flying over the creek and through the hills, Rainbow soon came out to a break in the forest. The hills and thick forest of trees came to a stop and turned into rolling green and yellow plains just ahead. Before that was a small group of buildings built right at the foot of the hills on the east side of the creek. A mill sat with its wheel constantly moving from the water’s current and a small log bridge was built over the creek just a little downstream from it. Besides that a few other little buildings sat off to the side, built next to the declining edge of the forest.

Rainbow Dash smiled and started to fly right to the mill. A brief stop and hello was all she planned before she went further south.

Once she reached the mill she heard a striking sound and looked over at one of the other small cabins to see a pony chopping wood with an axe out behind it. He looked up and saw Rainbow Dash and a big smile appeared on his face. He rested his axe against the side of the building and waved at her.

“Howdy!”

“Hey,” Rainbow Dash smiled and waved back. Good to see that the ponies here are nice.

“Well who might you be?” The stallion asked as he walked up to Rainbow Dash. “Oops, where are my manners? I’m Wood Chips.”

“I’m Rainbow Dash, nice to meet you, dude.”

“Dude?” The stallion tilted his head.

“Uh, it’s just a cool name for a stallion,” Rainbow awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck.

“Oh! Well thanks!” He laughed.

The door to the mill was suddenly thrown open and a pony came out. “Wood Chips! What noise are you making now-” The pony, a mare, paused mid-sentence as she saw Rainbow Dash floating there in the air. “O-Oh! Hello!”

“Hey,” Rainbow Dash shot a quick wave her way.

“Introduce yourself,” Wood Chips said to her, holding back a laugh.

The mare glared at him before coughing into her hoof and smiling at Rainbow Dash. “Hello there, I’m Wheatie.”

“Rainbow Dash,” Rainbow said again.

“What brings you to such an out of the way little place like this?” Wheatie asked her. “You don’t look like a trader or merchant—no offense.”

“None taken,” Rainbow shrugged. “I’m just traveling through. Came from up north and I heard about this place from Doctor Swab in Pinetree Warren.”

“Swab… Swab… I may have met a pony by that name once or twice,” Wood Chips mused.

“Yeah. Anyways, I’m just on a big trip and wanted to touch off here before I went into the desert to the south. Also kind of wanted to ask you guys about that, in case you knew anything. I’ve heard that it’s mostly camels in the desert? And they aren’t very nice to ponies?” Rainbow asked.

“Hah! That’s putting it lightly!” Wood Chips guffawed. “If you’re traveling into the desert I’d be careful, a camel innkeeper won’t rent a room to a pony. And believe me you do not want to be outside at night in the desert.”

Wheatie spat on the ground. “Innkeeper nothing. The average camel won’t sell nothing or do any sort of business with ponies and other creatures. They’re the rudest, nastiest, dirtiest bunch of creatures I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting.”

“Great,” Rainbow sarcastically grumbled.

“Still it aint like it’s only camels out there,” Wood Chips continued. “In fact, you got a small… well, town might be the wrong word for it but there’s a place not to far into the desert called One Hump Oasis. Like the name implies, it’s a little tent town all built along an oasis in the north part of the desert, one of the last such places before the desert ends. So it gets a lot of traffic and a lot of creatures there besides just camels. If you’re traveling through the desert I’d look to make your first stop there.”

“I can’t really recommend flying on your own through the desert, just saying,” Wheatie said. “That desert’s a real big place. It puts these forests to shame in sheer size and the climate’s a pain if you’re flying without any protection.”

“Yeah I knew it was gonna be a little tough on me in that way, but believe me when I say I’m used to extreme stuff like that. I can handle a little heat,” Rainbow grinned.

Wheatie shrugged. “Suit yourself. I aint got no reason to doubt you, just wanted you to be careful.”

“Speaking of that, if you’re just stopping here for a moment would you care for some food or a drink?” Wood Chips offered.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Thanks but no thanks, I’m making my way as fast as I can.”

“Well good luck on your trip then,” Wood Chips smiled.

“Hope you have fun,” Wheatie nodded.

“Totally will! Thanks for putting up with my questions!” Rainbow said and waved goodbye to them, blasting off into the sky a second later.

“Huh, what a nice pony,” Wood Chips waved after her.

“Sure was,” Wheatie waved with him.

There was currently an issue Rainbow Dash was dealing with.

She had overestimated how well she would be able to handle the heat of the south.

It wasn’t even the desert yet and Rainbow Dash was already dying from the temperature of the arid plains and the hot sun overhead. She was flying over a dry, yellow grasslands that the green fields behind her to the north had turned into. Only small streams of water snaked through the low plains, barely enough to keep the grass alive. The earth below the grass was a dry brown, cracked, with pebbles strewn about and holes made by prairie dogs dotting it. She didn’t see any plants besides dried out shrubs that didn’t even reach shoulder height.

There wasn’t a breeze to be found and the sun was just baking her from above. She was sweating and panting like crazy and the worst part was she knew it wasn’t even that hot out compared to how the actual desert would be. This should feel normal to her but her tolerance for heat had been completely shot. She knew she had had hotter days back in Ponyville. The way this was going, despite her wanting to quickly get through here and reach the desert already, she’d have to find a place to stop and cool down.

Maybe there would be some more water up ahead. The empty sky told her that she certainly couldn’t hope for any rain. It was just so dry. The driest sort of heat imaginable. What she would’ve given to have a hat like Applejack’s right now. Or even something girlier that Rarity would wear.

It’s not like there was anything to take her mind off the heat either. Here she was, out flying, and there was nothing around but a boring featureless plain of tall yellow grass. Without a traveling companion, game to play, or anything to look at, the oppressive heat just got to her more and more. The only thing around her that she saw that was enjoying the heat was a lizard out basking on a rock. Rainbow was considering stopping flying and setting down to walk, but in the end she still wanted to travel as fast as she could. She just wouldn’t overexert herself and pass out from heat stroke.

So weird that she had struggled through the cold so much—worried about getting frozen—and now she had to deal with the exact opposite.

The air shimmered in the distance, she hoped that meant she was at least getting close to the actual desert. Her mouth was starting to become dry and dehydrated, with her tongue losing all of its moisture. The bottom of her hooves were becoming as dry and cracked as the dirt she was flying over as well. Somehow she didn’t think things were going to be changing anytime soon. Unless she was allowed to jump into one of the supposed oases that existed in the desert, she was probably going to have to deal with being dried out and burnt out.

If there was just a cloud or something to block the sun for a little while… but of course she couldn’t expect to be so lucky.

“Celestia please, please, can’t your turn down the temperature at least a little?” Rainbow Dash asked up to the sky.

Out of curiosity, she decided to ask Twilight if Celestia actually could do that the next time she saw her.

No matter what though, she clearly wasn’t getting any relief today. It was still the middle of the afternoon too so she had a lot of time left to fly today before it got dark and she would consider stopping. The arid plain around her probably became the exact opposite at night—extremely cold. Much like she knew the desert did. That at least she was definitely still going to be able to handle a bit better, not like it could get as cold as the True North anyways. It was just how this part of the world and environments like deserts worked, nastily hot during the day, and nastily cold during the night. Swinging from one extreme to the other. Rainbow Dash didn’t know how or why things worked like that, they just did.

Maybe by the end of this journey she’d be immune to any kind of extreme temperature. Would be helpful for other trips considering some of the crazy places the Cutie Map and her other adventures had taken her.

Rainbow Dash flapped her dried gums as she flew on and wiped the sweat away from her brow. That might’ve been the last bit of moisture left in her body. Now she felt more like a dried up old leaf than a pony. How did Applejack work in the hot sun all the time like this?

No, she knew that it still wasn’t that bad out. It was still mainly that her tolerance for hot weather was ruined. Once she got to the desert it would be the true test.

At least she wasn’t hungry and she wasn’t dying of thirst just yet. The water and wildflowers she had eaten earlier were helping her out there. No matter where she looked she didn’t see anything else that looked edible though. Not unless she wanted to suddenly become carnivorous. Water on the other hoof would surprisingly be a little easier for her to find thanks to all the little streams, but it might not be the best water to drink. She’d have to take what she could get whether she liked it or not at this point. She didn’t need to dry out anymore than she already was.

Rainbow wasn’t even in the mood to do any loops or anything fun while she was flying since the heat was being such a pain. Why exhaust herself even more? If there were clouds out she could’ve turned onto her back and cloud gazed as she flew south. But instead she had nothing. Nothing but a wide plain spreading out in every direction.

Wood Chips and Wheatie had said that the desert was colossal in size, totally dwarfing the forests to the north. Did that include this plain that existed between them? If it didn’t, Rainbow wouldn’t be surprised to spend well over a month flying through the desert, especially since it was going to be the type of place she couldn’t just recklessly push herself through. Even back in the north, she could at least eat snow. You couldn’t do that with sand.

Same with making a temporary shelter to protect herself from the elements.

Rainbow Dash frowned. The more she thought about it, traveling through a desert, alone, with no supplies and no local currency, might be a lot worse than traveling through the snowscape of the north had been. It was quite possibly even more desolate, empty, harsh, and unforgiving than the snowy lands of the north. And she was going into it woefully, and knowingly, unprepared. And she knew that the locals weren’t going to like her very much.

“Maybe I’m going to need to stop in One Hump Oasis or whatever for more than just a day or two...” Rainbow grimaced.

She’d have plenty of time to think about that as the sun continued to beat down on her, with no signs of civilization yet in sight.

Sand.

Endless sand. It had started up maybe a mile or two back. The plains of yellow grass had started to bleed away, the dirt beneath them replaced by sand. Slowly the full plains became patches, then spindly fingers, then the grass fully disappeared and it was just sand and more sand. For a while the sandy ground was still flat but eventually that turned into the rolling dunes that Rainbow Dash was now flying over.

The Great Camel Desert. Rainbow Dash had reached it. It was early in a brand new day too after she had spent the previous night shivering in a hole back in the plains. Rainbow had made good progress so far with the only issue right now being that she was pretty thirsty. Of course that issue was one she was probably going to be struggling with for a good while. There wasn’t just “less” water around now. There was no water. An ocean of sand had replaced the world.

And of course the desert was hot.

Really, really hot. The sun sizzled down at her with an even greater intensity and Rainbow Dash knew if she set her hooves down on the sand that they’d come away burnt in seconds. Waves of heat just poured in from above and made the entire desert shimmer and waver as Rainbow Dash flew over it. Oh was she supremely thankful for her wings right now. Not having to touch the sand directly and not having to crawl and pull herself up and down the massive dunes over and over. How awful that would’ve been, Rainbow wouldn’t have made it half a mile before she collapsed in a pile in the sand. Some of these dunes were just huge and she really didn’t envy any camels or earth ponies that had to travel by hoof over them, maybe pulling wagons too.

Camels had hooves, right? Twilight would know…

And it sounded like it wasn’t just camels and ponies that lived in the desert, Rainbow would have to see for herself what other creatures made this place their home. She wouldn’t think anyone would want to choose to live in a place so hostile if they had a choice, but then again there were plenty living in the frozen lands of the True North. There were a lot of different creatures in Klugetown too and that was in the middle of a desert. But that was also the sort of place where it seemed like creatures went that had nowhere else to go in the first place. The trip through the desert to get there had been miserable too.

There were some clouds overhead where Rainbow Dash was now though. Not enough to provide cover or comfort but at least it was something new, something to break the monotony if she felt like looking up. They were just little tufts of cotton in the air that broke the sunlight and cast weak shadows over the dunes every now and then. Maybe if she needed to she could make some kind of shelter or bed with them if she didn’t find One Hump Oasis or anything else by night time.

What was missing completely now though besides just the water was any animals. Rainbow hadn’t seen any signs of life since leaving the plains.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t even really sure what animals actually lived in the desert. She couldn’t remember ever asking Fluttershy. There were lizards and prairie dogs back at the plains, and she probably figured the reptiles would like a warm place like this. But maybe it was too warm for them. Just another question to ask one of her friends when she got home.

For now Rainbow was going to focus more on overcoming the heat and not let it get to her, since it was progressively getting hotter and hotter as the day carried on. She imagined by the time it hit noon it would be at its hottest and she still had a few hours to go before that happened. So it would be best to make her body acclimate to the heat before that. The sand below her though reflected a good deal of the light and heat from the sun right back up at her underside, making it like she was being cooked on both sides as she flew.

That wasn’t a very good job she was doing on overcoming the heat...

Twilight would say mind over matter, right? Well Rainbow Dash had known from her adventures through the snow that that didn’t really work too well. At least not for her. She just wasn’t the type or was never in the right mood to deal with things that way, she had to do it physically. There still wasn’t a breeze or anything either but maybe she’d be able to acclimate to the heat in just a day or two. With luck, One Hump Oasis wasn’t even more than a day away. Wheatie and Wood Chips had said it was in the northern part of the desert and she was traveling by air so she had to be covering ground faster than they would expect a pony to. If that oasis was the last stop before the desert ended, it had to be fairly close by.

Looking ahead she still couldn’t see anything but sand and shimmering air though. Yet. Some of these dunes were just huge, like gigantic frozen waves of sand. The valleys between them dipped down fifty--a hundred--feet sometimes. The Great Camel Desert was no longer flat, it had become a monster of rolling sand waves. And it made it more difficult to see ahead unless she wanted to fly up a little higher. But honestly she didn’t have a whole lot of energy and wanted to stay closer to the surface, even if it meant not having clear vision. With the way the heat warped the air it’s not like she’d be able to see far anyways. She wasn’t sure how mirages worked but she had heard about them too.

The heat now as she flew over the dunes was just killing her. She almost wanted to set down on the sand just so the burning sensation on her hooves would give her something else to focus on. But that was probably a dumb idea. Maybe she could walk down the next dune she passed that had some shade on the other side. It had to feel better than flying through this murderously hot air. And if she waited too long the sun would get into a position that would erase all the shadows on the sand.

Hopping from tiny cloud to tiny cloud was also becoming more appealing, even though with how thin they were she’d probably accidentally dissipate them entirely once she came into contact. That was still an option. Or a way to kill time if she got bored enough.

The heat was going to fry her brain the longer she was out here so more stuff like that that would keep her mind active was probably good. If only she had a book to read or somebody else to talk to right now. But she was alone on her journey. Like usual it was just Rainbow Dash.

Usual, huh? More often than not she had a friend around. Just not while she was traveling, only when she stopped somewhere and had somebody showing her around. If she could travel with somebody or a group of ponies through this desert, it might be pretty nice. Better than dying of thirst or heat exhaustion all on her own at least, skeleton left for the vultures to pick at.

She glanced up at the sky--not that she had seen any vultures.

Rainbow Dash continued on like that for a while longer with the heat getting worse the whole time. She was dried out, thirsty, hungry, and weak. Her mind was foggy--the heat getting to it worse than the cold ever did. Something she was going to blame on the dehydration. She just couldn’t think straight in the same way she usually could.

Exhaustion. She didn’t want to admit it after her earlier boasting, but the heat was wrecking her worse than the cold. Except for her brief time in Raalzeron’s homeland. But it was certainly much worse on her than the rest of the True North had been.

It was still just the weather though. Just a hot climate. And Rainbow Dash absolutely wasn’t going to let something like that beat her.

She passed over a tall sand dune and descended a little bit down to its backside. There was some shade back there, covering the slope of sand. The moment her hooves hit, Rainbow Dash sighed in contentment. She couldn’t exactly say the sand was cool, but it wasn’t as hot as the air and it felt pretty nice to sink her hooves into it. She just folded her wings in and stood there for a moment, relaxing and looking south. The air shimmered. Golden-yellow sand spread in every direction.

Endless.

Except on the horizon.

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. Was she seeing things? Were her eyes playing tricks on her? No, they weren’t. Through the shimmering air, far in the distance, she could make out shapes that broke the monotony of the sand. And more than that, but the colors of green and blue as well.

She was making progress.

Having a goal in sight always made the trip much easier. It was true in the snow and it was true now as Rainbow Dash flew over the sand to One Hump Oasis. Her flying wasn’t exactly fast thanks to how out of energy she was, but she was able to pull enough from her reserves to keep going without trouble. That shimmering oasis in the distance was still far away and it was impossible to tell how far it actually was thanks to the warped nature of the air. It was almost like how something could look distorted if you were trying to look at it underwater. And there was still the possibility it was a mirage but Rainbow was pretty sure that wasn’t the case.

That would be way too cruel.

“I already hate deserts. There is no way what I’m seeing is just some dumb mirage. I’m making it through this stupid heat and I’m getting a drink of some stupid water,” Rainbow Dash told herself. “I hate deserts. I can’t believe I’m wishing I was back in the snow.”

Sand that was clinging to her hooves from when she dropped down earlier was still steadily falling off as she flew over the dunes. A couple of times she thought of taking rest in the shade again but she kept deciding otherwise, just wanting to get to the oasis quickly even if she ended up very tired out. Rainbow was used to pushing herself anyways. She was probably going to look like a total mess to the camels and other creatures at the oasis, her mane and tail faded from the sun, her hooves and lips dry and cracked, her voice raspier than normal thanks to dehydration. Didn’t matter. She couldn’t bring herself to care much about her appearance.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and flew on, the sun overhead now practically dead center and making it as hot as it possibly could be. The one real benefit of heading south was that she was never flying directly into the sun. Of course it was never directly behind her either. She was still thankful to never have its rays pouring into her eyes. She didn’t need that. At the moment she wouldn’t be surprised right now if her back was red and burnt from the sun, her belly might actually be the same way too. Much as she hated thinking about it, she probably should stop to find some stuff at One Hump Oasis to make her trip through the desert easier.

Except she had no money.

And no friends there.

And no idea of how things in this desert worked or what she could do.

“Well... I’ve always managed just fine,” Rainbow shrugged to herself. “Something will come up.”

Planning ahead wasn’t really her thing. Once she got to the oasis she could figure things out, opportunity and fortune were always right around the corner. She liked to think she had a knack for making things work and coming out ahead. Or at the least being fortunate enough for someone to help her out. She had been pretty lucky on her journey when it came to finding the right ponies or other creatures who were willing to lend a hoof. Or foot. Or claw.

She squinted her eyes to see if she had gotten much closer to the oasis and she was happy to see that it seemed like it indeed was getting closer on the horizon. The patches of green around an island of blue in the middle were getting bigger and more distinct and she was fairly sure she could make out trees and some of the larger buildings. Maybe buildings wasn’t the right word as even the biggest ones seemed to just be big tents.

It all covered quite a large area though, sprawling out from the oasis and into the sands of the desert. She understood what Wood Chips meant when he said he couldn’t really call it a town, since despite the large area it certainly covered it was all just tents and canvas covered shacks. The definition of a stopover and the last place to get food, water, and other supplies before you either left the desert or journeyed deeper into it.

Closer as she was now, it invigorated Rainbow Dash with more energy and she shot faster towards One Hump Oasis while lowering herself closer to the sand. There were probably “streets” of some kind at least that navigated through the tents. Rainbow was planning on coming in low and arriving like any traveler from the desert. She could stop off at the end and walk on in to One Hump Oasis. So long as there wasn’t anybody who would try and bar her entrance. What with Rainbow had heard about the camels, she wasn’t expecting a friendly reception from them, but considering the nature of One Hump Oasis she doubted there was anyone keeping watch on who came and who left. It seemed like a place that anyone would be allowed to travel to without issue.

“And if it’s not, then I beat up some jerks and go take a swim anyways,” Rainbow nodded to herself.

Not exactly the most heroic proclamation, but she couldn’t find fault with it either.

Water was a life and death sort of thing. Especially in the desert. If camels tried to keep her from getting a drink, Rainbow figured she was allowed to get a little bit rough. But it was also possible she wasn’t entirely thinking clearly after traveling through the desert with the sun beating down on her. Her mind was a little bit frazzled. Fried, more accurately.

It only took another few minutes for her to actually get to the point where One Hump Oasis wasn’t hidden behind a shimmering veil of air. Now she could make it out more clearly and also see all of the creatures that were currently there as well. It seemed like a busy place, she could see dozens, maybe hundreds out walking through the tents.

Rainbow Dash came down and stopped right at the edge of the settlement. She then looked down at her hooves resting atop the burning sand. “Ow.”

She quickly shuffled along into One Hump Oasis where she could walk among the others and look for some water to drink. It was a pretty dirty and dusty place now that she was here and most of the creatures she could see were shawl and turban wearing camels who paid her no notice whatsoever. More than just tents and shacks set up, a lot of wagons sat at the edge of the oasis, with their backs open and camels bringing out what was inside them to show off and sell to others. Rainbow narrowed her eyes, this wasn’t just a stopover, it was a true trade outpost. The air was busy with hundreds of conversations between camels all bartering and trading with each other and the more she ventured in the busier it got right up until she entered a full on marketplace.

The largest tents she had seen at the oasis had numerous smaller tents and shacks set up outside and around them, every last one operated by a camel selling something. Camels pulling carts full of goods went from place to place, either buying or trading more. And still none seemed to notice the weirdly out of place pegasus dying of thirst walking through it all. Maybe she just came off as any other street urchin.

She didn’t even know where to begin or who to ask for something now. More than just camels were supposed to be here, right? Or had she only just assumed that?

She passed by a tent that was selling rugs, another selling pillows, another some kind of silky scarf. The closest any camel got to talking with her was when she got shooed away by the female camel selling scarves for coming to close to them.

“Well if you want me to go then how about telling me where I can get some water to drink, huh?” Rainbow Dash said to the camel.

The camel spat at her hooves and went back to ignoring her.

Rainbow’s eye twitched. “Oh, okay.”

At least her mind was off the heat now. Rainbow Dash did surprisingly manage to maintain her cool and just left the scarf-selling camel behind. She really just wanted some water to drink and to get her bearings around here. She didn’t know where to go from here, if she should just keep flying directly south, or if there was something else to look for in the desert. After all, she still wanted to find plenty of fun and adventure and this desert was a big place. She didn’t want to miss any possibilities. Of course she still needed water first of all and she wasn’t any closer to getting some.

Rainbow Dash walked through the streets of tents and crowds of camels, looking from side to side, hoping to see a place selling water or at least bump into some camel that would acknowledge her. She was getting a little wobbly and she didn’t even notice it yet.

A camel suddenly bumped into her, whether on accident or on purpose she couldn’t tell, either way it sent her falling to the sand. She went face first into it and collapsed, spitting up hot sand and struggling to get back up. It was so hot, she was so exhausted, and she just wanted some water. Unfortunately Rainbow Dash found she could no longer move with the sun pouring on her from above. It was too much.

“Here,” a voice said and put a moist pouch to her lips.

Rainbow Dash felt water streaming past her lips and into her throat. Lukewarm, but water nonetheless. She almost coughed but managed to keep drinking, blinking and trying to look up at her savior. The sun obscured their features and Rainbow quickly gave up to just go back to drinking.

“I don’t know what you’re doing in the bazaar all alone like this, but let’s get you cleaned up, come along with me.” The pony said and reached out a hoof to pull Rainbow Dash up.

Rainbow Dash sat outside a tent with a pitched wagon behind it while a number of ponies carried boxes out and stacked them up on the side of the street. It was just one of many such tents at this part of One Hump Oasis, close to the center of the settlement where not even a hundred feet away grass, plants, and palm trees grew out of the fertile ground. A watering hole that fed it all reflected the sun on its perfect mirror-like surface while Rainbow Dash guzzled down water collected from a well elsewhere at the oasis.

Her benefactor eyed her with a raised eyebrow from his seat on a small bench brought out from the wagon.

“You sure are thirsty. Just how long were you alone out in the desert? And why’d you go to the camel’s bazaar if you were looking for water? Don’t you know anything?” He asked her.

Rainbow Dash finished her gulp and put the skin of water down. She looked over at him. “Nope.”

“Could figure that much. What’s your name?”

“Rainbow Dash. You?”

“Cart D’Evron,” the earth pony stallion said. He was wearing a brown robe to shield himself from the hot sun, as were the other ponies here, and he pulled back his hood to better speak with her. His face was wrinkled and beaten from years of living in the desert, with his rusty red mane and stubble of a beard looking like a ragged mess over his faded green coat. “I’m a merchant with the Aux-Lemm Corporation.”

Rainbow Dash blankly stared back at him. “Ooookay?”

He frowned at her but there was an amused twinkle in his eyes. “You’re not from around here are you? The Aux-Lemm Corporation is the only merchant corporation in the desert not owned and operated by camels. We own this part of One Hump Oasis, it’s where traders and travelers who aren’t camels can come and do business or rest here until they’re ready to move on. Whether you’re from Great Camel Desert or not, I’m sure you noticed how unhelpful all those camels were to you?”

“Uh, yeah,” Rainbow Dash nodded. “I had heard about them before coming here.”

“Yep, welcome to the desert,” Cart snorted. He walked over and picked up his water skin. “Might I ask what brings you out here? And what in the world you were thinking flying out into the desert alone? I can tell you came from up north. I’m not personally familiar with what’s up there but I know there’s a number of forests and mountains and towns scattered about them.”

“Well you’re half right. I came down from the north but I’m from a little farther away than any of those villages. That’s not super important right now though,” Rainbow said. “And really I’m kind of just... traveling through? I’m on an adventure, just looking for fun and now I’m here.” She shrugged.

He stared back at her. “And your idea of fun was flying through the desert without any food, water, or supplies of your own? Or even a map that shows you where to go next?”

“Uhhh... yes?”

“You an idiot?”

Rainbow Dash glared at him and folded her hooves over her chest. “No! Look, I do reckless things sometimes, but that’s part of what being on an adventure means! Sometimes you gotta do something tough and dangerous.”

He laughed. “Well I guess it turned out decently for you thanks to me anyways. So we can’t exactly say you’re unlucky.”

“That’s pretty much how it always goes,” Rainbow said, standing up and cracking her neck. “So you seem like you really know a lot about this desert, what’s the best way for me to travel through it? Cause I’m still going south.”

“First off I’d recommend you screw your head on straight and don’t try and just fly through on your own with nothing on your back but that blue coat of yours,” Cart said.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Look I-”

“I’m serious, and I’m trying to help, so how about listening for a second?” Cart defiantly stared at her.

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Fine. Go on then.”

“Alright,” Cart nodded. “Look, nobody goes through the desert alone unless they’ve traveled it extensively for years already. It aint a safe place to travel if you don’t know what you’re doing and where you’re going. If you were traveling alone you’d at least want some clothes to protect you from the sun and probably a wagon to pull behind you to carry a month or two worth of supplies that you can replenish at each new stop. I know how much faster flying would be for a pegasus like you, but you just can’t fly and carry what you need by yourself at the same time.”

“Okay,” Rainbow Dash bit her lip and thought about what he was saying. “Then what’s your suggestion? What’s the best way to travel through the desert?”

“By caravan. You should attach yourself to a group like mine or somebody else and ask for transport. You’ll have to pull your own weight and work for your keep, but there’s always caravans traveling through the desert that could use another capable pony working on them,” Cart said. He then raised a hoof and looked at her more seriously. “Just don’t get involved with any camels or waste time trying to work with them.”

“I’ve heard they won’t help a pony or do business with us,” Rainbow said.

“It’s worse than that,” Cart shook his head. “In short, camels are jerks. And swindlers. The only camels that will give you the time of day are criminals who will try and steal and squeeze everything of value out of you, they’ll get you into bad deals and throw you under the rug as soon as they can. Don’t trust a word a camel says. If any of them offer something to you, don’t give them money first, you make sure you get what you’re paying for.

“Well I don’t have any money to be swindled out of me anyways,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“That’s... good...” Cart sighed.

“I don’t mind working a little while to make some cash and get on out of here. I didn’t want to stop for long but I kind of figured I’d have to. Or at least take a day to relax and build up my strength again,” Rainbow said.

“I’d say you should find a traveler’s tent in the non-camel quarter then. Rest up there and ask around for some charity to get a meal and some supplies. Kind as I was to save you back there, I’m still a businesspony and it’s not exactly good business to hoof out too much free stuff,” Cart said.

“Couldn’t I just work for you?” Rainbow asked.

Cart shook his head. “Not if you’re going south. Aux-Lemm only has caravans going east to Dry Hole for the next two months. If you want to go south you’ll need to find a smaller family-owned business or a personal caravan. Lucky enough for you, there are lots like that here in One Hump Oasis. Just make sure you stick to the non-camel quarter.”

“You mentioned that, what is it?”

“It’s the part of One Hump Oasis owned by the Aux-Lemm Corporation, and we rent out space to other businesses and travelers that aren’t camels. Other ponies, griffons, foxes, antelope, what have you. Any creature that camels don’t work with,” Cart explained. He took a deep breath and looked in the direction of the bazaar he had found Rainbow Dash in. “You see, those camels aint just the most populous group of creatures out in this desert. They really own and control pretty much everything. It’s their home so I wouldn’t have much of a problem if they weren’t such jerks but... yeah.”

“Yeah...” Rainbow Dash nodded.

“You see, camels don’t just not do business or help other creatures. They have their own cities in the desert that only they’re allowed entrance into, and oases and wells that no other creatures can use either. Some camels have even let slip that they have their own special maps of the desert—maps far more detailed than any we have and that show hidden settlements and locations known only to camels. So there’s quite a lot of bad blood between camels and non-camels in this desert. Especially when it comes to merchants and those who make a living traveling and trading through the desert and beyond.”

Rainbow Dash sat back and whistled, looking up at the sky. “I guess traveling through here aint gonna be the most fun.” She blinked and looked back at Cart. “Beyond, huh? Do you know what’s south of the desert?”

“I know more than most I would say. I’ve traveled extensively over the years,” Cart nodded. “Of course when it comes to traveling south... I would have to tell you to just not do that. At least not directly.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “Why not?”

“Strange things have been happening in the world lately,” Cart shrugged. “South of the Great Camel Desert there was a kingdom called Hoofica. A pony country in and past the bad lands and rocky plains beyond the desert, huge, with dozens of cities and towns forming it, big lakes and forests of its own in parts, and millions of ponies that lived there. I’d traveled to it many times myself, trading goods from the desert and other places.”

“What happened to it?” An unsettling feeling was forming in Rainbow’s stomach.

Cart wiped his hooves together. “Poof. It vanished.”

“Vanished?”

“Just like that. The cities, the ponies, it all vanished into thin air. Now you can stand at the edge of where the kingdom used to be and you’ll see nothing but empty mountains and wastes. Furthermore, anyone who tried traveling to where it used to be has never returned. They just up and vanished too. Hoofica and all the ponies in it are gone without a trace. That was less than a year ago, I haven’t been back anywhere near that south in a long time.”

“Well that sounds great. So what would you recommend I do?” Rainbow asked. In truth she was very curious about what had supposedly happened to this Hoofica place, but she didn’t want to worry Cart.

Cart rubbed his chin for a second. “Between the Great Camel Desert and Hoofica there’s a small savanna populated by giraffes. They’re decent company, just a little weird.”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by weird?”

“Just... weird. It’s hard to describe really. You gotta meet them for yourself,” he shrugged. “Anyways, what I’d say you should do is get to that savanna, then take a big turn east or west. Eventually you’ll hit mountains regardless of which direction you choose. Mountains box in the whole dang continent, you’ll hit them if you travel to either side of the desert too.” He made a slicing gesture with his hoof. “But whatever, I’m getting off-topic again. Once you’ve gone far enough to reach those mountains, you’ll be past where the borders of Hoofica reached. Then I’d say go south and keep going until you hit the Green Divide. That’s a long but thin stretch of forest that goes east to west across the whole continent. Course at that point the continent’s a bit thinner, but anyways, beyond the Green Divide is Vissidia.”

“Vissidia?”

Cart smiled fondly. “Ah yes, Vissidia. Beautiful country. Nothing but green fields and farms as far as the eye can see. Just about the most peaceful and idyllic place anyone could dream of. Haven’t been there in a long while but I’d sure like to go back someday. Maybe even just retire there.” He coughed. “Uh, so anyways, the ponies of Vissidia say that to the south of their country is a big swamp, but I haven’t ever been that far south myself. So that’s about all I know of the world, hope it helps you out.”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Dude, you’ve known more about the rest of the world than like, any pony or creature I’ve met in a long time. Thanks for telling me all that. I just wanted to know about the desert and stuff.”

“Heh, well it’s not often I get to tell all this stuff to a pony who doesn’t know nothing about this part of the world,” Cart rubbed the back of his neck. “And you know... if you’d be up for helping us out, manning the tent, moving supplies, just doing whatever, I’d be willing to give you enough coin for you to get yourself a meal and a bed for the night. How’s that sound?”

Rainbow smiled. “That sounds awesome.”

All in all, things were going pretty well now for Rainbow Dash. She spent yesterday helping out Cart D’Evron and the rest of the ponies working for the Aux-Lemm Corporation and it earned her a cot in a tent and a meal of heavy cream and some kind of yeasty pancake whose proper name Rainbow couldn’t pronounce. She still didn’t really have anything to her name, and she’d need to find a caravan going south at some point, but for the moment things were going alright in One Hump Oasis. Cart had even offered to let her help out again today and try and find her some work with another group that might need some longer lasting help.

But at the moment this morning she was at his tent, helping him organize some of the goods and supplies that would be packed onto his wagon and taken to Dry Hole. Most of it was stuff that had been bought or traded for yesterday while Rainbow was helping out.

“You see-” Cart said as he heaved a heavy crate full of rock salt on top of another. “Dry Hole is the only real city in the northeast part of the desert. It was built around another oasis that dried up, but there are a number of deep deep wells that pull up ground water. The whole place is at the edge of the desert anyways, where things aint so harsh and it rains more, and you got more real dirt and soil under your hooves. The camels and other citizens there use the mud to craft unique clay sculptures, and they sell and trade those off to the rest of the desert.”

“And that’s what you’re going out to get and bring back here?” Rainbow surmised.

Cart nodded. “You got it.”

“Sorry I won’t be coming along with you to see,” Rainbow shrugged. “Sounds like a cool enough place but it’s too out of the way, and I’d have to travel at your pace too.”

“And with us pulling the wagons we’re talking about a month-long trip to get there. I don’t blame you for not wanting to come along,” Cart grinned.

“Yeah, thanks but no thanks. If I have to tie myself to a caravan to survive traveling through here, I at least want to find one that’s only going exactly where I want to go,” Rainbow said.

“Well after we finish up work here I’ll try helping you find one like that in the non-camel quarter,” Cart said.

Rainbow nodded. “Thanks.”

“Also you luckily won’t have to deal with any darn camels if you stick around here. They can smell a mark from a mile away. Not to say you’re easily tricked or anything, but you still don’t know the ways of the desert too well,” Cart said.

“No offense taken. One camel spitting at me was enough for me to want to avoid them anyways,” Rainbow said.

“Get used to that by the way,” Cart snorted. “Help me get these boxes into the wagon now, we’ve got a bunch left and a lot to finish getting together today.”

He wasn’t lying. The Aux-Lemm Corporation had numerous wagons at standby ready to make the trip to Dry Hole. As Rainbow Dash found, they were mostly carrying food related supplies but also plenty of generic tools and clothing. Dry Hole seemed to be getting stuff to survive while they’d be giving back art. Fair trade? Rainbow Dash had to admit that she didn’t understand much about art or see the value in it. Maybe if they were making practical things with that clay like bowls or something she’d get it. But hey, it seemed to work for everybody. If that was unique stuff that could only be found in Dry Hole she supposed it made sense. Stuff was always more valuable and more appreciated the rarer it was.

Like with her being an awesome one of a kind pony. She was totally appreciated for that.

As she finished helping move stuff into the wagon, Rainbow Dash was put on tent duty with another pony. Together they tried to sell some excess wares to anybody that passed by. It was kind of a nice experience since she got to see a lot of different creatures, including some called antelopes for the first time. They were small and lithe, slightly taller than the average pony but not as meaty, with big wavy horns on their heads. Most of them walked right by but a few that stopped and talked showed off their fairy-like voices.

It only took about five minutes of sitting here trying to sell stuff that Rainbow Dash got bored.

She looked out at some of the other tents that were set up on the same street, it wasn’t as big or busy as the camel bazaar but there was still a lot of stuff around. One tent was selling small ceramic figurines of animals. She wondered if those came all the way from Dry Hole. Considering the time of day she was probably going to have to spend a few more hours like this before Cart came to fetch her and tried to find another caravan for her. So it was going to take some effort not getting bored out of her mind and letting her brain melt from the heat.

At least she could say she had gotten better at dealing with the heat. Partially because she had other things to occupy her mind with, but it definitely wasn’t bothering her so much anymore. She just acclimated well to new climates apparently. After all, she didn’t think she had done too bad a job getting used to the cold in the True North after living all her life in a way more temperate area. A few more days in the desert and she’d be downright at home.

Rainbow glanced at the stallion next to her. Half Cart’s age at most, he was wrapped up in all manner of desert robes to block the sun. “So-” Rainbow started. “Do anything fun lately?”

He turned his head to look at her. “I carve horseshoes out of soap.”

“That’s uh… that’s swell...” Rainbow looked away.

She had a feeling that she wouldn’t really have anything to talk to this guy about. So Rainbow Dash whistled nonchalantly and went back to watching the market street. One Hump Oasis seemed just as busy today as it was yesterday, and her boredom and curiosity were starting to get to her. She wanted to check out the camel parts of this place too and see if they really were all bad or if there was anything interesting there that she couldn’t find here. While every pony and everything she had seen so far about camels seemed to confirm the worst, they couldn’t all be so bad, right? Even Diamond Dogs back home probably weren’t. Though Rainbow admittedly hadn’t met enough to tell.

A yawn found its way up from her lungs and Rainbow Dash rocked back and forth on the pillow she was sitting on. While yesterday had gone by faster, today seemed to have slowed down. She didn’t know what day it was or what the schedule was like here, but maybe today was a slow day? Would explain things.

She was about to get up and stretch and maybe go see what Cart was up to when surprised voices and yelps from down the “street” reached her ears. Rainbow Dash looked to her right to see a camel wearing a red fez hat running through the crowd of ponies and other creatures. That was odd enough in itself since she hadn’t seen any other camels here, she thought they weren’t allowed or something in the non-camel quarter, but odder still was the sight of a pony chasing the camel through the crowd.

It was a mare, with a scarlet red coat and an even deeper red mane and tail, wearing a black vest that covered her whole body and a black beret with sunglasses over her eyes. Rainbow Dash wondered how she didn’t die from overheating wearing something like that in this desert. She also had a determined scowl on her face while the camel she was chasing looked haggard and terrified.

“Stop that camel before he gets out of the quarter!” The scarlet mare shouted. “He’s a crook! A thief!”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. The camel and the mare were almost in front of the Aux-Lemm tent.

She had a decision to make. Either way it looked like she was about to get involved in something exciting.

Her decision was made quick—Rainbow Dash darted out from the tent right as the camel passed by and stuck her back leg out. The much larger creature cried and tripped over it, rolling onto the sand in a heap. In an instant the scarlet mare was upon him, jumping right beside his head and grasping the nape of his neck menacingly.

“Well, well, well, Zargoz. You thought you could pull a fast one on me with that fake map?” The scarlet mare said before glancing at Rainbow Dash. “Thanks, honey, I owe you one~”

“No problem,” Rainbow Dash grinned. She was about to ask what was going on when two other ponies interrupted her, running from inside the crowd that had gathered to see what was going on.

“You caught him?” An orange earth pony stallion asked. He had a straw yellow mane and tail with a black scarf wrapped around his neck and a bag of seed as his Cutie Mark. There was a sharpness to his eyes that immediately set Rainbow Dash on edge.

“Hehe, nice work,” the other said. He was a greyish unicorn stallion with rotted teeth and a pot belly, complete with oily black mane and tail and a trio of fool’s gold for a Cutie Mark. The mean and stupid grin he had on his face also rubbed Rainbow the wrong way.

“You ponies! You can’t get away with treating me like this!” Zargoz, the camel, yelled. “Once the Brotherhood hears about this-”

He was silenced as the scarlet mare yanked back on his neck. “Shut it. You’re nothing more than a petty criminal. It was stupid of me to trust you but I honestly didn’t think you’d be dumb enough to try and pull one over on me of all ponies.”

Zargoz gulped. “I’m still a camel and-”

“And this ain’t your home, honey. You’re in the non-camel quarter and you don’t have any friends here,” the mare grinned.

Before the conversation could continue, a loud voice rang out down the street:

“What in blazes is going on here?!” Cart D’Evron yelled as he came out from behind the tent with a number of other employees of the Aux-Lemm Corporation. His eyes narrowed once he saw Zargoz. “What’s a camel-” He stopped as he saw the mare accosting the camel and his jaw dropped. “The Red Hornet… the Murkers have orders to kill you on sight.”

That set off a round of mumbling through the crowd and Cart and the other employees all looked worried and nervous.

Rainbow Dash meanwhile was just flat-out confused as to what was going on. Red Hornet? Murkers? What?

The Red Hornet grinned at Cart as soon as he said that and reached up to tilt down her sunglasses, revealing striking, deep-blue eyes. “That’s true, but most of them aren’t dumb enough to try acting on those orders, honey.”

Cart nervously sweated and took another look at the camel. Recognition flashed across his face and his expression softened. “Well I’ll be, Zargoz the Forger. Boy are you in the wrong place, I know a lot of antelope here who would love to see you right now.”

“I was merely passing through! I have done absolutely nothing to deserve being detained here, and need I remind you that I am a camel? You have no authority or any right to accuse me!” Zargoz yelled.

“Need I remind you that you’re in the non-camel quarter? The Aux-Lemm Corporation owns this part of One Hump Oasis. If you want to go on and on about camel authority, you’re in the wrong place for it. They might not punish your crimes but we will,” Cart’s eyes narrowed.

Zargoz bit his large lips and glanced between The Red Hornet and Cart. “F-Fine, then I formally request to be taken into the custody of the Aux-Lemm Corporation and tried for my crimes.”

“Oh no, no, no,” The Red Hornet suddenly glared at him and yanked his neck back again. “You’re not getting out of things so easily.”

“Hey!” Cart shouted. “Criminal he may be but I can’t support you hurting someone helpless like that. And this is Aux-Lemm territory, we have authority here and if he-”

“You think I care about your authority one bit?” The Red Hornet sharply said to him. Her two companions then nervously looked around the crowd.

The orange one came up beside her and whispered in her ear. “Look, we-”

“We can’t just let Zargoz get out of here with what he knows. If this becomes a formal issue he’ll be allowed to contact the Brotherhood and more is going to get out about us and it’ll be even harder to finish our work!” The Red Hornet cut him off.

“You’re just a criminal too, Red Hornet. A thorn in the camel’s side might make you a friend of mine but I’ve heard things about you,” Cart said to her. “I’m not letting any sort of funny business take place here. Not where the Aux-Lemm Corporation has responsibility.”

“You really want to go that direction?” The Red Hornet dangerously asked him.

And Rainbow Dash, after essentially causing this problem, felt she now had to step up. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!” She flew between the two groups. “Time-out here! I’m a little lost as to what’s going on, but I don’t think you should be at each other’s throats like this.”

“I appreciate your help, honey, but this doesn’t concern you,” The Red Hornet said to her.

Rainbow Dash folded her legs over her chest. “Sorry, but it does. Cart here really helped me out and I owe it to him to not let some other pony mess things up for him.” She glanced at the two stallions and then back at the Hornet. “Especially ones as suspicious looking as you three. My gut told me that I should help you out but it’s also telling me you and your friends could be bad news. So you might as well stop with the threats and stuff while I’m here.”

The Red Hornet’s eyebrow twitched. “And just who do you think you are to say anything like that? I don’t think you know who you’re messing with here.”

“Right back at you,” Rainbow Dash glared defiantly at the other mare.

“We aint letting this camel go. There’s business to deal with,” The Red Hornet said. “What are you going to do about it?”

Rainbow Dash grinned and leaned down at her. “Just watch me.”

The two ponies tensed up and got ready to pounce at the other-

“Hey, Valentine!” A new voice yelled as a pegasus swooped in and landed in the middle of the crowd next to the camel and scarlet mare. “You found him? What’s-” She stopped as she saw the rainbow-maned pony floating right in front of The Red Hornet.

Rainbow Dash herself blinked in pure disbelief at the khaki-colored pegasus mare who had just come in. That ultra-familiar outfit, voice, and greyscale mane and tail that Rainbow had seen numerous times in her life now. All of it belonging to an adventurer almost as awesome as she was. Rainbow Dash dropped to the ground along with her jaw.

“Daring Do?!”

“Rainbow Dash?!”

“What are you doing here?!”

“What are you doing here?!” Both pegasi said at once.

“You know this pony?” The Red Hornet—or Valentine maybe—raised an eyebrow at Daring Do.

“Yeah,” Daring Do nodded. “She’s a friend of mine from Equestria. What happened here?”

The two stallions shot each other an uncertain look while The Red Hornet dumped Zargoz’s head onto the sand. She walked over to stand with Daring Do, still facing down Rainbow Dash and the employees of the Aux-Lemm Corporation.

“Well thanks to your friend I was able to catch Zargoz, but now our pals from Aux-Lemm over here want to take him into their custody,” The Hornet explained.

“Ugh,” Daring Do dragged a hoof down her face. “Of course… things just can’t be simple, can they?”

“Could I maybe get a clue on what’s going on?” Rainbow impatiently asked.

“I wouldn’t mind that either,” Cart said as he stared down Daring Do. “I don’t recognize you, but you’re working with The Red Hornet?”

The orange stallion coughed into his hoof and tried to walk up to Cart. “If everypony could calm down for one second we’d all see there’s no reason for conflict.”

Rainbows ears perked up as soon as he spoke. It had been a little while since she had actually heard the phrase “everypony”. This guy must not be from around here either. Rainbow Dash bit her lip but she decided to act on her gut feeling again. She could always trust Daring Do—that’s what she honestly believed. So Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and flew between the two groups, hooves outstretched.

“I think you’re right about that,” she said to the orange stallion before looking over at Cart. “Hey Cart, I know we’ve only known each other for like two days, but do you trust me?”

Cart eyed her. “I… think you’re of good character.”

Rainbow grinned. “Alright. Then believe me, I can’t speak for the other three, but I know that pegasus is a good pony.” She said, pointing at Daring Do. “And if she’s with them then I know they aren’t doing anything bad. So what do you say we all take a moment to relax, and maybe get off this street and talk someplace a little quieter?” She glanced back at The Red Hornet. “And no one will start any fights either.”

The Red Hornet snorted in bemusement but grinned right back. “I can agree to that, so long as the camel doesn’t leave my sight.”

Cart also looked over at Zargoz as he coughed up sand. “I’m fine with that.”

“Good,” Rainbow Dash sighed in relief. “Then let’s talk.”

Inside a large tent in the interior of the non-camel quarter of the oasis, the ponies all sat together while a bound and gagged Zargoz angrily tried to get out of his bindings behind them. It was an Aux-Lemm tent and one quite private per Cart’s words. The tension inside was palpable and Rainbow Dash still had about ten million questions to ask but at least she felt better with Daring Do here. That was a pony she could always count on.

“Well,” The Red Hornet said, breaking the silence. “I suppose some introductions are in order. You all know me so I’ll let that fall to the rest.”

Cart nodded. “I’m Cart D’Evron. I suppose you can consider me a representative of the Aux-Lemm Corporation for the moment.”

“My name is Birdseed,” the orange stallion said. “I am an… associate of The Red Hornet.”

“Same here!” The pot-bellied stallion said. “And uh, my name’s Coin Flip. Hehe.”

Now Daring Do got up. “My name is Daring Do. I’m not from around here, so I apologize in advance if I do or say anything against local customs. Miss Valentine and I are working together on a common couple of goals, to put a long story short, we ran into each other in the desert not too long ago while working independently. I don’t know what her reputation with you all may be but she’s proven herself a trustworthy and loyal comrade to me.” She looked over at Rainbow Dash and smiled. “Just like Rainbow Dash here is.”

Rainbow Dash blushed and waved at the other ponies. “Yeah, that’s me. Daring Do and I know each other from way back.”

“Alright, and now with that out of the way, why don’t you all tell me why I shouldn’t do the lawful thing here and take Zargoz into my custody. And report the fact that a notorious criminal is clearly up to something to my superiors?” Cart asked, narrowing his eyes directly at The Red Hornet.

“Because we’re trying to stop disaster from befalling this entire desert, honey. That’s why,” she answered.

Cart and his other employees shared a few nervous looks and whispers before he opened his mouth again. “Care to explain?”

“I’d like to hear about that too,” Rainbow said.

Daring Do looked at The Red Hornet and raised an eyebrow. The Hornet scowled but eventually sighed and nodded.

“Have you heard of a pony by the name of Shining Diamond?”

Cart thought for a moment before shaking his head. “Can’t say that I have.”

“I’m not surprised,” The Hornet folded her legs over her chest. “He doesn’t come down to any oasis like this himself or show himself in public, he just uses his minions for errands.”

“And he’s a relative newcomer to this desert, like I am,” Daring Do said.

“So what’s his story?” Cart asked.

“He’s something called a crystal pony from a far-off country and-” Daring Do started before Rainbow interrupted.

“Wait, hold on!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “What’s a crystal pony doing out here?”

“I was just getting to that, Rainbow,” Daring Do rolled her eyes. “Anyways—crystal ponies are essentially just normal ponies, but they have a sort of crystalline and translucent look to them. That’s not really important though, what is important is he’s a dangerous criminal with a lot of resources at his disposal. And… and he’s traveling through the desert in search of the Crystal Sea.”

“What?!” Cart stood up in shock. “But even attempting to look for the Crystal Sea will get the camel’s entire Murker Corps to go after you if they find out!”

“Umm...” Rainbow Dash raised a hoof. “I’m lost again.”

“I guess there’s kind of a lot to unpack here...” Daring Do said.

“I’ll try and explain things the best I can to you,” Cart said to Rainbow Dash, clearing his throat after his previous outburst. “Do you remember what the money I gave you yesterday was?”

“Yeah, little copper coins?”

“That’s right, but that’s not the currency camels use in the desert. You see, camels have their own currency of rare crystals that other creatures aren’t allowed to hold or trade with. It keeps their economy from being manipulated or threatened and protects the caste system of the desert. And this “Crystal Sea” is a semi-legendary place where a massive amount of these crystals supposedly form, right up out of the desert sands. The camels either forgot about or lost its location a long, long time ago. And of course if anybody else was able to find the Crystal Sea they’d be able to throw the entire economy of the desert into turmoil. The camels would go into a panic. That’s why it’s forbidden to look for it, or practically even ask about it.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Okay, starting to get a handle on things. So because you’re now also sort of looking for the Crystal Sea, this Zargoz guy is threatening to tell all the camels and send the Brotherhood of Murkers after you or something?”

“Little mixed up there, honey, but you’ve got the gist of things,” The Red Hornet said. “The Brotherhood is the ruling body of camels, and the Murkers are their military wing.”

Cart snorted. “Military wing? More like a band of roaming savages. The Murkers prey on anyone they can when they’re not being ordered to do anything specific. They’re hated and feared across the whole desert by anyone who isn’t a camel.”

“Considering your hatred of the camels I’m surprised you weren’t willing to just let me and my associates go on our way,” The Red Hornet raised an eyebrow.

“That’s because two wrongs don’t make a right. The Aux-Lemm Corporation has a reputation for honest work and keeping to the law. You don’t have such a reputation. I’ve heard enough stories from non-camels about you to make me think they’re telling the truth. And anybody getting to the Crystal Sea can’t be a good thing,” Cart scowled at her.

“Hold on, we really just want to stop Shining Diamond from getting to it!” Daring Do said. “Please, I want you to believe me when I say we don’t have any intentions to use the Crystal Sea for ourselves or even tell anybody else where it is. We’re just trying to find it and the clues that lead to it before Shining Diamond can. I’ve also heard a lot about Miss Valentine, and I’ve had to talk her out of some things myself.” Daring Do shot a sharp look at the scarlet mare. “But I’ve also gotten to know her on a personal level, and the Aux-Lemm Corporation can trust that she’s doing the right thing.”

“I can vouch for Daring Do. I don’t know this Hornet pony either, but I can at least trust Daring Do’s judgment,” Rainbow said.

“Also, if you’re so concerned about the well-being of this desert, then you’ll want to not give us any trouble either,” The Red Hornet said to Cart. “None of us like the camels, but Shining Diamond is hardly looking for the Crystal Sea to right their wrongs. It’s all about power to him. Maybe if someone did want to just overthrow the camels you’d support them, but that’s not the case here.”

Cart went to share a look with the other employees, they had to nod in agreement with what The Red Hornet was saying.

“So what’s Shining Diamond even going to do if he finds the Crystal Sea?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Cause turmoil and chaos. Camel currency will become worthless as thousands of crystals from nowhere flood the market. He can bribe or blackmail anybody, give the crystals to non-camels, or just threaten to do all of that and force the camels to give him anything he wants,” The Red Hornet said. “Once he’s gotten enough power for himself I wouldn’t be surprised if he tries to overthrow the Brotherhood entirely. He’s an insane megalomaniac. And with all the flaws of camel rulership, they’re still better than a cruel dictator like him would be.”

“That’s why we can’t have anybody find out about what we’re doing. We can’t afford to have the Murkers or any other camels get in our way while we’re trying to stop Shining Diamond,” Daring Do said. “You can understand why we’re trying to be incognito about all this.”

“Obviously trying to convince the camels we’re the good guys wouldn’t work either,” The Red Hornet shook her head dismissively.

"That wouldn’t go very far,” Cart had to agree. “And it would probably be a bad thing if they found the Crystal Sea again too. Unlimited resources. As long as they controlled themselves they’d be even more untouchable than they are now. The Crystal Sea being found by benevolent creatures would be one of the only ways to fix this desert...”

“Let’s not go too far. While I’m not a fan of how this desert is, things are in a precarious spot, and having that kind of power can easily corrupt even a good pony,” Daring Do said.

Cart sighed. “Well, fair enough.” He suddenly frowned and looked over at Zargoz. “Wait—so then you’re saying that Zargoz here knows the location of the Crystal Sea?”

“He knew where we could go to potentially find the next clue or partial map to the Crystal Sea. He had a “friend” who found a map a long time ago, Zargoz secretly made a copy of half of that map before being interrupted and having to flee. Valentine got him to spill the beans about it but Zargoz tried to pull a fast one on us when we tried to get the real copy of the map from him. He gave us a fake he had made at some point along the way,” Daring Do said.

“I only just realized that in the nick of time,” The Red Hornet glared at the tied up camel.

“We were originally hoping that the partial map Zargoz had would be enough for us to find the Crystal Sea or another clue to its location on its own. But as we talked to him we learned that the original map only showed the way to another clue,” Birdseed said. “Not only did the half he copied only showed the starting point and not where the next clue was, he tried giving us that fake that would have us going in the wrong direction.”

“So where do you have to go next to find the real map?” Cart asked.

This time it was Daring Do and her allies who had to nervously share a few looks. They huddled up and started talking to each other—with Rainbow Dash able to hear a few angry growls from Hornet while Daring Do tried to reason with her. Eventually they came out of the huddle with The Hornet scowling, Birdseed blankfaced, Coin Flip licking his lips, and Daring Do offering a small smile.

“In the spirit of trust and working together, we’ve decided to tell you,” Daring Do said. “Right now we’re on the way to Two Hump Oasis.”

Cart instantly grimaced and reared back. “Two Hump Oasis? That den of scum and criminals?”

“Not really a surprise that a friend of this criminal would be there,” Daring Do shrugged and hooked a hoof over at Zargoz.

“I’m assuming that’s a bad place?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

“The worst in the whole desert,” Cart spat. “It’s a lawless zone that the camels don’t bother policing and Aux-Lemm steers clear from. It originated as a thieves hideout built around a small oasis in the first place, before growing and becoming a refuge for all sorts of bad folk over the years. It has a thriving black market but I would never tell any honest merchant to go there, it’s just too dangerous.”

Naturally, everything he said made Rainbow Dash pretty excited. She almost couldn’t stop her tail from swishing about behind her.

“So you know we’re serious about what we’re doing,” Daring Do said. “Please, don’t let Zargoz get in our way. I’m sorry that I have to ask you to break some rules but this is incredibly important. Shining Diamond is a threat to everyone.”

Cart stared back at her and blew a breath of air out his nose. He glanced over at Rainbow Dash, who smiled back at him. “I believe you. And I suppose you have the right of it. We won’t interfere in your business.”

“Good,” The Red Hornet impatiently stood up the moment Cart finished speaking. “Then it’s time to silence a certain camel. For good.” She stalked across the tent to Zargoz, whose eyes widened in fright as he struggled even more frantically to free himself.

Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped and she quickly flew around the others, coming to a stop right in front of The Hornet and blocking her path. “Whoa, hold on! There’s no need for that!”

The Red Hornet raised an eyebrow at her. “Excuse me? We can’t just let Zargoz live with what he knows.”

“Killing isn’t right,” Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. “Even if this guy is a criminal, he’s not dangerous to you anymore. I’m not letting you kill someone who’s defenseless like this. From what you’ve said he’s definitely a big jerk but I don’t think that makes him deserve to die.”

“I don’t take chances. So get out of my way,” The Hornet said to Dash.

“No,” Dash said right back.

“Rainbow Dash is right,” Daring Do suddenly cut in, putting a hoof on The Red Hornet’s shoulder. “I’ve told you this before, Valentine. You need to relax.”

The Red Hornet inhaled deeply, and then slowly let it all out. “Fine. But what are we going to do with him then?”

“Leave that to us,” Cart said. “We’ll take him with us on our trip to Dry Hole. He can be our honored guest. That way at least he’ll have no way of contacting anyone else for at least a month.”

“Mrph!” Zargoz let out a muffled yell.

“Shut up,” Cart said, rolling his eyes at the camel.

“I guess that’s it then?” Daring Do said. She smiled at Cart. “Thank you for your understanding.”

“Then let’s hurry up and go. We really don’t have any time to waste,” The Hornet said and turned to leave the tent.

“Hold on!” Rainbow Dash shouted again and lifted up a hoof to get her attention.

The Red Hornet, Daring Do, Birdseed and Coin Flip all looked at her. The Hornet in particular with an annoyed scowl on her face as she stared down Rainbow Dash.

“What?”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “There’s no way you’re thinking I’m not coming with you is there?”

“You can’t possibly think that I’d-”

“I’d love to have you join up with us, Rainbow Dash!” Daring Do said and came up to give Dash a hoof bump. “Be just like old times.”

The Red Hornet’s jaw dropped as she glared at Daring Do. “Are you serious?!”

Daring Do sighed. “I know Rainbow Dash, she’s a more than capable pony. She’d be a huge help to us.”

“She seems like a cocky, arrogant, reckless, pest. We don’t need someone like her with us.”

Daring Do just stared at her.

The Red Hornet coughed. “Okay, that might be the pot calling the kettle black, but it doesn’t make it any less true, honey. We’re fine without her.”

“I’m flying right here you know, you can just talk to me about it,” Rainbow Dash scoffed.

“The answer is no,” The Red Hornet narrowed her eyes.

“We could use the extra help and you know it. Shining Diamond has a lot of lackeys under his control,” Daring Do tried reasoning with her.

Birdseed cleared his throat. “I think-”

“This aint a democracy!” The Hornet shut him up immediately.

Rainbow Dash growled and flew down to land right in front of The Red Hornet’s face. “Look, I’m offering to help. You get that, right? And from what you all said it sounds like something really serious is going on so why not take what help you can get? You obviously respect Daring Do so you should trust what she says about me too. I know we’ve had a few disagreements in the very brief time we’ve known each other but I think we’re at least on the same page of doing the right thing and stopping this Shining Diamond guy.”

“And why do you even care?” The Red Hornet raised an eyebrow at her.

“Because that’s just the kind of pony I am,” Rainbow shrugged. “No one needs to pay me or ask me to do the right thing. I’m just gonna do it.”

The two mares stared at each other long hard, the other ponies in the tent unsure of what was going to happen, before finally the scarlet mare backed off. She turned around and stared at the closed tent flap leading outside.

“Alright. I can see that I’m not going to out-stubborn you at least. And if Daring Do believes in you… then I guess I can too,” The Red Hornet said.

“Awesome,” Dash grinned and shot a wink at Daring Do.

The author/archaeologist grinned right back. “Welcome aboard, Rainbow Dash.”

“Kind of an unexpected turn of events but I suppose that means I won’t have to help you find a caravan today,” Cart said.

“Heh, guess not,” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck. “Seriously though, thanks for all the help you gave me here. I’d probably be dying of thirst in a ditch right now if it wasn’t for you.”

“Meeting you certainly made things exciting as well. Good luck out there, Rainbow Dash.” Cart smiled at her and then looked at Daring Do. “You have your own transport and supplies and everything for making it through the desert then?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Daring Do said. “We did come here all the way from Dry Hole on our own already.”

Cart nodded. “Then hopefully I have nothing to worry about.”

“I don’t know about the others but Daring Do has a ton of experience with deserts and traveling and stuff. We got this,” Rainbow Dash said.

“So it’s ‘We’ already is it...” The Red Hornet grumbled.

“Well, Rainbow Dash, it unfortunately sounds like we wont be seeing each other again, but I wish you well on your travels,” Cart said to her.

“Thanks, dude. And good luck on your trip to Dry Hole,” Rainbow said.

“Thank you,” Cart looked over at his coworkers. “Alright, we’ve still got work to do today so let’s make up for the lost time. And someone keep an eye on that camel.”

“I think that’s our cue to head on out too then,” Daring Do said. “Come on everyone.”

“Back to our tents then?” Birdseed asked.

Daring Do nodded. “Yeah, we need to gather up our supplies and head out of here to Two Hump Oasis as quickly as possible.”

“So we’re getting on the move immediately? Sounds good to me,” Rainbow Dash said.

“We won’t be traveling through the desert super fast but we’ll make good time with just the five of us,” Daring Do said to her. “And maybe while we’re going through the desert you and Miss Valentine can get to know each other better. And maybe even start to get along.”

“Let’s not be crazy here,” The Red Hornet said as she held open the tent’s flap so they all could leave. “Like you said there’s no more time to waste so let’s get our things and go. We can talk when we’re on the road.”

Daring Do rolled her eyes but her comrade did have a point. “Alright.” She nodded to Rainbow Dash and the others and the five of them left the tent together.

“I never thought I’d get to go on an adventure with you while I was out here,” Rainbow said to Daring Do as she flew alongside them. “This is so awesome!”

The former group of four had set up camp at the far edge of the non-camel quarter in One Hump Oasis in a spot that was out of the way from the main thoroughfares and markets. They had two small tents—one for the mares and one for the stallions—that were easily collapsible and placed in sacks, and a number of bags and backpacks. All in all it was enough for a couple of ponies to easily carry and travel lightly through the desert with. They only had the essentials for surviving and camping out in the ocean of sand between oases and other stops. No wagon or anything, they were walking or flying.

“Hmm,” Daring Do thought as she looked over their supplies. “We might want to get another skin of water and some more food before we leave One Hump Oasis. There was more than enough with four even if we rationed but I want us to be extra careful with another mouth to feed. We’ll all need to be in our best shape traveling through the desert, especially if we suddenly come across Shining Diamond or his cohorts.”

“I can carry whatever extra stuff you need me to. So long as I have a little water I can handle the heat of this desert no problem,” Rainbow Dash boasted.

“Not as well as I can,” The Red Hornet whispered just loudly enough for Rainbow to hear.

Rainbow Dash frowned. “Oh yeah, you’re so awesome for wearing all that black in the desert. Totally not a showoff or anything.”

“And you’re going to tell me you’re not a big showoff either? With that swagger and smug way you carry yourself?” Hornet snorted.

“The difference is I earned this smugness and can back every last thing I say up,” Rainbow taunted.

A vein popped on The Red Hornet’s forehead. “And you’re saying I can’t, honey?”

“Oh for the love of—can you two just stop it already?” Daring Do said, pushing herself between the two other mares. “We’re on the same side so get along!” She glared at the two of them in turn. “Or can your egos not deal with that?”

Rainbow Dash sputtered but backed off. Wanting to indignantly say that the other mare had started it. “Yeah fine, no big deal.”

“I’m fine with it too. I’ll get along as long as we’re working together,” The Red Hornet said, turning away from the two others.

“Good,” Daring Do sighed in relief. “Let’s just finish up here, okay?”

“I’ll go buy us some more food and water,” The Red Hornet said and before Daring Do could say anything else she had already started to quickly trot to the markets.

“Forget her,” Rainbow Dash said and went over to try and get everything out of the tents and packed away.

“I was hoping the two of you would get along better,” Daring Do said.

“Dare to dream,” Rainbow shrugged. “I thought she was cool when I first saw her, but yeah, no.”

Daring Do rolled her eyes and shook her head but didn’t bother saying anything else. While the two of them worked on packing up the tent together, Rainbow Dash kept looking over at the two stallions working on their tent. She didn’t really know anything about the two other than their names and her suspicion that Birdseed wasn’t from around here. Frankly, the both of them just rubbed her the wrong way. Rainbow Dash had met a lot of bad ponies in her life, and these two gave off the same sort of vibe. Not like The Red Hornet who was obviously just very abrasive and maybe a little too indifferent when it came to other creatures. Birdseed and Coin Flip had the countenance of common thugs. The types of ponies Rainbow Dash thought their group was supposed to be fighting against. And definitely not the types that she would expect Daring Do to work with.

She was going to need to talk to them. Figure them out.

“Hey,” Rainbow Dash whispered to Daring Do and then glanced over at Birdseed and Coin Flip. “What do you know about those two?”

Daring Do briefly looked over at them and frowned. “Not a whole lot, to be honest. They were already working with Miss Valentine when I met her. She says there’s nothing to worry about from them but I always thought they were pretty skeevy.”

“Hm,” Rainbow Dash nodded and stopped packing things up, instead walking over to the two stallions. “Yo, what’s up?” She waved and gave them a friendly smile.

Birdseed’s attention snapped to her, his eyes suspicious and his face a hard-set frown. Coin Flip on the other hoof looked positively delighted to have a mare willingly speak to him. He ran a hoof through his grimy mane and grinned at her through his own rotted teeth. But his eyes carried a devilish look to them that almost made Rainbow shudder.

“Well hello there,” Coin Flip said.

“Uh, hey...” Rainbow’s grin faltered.

“Birdseed and I were just finishing up with out tent and supplies. What’s on your mind?” The unicorn asked her.

Meanwhile the earth pony just stared at her silently.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I was just kind of curious, how do you two know The Red Hornet? What made you join up with her for this mission to stop Shining Diamond?”

Before Coin Flip could answer, Birdseed cut him off. “We’ve worked with Miss Valentine before.”

“Doing what?”

“Business.”

“Where?”

“Here and there.”

Rainbow Dash stared at him and he stared right back at her. Coin Flip meanwhile didn’t exactly seem to get what was going on.

“If you’re interested in some of our business let me tell you about the first time we met Valentine,” the unicorn grinned. “It was-”

Birdseed swiftly punched him in the shoulder to silence him. “Shut up. Can’t you see she’s not the type of pony who would enjoy hearing that story? Use your head, she’s just trying to size the two of us up.”

Now Rainbow Dash frowned. “Okay, seriously, what’s the real deal with you two?”

Birdseed scowled. “It’s not really any of your business. We’re here because Valentine asked us to help her and that’s all that matters.”

Realization dawned on Rainbow Dash. “You’re only working with her right now because she’s paying you, isn’t she?”

“That’s right,” Birdseed replied. “Valentine isn’t happy about the arrangement either for your information, but she needed help and we were the only two she could find on short notice. Then we met the other pegasus later.”

“The two of you...” Rainbow Dash bit her lip as she looked at Birdseed and Coin Flip. “You’re the type of ponies that would gladly be working for Shining Diamond if he came to you with an offer first. Aren’t you?”

“If the offer was good enough,” Birdseed shrugged. “So long as something pays well I’ll do it. That’s why you shouldn’t worry about Coin Flip and I either. It’s bad business to break a deal and Valentine is lining our pockets well. There’s no reason for us to mess things up here. So you can just let us be, stop prying, and we’ll do the same. We don’t need to be friends to accomplish our goals together.”

“It normally helps,” Rainbow Dash snorted. “But fine, I know I’m not exactly in Equestria right now. Twilight can be the one who tries to make friends with the jerks. But are you really not bothered by what Shining Diamond is planning to do here?”

“Ask me how little I care,” Birdseed said and went back to packing up the tent. The conversation was over.

“Well aren’t you nice,” Rainbow grumbled.

“Doesn’t matter to me one bit either,” Coin Flip said and also started finishing up his work, an unfriendly frown had replaced his grin as he became aware of Rainbow’s reason for talking to them. “So long as I get paid.”

“Right,” Rainbow Dash said and turned around to go back and help Daring Do. “Sounds like it’s gonna be a lot of fun traveling with the two of you.”

It didn’t take much longer for Rainbow Dash and Daring Do to finish packing up their tent and supplies. Instead of either of them carrying it though, Daring Do said Coin Flip and Birdseed had been the ones made to carry most everything while they traveled. Part of The Hornet’s way of making them earn their keep. Well Rainbow Dash was fine with that. And shortly after that, The Red Hornet came back with some extra food and water.

She dumped it in front of Rainbow Dash. “You can carry your own.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Was already planning to. So where is Two Hump Oasis anyways? How far are we traveling?”

“It’s southwest of here and we’ll be out walking through the desert for several days at least. There are some wells and other stops I know about along the way. It wont be a problem,” The Red Hornet gruffly replied.

“Two Hump Oasis is closer to the middle area of the desert,” Daring Do said.

Rainbow Dash hauled the bag of water and pack of food onto her back. “Let’s get going then, I’m looking forward to an adventure. And that doesn’t include the walking part.” She then stopped and looked at the scarlet mare for a moment. “Oh, right, I wanted to ask you something. So is Valentine your name and The Red Hornet is just a title or nickname?”

“To my friends I’m Miss Valentine, but to my enemies I’m The Red Hornet,” the other mare replied, narrowing her eyes behind her sunglasses.

“Okay, got it Hornet, let’s get out there,” Rainbow smirked and flew ahead of her.

“Ugh,” Daring Do sighed and facehooved.

The party of five left One Hump Oasis behind as they set out in a vague southwest direction for their new destination. It was already fairly late in the day, not past dusk yet but getting close, so they probably weren’t getting too far before they would have to set up camp. As Rainbow Dash looked out into the desert it was already nothing more than an empty ocean of sand and dunes. Civilization was barely behind them and it was like they had entered another world.

The Red Hornet took point, Rainbow Dash flying low behind her, Daring Do walking under and a bit to the side of Rainbow, and Birdseed and Coin Flip pulled up the rear.

Rainbow Dash didn’t know what to expect from this group, or from Shining Diamond who they were trying to stop, but she was excited nonetheless.

In a small, grungy, town built around an oasis, there was a very popular bar called “The Watering Hole” that was frequented by all sorts. Ruffians, thugs, riff-raff, and even the occasional honest traveler came to this bar to get a drink. Right now was no different as it was filled with quite a few camels, ponies, antelopes, and griffons. When it came to a place like this, there was no “camels only” or “no camels” sort of place. Criminals were criminals.

Even then, there were some individuals who made the rest of the creatures at Two Hump Oasis uncomfortable.

One of which was currently seated at the bar of The Watering Hole, a mug of beer tightly gripped in her hooves as she stared at the bar in front of her and mumbled to herself. Everyone else in the bar gave her a wide berth, no one else was even sitting at the bar, only at the tables also in the building. It was difficult to see what was so scary about her to the other patrons. She looked like a fairly normal unicorn, aside from a horn that was a fair bit longer than average and a Cutie Mark that was a big explosion. Her reed thin yellow body even made her look kind of weak.

And still the usually loud and rowdy bar was quiet and no one else dared to talk.

The mare’s long, curly, fiery orange and red mane and tail were limp and unkempt, as if she hadn’t bathed or combed in weeks. Her teeth ground back and forth as she continued to mutter while the bartender was far too afraid to get near the taps to refill anyone’s drink.

“It’s been a while… is she coming… was he wrong… what if she doesn’t come here? I-Is that my fault? H-He can’t blame me if she never shows up… can he?” Supernova nervously babbled to herself. “C-Can’t fail, can’t screw up… please, please just let her show up soon so this can be over...”

Her hooves were shaking and her eyes were red as she lifted up the mug and took a deep drink.

Rainbow Dash woke up in the cramped tent after an uncomfortable night of trying to sleep in a tent really only made for two ponies to share at most. The first day of traveling with her new group of one friend and three other ponies had been fairly uneventful. After all, they really were just going through an almost entirely empty desert. There was nothing around for most of it but sand. One Hump Oasis had disappeared behind them entirely before they decided to make camp at night.

For the first time, Rainbow Dash had felt cold again in the desert. In a spot like this the temperature dropped drastically. Even inside their “cozy” tent she still felt cold. It was nothing like some of the snowy places she had been to but it annoyed her that things only switched from one extreme to the other.

The place they had decided to stop last night in the first place was one of the “secret” spots that Miss Valentine knew about. A small well, that drew up water from the ground, hidden in a shelf of rocks in the middle of the dunes. One of the few places Rainbow had seen in the desert that wasn’t just sand. Rocks weren’t much different but it was still something else to see so oh well. Apparently this was a place lone travelers, smugglers, and others who wanted to avoid major stops used.

When Rainbow Dash woke up she noticed it was still early in the day—before dawn even. The lack of light coming through the thin material of the tent told her so. Her body nudged up against the pony next to her and Rainbow Dash looked over to see a still sleeping Daring Do. The Red Hornet though was totally absent, her blanket empty. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow but shrugged, not tired enough to go back to sleep she got up and exited the tent without waking Daring Do.

With how dry it was out here she was pretty thirsty so she decided to head over to the well and fish out some water.

Rainbow Dash yawned as she closed the tent flap and looked over at the stallion’s tent. She couldn’t tell if they were awake or asleep and frankly she didn’t really care. She didn’t see The Hornet anywhere around so maybe she was getting some water too? That would be an uncomfortable early morning meeting. Rainbow hoped she wasn’t.

She walked through the rocks that obscured their tents from any travelers going by on her way to the well. Her eyes were still pretty heavy, and a yawn came out of her mouth every few steps. A little water sprayed in her face would probably help her too.

Passing another rock she came into the sandy clearing that the well sat in the middle of.

A scarlet mare was there by the well, using the bucket to pour water on her head and wash up. The Red Hornet wasn’t wearing her usual black clothes or sunglasses, they were in a pile by the well, and Rainbow could now see the tornado Cutie Mark on her flank as well as-

Rainbow Dash gasped, unintentionally notifying the other mare of her presence. Shocked blue eyes looked over at her as The Red Hornet froze and her wings shot open.

Her wings. Tiny, deformed, scarlet red stubs sitting on the sides of her body. Normally covered by the black vest she wore, no one would’ve been able to tell she was actually a pegasus and not an earth pony while wearing it, the wings weren’t noticeable at all under the vest. They had feathers, the same general shape and structure of a normal pegasi’s wings, but they would be useless for flight.

“Uhh...” Rainbow Dash was lost for words. She had thought The Hornet was an earth pony. And she certainly didn’t expect her to have wings like that. They were just like...

An angry, hateful, look twisted up The Red Hornet’s visage. She swiftly put on her clothes and walked over to Rainbow Dash.

“Look, I-” Rainbow tried to say right up until a hoof struck her in the face. She was knocked to the ground and winced, looking up at the other mare and holding her hooves up to try and get her to calm down. “Hold on, I don’t-”

“Shut up!” The Red Hornet said as she punched Rainbow in the face again. “You didn’t see anything!”

“It’s not a big deal, I didn’t say anything! It’s alright if your wings are-”

“Shut up!” She punched Rainbow again.

Rainbow grabbed her hoof before The Red Hornet could hit her again and stared up at the other mare. “There’s nothing... nothing to be ashamed of.”

The Red Hornet furiously glared at her but pulled her hooves away and stopped tying to punch Rainbow. “I’m not ashamed of them...”

Rainbow stood up and took a moment to catch her breath. “That was definitely a surprise. And sorry, it was an accident.”

“I don’t let others know usually,” The Red Hornet said, a frown still on her face as she walked past Rainbow. “Your reaction was different than most ponies. But I’d still prefer if you just ignored all of this.”

“But—look, there’s no reason for that. I wanted to tell you that it’s okay. Seriously. I know another pony with wings like yours, she lives back where I come from. She’s like a little sister to me, and yeah, not gonna lie that her wings being like that have gotten her down before, but she doesn’t let that stop her from being awesome,” Rainbow smiled and walked after her.

“Hah!” The Red Hornet snorted and shook her head. “So there’s another freak out there? Whatever.”

Rainbow Dash paused in mid-step. “What did you just say?”

The Red Hornet scowled and looked over her shoulder, ready to talk back to Rainbow Dash.

She never got the chance as a blue hoof collided with her face. The Red Hornet was thrown to the sandy ground and before she could get up, Rainbow Dash jumped on top of her and pushed her shoulders down to pin her to the ground. The blue pegasus had a furious look in her eyes that actually gave The Hornet pause.

“Don’t you ever, ever, say something like that in front of me again!” Rainbow yelled at her. “I don’t care if you make fun of yourself, I don’t care if you feel bad, or angry, or proud, or special. But don’t you ever say that again about my friend! Do you hear me? If you call Scootaloo a freak or anything like that one more time I’ll beat you so bad your ancestors will feel it!”

The Red Hornet tried pushing Rainbow off her but was only slammed back down.

“I said; do you hear me?!” Rainbow repeated.

“I... I hear you,” The Red Hornet finally answered.

“Alright,” Rainbow said and got off of her, helping the other pony back up to her hooves. “Now that we’ve had a friendly chat and gotten to know each other a little better, let’s try and get along.” Rainbow’s face was still cool and stony despite her words. “Sound good?”

Miss Valentine adjusted her sunglasses and stiffly nodded. “Sounds good.”

“And what happened to the two of you?” Daring Do asked as they returned to the small camp a short while later. Bruises were readily visible on both their faces.

“Nothing, we just had a talk. Right, honey?” Miss Valentine said.

“That’s right,” Rainbow said through gritted teeth.

Daring Do rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Let’s just get a move on early, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover today. And tomorrow. And probably the next day too.”

“Agreed, I’d like to get through this desert as fast as possible too,” Valentine said.

“Same here. We’re the ones carrying most of the stuff after all,” Birdseed grumbled.

Valentine smugly grinned at him. “You’re stallions aren’t you? Act like it.”

“Well that aint really too fair...” Coin Flip also complained but in the end the two of them still carried most of the supplies on their backs and the party went on the move again.

By the time they started traveling to Two Hump Oasis again, the sun was out and it was already quite a hot morning. Rainbow Dash took a big drink of water and ate a bit of dried seeds for energy. She was gonna need it today for all the walking and flying over the hot sands they’d be doing. Ahead of her, Miss Valentine was radiating an aura of “Don’t talk to me”, and behind her the two stallions were just ponies Rainbow really didn’t want to talk to. So that really only left her with one pony to converse with, and it was someone she had a question to ask anyways.

“Hey, Daring Do?” Rainbow Dash asked as she flew down to walk side by side with the other pegasus. “I’ve got something to ask.”

“What is it?” Daring Do raised an eyebrow.

“Well I was wondering why you were here in the desert in the first place? You only met up with Valentine later on, right? So what brought you here?” Rainbow asked.

"I came looking for something that Shining Diamond is also looking for. Though it isn’t as big of a priority for him as the Crystal Sea, it’s still something dangerous that we need to keep out of his hooves,” Daring Do said.

Now Rainbow Dash was pretty curious. “So what’s the thing?”

Daring Do gathered her thoughts for a moment and rubbed her chin. “Do you remember back when we were talking with Cart about the Crystal Sea? How he said the camels lost its location ages ago?”

“Yeah, I remember,” Rainbow nodded.

“Well that didn’t just happen for any random reason. At the time the camels lost the location of the Crystal Sea, they were at war with a horrible despot called Cinnabaron,” Daring Do said.

“Cinnabun?”

“Cinnabaron,” Daring Do corrected. “She was a pony who challenged the camels in this desert a long time ago. The war she waged against them lasted for years, it was a chaotic mess and it was during that that the camels lost the Crystal Sea. However, they still won the war against her and drove her out of the desert. Legend goes that she traveled elsewhere and created a new temple and kingdom for herself. What I’m searching for to keep out of Shining Diamond’s hooves is a map leading to her lost temple.”

“What’s the big deal if it’s just a map going to her temple?” Rainbow tilted her head.

“Because Cinnabaron had a certain treasure that she took with her to that temple. Something very dangerous,” Daring Do narrowed her eyes. “Cinnabaron was a deranged monster, and she created a magical amulet that caused anyone around her to grow sick and eventually die if she wore it. Something like that needs to be kept out of the wrong hooves. Actually I plan to give the amulet to Twilight Sparkle when I get back to Equestria, she’s one of the few ponies I know who could keep something like that safe.”

“True enough,” Rainbow nodded.

“But stopping Shining Diamond from finding the Crystal Sea is far more pressing at the moment. I’m not sure who in this desert might have the map but I hope I can still find it while we’re on our journey,” Daring Do said.

“The war against Cinnabaron caused a lot of lasting problems for this desert too,” Miss Valentine suddenly said from ahead of them, after apparently listening to their conversation the whole time.

“Like what?” Rainbow asked.

“Well for one it’s partially why camels are such jerks to every other group of creatures here. Not to say they weren’t always, but it got worse after they defeated Cinnabaron. Because of that they got this sort of attitude in them about how everyone else should be so grateful to them for getting rid of a monster that they should put up with everything camel’s do. Hay, they should be happy and accepting of camels putting themselves above everyone else. Apparently the camels didn’t get it through their thick skulls that just because Cinnabaron was worse than them, it doesn’t make them good.” Valentine shook her head. “Stupid camels.”

“They used their victory as an excuse to do bad things themselves,” Daring Do said.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “This desert is all messed up...”

“Unfortunately, fixing it is out of my capabilities. There are way too mane deep-seeded issues. Too much history,” Daring Do said.

“Not to mention the fact that we really need to deal with Shining Diamond first before we’d even think of being a pair of goody two shoes and fixing the rest of this desert just like that,” Valentine said.

“Things could be a lot worse here at least. Nowhere’s perfect,” Daring Do shrugged.

Rainbow Dash knew the truth of that statement. Despite the problems here in this desert it was hardly as bad as a few other places she had been on her journey so far. She wouldn’t know where to begin when it came to dealing with this sort of problem so stopping Shining Diamond sounded like a way better adventure. And if something else happened after or along the way, then that was just a bonus.

“Well isn’t that what we’re doing now?” Miss Valentine grinned over her shoulder at the two other mares. “Stopping things from getting worse?”

Rainbow Dash had to smile in agreement. “Yep, that’s right.”

Traveling through the desert was boring. Sand, sandy sand sand and heat that was intense enough at times to fry an egg. Combined with nights where she still found herself accidentally kicking or being kicked by the other occupants of the tent. All the days just melted together into nothing and Rainbow Dash had pretty much run out of stories to tell to pass the time. Didn’t help that most of her audience was pretty unappreciative or outright disbelieving of what she had to say.

“You’re making that up,” Miss Valentine said.

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at her.

“You did not meet a gigantic pegasus inside the middle of a hurricane above land. That’s insane.”

“I’m telling the truth!”

“Sure you are.”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!”

“I don’t know what any of that is supposed to mean...” Valentine shook her head.

“Whatever, I’m still telling the truth!”

“The rest of your stories were pretty unbelievable too. How does one pony get up to so many extraordinary things?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and looked at Daring Do. “Can’t you back me up on this? You know about all the crazy stuff I’ve done even before I started this adventure.”

Daring Do chuckled briefly. “I have to admit that I’m inclined to believe Rainbow Dash. She boasts and exaggerates but I don’t think she’d outright lie about any of these adventures she’s had.”

“See?” Rainbow victoriously folded her legs over her chest and grinned.

“Fine, fine, I’ll drop it honey,” Valentine said, obviously still not fully believing it.

“Can we just go back to being quiet? I much prefer silence to these inane conversations,” Birdseed said.

“Actually no,” Miss Valentine said. “Since we’ll be coming up to Two Hump Oasis soon, I wanted to go over some things so we’re all prepared. That place isn’t safe the same way One Hump Oasis or most settlements are so I want to be sure you all know how to act and what to do. First off; nobody goes anywhere alone. We all stick together. I don’t need any of us getting pick-pocketed or mugged or worse. Got it?”

“I don’t think you need to worry that much, not with me at least,” Rainbow said.

Valentine narrowed her eyes. “Got it?”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it. Geez...”

“So secondly, it’s not just camels you can’t trust here, it’s dang near everyone. So let me do the talking and let me lead us around while we’re here. We’re looking for one camel in particular by the name of Harzeen. His name is unfortunately all we know and not everyone at Two Hump Oasis is going to want to talk and answer questions. Fortunately I do know a bar where a number of people like to hang out at, and I’m... friendly with the bartender there. So we might be able to find something,” Valentine grinned.

“Works for me,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “If you want to do the talking part that’s fine with me. I’ll just handle the action.”

“Hopefully there won’t actually be much action,” Daring Do said.

“Yeah. Hopefully,” Rainbow Dash monotoned.

“It’ll only take us another day to get there I’d say,” Valentine said. “So whatever happens let’s handle it intelligently.”

“Do you think it’ll actually be tough finding this camel?” Daring Do asked.

Valentine shrugged. “Not particularly. Two Hump Oasis is a seedy place but it’s not very big. I doubt it’ll take more than a day to find someone willing to point us in the right direction. Might take a bit of money though.”

“We can just take it back from Harzeen then afterwards,” Coin Flip grinned.

Valentine chuckled. “That might be one of the few things you’ve said that I agree with.”

Rainbow Dash only rolled her eyes.

It was noon on a hot (big surprise) day when the outskirts of Two Hump Oasis appeared on the horizon. It didn’t have the uniformity that One Hump Oasis did, there were patches of nothing in one place, and shacks and shanties of wood built up along another area. Even at this distance Rainbow Dash could tell it was a hole. There were naturally a lot of tents too, just like One Hump Oasis, but she didn’t see as many trees or really a green area at all here. The oasis must be smaller or something. Which made sense she figured. If there was a bigger oasis, a better reason for creatures to come here, the camels would’ve probably made it an actual city of theirs or something. Those “Murkers” would’ve come to clear the criminals out.

“So are we going to carry all this stuff through town or should Coin Flip and I set up somewhere on the outskirts?” Birdseed asked.

“Sorry pal but you’re going to have to keep carrying it,” Valentine said. “I meant it when I said we’re all sticking together.”

Birdseed sighed. “Fine then. What’s another day of being a mule?”

The group of five made it to the edge of Two Hump Oasis in barely another hour. As they approached, Rainbow could see a lot of suspicious folk eyeing them on their way into town. Miss Valentine ignored them and kept looking straight ahead, not showing any sort of fear or worry. She knew exactly where it was they needed to go and she wasn’t going to let any random thugs get in her way. Rainbow could appreciate that.

There wasn’t a marketplace or bazaar by the looks of it here either. Most of the creatures clearly kept to themselves. She did see some buildings and tents selling stuff but they were always on their own and she often saw creatures around those places that were obviously bodyguards. She did see some buildings that looked like inns and other legitimate establishments, but really she couldn’t be sure.

“It’s been a little while since I was last here but I don’t think The Watering Hole is too much further away,” Miss Valentine said.

“The Watering Hole?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow.

“It’s the name of the bar I mentioned earlier. The four of you just watch my back when we get in there,” Valentine said.

“Sure,” Rainbow said and continued looking around at the squalor.

A group of three camels glared back at her when their eyes met but as soon as they noticed the scarlet mare Rainbow was with they broke contact and kept to themselves. Obviously Valentine was known here by quite a few as well. When it came to that, Rainbow was kind of torn. She didn’t like the idea that the only reason they weren’t being bothered or accosted by any thugs was because Valentine was here. Rainbow could easily handle anybody trying to cause trouble. She didn’t need someone else.

“This place is just sad,” Daring Do said.

“Reminds me of home,” Valentine said.

“Well that’s sad too,” Daring Do frowned at her.

Valentine only chuckled. “Relax. It’s not a big deal, I just grew up and have had to live around places like this my whole life. And I still turned out fine, didn’t I, honey?”

“Sure,” Daring Do rolled her eyes.

“I’ve seen worse places than this but it’s certainly still one of the more threatening of places I’ve been to. Every creature here is sizing us up and seeing if they can steal from us or worse. I can see them out of the corners of my eyes everywhere we go,” Birdseed said.

“Bunch of losers if you ask me. If they want to rob us they should have the guts to do more than glare,” Coin Flip said.

“And let the rest see how bad of an idea that is,” Birdseed glared at some shadowy figures watching them from behind a building.

“I’m not scared of anyone that might try and attack us but it’s better to not cause any trouble while we’re here. We don’t need to go making any noise. It could alert Harzeen or even Shining Diamond. We don’t know how many ponies he has working for him or where they might be and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some here in Two Hump Oasis,” Daring Do said.

Birdseed shrugged. “So be it. But making an example of some of the scum here might be useful too.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “No way. I know this place is supposed to be nothing but criminals, but there’s no way I’m going to let you rough up someone who hasn’t even done anything. If they attack us first then maybe—but there’s never a reason to beat someone up more than they deserve or more than what you need to. I’m not that kind of pony and while I’m around I’m not going to let any of you do something wrong like that either. Got it?”

“Goody two-wings,” Birdseed snorted.

“Deal with it,” Rainbow glared.

“Stop arguing. You’re just drawing attention to us, we don’t need to look like we aren’t getting along,” Valentine said from the front. She then looked over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes at Birdseed. “And we’re not doing anything unnecessary.”

“As if you have a problem with-” Birdseed started but then stopped himself, just frowning instead. “Fine, it doesn’t matter.”

The group walked through the destitute oasis for a little while longer, the sun beating down overhead and the breeze only blowing sand and dust everywhere. Eventually, Valentine saw a large tent and pointed the group towards it. Rainbow looked and saw a tent close to two-stories high and about a hundred feet across, there was a big opening in the middle of it for creatures to walk through and a leaning wooden signboard overheard with a hastily painted title on it that read “The Watering Hole” in ugly black letters. A couple of ponies and antelopes sat outside it, mingling around, while inside it seemed like things were pretty full up.

“That’s it. Time to pay an old friend a visit,” Valentine grinned.

“And by friend you mean?” Daring Do asked.

“...Someone who may try and run away when he sees me.”

“Well he won’t outrun me so let him try,” Rainbow said and smacked her hooves together.

“Hopefully it won’t come to that,” Valentine said as she led the five of them inside the tent bar.

As Rainbow had suspected, it was full of all manner of creatures inside, even camels. Numerous tables were set up along the floor—well, floor was the wrong word, it was just sand and dirt on the ground—and all of them were occupied by at least one creature. It was dusty and dingy inside too, not the kind of place Rainbow would normally ever go to get a drink and she doubted the quality of what they had was very good. Most eyes of the patrons turned to them as soon as they entered but Miss Valentine again ignored it all and made a beeline to the bar. The bar was actually a big square of wood with some taps and a few vats of who knows what in the middle of it that fed them. Along with shelves of glasses and mugs and bottles of what was probably more expensive stuff. There were a few patrons at the bar, mostly ponies, and a grizzled old earth pony bartender standing behind it close to the taps, ready to refill the mug of anyone who wanted it.

Once Miss Valentine had gotten a little closer the bartender looked up at her for the first time and his eyes immediately widened.

“H-Hornet,” he gulped. “Look, I-I really don’t-”

“Oh be quiet,” Valentine cut him off. “I’m not here because of you, I’ve got something bigger going on. But I thought you might be able to help me out and then maybe you’ll never have to see me again. That sounds good, doesn’t it, honey?”

The bartender did his best not to sweat as he took a quick glance at the other ponies with Valentine before he nodded at her. “S-Sure thing.” He then narrowed his eyes and growled at the patrons at the bar. “Scram.”

The bar was quickly evacuated and the party of five took up a few seats at the front, aside from Rainbow Dash who decided to hover around. Once Miss Valentine sat down she threw a mocking smile at the bartender.

“Seems like business has at least been good for you, Barley Breath.”

“It’s been… decent,” Barley said, evidently still uncomfortable with The Red Hornet right in front of him but relieved that she apparently wasn’t interested in him. “What did you come here for that I could help you out with?”

“There’s a camel living here in Two Hump Oasis. Goes by the name of Harzeen. Considering how popular of a place this is I was thinking that maybe you’ve heard of him? Maybe you even know where he lives?” Valentine asked.

Barley Breath knitted his brow together as he mulled over her question. “The name aint familiar to me.”

Miss Valentine’s smile dropped. “Don’t tell me that’s all you have to say?”

He gulped, immediately taking on a supplicating look. “W-Wait, I still know someone who might be able to help. I-If it’s a camel you’re looking for, then go ask Shireva, the fortune-teller. She’s a camel that knows every single camel living and doing business here, they come to her for business advice, marriage advice, everything. Really superstitious bunch, camels. And so long as you pay her she’ll tell you anything.”

“We can’t trust a camel to give us information,” Birdseed said.

“This one you can,” Barley Breath said. “She doesn’t care who she’s dealing with, you give her money and she’ll tell you the truth. It’s part of the reason she was driven to come here by the Brotherhood. She did some business they really didn’t like.”

“Surprised nobody here has done anything about her if she’s spurned plenty of others before,” Valentine raised an eyebrow.

“Camels won’t touch her. They think she’s got some kind of dark magic and they’ll be cursed. The rest of the creatures here are fine with her staying around since she’s the only one who can give them reliable information on what the local camels are doing,” Barley Breath shrugged.

“This doesn’t sound like the kind of creature I’d normally want to get involved with...” Daring Do said.

“All we’re doing is asking her where this other guy lives though, right? We don’t want our fortunes told or anything crazy,” Rainbow said. “We’re practically using her as a tour guide, it’s not a big deal.”

“Alright—so where can this fortune-teller be found?” Valentine asked Barley.

“Middle of the oasis, right by the water. She’s got this black tent all to herself, no other tents around, you really can’t miss it.” Barley answered.

“And she’ll take coin as payment? Not just crystals?” Valentine asked.

“She will,” Barley nodded.

“Then thanks. If this pans out you can consider us nice and square,” Valentine winked at him and hopped off her seat at the bar. “Let’s go everyone.”

Barley watched them leave The Watering Hole and sighed in relief once the last one was gone. Shaking his head he went to pour himself a drink from the taps. “Two psycho-mares in the same week, I gotta move.”

As the five ponies left The Watering Hole to go search for Shireva the fortune-teller, they were discreetly watched by two robe wearing ponies. The ponies shared a glance with each other under their hoods before ducking behind another tent to stay out of sight.

“Well? That was them wasn’t it?” One asked, a stallion.

“Definitely,” the other, a mare, nodded. “The Red Hornet, and that pony called Daring Do that she met up with. I don’t recognize the other three though.”

“Doesn’t matter. Should we go back and tell Shining Diamond? Or break the locator crystal and bring him here?” The stallion asked.

The mare shook her head. “Not yet, they obviously know something we don’t. I say we watch them for a while longer. Something tells me they’re closer to finding the Crystal Sea than we are on our own.”

“Let them find it for Shining Diamond?”

The mare smirked under her hood. “Exactly.”

Five ponies approached a black tent in the middle of Two Hump Oasis. It was rather ominous, built in the grass, practically right at the water’s edge, with absolutely nothing else around it. Rainbow could see what would make others suspicious about it. Or maybe camels were just weird when it came to stuff like this. The tent had a veil over the front entrance leading into it and Daring Do shot a glance at Miss Valentine before they entered.

The scarlet mare just shrugged and walked on in. “Aint nothing to worry about, honey. Just some fortune-teller.”

Rainbow Dash and the others followed her in, moving through the veil that obscured the insides from them. Instantly they had to keep from coughing as smoke drifted from deeper in the tent, it smelled funny and Rainbow Dash’s nose curled.

“Incense,” Daring Do said as she saw Rainbow’s reaction.

“Huh?”

“It’s something you burn for meditation, relaxation, spiritual reasons, anything.” Daring Do answered.

“Oh,” Rainbow blinked.

“Ponies, is it?” A deep and gravelly voice said from deeper in the tent, in the shadows that the incense smoke wafted out from. The voice was female but ancient sounding. “What brings you to my tent?”

The group tensed up and went on guard at the sound of the disembodied voice, with Miss Valentine stepping forward and staring into the darkness.

“You’re the fortune-teller, why don’t you tell me?”

“You’re looking for someone.”

Valentine frowned. “Lucky guess.”

“Of course. I can tell by the way you carry yourselves you are not here for my typical services. It is mere information you seek. Disappointing.”

“Tch,” Miss Valentine clicked her tongue. “Look, let’s just cut to the chase already. There’s a camel who lives in Two Hump Oasis by the name of Harzeen. Where does he live?”

“A request for such information will take payment.”

Valentine rolled her eyes and reached into a vest pouch, pulling out a surprisingly large bag of clinking coins. “How much?”

“All.”

“Are you out of your mind?!” Valentine roared. “You think just telling us where some camel lives is worth all this?”

“It is to you. All. Or nothing. No other camel will aid you like I will.”

Valentine looked like she was about to blow a gasket but Daring Do came up and put a calming hoof on her shoulder. “It’s alright, money can be made up later, right now we need to find Harzeen as quickly as possible.”

“Violence could just as easily be the answer,” Birdseed said.

“No,” Daring Do and Rainbow Dash both said to him.

“Fine. Fine.” Valentine got out through gritted teeth and tossed the bag of coins towards the shadows. “Here, take it all, you greedy camel.”

The bag landed on the sand at the edge of the shadows and a low, amused, chuckle emerged from the unseen fortune-teller. “You won’t regret it, I assure you. The one you are seeking lives to the west of my tent, in a part of the oasis populated by camels. His home looks normal at a glance but it has a large hidden basement where he keeps his most important items. Walk now to the west, through the buildings, and the vulture will show you the way. Harzeen opens his door for no one, I would suggest breaking it down.” She laughed at the thought.

“Not the best directions,” Valentine grumbled.

“As long as you leave now you will find where you need to go.”

“Leave now? Sounds great to me,” Valentine said and turned around, ushering the rest out. Rainbow didn’t know what to make of this weird fortune-teller.

“However—if I could have a moment alone to speak with the rainbow one?”

Everyone else turned to look at the surprised and confused Rainbow Dash. Valentine frowned and looked back at the shadows. “About what?”

“Alone.”

Daring Do raised a questioning eyebrow at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow shrugged. “I mean, alright. You guys go on ahead and I’ll meet back up with you real quick.”

“Whatever you say,” Daring Do said and nodded to Valentine to make sure she came alone. “Just… be careful.”

“Am I ever not?” Rainbow grinned, eliciting a smile and a shake of the head from Daring Do. Birdseed and Coin Flip exited the tent shortly after while Valentine grumbled and shot dirty looks at the shadows the whole time on her way out. Once they had passed the veil, Rainbow Dash frowned and looked back at the cloaked fortune-teller. “Okay, what’s up with you? What do you want to talk with me about?”

“You are peculiar. Interesting. I have never met a pony with such a blinding fate swirling around them.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I already know I’m awesome. Tell me something I don’t know.”

“When you came in here, your fortune opened up to me. Your past. Your present. And your future. Danger is all around you.”

Rainbow kept staring into the darkness but she was taking it a little bit more seriously now. “Go on. I’m used to danger, you still haven’t said anything special.”

Slowly out of the shadows, a graying, decrepit leg with thin wisps of hair falling from it and twisted toes at the end, came to point at Rainbow Dash. “Your past. A cold monster chases after you. Your present. A devilish specter watches your every move. Your future. Darkness. Beware, pony, this day could very well be your last.”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip and fought back a gulp. The fortune-teller spoke with such… certainty. “Thanks for the advice.” Rainbow said and turned to leave the tent.

Shireva the fortune-teller watched as Rainbow Dash passed through the veil and exited her domain. “The journey you are on… does it end in darkness or will you break through it? Even I could not see.”

“So what was that about?” Daring Do asked as soon as Rainbow Dash flew back to join them.

“Nothing really, just a creepy fortune-teller being creepy,” Rainbow said.

“You sure? You actually look sort of pale.”

“She… may have mentioned a certain pony I’m trying to forget about. Someone I didn’t tell you all about when I was telling my stories.”

Daring Do looked on at her in concern. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Rainbow shook her head. “No. Let’s just focus on what we’re doing now. We’ve got a megalomaniac to stop.”

“Ugh,” Valentine suddenly let out a frustrated grunt from the front as the group entered a part of the oasis where camels mostly lived. Supposedly where Harzeen would be. “Knew it was dumb to trust another greedy camel. The vulture will lead the way? How are we supposed to find anything here?”

Rainbow Dash looked around and had to agree she had a point. This place was a sea of shanties and hovels that looked practically indistinguishable from one another. A lot of camels were out and looking at them weirdly. Suspicious, probably. Maybe even afraid if they recognized Miss Valentine. Rainbow had to imagine if their group was any smaller—especially if it was just the three mares—that they’d be finding a lot more trouble.

Valentine looked from building to building. “Vulture, vulture… alright I’m debating going back to that fortune-teller and getting a little rough.”

“Don’t give up so easily,” Daring Do said to her.

“Do you see any vultures out?” Valentine asked.

Right as she asked that, a vulture flew down from overhead and landed on the roof of a building, right above the door. The group blinked at it.

Coin Flip lifted up a hoof and pointed. “I see one now.”

“Yes, thank you,” Valentine growled at him.

“So if that’s Harzeen’s place what should we do? Take the fortune-teller’s advice again?” Birdseed asked.

“It could be a good way to take him by surprise,” Daring Do said. “Busting down a door could look a little strange, especially if we have the wrong one, but I doubt any camels here are going to come help him either.”

“Then let’s get on with it!” Rainbow said and swiftly flew forward before anybody else could say anything. Her hooves were outstretched in front of her and one last strong flap of her wings propelled her at high-speed right into the door with enough force to pulverize it. She landed on the floor and quickly looked around, already on alert and ready to take on anyone that might try and attack her after she just busted down their door.

All she saw inside the small hovel was a very surprised camel with a long grey beard sitting at a table cluttered with drawing implements.

“Harzeen?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow.

He coughed. “Um… no?”

Rainbow grinned. “You have a map we’re looking for.”

Right as she said that the others came in through the destroyed door and Harzeen paled.

“T-The Red Hornet...” He glanced between her and Rainbow Dash. “I-I don’t understand, what do you want with me? I’m just an old collector of trinkets and things...”

“If that was true you wouldn’t be living here,” Valentine said. “And we already know from Zargoz what you’ve really got here. And from Shireva the fortune-teller that this-” she glanced around at the cramped insides of the small home. “Isn’t all there is to your home.”

Harzeen’s face darkened and he grit his teeth in anger. “That scumbag and fortune-teller...”

“Unfortunately you’ve had bad luck with other camels. Now I’m going to cut to the chase here since I really, really, am out of patience today. Where is the original map that Zargoz was trying to copy?” Valentine pulled down her sunglasses and narrowed her deep blue eyes at the camel.

“I-I have no idea what you’re-”

In a flash, Valentine had leaped towards him and kicked him off his chair, the camel falling to the ground. Just as quickly she grabbed his beard and held a knife up to it she had pulled from somewhere and looked him dead in the eye. “I haven’t shaved a camel in a long time, so I might accidentally cut a little too close. Unless you tell me where that map is right now.”

Harzeen’s eyes—for the briefest of moments—glanced at the floor beneath his table. But it was all the time Valentine needed to see it. She grinned and let him go, sliding the knife back into her vest and then turned around to flip over the table. It clattered to the floor and everything on it went spilling around, making even more of a mess. Beneath the table was a small trapdoor built into the floor. The door to the basement.

“Just like the fortune-teller said,” Daring Do said.

“T-That map is one of my most prized possessions, I-I can’t let you-” Harzeen started before Valentine shut him up with a glare.

“Your most prized possession? But you were never willing to go look for more were you? Too afraid of the Brotherhood or Murkers catching you looking for the Crystal Sea?”

Harzeen’s eyes turned downcast. “The map doesn’t show you the full way anyways… the camel I got it from only said that there was something out in the sand that showed the rest of the way. I-I never...”

“Never had the courage. So you were just going to let it collect dust in here, honey,” Valentine mocked.

“What do you know about it?” Harzeen grew angry. “The Crystal Sea is our legacy! It’s-”

“Coin Flip, shut him up,” Valentine said.

A sickly green aura of magic appeared around Harzeen’s head—and then it was smashed face first into the ground with enough force to knock him out.

“Done!” Coin Flip laughed.

Daring Do and Rainbow Dash frowned, the archaeologist approaching Miss Valentine. “That was a little bit excessive, and you also could’ve waited until after he told us where the map is down there.”

Valentine bit her lip and glanced at the door. “Fair enough… let’s get down there then.”

“Great, looking around some dusty old basement full of a bunch of boring history stuff,” Rainbow Dash sighed.

“Boring to you, maybe,” Daring Do said as she looked at some of the stuff that had fallen off Harzeen’s table. The “drawing” tools and implements seemed to be mostly used by the camel for map-making and upkeep. “Maps seem to be Harzeen’s specialty, I wonder if maybe he has any information on the map to Cinnabaron’s lost temple? Not enough time to really look around for it or question him though...”

“He certainly won’t be waking up for a while,” Birdseed said. “That kind of thing is about all Coin Flip is good for.”

The unicorn snorted. “Shut it.”

Valentine pulled open the door to the basement and the five of them headed down the steps to see what they’d now be working with. It was dark but enough light came from the door above that they could see a gas lamp sitting on a table at the bottom of the stairs. Valentine switched it on and the rest of the basement was illuminated to them. And the fortune-teller wasn’t lying when she said it was a large basement. Bookcases and bookcases filled up the basement, with it clearly having a floor space easily double that of the home above. A few cluttered desks, tables, and chairs sat around as well. It was practically like someone’s combination of a personal library and storage closet.

Miss Valentine groaned in annoyance. “Ugh… let’s get started.”

“Guess we’ll just have to look everywhere,” Daring Do said as she checked the nearest bookcase.

“He said it was one of his most prized possessions, maybe he has it hidden someplace special?” Birdseed suggested.

“We can check for any hiding spots while we search,” Valentine said, for some reason still wearing her sunglasses.

“Booooring,” Rainbow Dash said as she flew around the bookcases, only half-heartedly looking around at them. Papers, books, rolled up maps, binders, and small boxes littered every shelf. She really had no idea where to start. It didn’t help that aside from being a map they had no idea what it looked like or how big it was. She found herself pulling out every errant piece of paper and checking them before dropping them on the floor.

Being an earth pony, Birdseed kept to the bottom shelves and some of the desks and tables while Coin Flip searched with even less effort than Rainbow Dash.

“Considering Zargoz almost copied the map maybe he has a safe or lockbox down here that he put it in...” Miss Valentine said.

“That would just bring us some new problems,” Daring Do sighed.

“If we can just find what system he uses to organize things, or where his newest or oldest stuff is put we could work from there,” Valentine said, mostly speaking to herself at this point cause at least two of the other ponies weren’t paying any attention.

Birdseed had continued his wanderings and made it to a desk at the back of the basement. Unlike most of the others down here, this one wasn’t as messy and it caught his eye because of that. A quick glance at the desktop showed him nothing of value, but there were several closed drawers to inspect. Most of them opened up without a problem, revealing either nothing or crumpled up pieces of paper, but there was one drawer at the top that had a lock on it. Obviously there was no key around but there was a paperclip on the desk. And this was something Birdseed had a lot of experience with.

He straightened the paperclip and fiddled around with the lock, listening carefully for the tell-tale click. His experienced hooves soon proved fortuitous as the lock clicked open and he could pull out the drawer. Inside was a single piece of folded paper that he carefully took out. Unfolding and examining it, his eyes widened.

“Well I’ll be...” He glanced over his shoulder to make sure the others were still just looking around before folding the paper back up and hiding it in his scarf.

No sooner had he finished than-

“Found it! I think I found it!” Daring Do said as she held an open map in her hooves over a table tucked away between two bookcases. “This looks exactly like Zargoz’s copy, the same route at the beginning, the same details, but it goes further!”

The other ponies crowded around her, looking upon a faded map that had a black line leading east across the desert before stopping in a spot kind of at the edge of the middle of the desert. Miss Valentine looked at it to see if she could figure out a location since no other settlements were marked on the map. She was just going by her memory of the desert and what was out there.

“Camelback,” Valentine said. “This spot marked at the end is in the desert just a little north of Camelback. We should go there and then travel up through the desert ourselves to this point. Hopefully we’ll find what we need to make it further. Only problem is, the deserts around Camelback are notorious for sandstorms and being difficult to travel through.”

“Maybe that’s why no one’s been able to find this place just snooping around yet?” Rainbow said.

“Maybe,” Valentine nodded. “Either way we need to get there and get there quickly. Of course we don’t have any money to buy any food or supplies, not to mention the chance at a ride on a sand ship. Ugh!” She kicked the table.

And a false bottom broke off it and hundreds of hidden coins clattered to the floor.

The five ponies stared at the small treasure.

“Uhhh… do you think the fortune-teller saw this?” Rainbow asked.

Valentine sighed. “Who cares? Let’s gather this up and get out of here.”

“We can use this money to get a ride on a sand ship. That’ll be the fastest way to get to Camelback from here,” Miss Valentine said as the group left Harzeen’s home. Nobody bothered to do anything about the door. Quickly they began walking to the east side of Two Hump Oasis and away from this camel-heavy area.

“Uh, what’s a sand ship?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Pretty much just what it sounds like, it’s like a boat that travels over the sand, propelled by unicorn magic and a team of rowers. There should be a few here right now. They used to be used by bandits who would swiftly attack and retreat from caravans, then the bandits realized it would be far more profitable, and safer, to go legitimate and become a transport service for creatures traveling through the desert. If you can’t fly yourself it’s the fastest way to travel, only two days from here to Camelback on one of those ships,” Valentine explained.

“Huh, that’s pretty cool,” Rainbow said.

“Of course though the ones in charge of the ships aren’t exactly the most savory, former bandits and all, so we’ll need to keep quiet as to why we’re going to Camelback and also not let them find out just how much money we have,” Valentine said.

“Then let’s just keep on our wingtips around them,” Daring Do said. “Either way I’m happy that now we’ve really got something to go on.”

Valentine smirked. “We’ll beat Shining Diamond to the Crystal Sea easily. And then take care of him too.”

“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash agreed with a smile.

“E-Excuse me?” A light and somewhat trembling voice interrupted the group. “Is your name Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow Dash and the others looked to see a thin, yellow unicorn mare that had come up behind them. She looked disheveled with wide, bloodshot, eyes and her hooves were trembling in the sand.

“Yeah? I’m Rainbow Dash,” Rainbow answered while behind her Miss Valentine sharply sucked in a breath.

Relief poured over the mare’s face and she smiled while her body steadied. “Thank heavens.”

Her horn then sparked with magical power and an explosion erupted in Rainbow Dash’s face.

The forest just south outside the limits of Pinetree Warren was especially quiet today. Perfect for Honey Sight, it meant there were no distractions as he bird-watched. And he had the perfect specimen he was watching today: a blue jay. A beautiful bird, so vibrant, with such a recognizable head shape. While he was close enough to easily see it with his naked eyes, he still used binoculars to get as much of an up-close look as he could. The bird was resting on a tree branch at the moment while Honey Sight watched it from below.

Beautiful. He thought.

The blue jay suddenly stiffened before flying off the branch altogether and Honey Sight’s jaw dropped in surprise and disappointment. He put down his binoculars and sighed.

“Did something spook it?”

Snap

The sound of a twig being snapped underhoof made him turn to see another pony walking through the forest. Honey Sight had been so focused on the blue jay that he hadn’t even noticed her. He could tell immediately that she wasn’t from Pinetree Warren, he knew everyone from the village and she was definitely a stranger. He wondered why she wasn’t traveling down the road? She was certainly a vibrant pink too and her blue eyes were rather pretty, along with that kind and innocent little smile on her face.

“Miss?” Honey Sight said to her as she got closer to the trees he was standing by. “Where might you be from?”

She didn’t answer. She didn’t even look at him.

Honey Sight rubbed his head. “Um… Miss? What brings you into the forest today?”

She walked right past him without a glance or even any notice that she heard him.

He watched her go, walking further south through the forest. “Okay…?” He shrugged and shortly after returned to bird-watching. The unusual mare would be forgotten by the time he went to bed.

A powerful explosion tore apart the relative quiet of Two Hump Oasis. Ponies, camels, and all sorts of other creatures turned their heads to see a fireball erupting near the middle of the oasis and a great plume of smoke already rising to the sky. Many were confused and frightened over what had just happened. But many more knew exactly who was responsible. Quickly, most creatures started running away from the burning explosion, with only the most foolish staying to watch.

Rainbow Dash lied on the ground with her mouth wide open in shock and black soot covering her face. Wrapped around her midsection were the legs of Miss Valentine, who had only managed to pull her away at the very last millisecond. Around her, Coin Flip, Birdseed, and Daring Do were all picking themselves up and trying to figure out what had just happened.

In front of her, a smoking crater sat right where she had been standing, the sand still on fire with enough heat to make Rainbow sweat.

Cough! Valentine coughed and helped Rainbow Dash up. “W-We need to get out of here...”

“Who—what?” Rainbow Dash muttered, her ears still ringing from the force of the explosion.

“Rainbow! We have to-”

“You’re still alive?” A voice came from past the smoking crater and shortly after the mare responsible for it stepped through it. Right through the heavy smoke, right over the burning flames as if they weren’t there. Her shadow appeared at first before she fully emerged, the tip of her horn crackling with barely contained energy. “I can’t have that. You have to die. I have to kill you.”

She tilted her horn down at Rainbow Dash but before another explosion could erupt, Miss Valentine flung a hoofful of sand at her face. The mare couldn’t close her eyes in time to avoid all of it getting in them and she began trying to rub her eyes to clear them. Her horn sparked and she shot off a random explosion right in front of her for safety that blew sand everywhere but otherwise didn’t hurt anyone. Valentine took the moment to grab Rainbow by the hoof and lead the two of them away.

“Everyone, come with me!” Valentine yelled while everyone gathered their wits.

It was the only rallying cry they needed. The other three soon joined up with the running Rainbow Dash and Miss Valentine and they quickly hid behind a small, nearby, building.

“Who the hay was that?!” Birdseed yelled.

“Be quiet!” Daring Do shushed him.

“Her name is Supernova,” Valentine answered as they all caught their breath. “She’s a mercenary, she kills for money.” She raised a scarlet eyebrow at Rainbow Dash. “You must have made someone very mad for them to send her after you.”

Rainbow Dash—finally back to her senses—cleaned off her face. “But I haven’t done anything! Nobody in this desert even knows who I am!”

Valentine shrugged. “Someone still wants you dead.”

A sudden explosion blew apart a building just a few feet away from them, sending debris all over.

Coin Flip gulped. “Umm...”

“She doesn’t seem to care about collateral damage either...” Daring Do said.

“Then I can’t just stay here!” Rainbow said and flew up. “I’m taking her out before she can blow up a building that actually has someone inside!”

“Rainbow, don’t!” Valentine tried to stop her but to no avail.

Rainbow Dash flew up over the roof of the building and looked down to find Supernova. The yellow unicorn was standing in an open area, her horn still sparking and crackling with ready to use magic. Once she saw her target pop up into sight, her eyes narrowed and the magic around her horn grew more intense. Rainbow Dash was undaunted. If this mare was after her, and she didn’t care who got in the way, then Rainbow Dash had to stop her. With a powerful flap of her wings she flew directly at the unicorn.

Supernova unleashed her magic the second Rainbow Dash did so, and now that Rainbow Dash was focused and alert, she saw the sparking flames that signaled a new explosion was an instant from erupting right in her face. So as fast as she could she darted to the right, trying to avoid the explosion, confident that she was fast enough to dodge and wind her way through anything this mare could throw at her. The blast came just a split second later, a huge fireball erupting in midair.

It was more powerful and faster than Rainbow Dash had anticipated. Heat and pressure washed over her and the shockwave from the blast sent her careening out of control to the sand below. Rainbow Dash tried to right herself in time but still ended up crashing into the sand.

“Ugh!” She spat some sand out and sat up… just in time to see Supernova powering up her horn and getting ready to blow her to smithereens. Rainbow’s eyes went wide-

A throwing knife came whizzing through the air to Supernova’s right, going right for her head. The unicorn turned her horn and fired a smaller explosion at the knife, completely blowing it up before it reached her.

From the direction the knife was thrown, Miss Valentine stood, staring down Supernova through her sunglasses.

“The Red Hornet?” Supernova raised an eyebrow. “Why are you with this pony?”

“I’d rather ask you why you’re trying to kill her,” Miss Valentine asked back.

“Yeah!” Rainbow said as she stood up fully. “Who the hay asked you to kill me? I don’t even know anyone in this desert!”

Supernova’s pupils shrank down to pinpricks and she stared at Rainbow Dash. There wasn’t any anger there. It was an expression of total fear and abject terror. “I-It doesn’t concern you! Just die! You just have to die!”

Her horn sparked and Rainbow Dash flew to the side right as a column of explosions erupted right where she had just been standing. For dozens of feet behind her the sand was torn apart by fiery explosions and it only ended when the column impacted a building and completely blew it to pieces as well.

“Seriously?!” Rainbow Dash grit her teeth as she flew from the blasts and zigzagged through the air to try and keep Supernova from getting a lock on her. Fireballs kept erupting everywhere around her, knocking her around and leaving her surrounded by smoke. The fires hardly perished either after the explosion finished—the air continued to burn and smoke for some time after.

At the same time, another throwing knife came right for Supernova’s head. She saw it coming though and hopped out of its way, turning her sparking horn towards the scarlet pony that had thrown it.

“Bad idea...” Valentine winced.

Before Supernova could fire a spell though, a different pegasus smacked into her from behind and tackled her to the ground. Daring Do landed atop the mare and raised a hoof to try and knock her out with a solid punch—but she soon found herself encased in an aura of yellow magic and thrown directly at Valentine. The two mares smacked into each other as Supernova got out and blasted another explosion at them. Right before it erupted, a green barrier of magic went up to shield them.

The hastily made shield was blown up completely by Supernova’s magical explosion but it dampened the blast enough where the ponies behind it were only thrown away and not blown apart.

Birdseed grabbed Valentine while Coin Flip picked up Daring Do and the four stood together behind the smoke, getting a brief reprieve.

“Not getting paid if you die...” Coin Flip grumbled.

“But fighting that mare is still a terrible idea,” Birdseed said.

Valentine glanced up at the sky. “Tell that to Rainbow Dash.”

The others looked up to see their rainbow pegasus friend recklessly flying right at Supernova once again. Supernova saw her coming and unleashed a crackling explosion at her target—putting extra power into it this time. Rainbow Dash was more aware of how her powers worked now and she managed to dodge better, flying to the left well before the explosion actually erupted, but she still hadn’t taken into account that her opponent could change what she was doing too. The massive fireball erupted in the air right behind Rainbow Dash, flames licked at her tail and wings as the force of the blast rattled her brain and sent her colliding into a tent, collapsing the whole thing on top of her.

“Hah!” Supernova grinned and got ready to blow away the tent and Rainbow Dash together.

Right as she was about to fire off her spell, a rope lassoed her tail and yanked her backwards, making her accidentally fire her spell into the air. Looking back she saw Daring Do holding onto the end of the rope and Coin Flip standing by her. From her sides came Birdseed and Miss Valentine, all of them attacking her together so she couldn’t just focus on one at a time. An explosion sent at one of them would give the others enough time to attack.

Of course, Supernova didn’t have to play by their rules.

Her horn sparked as she tilted it down and an explosion erupted on the ground right in front of her. Birdseed and Miss Valentine were completely blown away while Daring Do fell backwards thanks to the rope snapping. A smoking crater was left where Supernova had been standing but as Valentine picked herself up she knew that the mercenary mare was hardly finished. In fact she probably hadn’t hurt herself at all.

Valentine grit her teeth and yelled. “Everyone! Forget this! We have to grab Rainbow Dash and get away from her somehow!”

“Easier said than done!” Birdseed coughed as he walked around the other side of the crater.

“That’s right,” Supernova said as she stepped out of the smoke. Her coat was a little black in spots but otherwise she seemed considerably resistant to her own magic. Her bloodshot eyes flickered to Valentine. “Red Hornet. You can die first.”

An extremely violent series of sparks and crackling magic flared up on Supernova’s horn as she pointed it at Valentine.

“Well this could’ve gone better...” Valentine muttered.

Right as Supernova was going to unleash it, a green sphere of magic appeared around her horn. The crackling magic erupted in the sphere—breaking it easily—and accidentally shot out in every direction. Explosions tore apart the sand and buildings all around them, including another one right in Supernova’s face. Gashes of fire burned in Two Hump Oasis and practically everything nearby had either been leveled or was burning down.

Valentine looked over at Coin Flip and saw the pot-bellied stallion sweating after performing that feat of magic. It still gave them a better opportunity than they would probably ever get. A lot more smoking craters now covered the area they were in and the smoke was starting to get thick on the ground, it would be tougher for Supernova to find them if they could just get away from her for a moment.

“Come on!” Valentine yelled and waved the others over as she ran towards the tent Rainbow Dash had crashed into.

The other three ran after her, Supernova still not emerging from the inferno yet.

“I don’t know if Rainbow Dash is okay,” Daring Do said as she hustled alongside Valentine.

“Whether she is or isn’t doesn’t change anything, we’ve gotta get out of here,” Valentine said.

“We could just ditch her. That exploding psycho only wants her after all,” Birdseed suggested.

“No!” Both other mares snapped at him immediately.

Valentine growled. “Look, we grab her, make our way through Two Hump Oasis as stealthily as possible, and get onto a sand ship and get out of here.”

“If any have stayed around after all these explosions started,” Birdseed rolled his eyes.

“Believe me, it’s not the first time something like this has happened here,” Valentine said. “We’ll be able to get a ship.”

“Even if she’s chasing us and blowing stuff up along the way?” Coin Flip asked.

Valentine bit her lip. “Maybe.”

The four of them reached the tent Rainbow Dash had crashed into and found the pegasus throwing a bunch of debris off herself and shaking her head. Her eyes were spinning around and she didn’t look like she was entirely ready to start flying again.

“Rainbow Dash, are you alright?!” Daring Do asked.

“I am… not upside-down,” Rainbow blinked and stood up, clumsily stumbling to the side a couple of times before steadying herself. “I’m going to say that’s all I need right now.”

Daring Do sighed in relief. “Come on, we need to go before-”

A gigantic explosion came from behind them, followed by another, and another as Supernova blasted everything in the sand around her into nothingness. Huge balls of fire and columns of smoke rose into the sky while burning sand and debris from buildings rained everywhere. Supernova’s prior apathy towards collateral damage paled in comparison to what she was doing now.

“She’s going to blow up the entire oasis like this,” Birdseed said.

Rainbow bit her lip and glared past all the smoke and craters to where the unseen Supernova was. “We’re not leaving. Not before stopping her.”

“WHERE ARE YOU?!” Supernova roared as she fired explosions at every tent and building in the vicinity. And sometimes at some random piles of sand. Smoke choked the air and she had to charge over craters and through walls of it just to see, she had no idea where her quarry had gotten off to. It didn’t matter though. She’d obliterate all of Two Hump Oasis if she had to.

She couldn’t fail.

She couldn’t fail.

She couldn’t fail.

“Arrrrghhhhh!” Supernova yelled and blew up another building, sending burning chunks of wood all over. “Show yourself!”

Meanwhile, the party of five were hiding in a small ditch between a few tents. Every now and then they heard and felt another explosion rock the oasis. Rainbow Dash had a very annoyed look on her face… in fact, all of them did. Nobody was happy about the current situation.

“Rainbow Dash, I really understand that you want to help and stop that mare from hurting anybody—I do too—but I’m not sure that’s a smart idea. She’s dangerous, and she’s trying to kill you,” Daring Do said.

“Not the first time I’ve had a pony try and do that to me,” Rainbow said. “Just let me go out there and deal with her right now.”

“You mean let you go out there and get blown out of the sky again?” Valentine raised an eyebrow.

“I can go faster,” Rainbow narrowed her eyes at the scarlet mare. “I can outrun her explosions and stay ahead of her, now that I’ve seen what she can do.”

“We should really just run and get to a sand ship...” Birdseed said.

“I’m not leaving this place to just get blown up by some crazy mare cause she’s looking for me!” Rainbow yelled at him.

“Why do you even care about these creatures?” Birdseed asked.

This isn’t your city, Rainbow Dash. The words of Barnaby flashed through her mind again and Rainbow Dash had to shake her head. “B-Because it’s the right thing to do. I know that maybe you don’t get that, but it’s the truth.”

“Oh please,” Birdseed angrily scoffed. “This whole dump of a town is made of nothing but thieves and criminals! The desert might even be better off with what that nutjob is doing.”

“No,” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “I-I know that most of the creatures here probably aren’t that nice, and they probably wouldn’t do the same for me, but I refuse to believe that. I refuse to be that cynical. And being a good pony means doing something even if you won’t get paid back for it. So what if they’re bad? So what if they wouldn’t stick their necks out for me? They don’t deserve to die because of me either.”

All of them could see the resolve in her eyes and hear it in her voice. This matter was settled one way or the other.

Another explosion went off and all of them covered their heads as sand and dirt fell into the ditch.

Valentine sighed deeply. “So you’re going to fight her?”

Rainbow nodded. “That’s right.”

“Then we’re doing this thing right,” Valentine took a deep breath and looked at Daring Do. “We can’t afford to waste anymore time with Shining Diamond still out there. I want you, Birdseed, and Coin Flip to take our money and go to a sand ship. Get on the way to Camelback as fast as possible. Supernova wont bother chasing you if she’s so fixated on Rainbow Dash. With luck she wont even see the three of you.” She turned to Rainbow Dash and smiled. “Since the two of us are going to be distracting her.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Rainbow Dash waved her hooves in front of her. “This is my fight, you don’t need to stay here with me.”

“If you’re so dead set on doing this then at the very least I’m not going to let you do it alone. We’re a group, a team, and Supernova is dangerous. If you’re going to fight her then I’m giving you a hoof to do it, honey,” Valentine said.

Birdseed and Coin Flip shared a look.

“I think I’m fine with that plan,” Birdseed said.

Valentine rolled her eyes. “I bet.”

“I don’t like splitting up like this...” Daring Do said.

“It’ll be alright, the two of us will manage,” Valentine said and smiled at Daring Do. “You just need to get safely to Camelback.”

“And once I clobber this crazy mare we’ll meet back up with you,” Rainbow Dash grinned.

Daring Do sighed. “I know. I trust you, I just want the both of you to be careful.”

“We will. It would be too dangerous for all of us to go out there with how wild she’s being and try to fight her, and Rainbow Dash and I are the quickest. We’ll take her out somehow,” Valentine said.

“Usually I do that by punching,” Rainbow winked.

“Yes, this is definitely the time for jokes,” Valentine scowled. Rainbow Dash snorted but Valentine just ignored her. “Either way, the two of us will go out first. Give us a moment to engage her and then you all run for the sand ships.”

Daring Do nodded. “Good luck.”

Rainbow Dash raised a hoof. “Don’t worry, I’m awesome.”

Daring Do grinned and bumped her hoof. “I know.”

“Alright, let’s go,” Valentine said and jumped out of the ditch.

Rainbow saluted to Daring Do (and Birdseed and Coin Flip to a lesser degree) and flew out after her. The ponies left behind waited, taking a few deep breaths—and then a new series of explosions erupted that rocked Two Hump Oasis. That was their cue. The other three ran out the other side of the ditch and sprinted together as fast as they could towards the east end of Two Hump Oasis. All of them were really, really hoping that a sand ship was still there and they hadn’t all fled when the explosions started going off.

Meanwhile, a hooded pony watched Rainbow Dash and Miss Valentine start round two with Supernova. And a second hooded pony discreetly followed the other three.

“There you are!” Supernova yelled and blasted at the swiftly flying Rainbow Dash.

But Rainbow Dash was like a hummingbird now, a small, ever juking, target that flittered through the sky and had so far proven impossible to hit for Supernova. The sky was full of flak and fireballs generated by her powerful explosion magic, practically creating a canopy over Two Hump Oasis that now could be seen for miles away. Dozens of fires and craters still burned around her, the seedy den of criminals had turned into a living Tartarus.

The chaos was hardly going to end anytime soon if Supernova had anything to say about it either. The deranged mare was laser-focused on taking out Rainbow Dash for reasons the blue pegasus could only imagine. While that battle of explosions and dodging went on, Miss Valentine tried to sneak through the fiery sands and get behind their adversary.

“Raaarrrgh!” Supernova roared like an animal and sent out her most powerful explosion so far into the sky. It wasn’t even directly aimed at Rainbow Dash, she just blasted the middle of the sky to clear it and maybe hit her target out of chance.

A positively massive fireball that dwarfed the others appeared in the center of all the havoc, the shockwave from it blowing away all the other smoke and fires in the air. The pressure buffeted Rainbow Dash but this time at least she managed to keep control of herself and not crash into anything. Instead she got to watch as the flames from the explosion fell and turned the ground below into a sea of death. It was only for the briefest of moments that she allowed herself to stop and take her eyes off Supernova, but she saw creatures running for their lives as the fires consumed everything else.

Rainbow Dash’s face twisted in rage as she flew at Supernova. “You monster!”

Supernova fired at her but a strong flap of Rainbow Dash’s wings gave her the last bit of acceleration she needed to dodge to the side completely. Now she was in fairly close range and still barreling right towards the unicorn. Supernova grit her teeth and forced more power into her horn, while a shower of sparks came out of it she flung her head in an arc and created a series of small explosions in the sky in-between her and Rainbow Dash. It was like a protective wall of fireballs that Rainbow had to fly away from lest she burn herself.

“Ugh, come on!” Rainbow yelled in frustration as she flew up to get some more distance between herself and the unicorn again.

“Stop flying around! Just let me blow you up so I can end this!” Supernova shouted at her.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Oh yeah, like I’m totally going to do that! Seriously, lady, why do you want to kill me anyways?”

“Shut up! I-I can’t… I just can’t!” Supernova’s Cutie Mark pulsed red. She shook her head as another expression of terror gripped her features and she started throwing more explosions at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash weaved in between them, the heat and shockwaves making it a pain to fly. “Does she just never run out of magic? This is crazy!”

Supernova’s jaw was clenched so tightly her gums were almost starting to bleed. Behind her, a throwing knife came whizzing through the air right at the back of her head. It harmlessly bounced off a sudden shell of yellow magic that protected Supernova. The unicorn then looked over her shoulder at a sweating Valentine and glared.

“I knew at least one of you would try something again,” her horn sparked. “Die, Hornet.”

Valentine jumped to the side at the last second, hiding behind a column of smoke coming from a previous explosion right as Supernova tried to blow her up. The new explosion erupted and tossed her across the sand like a rag doll, where she groaned in pain.

Supernova would’ve finished the job if Rainbow Dash wasn’t attempting to dive-bomb her from directly above right at that moment. She ignited an explosion directly above her head to dissuade Rainbow Dash and knock her away. She didn’t expect Rainbow Dash to anticipate that and recover so quickly. But the pegasus flipped over in the air and landed safely on all fours behind Supernova, then shot at her with a quick burst of speed.

Supernova’s eyes widened in surprise as she turned to face Rainbow Dash. The pegasus was too close for her to get an explosion off so her horn lit up and she erected another magical barrier around herself. Rainbow Dash’s hooves impacted it and sent cracks throughout the entire barrier.

Rainbow grinned. “So your defense aint as good as your offense?”

“Tch,” Supernova’s horn sparked, her shield about to fail didn’t matter, it bought her enough time for another explosion. She dropped the shield completely and put as much power as she could into the tip of her horn.

But right as she was going to set it off in both of their faces, Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and sent a gust of wind and a kicked up cloud of sand at her. Supernova squeezed her eyes shut and reflexively dropped her head—the explosion erupted inside the sand and both ponies went flying backwards. Immune to her own magic and fire she might have been, it still hurt Supernova to be tossed around and roughly roll over the hot sand. Rainbow Dash was worse off, crashing into a pile of sand and ending up half-buried with light burns and black marks all over her coat and wings. She coughed out a lung full of smoke and struggled to get out of the sand.

“Hnnn...” Supernova groaned as she stood up and looked for her prey, but a huge smoking crater in front of her obscured Rainbow Dash’s location.

A knife came at her out of the smoke and she jumped away from it, randomly throwing a series of small explosions in the direction it came from. The landscape was so smoky and warped now though she couldn’t tell if she had actually hit anything or not. Supernova stayed on her hooves and concentrated, ready to light up anything that moved.

“Where are you, Hornet? I wasn’t going to bother with you after I killed Rainbow Dash but if you really want to die then so be it,” Supernova called out to the unseen attacker.

“I don’t plan on dying anytime soon,” a voice said from Supernova’s left.

She immediately wheeled towards the sound of the voice and fired an explosion at a preexisting column of smoke.

“Missed me, honey,” The Hornet’s voice came from the right now. There were too many smoking craters to hide behind.

“Why are you willing to die for her?! You don’t understand! You don’t understand what’s on the line for me if I fail!” Supernova screamed and blasted at the voice again.

Burning sand rained all around and Supernova huffed and puffed, eyes darting back and forth. Just waiting for that voice to come again.

“I can’t let you kill a comrade of mine. It’s just how I am. I’ll put myself on the line for her,” Miss Valentine said once more from the smoke to Supernova’s right.

Supernova turned with her horn already sparking and saw a shadow flying through the smoke at her. She grinned and created another explosion right on the shadow, intending to blow The Red Hornet into smoldering pieces. The smoke was consumed by a new conflagration and from out of it came the tattered and destroyed remnants of a black vest, flames burning the last few pieces of it.

Just a vest? Supernova panicked.

Miss Valentine—now with only her black beret and sunglasses—shot from out of the fiery smoke low to the ground and to Supernova’s left. She ran at her and threw a scarlet hoof towards her jaw in a powerful hook. It was just inches away from impacting the slim chin of Supernova… when a yellow barrier stopped it short. Valentine’s hoof cracked the magical shield but didn’t get through it.

From inside, Supernova grinned and her horn sparked.

Valentine grinned right back at her.

A high-speed blue pegasus slammed into the already damaged shield and shattered it to pieces, Rainbow Dash’s left hoof impacted Supernova’s face with tremendous force and shot her to the sand where she slid along for a dozen feet before finally coming to a stop. Both pegasi watched for any sign of movement, but there was none. Rainbow Dash tentatively flew forward and checked the unicorn out. Her eyes were half-shut and her chest slightly rose and fell at slow intervals.

“She’s out,” Rainbow Dash said, grinning back at Valentine and dropping to her hooves.

“At least that’s one problem taken care of then,” Valentine sighed in relief and started to walk over. “If you can carry me I think we can catch up with the others before they get to Camelback.”

“Uhh… about that,” Rainbow Dash flexed her somewhat burnt wings and winced. “My wings, really, really, hurt right now. I was kind of running on adrenaline for that last hit.”

“So you can’t fly right now?” Valentine raised an eyebrow and frowned.

“I can still fly, just not very well. And I don’t think I could carry you. Half a day of rest at most, then I’ll be a-okay,” Rainbow said.

“Well we can’t rest for that long… we’re already behind. We’ll just have to get our own sand ship,” Valentine said.

“Uh, we gave them all the money,” Rainbow said.

Valentine grimaced. “That’s right...”

“And they were carrying all our supplies.”

“I can call in a few favors around here… or threaten some ponies for money,” Valentine said. “I don’t think we can get enough for travel on a sand ship but if we can get a day of food and water and a small tent we can at least start traveling through the desert on our own until your wing gets better.”

“Alright,” Rainbow nodded. “Guess we’ll be seeing Daring Do and those other two a little later.”

“Yeah, gotta finish something here first though before we get ready to leave,” Valentine said and walked up to Supernova.

“Huh?” Rainbow said as she watched Valentine approach the unconscious unicorn. Her eyes went wide as the mare took a switchblade out from under her beret and flicked the blade open. She flipped it around and got ready to stab it down into Supernova’s unconscious chest. Rainbow felt her heart skip a beat and she ran over to grab Valentine’s hoof just in time before the knife plunged into Supernova. “Stop!”

Valentine looked at her like she had lost her mind. “Have you lost your mind?! Why are you stopping me?!”

“You can’t kill her!”

“What?”

“She’s out cold, she’s not a danger anymore.”

“So what? She tried to kill us, look at what she did to this place, and when she wakes up she’s probably going to come after us—after you, again.”

“That doesn’t matter. She’s totally defenseless and helpless right now. I told you this before that it isn’t right, a-and it’s just wrong to kill, okay?”

Valentine grabbed her sunglasses and threw them on the sand to glare at Rainbow Dash with her blue eyes. “Again with this nonsense? At least Zargoz didn’t just try to kill you like this one did! Are you saying in all that adventuring and journeying you’ve done, you’ve really never killed anyone? Not even anyone who was trying to kill you?”

Rainbow took a steadying breath and slowly blinked. “I… I don’t know. There are some times when I’ve been just that angry—and I’ve wanted to, maybe. And there are some ponies and other creatures I’ve fought and beaten so hard that maybe they did die. Or I was at least so pumped up that I wasn’t even thinking that I might kill them in the heat of the moment. And… there was one monster where yeah, I was trying to kill her so she couldn’t hurt anyone anymore. But.” Rainbow pointed at Supernova. “She’s still a pony. She’s not some mindless, evil, monster. And we’re not in danger anymore. So let me repeat this. You’re. Not. Killing. Her.”

“You’re insane,” Valentine growled, tearing her hoof out of Rainbow’s grip and putting the knife away.

“It’s not the kind of thing we do.”

“We?” Valentine looked at her with a questioning gaze.

“Good ponies.”

Valentine laughed. “Since when am I a-”

“It’s what you’re trying to be. Deep down.”

Valentine paused, staring back at Rainbow’s calm eyes. “You’re… whatever.” She clicked her tongue and started walking away after picking her sunglasses back up. “Forget this. Let’s just get on the way to Camelback.” She glanced down at her wing stubs. “I need some tent canvas or something to cover up...”

“You don’t need to...” Rainbow sighed and trotted after her.

“What I don’t need is for anyone looking down on me or spreading rumors about me being a weak cripple. Not in my profession,” Valentine said, putting her sunglasses back on.

Rainbow Dash silently trotted up alongside her, no more words were shared between them as they looked to leave Two Hump Oasis.

A panting hooded mare came sprinting to her partner who just finished watching the explosive fight end from behind a rock that he had hoped would prove safe during the fight. He was luckily right. The mare pulled back her hood to reveal a pearly white grin on a purple face with a short, feathery black mane. The stallion pulled back his hood, revealing a tan face and a dirt brown mane.

“You learn anything important?” He asked her.

“Very,” she replied. “The three others went off to Camelback by sand ship. And they definitely have a big clue to the Crystal Sea’s location.”

“Then we need to contact Shining Diamond as quickly as possible,” the stallion said and looked over at the still unconscious Supernova. “We might have another ally we can add to our ranks as well. The Red Hornet and that blue pegasus are clearly dangerous adversaries, someone just as dangerous might be useful.”

The mare shrugged. “Might as well introduce her to the boss. Should I break the locator crystal now?”

“Yes,” the stallion nodded.

She grinned and pulled a yellow spherical crystal out of her robes. It was small, the size of a marble, and perfectly smooth. It looked strangely translucent or hollow for a crystal. The mare brought it between her hooves and with only a slight amount of force, crushed it. The little bits and shards of it fell like dust down to the sand.

The stallion looked up at the sky to the south of Two Hump Oasis. “Won’t be long now.”

The splash of water on Supernova’s face instantly made her wake and sit up with a start, looking around and trying to remember what had happened. “W-What?” She narrowed her eyes at the unfamiliar tent she now found herself in.

“Relax, you’re alright,” a voice said.

Supernova looked to see a robed stallion standing behind her, a half-empty skin of water in his hooves.

“Who are you?” She asked. “And where… she escaped.” Supernova grit her teeth and her eyes narrowed in anger. “She got away from me… I have to find her again.”

“I think our interests coincide somewhat then,” the stallion said to her.

Supernova’s head snapped back to attention. “Do you know where she went?”

The stallion started to sweat as she stared at him, well aware of what she could do. “Yes and we can help you get to her.”

“Tell me,” Supernova asked, standing up stiffly. “Tell me right now.”

“W-Wait,” the stallion tried to placate her. “She’s already gone, it’s been hours since you fought with her. You won’t be able to catch up to her without our help now.”

Supernova’s eye twitched. “Who’s our?”

“My name is Sand Flash. I work for an enterprising pony by the name of Shining Diamond. He’s in search of something that we believe your quarry is also searching for. We’ll bring you along with us in exchange for you dealing with her and her friends once we inevitably come into contact with them. Would that be an acceptable proposition to you?” He asked.

“As long as you take me to Rainbow Dash. I don’t care what else I have to do,” Supernova coldly replied.

“Good,” Sand Flash smiled.

“What sort of transport does your boss have? How are we going to find them?” Supernova asked.

“Transportation is coming,” Sand Flash said. “As for tracking and finding them, Shining Diamond has his ways, you’ll see.”

Supernova ground her teeth back and forth. “I don’t have time to wait around…”

“Don’t worry, it shouldn’t be-”

Before he could finish his sentence, his mare partner threw open the flap to the tent. “Sand! He’s here!”

“Excellent!” Sand smiled. “Perfect timing.” He looked at Supernova. “Come on, you’re about to see something special.”

Supernova raised an eyebrow but followed the two ponies outside the tent. She glanced at the mare. “And who are you?”

“Velvet Hooves, hired hoof of Shining Diamond,” she replied.

Supernova looked around but saw nothing. All there was in Two Hump Oasis were some buildings and tents, and lots of scared ponies and a few fires in the distance. She didn’t see any sort of transport or a pony that looked like this “Shining Diamond”. “Where is he?”

“Heh,” Sand Flash chuckled. “Look up.”

Supernova tilted her head up alongside Sand Flash and Velvet Hooves. And her jaw nearly dropped. Coming from the clouds was a colossal object the likes of which she had never seen before. A vessel—an air ship of some sort. It was very long, perhaps upwards of 500 feet, and the body of the vessel looked to be mostly some sort of giant balloon. As it made its way over Two Hump Oasis she saw six huge upwards facing propellers attached to it—three on each side—to keep it airborne and on the back was another large propeller and steering rudder. At the bottom of the balloon was a large metal section that spanned its length which she assumed must be where the pilots and everything else important was. She had heard of and seen hot air balloons before but no flying vessel like this. Nothing nearly so gargantuan.

As it came to a stop practically directly overhead, most of the other denizens at Two Hump Oasis had looked up to gawk at it as well. She couldn’t blame anyone for being caught up in the spectacle.

“We shouldn’t keep him waiting,” Velvet Hooves said.

“No, we shouldn’t,” Sand Flash agreed.

The two robed ponies shifted their robes about and open flaps appeared on their sides that pegasus wings emerged from.

Sand Flash looked over at her with a smile and reached out a hoof. “Need a lift?”

In another minute, Supernova was being carried through the air towards the large air ship. Flight didn’t bother her but she admittedly preferred her hooves on the ground. As soon as the trio reached the underbelly of the vessel, a hatch opened up midway through the metal body and a small set of stairs flipped out for them to walk onto and board the vessel.

As soon as they got inside, Supernova looked around to see a fairly cramped interior of mostly pipes, pistons, and gears moving about. There was a lot involved with keeping this thing up and running, it appeared. The metal floor went in two directions, towards the back of the vessel and towards the front. From the front path, a pony was walking towards them.

“Sand Flash, Velvet Hooves, welcome back to the Ziz,” the mare said. She was a snowy white unicorn with a braided blonde mane and blue almond-shaped eyes. She raised an eyebrow as soon as she saw Supernova with them. “Who is this?”

“A partner, soon enough, her name is Supernova,” Sand Flash said.

The white mare’s brow knitted in frustration. “I hope this isn’t why you broke your locator crystal, Shining Diamond-”

“We have information about the Crystal Sea as well,” Sand Flash answered. “That’s why we broke the crystal.”

“So let’s hurry up and get to the boss,” Velvet said impatiently.

“Very well,” the white mare said and turned around, walking towards the front of the ship.

Supernova and the others followed behind her, with Supernova constantly checking out everything around her out of a combination of irritation and paranoia. If anyone tried anything she’d light this place up in an instant. Though she didn’t think they’d be so dumb after seeing what she could do back on the ground.

A metal door sat at the end of the walkway they were using and the white unicorn opened it up by spinning the metal wheel on it until it unlatched. She then led them inside and closed the door, standing by it like a guard. Supernova’s eyes briefly narrowed at the other unicorn before she took a look around to see where she was in this air ship now.

Her eyes widened back up in surprise. A large open space sat in front of her with a wide window at the very bow of the ship that showed the open sky and the desert below. In front of the window was a metal deck and station where a large wheel sat in the middle alongside numerous other controls and readouts. The sides of the room—the bridge she now knew—were taken up by other seats and control panels with constantly shaking dials and hisses of steam escaping them.

And a single pony stood by the wheel of the ship, looking out the window.

“I trust-” he suddenly spoke with a crisp voice. “That you did not bring me here for no reason. Those locator crystals don’t grow on trees after all.”

“We didn’t, sir,” Sand Flash said.

“Really now?” Shining Diamond said as he turned around and Supernova got a good look at him. He was unlike any pony she had ever seen before. He was a unicorn dressed in a dapper blue military style coat with yellow trim and a white undershirt while black boots covered his hooves and a feathered blue cap sat on his head. But it was not his clothes that were the unusual part. His golden coat was shiny and reflective, even almost translucent, and his platinum mane was the same. His body looked almost… crystalline.

“What are you?” Supernova asked.

He raised an eyebrow at her and smiled. “May I ask who you are first, my lady?”

“Her name is-” the white mare from behind started to say.

Shining Diamond raised a hoof to stop her. “I’m sure she can introduce herself, Whitesheet.”

“I can,” Supernova scowled over her shoulder at the white mare. “My name is Supernova. Your lackeys here told me we can help each other.”

“Oh? Well that’s good news then, I’d hate to have come here and stopped my blimp for absolutely no reason whatsoever,” he said as he looked over at Sand Flash and Velvet Hooves. His face didn’t change but the threat behind his words wasn’t lost on the two of them. His eyes flickered back to Supernova. “Now, as I’m sure they told you, my name is Shining Diamond. And to answer your earlier question, what I am is a crystal pony.”

“A crystal pony? Never heard of you,” Supernova said.

“We’re quite a bit more rare than the average pedestrian ponies such as yourself,” Shining Diamond shrugged, the casual insult running off him like water.

“Whatever. I don’t care. I don’t care about what you’re doing up here with this huge… “blimp” or whatever it’s called either. I was told that you’re looking for something and that a pony I’m after is looking for the same thing. If this is true, I’ll gladly come along and help you so long as I can get my hooves on that pony,” Supernova said.

Shining Diamond raised an eyebrow. “I see. I have no reservations with accepting your help if it will be useful to me. But you have me at a disadvantage as to the current situation. Sand, Velvet, explain.”

“Ah, right!” Sand Flash snapped to attention and cleared his throat. “We found The Red Hornet and her group in Two Hump Oasis. Like last time, those two stallions and that other pegasus called Daring Do were with her. However, this time there was another pegasus with them called Rainbow Dash. We learned where they were going next, they got a big clue as to the location of the Crystal Sea-”

“Which is why we broke the locator crystal and called you here in the first place,” Velvet Hooves added.

“Yes, that’s right,” Sand nodded. “However before they left for their next destination, a fight broke out between their group and Supernova here.” He gestured to the yellow unicorn. “I confess I do not know the reason for the fight but I did learn a great deal while watching it. Including the fact that this new pegasus would be a formidable adversary if we came into conflict with her.”

“As if The Red Hornet wasn’t bad enough,” Velvet said.

“So... what then?” Shining Diamond asked.

Sand Flash nervously smiled. “Well, sir, since conflict with them is inevitable, I thought it would be a good idea to enlist the help of Supernova here. Taking on their group with just us and the others under your command would be dangerous. So why not have her fight and take them out instead while we go on to the Crystal Sea. Supernova has already made it apparent that she cares about nothing but getting Rainbow Dash, I think this will be mutually beneficial to us. We bring her along and she does the fighting.”

Shining Diamond looked to Supernova. “And this arrangement works for you.”

“Yes. I must kill Rainbow Dash. If you can track her down and take me to where she is, I’ll kill the others with her too for you,” Supernova said.

“Wonderful!” Shining Diamond clapped. “Everything is turning out quite well for us then.” He smiled at Sand and Velvet. “Especially if it’s true that you know where they’re going next? And that we’re getting close to the Crystal Sea now?”

“It’s very true,” Velvet eagerly nodded. “I overhead them talking, they’re going to Camelback and their next step is going into the desert to search for something just a little north of there. Three of them took a sand ship to Camelback already and the other two are heading there now. It should still be almost another full day before the sand ship arrives.”

Shining Diamond chuckled. “Excellent, excellent. Astral Comet and Popcorn are in Camelback. We’ll send them a missive and tell them to be on the lookout for The Red Hornet and her group, once they arrive I’m sure Astral can place a discreet tracking spell on one of them. Meanwhile we’ll start heading there too.” He stepped forward and reached out a hoof to Supernova. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance and I do hope our partnership benefits us both greatly.”

“Likewise,” Supernova simply responded and shook his hoof.

“You may make yourself at home on the Ziz, we have food and drinks and a comfortable lounge back before the engine room that Whitesheet will be happy to show you to,” he let her hoof go and suddenly stared into her eyes. “I trust that you are worth bringing along? You will indeed be able to take care of those pests for me?”

“If you want evidence of what I can do, just look out the window. I’m sure you saw the smoke on the way here,” Supernova said.

Shining Diamond grinned. “Now that’s what I wanted to hear.”

“I’ll show you to that lounge for you to relax in while we travel if you’d like,” Whitesheet said, coming up beside Supernova.

“I don’t think the interior of this ship is big enough where I’ll get lost. Most of it is just a big balloon after all,” Supernova said.

Shining Diamond laughed once more. “True, true. I can assure you that the Ziz is truly the finest hydrogen blimp to ever soar through the skies though. If you wish I suppose you could even stay on the bridge and look out the front viewport while we travel. But for now, I must write that missive to Astral and Popcorn. Whitesheet, quill and paper please.”

Supernova watched as the white unicorn went over to one of the stations alongside the side of the bridge and bent down to open up a locker beneath one of the panels. She came back with a roll of parchment, quill, and ink for Shining Diamond to use. Supernova had to knit her brow in confusion.

“What good is a written letter going to do? Do you have carrier pigeons to take it to Camelback or something?” She scoffed.

“Oh, far better than that,” Shining Diamond smiled as he started writing his letter, the quill and paper gripped in his white aura of magic. As soon as he was finished he walked back over to the wheel of the ship and pulled a lever on the station next to it.

Something above her hissed and Supernova looked up to see a metal platform coming down from the ceiling. She hadn’t noticed it all until now, too preoccupied with what was on the floor. As it lowered, she realized it wasn’t just some platform, but a large metal cage supported by cables and extending pistons. It landed in the middle of the floor between the door and the wheel, and now through the bars, Supernova could see its occupant: a large winged, reptilian creature with green scales and blue spikes running down its back. Its arms and legs were both shackled to the sides of the cage and its head was held low. Supernova walked around the front of the cage to look at the creature’s face and saw a huge jutting jaw and half-closed eyes.

“A dragon...” she muttered.

“Indeed he is. Now time for him to wake up,” Shining Diamond said and flipped a switch by the lever.

Bolts of electricity ran through the cage and painfully shocked the dragon awake, he screamed and howled and thrashed about as he was electrocuted. Shining Diamond waited a few extra seconds before switching the electricity off, leaving a bit of black smoke to waft up from the groaning dragon. The crystal pony chuckled and walked forward to tap on the steel bars of the cage and the dragon’s head lolled about to look his captor in the eye.

“Wakey, wakey, I have a letter for you to send again. To Astral Comet and Popcorn in Camelback.”

“Please… no more...” the dragon tried to protest.

“It’s either you send the letter or you get the electricity again. Make your choice,” Shining Diamond waved the letter in his face.

The dragon groaned and weakly opened up his mouth. For a moment, it looked like he was heaving or choking on something, but at last a spurt of green flame came out and washed over the paper. Supernova watched as it all disappeared into nothingness.

“Ah, dragon fire, the best way to send a message,” Shining Diamond said and looked at Supernova. “I can now assure you that Astral Comet and Popcorn will get that message and be on the lookout for our adversaries well before they arrive in Camelback.” He walked back over to the wheel and moved the lever back, the limp dragon lifted back up to the ceiling in his cage.

“Right...” Supernova said as she watched the cage recede. “I suppose I have to take your word on it.”

Shining Diamond smiled widely, his teeth shining a bit too, and gripped the ship’s wheel. “And now we make way for Camelback!” He pulled down another few levers and spun the wheel to the right.

Supernova felt the blimp shift and begin to move, turning right. The window ahead soon no longer showed the smoky wastes of Two Hump Oasis, but the open blue skies and sea of sands to the east. With a powerful thrust, the great airborne vessel started traveling forward. Supernova didn’t smile. Her mind was fervently focused on one thing and one thing only: reaching Rainbow Dash again and finishing things. She could not fail.

A brief rewinding of the clock…

Daring Do, Coin Flip, and Birdseed all ran at full speed through the clustered tents and buildings of Two Hump Oasis to escape the fiery battle between their friends and Supernova. They weren’t alone, a lot of ponies and antelope were running around this part of the oasis too. Everyone was just trying to get away from the destruction. They weren’t just running randomly though, Daring Do was leading them to hopefully a sand ship that was still docked and ready to go at the eastern edge of the oasis.

Practically every second they could hear and feel more explosions going off behind them. Daring Do was worried, but she put her trust in her two friends. It was good for them now that Two Hump Oasis was not especially big, they were able to get away from the danger zone and reach the outskirts in good time. Because Two Hump Oasis was such a random place made without any planning, where creatures put up their tents and buildings wherever, it didn’t get any more organized but things at least thinned out well enough to where they could see better.

“I am not going to miss this place,” Birdseed said as he searched along with Daring Do for signs of a sand ship at the oasis’ edge.

“You and me both,” Daring Do mumbled.

A sail. A mast. Anything that stuck out beyond the tents and shoddy buildings. Daring Do clicked her tongue and briefly flew up to get a vantage point, putting a hoof over her eyes to block the sun she peered out along the edge of the oasis. It was kind of comical, looking for a boat in the middle of the desert, and yet here she was.

“Do you see anything?” Birdseed asked her.

“Not ye-” she stopped in the middle of her sentence. “Wait. I think I do see one now… yeah, I’m sure of it!” She pointed a little southeast. “I’m sure there’s a sand ship sitting there still, come on, let’s go! It might be the only one still here.”

“No need to tell us twice,” Birdseed said and started running in the direction Daring Do was pointing.

“I hate running...” A sweating Coin Flip groaned and followed along.

Daring Do kept in the air above them but didn’t fly ahead since she wanted to make sure they stuck together. With all the panic going on, and with the type of place this was, she didn’t want them to get separated or run into any trouble. Thankfully things were clearly too chaotic here for the average criminal to even think of doing anything. While they had to avoid some crowds and some creatures packing up all their things and trying to get someplace safe, nobody truly paid them any mind. And the closer they got to the edge of Two Hump Oasis the more relaxed things were, with creatures mostly just watching as new fireballs erupted near the middle of town.

“It’s just past these tents!” Daring Do said.

The trio made it through the last few structures of Two Hump Oasis and came out onto a wide boardwalk of wood that was built directly over the sand. “Moored” to a post on the boardwalk was a large wooden ship, actually fairly similar in design and construction to normal boats you would see on water, just with a couple of extras. Not only did it have a large sail but also a paddle on the back and a dozen oars on each side that would also help push it along the sand.

It was almost surreal to think about.

“I can’t believe these things actually work,” Birdseed said as he raised an eyebrow at the sand ship.

“Well apparently they do, so let’s get on and get out of here,” Daring Do said and landed on the boardwalk. There was a ramp leading up into the ship that a unicorn pony with a scarred face and brick red coat was standing in front of. Daring Do walked up to him and pulled out a bag that had some, but not all, of their money in it. She stiffly looked the “sailor” in the eyes. “Passage for three to Camelback, and we’d like to leave immediately.”

The stallion didn’t seem to share their lack of patience. He slowly looked over the three of them, probably sizing them up and making sure they wouldn’t be trouble for the ship, before answering Daring Do. “First time in Two Hump Oasis? Supernova blows stuff up all the time. We aren’t scheduled to go for another few hours.”

“We’ll pay you 50% extra if you’ll take us now,” Daring Do narrowed her eyes.

Birdseed scowled and threw her a look but she ignored him.

The sailor raised an eyebrow and glanced at Daring’s bag. “Double.”

“75%.” Daring returned.

The sailor exhaled through his nose and turned around, leading them up the ramp. “Come on then.”

As the trio walked up the ramp, Birdseed leaned in to whisper to Daring Do. “Excellent work letting them know we have money to spare.”

“We need to get on the way to Camelback as quickly as possible,” she shot back. “It was always going to take extra money.”

“You think they got food onboard while we make the trip?” Coin Flip asked, rubbing his stomach.

“Shut up,” Birdseed said.

The three of them were led into the interior of the ship where a large cabin spanned its length. Rows of benches and tables were set up for the passengers to sit at, but besides the trio there were only a few other groups. It was hardly a full trip at all.

“Sit anywhere you like, but first-” the scarred unicorn said and held out a hoof. “Thirty coins each.”

Daring Do’s brow furrowed. “Thirty? How does-”

“You want us to go now don’t you? I still need to tell the boss and everything, and we have to make up for potential lost business,” he said.

Daring Do grit her teeth but eventually hoofed over a bag with the required amount of coin. “Fine. Just hurry up and set sail or whatever.”

“Gladly,” the sailor said and left the passenger cabin with the coinbag in hoof.

As soon as he was gone, Birdseed snorted. “See? And now that they know you could pay that amount, they’re going to try bilking us for the rest of this trip too.”

“Then we just wont use our money for anything else while we’re here,” Daring Do looked over at Coin Flip. “And if you’re so hungry we still have some food of our own. Eat that. We’re not letting them charge us some crazy price for whatever they have.”

She then went to the nearest table that had two benches facing it and sat down. Birdseed and Coin Flip both took the bench opposite her. Portholes lined the side of the cabin and Daring Do looked out hers even though there wasn’t anything to see but sand dunes. She wasn’t in the mood to talk to these two. Or in much of a mood for anything at all really, in agitation she was tapping her hoof on the table and waiting for this sand ship to start moving.

She was starting to wonder if they had been had and a bunch of thugs were going to suddenly appear and shake them down for whatever other money they had, but a sudden lurch of the ship told her they had only been getting ready to leave. Daring Do sighed in relief, though she was still worried about Rainbow Dash and Miss Valentine. At the very least it was looking like she, Birdseed, and Coin Flip would be able to get to Camelback safely.

Birdseed took a look out the porthole as well, but his eyes were looking at the oars below them. They had just started moving in rhythmic fashion, at first only slightly pushing against the sand but gaining more and more speed and power. “This is likely the strangest method of transportation I’ve used in my life.”

“Ditto,” Daring absently said and glanced towards the stern of the ship. “I guess the unicorn crew moves the big paddle at the back?”

“Who knows?” Birdseed shrugged. “Ask Valentine when we see her next.”

“If we see her,” Coin Flip snickered.

Daring Do glared at him. “We will. Her and Rainbow Dash.”

“That unicorn seemed especially dangerous...” Birdseed said.

The archaeologist didn’t say anything to that and the three of them sat silently, none of them much up for conversation with the others, as the sand ship continued to gain speed and move east to Camelback. Daring Do returned to looking out the window as the dunes passed by and Two Hump Oasis was left behind completely. She wished she could relax a little bit but that was proving to be impossible. The trip was probably going to take some time so it would really be smart to rest. Especially with the fact that things probably weren’t going to settle down at all once they actually reached Camelback. They needed to follow the map the rest of the way and to do that they’d have to go through some violent sandstorms by the sound of things.

Nope. Things weren’t going to get any easier. And it was still a race against the clock, who knew what Shining Diamond was up to or what his minions were planning. Hopefully that Supernova pony didn’t waylay Valentine and Rainbow for too long.

Birdseed meanwhile was leaning back in his seat and tugging at his scarf. The slight crumpling sound coming from inside it made him narrow his eyes in thought. He looked at Daring Do and saw that she was still absentmindedly staring out the porthole, watching the desert go by. A glance to his side showed him Coin Flip rooting through their bags for some dried fruit. He strummed his hooves on the table in front of him and looked down the aisle of the cabin they were in, seeing a door on each end that led elsewhere into the sand ship.

“I think I’m going to take a walk,” Birdseed said, standing up.

Daring Do looked up and raised an eyebrow at him. “A walk?”

“We’re going to be on this ship for a while. I don’t want to spend the whole time sitting around here. Figured I’d take a look around the ship, maybe go up topside and get some fresh air,” he shrugged.

“They might not let you up there,” Daring Do said.

“Then I’ll walk around the interior of the ship. No big deal, I just don’t feel like sitting down right now,” Birdseed answered. He looked over at Coin Flip. “Hey, you come and take a walk with me too.”

He looked at Birdseed with a disgruntled expression, a strip of dried mango dangling from his mouth. “What do I gotta do that for?”

“One. You could use the exercise, you fat slob. And two, I want someone to watch my back while I walk around this ship. I don’t exactly trust the ponies operating it. Daring at least has other passengers in here in case someone tries something,” Birdseed angrily said to him.

Coin Flip slurped down the mango and stood up with a frown. “Alright, fine.”

“Enjoy your trip,” Daring Do shrugged and went back to looking out the window.

Birdseed led Coin Flip down the aisle of the passenger cabin, all the way to the door at the end. He didn’t look at any of the other passengers and, as naturally and calmly as he could, opened up the door and stepped into the room on the other side with Coin Flip. There was another door leading into a room near the bow of the ship, and stairs going both up to the deck and down below into the sand ship’s stomach and probably to the oaring room. Birdseed however didn’t make any motions to move anywhere. He let the door to the passenger cabin closed behind them and turned to Coin Flip with a serious expression on his face.

“Uhh...” Coin Flip said. “Weren’t we taking a walk?”

“No, and be quiet. There’s something important to discuss,” Birdseed said and reached into his scarf, pulling out the folded up piece of paper he hid there earlier.

“What’s that?”

“Something very valuable,” Birdseed said and opened the paper up, showing it to Coin Flip.

He only had to look at it for a second before he realized what it was. “Another map?”

“Not just any map,” Birdseed grinned and started pointing out some markings and what was drawn on the map. “The map. At least as far as our partner in the other cabin is concerned. This is the map to the lost temple of Cinnabaron.”

“That’s that place she’s looking for,” Coin Flip said.

Birdseed rolled his eyes. “Yes, that’s right, and that temple supposedly has a valuable treasure inside it.”

“Where’d you even find that map?” Coin Flap asked him, scratching his greasy head.

“I found it locked away back at that camel’s place. He really did have a thing for maps. Figured I’d keep it to myself for now, since that mare would probably be willing to pay a hefty price for it. But honestly after everything else that’s happened today… I was thinking of doing something else,” Birdseed said.

“What do you mean?”

“Valentine is paying us quite a bit for helping her on this job. But no job is worth dying for. I think you’ll agree with me that after running into that psycho back there that things have gotten more dangerous than we were expecting. So what I’m suggesting we do is-” Birdseed smirked and shrugged. “We ditch Daring Do in Camelback and head out to find Cinnabaron’s treasure all for ourselves. They’ll be too busy dealing with the Crystal Sea and Shining Diamond to come after us for a long while. And we’ve already got a fair bit of money on our hooves too to tide us over.”

Coin Flip bit his lip. “You want to betray The Red Hornet?”

“I know it doesn’t exactly sound smart but does dying here in the desert sound any better?” Birdseed asked him.

“Sure doesn’t,” Coin Flip shook his head.

“So are you in? We just act normal until we arrive in Camelback. We get a room at an inn saying we’re waiting up for Valentine and Rainbow Dash, and then in the middle of the night we tie her up, take all the rest of the money, and get out of there,” Birdseed said.

A serpent’s grin split Coin Flip’s face. “Sounds good to me. I was getting tired of this place anyways.”

“Good,” Birdseed said and folded the map back up to tuck it into his scarf. “Now let’s take a bit of a walk for real, so she doesn’t get suspicious. It still is going to be some time before we get to Camelback.”

Rainbow Dash and Miss Valentine stared at one another.

They had been stuck like this for the past five minutes.

“Are you really going to keep being so stubborn like this?” Rainbow Dash asked Valentine.

“You know, I could say the very same thing to you,” Valentine said back to her.

The two of them were standing in the desert, a day’s travel by hoof away from Camelback. Rainbow Dash’s wings had now healed and Valentine was wearing a tightly wrapped green robe over her midsection to hide her wings. The sun was beating down mercilessly on the both of them. They had just woken up not too long ago and a blisteringly hot day traveling through the desert was promised to them. Despite this, and the hurry they were in, the two were still at something of an impasse.

“I am not letting you carry me like I’m some sort of package for you to deliver,” Valentine narrowed her eyes behind her sunglasses.

“And I’m not letting you ride on my back like I’m some kind of mule,” Rainbow crossed her hooves.

Valentine’s eye twitched. “Do you really have to be so difficult, honey?”

Rainbow popped a vein. “Are you seriously saying that right now?”

The two stared each other down some more. Rainbow had let Anathema win a war of stubbornness before because she at least knew the doctor was coming from the right place. But Valentine was not so noble. There was no way Rainbow Dash was letting her get her way here, not over something so petty. Not when she was the one who had to do the hard work in the first place and it was easier to do things the way Rainbow wanted to.

“You know I could just ditch you and fly to Camelback on my own,” Rainbow said.

“Oh yeah? And please tell me exactly where it is and how to find it?” Valentine asked, a smug grin tugging up her lips.

“Uhh...” Rainbow Dash looked to the east and frowned. It was just all sand dunes as far as the eye could see. “I know it’s in that direction. Generally.”

“Well good luck finding it before you run out of food and water,” Valentine clapped her hooves together.

“Oh yeah and I’m sure you’d have a great time all alone out here too,” Rainbow Dash snorted. She looked at Valentine’s robe-clad body and raised an eyebrow. “Do you just not want me to carry you cause you don’t want me touching your wings?”

Valentine’s body froze up in shock and her jaw dropped. “A-Absolutely not! I’m not like some damaged filly about them!”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Just saying, if I carried you I’d have to wrap my hooves around your midsection, and so I’d be touching your wings. That’s the only thing I could think of for why you’d be so bothered by me carrying you. I’ve already told you your wings aren’t a big deal to me. Seriously, just relax about them.”

“It’s not about my wings...” Valentine blushed in embarrassment.

“Liar.”

Valentine glared angrily at her. “Well what if it is then?! So what if I don’t like to have them touched? So what if I don’t care about what you say about them or it not mattering to you? It matters to me! I don’t want you touching my wings, even if you’re only doing it because you have to. I don’t want you feeling those deformed “things” against your legs.” She finished and looked down at the sand, sadder than Rainbow could remember seeing her before. “It’s bad enough that you’ve seen them at all.”

Rainbow Dash looked at her for a moment longer, frowning and trying to see how genuine the other mare was being. Eventually she sighed and walked over to Valentine. “You could’ve just told me that in the first place.”

“It’s humiliating,” Valentine ground out.

“Everyone’s got their issues,” Rainbow Dash said.

She put a lot of effort into not saying “Except for me” right after that.

“Well don’t think you can get all sentimental and touchy-feely with me all of a sudden now, okay?” Valentine said. “I don’t need any comforting hoof on my shoulder or anything like that, honey.”

Rainbow Dash wryly grinned. “I didn’t think you did.”

Valentine rolled her eyes. “Let’s just go, we’ve wasted enough time. You can… you can carry me. But don’t say a word or bring up anything about it. Okay?”

“Okay,” Rainbow nodded. “And whose fault is it that we’ve wasted time?”

“Shut up.”

The sand ship carrying Daring Do, Coin Flip, and Birdseed arrived in Camelback late in the evening. The air here was too dry for clouds and it allowed the starry sky and bright moon to shine down unmolested. None of the trio cared much for such pretty sights though. Not right now. All of them had a lot on their mind. Two of them were thinking things quite a bit more nefarious than the third though.

It sure was cold too as they stepped out of the sand ship. Cold and windy. It wasn’t a surprise that sandstorms were common to the desert around Camelback if this is how it normally was.

Daring Do looked back into the ship as they stood at the ramp leading to the sand below. A few passengers had gotten off with them, but not all. All of them had veils and other sorts of coverings for their faces to protect them from the sand being blown around by the wind. Seems they had come here better prepared than Daring’s group.

The “sailor” who had let them onboard in the first place noticed their lack of proper headgear as he ushered them off. A grin came to his scarred face. “You know for the right amount we have some turbans and veils lying around you can buy from us.”

“No thank you,” Daring stalwartly replied and tipped her hat down, walking down the ramp and doing her best to ignore the sand.

Birdseed wrapped his scarf more around his face and Coin Flip had the best solution of a simple magic shield.

No trumped up, outrageously unfair, sales would be made here.

There wasn’t a dock here for the ship, the three of them walked off the ramp and right onto sand with the town of Camelback before them. Even though it was dark out, the town was lit up well enough by torches and lamps that they could see what it was like. For one, it wasn’t a bunch of tents or shoddily constructed buildings. This was a real town. Actual sandstone buildings made up the majority here, a lot of them stacked on top of each other or built up in ascending tiers and levels against the large rock formations around. It was a sprawling but also very clustered town at the same time. Very dense. It was still built with an actual plan and care to it though so even with as maze-like and imposing as it was, there were still real streets to follow. The very outskirts of the town had tents and stands surrounding the perimeter of the stone building, but with this wind raging right now they were all closed or boarded up.

“I don’t think it will be too tough for us to find an inn from here,” Daring Do said. “There are probably a few built close to where the sand ships drop creatures off.”

“But we’ll have to find one not owned by camels,” Birdseed grumbled.

“Ugh, good point.”

The three quickly made their way into the narrow streets of Camelback where sandy orange and red buildings crowded them at every turn. Everywhere they looked it seemed to mostly be camels around, unfortunately. Every window they could see into, every creature walking down the streets, every sort of business. It was camels, camels, and more camels.

“We’re going to need to find another area of town.” Birdseed said.

“Dumb humpbacks,” Coin Flip snorted.

The wind and sand blowing everywhere wasn’t helping their moods either. And even though Camelback didn’t have a bad reputation, they couldn’t help but be a little worried blindly wandering the streets at night while in camel central. Daring Do noticed a lot of glares and looks being sent their way from the camels who noticed them. She really hoped they didn’t overhear what Birdseed and Coin Flip were saying.

“There’s gotta be a non-camel inn here somewhere, or at least someplace we can wait for the two of them to show up,” Daring Do said. “Let’s just keep quiet, keep our heads low, and do this without causing anymore trouble.”

Birdseed and Coin Flip shared a secretive glance with each other. The orange pony then nodded. “Whatever you say.”

And while the trio searched through the streets of Camelback, a duo followed close behind, quietly and out of sight. They had been watching and following since Daring Do and the others had first stepped off the sand ship. As their targets rounded a corner going down a long alleyway, the two pursuers took the time to talk. Both of them were wearing heavy robes and shawls over their faces that they pulled down so they could discuss things.

One of them was a unicorn stallion with a deep blue mane on an ebony black body. “Can’t they hurry up and find a place to stay so we can stop tailing them?”

“We’re just going to have to wait around staking them out anyways,” the other one, an earth pony mare with a butter yellow coat and a poofy brown mane said.

“I know that, Popcorn. The boss’s letter said there were still two more coming. No matter what we’re going to be sitting around here until The Red Hornet and that “Rainbow Dash” pony come here,” Astral Comet said.

“Would’ve been easier if they all came here at the same time,” Popcorn said.

“As long as we keep an eye out we’re not going to miss anything,” Astral said. “Of course that doesn’t matter until these three stop and find a place to stay.” He sighed.

“There’s an inn owned by some antelopes not far from where they’re going. Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll see it?” Popcorn said.

“Hopefully.”

Daring Do opened up the door to the first of two rooms she had booked at the “Curvy Horn” inn. An establishment luckily owned by an elderly antelope couple who were more than happy to have their business. It was sparse, with only two small beds, but Daring Do didn’t plan on staying here for the night after Valentine and Dash got here anyways. The room for Birdseed and Coin Flip was probably the same. For their purposes, this would more than do.

Once they were all together Valentine could lead them to the spot north of Camelback where supposedly another clue to the Crystal Sea’s location was—if not the final direction needed to find it. She just hoped the two of them got here soon.

“And you guys are next door,” Daring Do said as she looked over her shoulder at Birdseed and Coin Flip. Coin Flip was grinning dumbly, pretty normal, but Birdseed wasn’t paying attention at all, instead looking back in the direction of the stairs. “Birdseed? Something the matter?”

His head slowly drifted back to look at her. “No, just thinking about Valentine and Rainbow Dash.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Uh huh, anyways since we’re here now and there’s nothing else we can really do, we should probably get some rest. If I know Rainbow Dash she’s not going to take long getting here.”

“Alright,” Birdseed nodded. “The two of us will get some sleep too then. We’ll knock first thing in the morning.”

Daring Do turned away from him to go walk over to the nearest bed—she never saw the attack coming.

Birdseed smacked her in the back of her skull with his heavy forelimbs as hard as he could. She was out before she hit the floor, her vision instantly going black. The two stallions looked down at the sprawled form of the unconscious pegasus, there was no turning back now with what had just been done. Birdseed frowned and looked at Coin Flip.

“Get some rope from her bag and tie her up,” he said.

“My pleasure, nice not having to listen to her talk anymore,” Coin Flip said and went ruffling through her bag. He didn’t just take out rope but all the stolen money left as well. “Now that’ll tide us over for however long we’re still in this desert.”

Birdseed grinned. “Which won’t be much longer at all. We’ll be getting a move on again very soon.”

“Need to stay ahead of The Hornet,” Coin Flip said as he started tying Daring Do up. Once he was finished knotting all the ropes he stepped away to admire his hoofiwork and trotted over to the door. “We going?”

“Yeah,” Birdseed nodded and turned to join him, prepared to leave the room and the inn behind.

“Unggg...” A groan escaped Daring Do’s lips.

Both stallions paused and looked back at her, she was already blinking her way awake and it didn’t take long before she started struggling at her bonds and moving about on the floor—her dazed mind still not fully aware of what had happened or what was going on. Daring Do groaned again and her one wing that wasn’t pinned down flapped open, she tried lifting a hoof to rub the back of her head and only then seemed to notice the rope binding her limbs in place. Her eyes slowly came into focus and another pained groan left her lips.

“W-What happened? What’s going on?” She managed to look over in the direction of Birdseed and Coin Flip, though she was still seeing double.

“I’ll make sure her lights are out until morning...” Coin Flip said and started walking towards her.

Birdseed however held up a hoof to stop him. “No.” He closed the door to the room behind them and walked up to Daring Do with a stony expression on his face.

She meanwhile finally grasped what had happened to her and was glaring right up at him. “Why?”

“Cause I don’t feel like dying for something I don’t even care about,” Birdseed said and reached into his scarf. “Also—since you’re awake anyways—I figure I might as well do something nice for you. After all you haven’t been nearly as much of a pest as Valentine.” He pulled out the map and showed it to her. “This is what you’ve been looking for, the map to Cinnabaron’s temple.”

Daring Do’s eyes widened and she shifted in an attempt to try and get up and grab it from him. “How long have you had that?! Where did you-” She suddenly sucked in a breath.

Birdseed snorted in amusement. “Realized that quick? I found it at the same place we found the other map.”

“And you were always going to betray us since you found it?” Daring Do asked, her angry eyes glaring between him and Coin Flip.

“Actually, no,” he looked up as he thought for a bit. “To be totally honest? I didn’t know what I was going to do with this map when I first found it. Give it to you, sell it to you, both seemed like pretty good options. I only made my decision to betray you after that crazy mare tried blowing us all up. Whether she killed Valentine or not, I don’t really care, this job isn’t worth the trouble anymore.”

“Isn’t worth it? The entire desert will be flung into chaos if Shining Diamond gets his way!” Daring yelled.

“Oh no, what a horrible tragedy,” Birdseed rolled his eyes.

“It is! Can’t you—the both of you—not be selfish for even just a few more days!” Daring tried to break free of the ropes as she struggled back and forth on the ground.

“Valentine got the wrong ponies to help her,” Coin Flip shrugged. “We’re scared of dying more than we’re scared of her.”

“And since another, even greater, reward showed its face there wasn’t really any reason for us to stick with you anymore,” Birdseed shrugged.

“You two are going to regret this,” Daring Do glared at him.

Coin Flip frowned and came up to her with a lit horn. “Valentine and that rainbow brat might not even learn what happened if we shut you up for good.”

Again, Birdseed stopped him, slapping him in the back of the head. “No. We don’t need to go that far, that could get the authorities here sent after us faster too.” He grinned at Daring Do. “But you won’t waste the time chasing us or going through all the trouble with camels to do that now, not with Shining Diamond and the Crystal Sea to worry about.”

“Grrr,” Daring Do grit her teeth.

Birdseed laughed and turned around, heading back to the door. “Goodbye. Tell that to Valentine too.” His hoof stopped just before he opened the door, and he instead reached over to Coin Flip and grabbed the bag of money he had pilfered from Daring Do. He withdrew a few coins and threw them at Daring’s hooves. “That’ll be enough for a meal for you tomorrow, don’t say I never did anything for you.”

And after that the two stallions left. And Daring Do could do nothing.

It actually was only an hour until an antelope maid who cleans and takes care of the rooms came upon the tied up Daring Do. One scream and a very beleaguered explanation later and the archaeologist was free. Although it didn’t really change her situation that much. What could she do? Birdseed and Coin Flip had a good head start, she had no idea where they might be going, and she couldn’t leave Camelback while Miss Valentine and Rainbow Dash were expecting her to be here and they still had Shining Diamond to take care of. It left her in a miserable mood. And her head hurt. The pain and exhaustion more than anything else led to her still being able to fall asleep that night.

When she woke up the following morning, there was really only one thing she could do now: wait for Rainbow Dash and Valentine. They couldn’t afford to miss each other so Daring Do left the inn and walked to the western edge of Camelback where she had originally entered from the sand ship. The good news was, the sandstorm from last night had subsided, so she could stand outside without much trouble. A glance to the north still showed storms raging in the desert out there, huge clouds of sand and dust obscured everything. It made sense that if the last clue and the Crystal Sea itself were out there that was why they hadn’t been found yet.

Daring Do sat at the outskirts of town, by the shops and tents operated by camels selling things, and watched the skies to the west. As long as Rainbow and Valentine were coming here, she wouldn’t miss them. Unsurprisingly she was getting a lot of suspicious and dirty looks from the camels around her but she paid them no mind. So long as nobody tried messing with her, she’d just sit here and watch for her friends.

“I hope the two of you get here soon...” Daring Do sighed.

“Could you stop moving around so much back there?” Rainbow complained to her passenger.

“You’re too thin, I keep slipping around,” Valentine frowned.

“Well you’re the one who wanted to ride on my back. Sorry I’m not a first-class flight,” Rainbow snorted.

“You need to eat more, honey.”

“Well I’ll tell you what, next ice cream shop I find I’ll clean out the whole place, and then the next time you ride on my back it’ll be better for you.”

Valentine rolled her eyes. “Oh, you’re funny.”

“Whatever, we’re not that far from Camelback now, are we?” Rainbow Dash asked her.

“No,” Valentine shook her head. “Honestly we should be seeing it on the horizon any minute now.”

“Good. No offense but I kind of want you off my back. And I’d really like to get back to taking care of this Crystal Sea and Shining Diamond business. Not like we haven’t been sidetracked enough.”

“Due to a certain crazy mare who’s obsessed with you for some reason.”

“Hey, that aint my fault. Really. I have no idea why she’s after me,” Rainbow said.

“Well obviously someone in this desert has it out for you. Someone who can even scare her. She was positively mad trying to get you,” Valentine said.

Rainbow Dash scowled and bit her lip. “I don’t need you to remind me.”

They flew on over the desert for a while after that, it was still very early in the morning and it hadn’t gotten as horrifically hot yet as it probably would in a few hours. As long as they got to Camelback soon it wouldn’t really be an issue. Of course then the both of them were going to have to search for where Daring Do, Birdseed and Coin Flip were. At least Valentine knew where some of the closest inns (that weren’t run by camels) were in town.

Rainbow Dash yawned after a few more minutes and squinted ahead to see if there was anything besides more sand dunes coming up. To her joy, there was. At first she saw the orange sandstone rock formations rising from the sand, and then the buildings all built around and on them. Camelback came more and more into focus, the dense town sticking out from the sands like an orange hoof.

“Please tell me that’s it?” Rainbow asked Valentine.

“That’s it,” Valentine nodded and then pointed to the north. “And that’s where we need to go next.”

Rainbow Dash glanced north to see an intense raging sandstorm in the distance. “Great.”

“We’ll deal with that when the time comes,” Valentine said.

“Hey, I’m not complaining, I’ve been through worse things than a little sandstorm,” Rainbow shrugged—inadvertently almost knocking Valentine off her.

“Watch it!” Valentine yelped and grabbed on tighter.

“Sorry! Geez!” Rainbow grumbled.

Rainbow Dash started descending closer to the sand as they got closer to Camelback, since Valentine would probably appreciate getting to walk again. And since she definitely wanted the scarlet mare off her back already. It was a crowded looking place but once there they could begin looking for Daring Do and the others together.

Or so Rainbow Dash thought.

As soon as they had gotten a little closer, a dot rose up from the sand around all the little tents and stalls set up on the western edge of Camelback. Both Rainbow Dash and Valentine noticed it and saw that it was coming in their direction. The two of them tensed up and got ready for trouble—when Rainbow Dash got a clear look at who it was and a smile broke out across her face.

“Well I guess we don’t have to waste our time looking around,” she said.

Valentine raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

Rainbow pointed. “Just look who it is.”

Valentine squinted through her sunglasses and took a better look, a grin soon after appearing on her face as well. “Well that at least makes this day a whole lot better.”

The two of them flew towards Daring Do as she came up from Camelback to meet them. Rainbow Dash waved right to her, while Valentine would have if she still didn’t have her hooves in what was practically a death grip around Rainbow Dash. However, as they got closer, the smiles on their faces slowly disappeared as they took note of the expression on Daring Do’s face. She looked very upset.

Rainbow came to a pause in the sky in front of her good friend. “Yo! Glad you got here okay.”

Daring’s expression lightened up a little bit. “And I’m glad to see that you two are okay. I was worried for a bit.”

“Pff! You never need to worry about me,” Rainbow said.

“We handled it decently enough,” Valentine said before getting more serious. “Is something the matter, honey? You look like you have some bad news to deliver.”

Daring Do sighed and nodded her head a few times. “Unfortunately, yeah, I do.”

Valentine looked down to the ground and then back up at Daring, narrowing her eyes. “Where are Birdseed and Coin Flip?”

“Are you kidding me?!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she slammed her hooves down on the cafe table she was sitting at. “They really did that?!”

After Daring Do had met them in the skies outside of Camelback, she had told them that they should relax and get a meal first. The trio made their way down into Camelback and Miss Valentine directed them to a pony cafe she knew about. All the coins that Daring had left were used to get bread and water for the three of them. Not much, but it would have to do. The cafe itself was pretty quiet, aside from Rainbow Dash, and since it was a pony cafe there weren’t any camels around. That was the most important part.

“Yep,” Daring Do said. “Ran off last night.”

Valentine meanwhile was glaring down at the table. “Should’ve never trusted them... I thought they would’ve at least had the sense not to cross me. It’s the same mistake I made with Zargoz.”

“They took all of our money too so we’re in an even worse spot,” Daring sighed.

“Well then let’s go find them and-” Rainbow started.

“We can’t,” Valentine interrupted. “We don’t have the time or any clues right now as to where they’ve gone and finding out will take too long. The Crystal Sea comes first and they know it.” Valentine took a deep breath and leaned back in her chair. “At least I still know where we need to go for that.”

“I’m just a little worried now that there’s only three of us and we still have no idea what Shining Diamond might be able to throw at us,” Daring Do said.

Rainbow Dash’s hooves quaked and she exploded, her wings shooting out. “Oh whatever! Who cares about him and who cares about them?” She pointed at herself. “I’m awesome.” She pointed at Daring Do. “You’re awesome.” She pointed at Miss Valentine. “You’re a jerk but you’re awesome too. And together the three of us can still handle anything! Alright?”

Valentine looked up at her and much to her own surprise a smile wormed itself onto her face. “Yeah, alright. It’s not like we can back down now. Those two pack animals weren’t worth all that much anyways.”

“I was never going to say we should give up either,” Daring Do grinned. “I know what we’re all capable of here. You’re right, Rainbow Dash, we can still do this.”

"That’s right!” Rainbow Dash smugly crossed her hooves and sat down.

“We should leave Camelback as soon as possible then,” Daring Do said.

“Since we don’t have any money to buy more food and water though, we should finish up with what we have here before we travel into the desert again,” Valentine said.

“Right. And hope we can find where we need to go by the end of the day,” Daring said.

“The map showed us exactly where we need to go out in the desert north of Camelback. And according to Harzeen there should be something to find out there. I think we’ve got this in the bag, well before Shining Diamond is going to figure out what’s happening,” Valentine said.

“Sounds good to me, now I’m hungry so let’s eat,” Rainbow said and took a big bite out of her bread. She chewed like an animal. “S’Better eat up quick...”

Valentine rolled her eyes. “Good thing we’re not eating anywhere fancy. You always eat like that when you’re hungry, honey?”

Rainbow Dash swallowed down the bread she was eating. “When I’ve got a place to go, yeah.”

“Try not to choke,” Valentine said and started eating much more manageable pieces.

The mood at the table had picked up considerably thanks to Rainbow’s positive attitude and reassurances. The three mares sitting and eating together at the very least could say they were friends and that they believed in each other. Nothing else really mattered after that. It wasn’t even midday so they had plenty of time to get out into the desert. Rainbow grabbed her glass of water and held it up towards the others, Valentine and Daring Do both grinned and grabbed theirs as well.

A quick clink of their glasses together and the three downed their water all in one gulp.

“Ahhh...” A refreshed Rainbow Dash sighed in relief after the toast. “I wish I had a huge cake or something to eat right now but whatever, that water still hit the spot. Let’s get out of here.”

Daring Do tossed her last piece of bread in her mouth and started munching. “So long to Camelback, one day was too long to be here.”

“It’s never a bad time to leave a camel town,” Valentine chuckled. Her smile then grew slightly more vicious. “And once we’re done with Shining Diamond, the two of us can come back here and get on the trail of our good friends.”

“And I’ll be off to... who knows where at this point honestly,” Rainbow shrugged. “But good luck to the both of you, especially you Daring, I hope you find that temple.”

“Me too, thanks Rainbow,” Daring Do smiled. “But we’re getting pretty ahead of ourselves, let’s get out to that sandstorm.”

“Yes,” Valentine said and stood up from the table.

“Right on!” Rainbow said and hopped out of her chair, already walking towards the entryway with a big grin on her face.

The moment she did, another pony passing by accidentally bumped into her.

“Sorry,” he said, tilting his head in apology and walking past her to another table.

“No problem,” Rainbow grinned and waved at him while Miss Valentine and Daring Do came up beside her. Together the three of them left the cafe and walked out into the bright streets of Camelback. A quick walk through those winding streets would take them to the desert to the north and then--the Crystal Sea.

“You did it?” Popcorn asked Astral Comet as he came back to sit down at their table.

“I did it,” he grinned from ear to ear. “The tracking spell on that blue pegasus will last for three whole days and since none of them are unicorns they’ll never detect it.”

Popcorn clapped her hooves together excitedly. “Hooray! Things are working out even better than expected, Shining Diamond’s going to be so happy to hear!”

“He should be here to pick us up in... a couple of hours at most too I’d say. We’re definitely getting rewarded for this,” Astral said.

“We’re all going to be rich!” Popcorn cheered.

“Rich and powerful. It’s like a dream,” Astral smiled.

"Now how about we go someplace a bit nicer than this to celebrate while we wait?” Popcorn raised an eyebrow.

“Took the words right out of my mouth,” Astral winked.

Three pegasus mares stood at the northern edge of Camelback and stared out at the desert. A sandstorm raged in the distance, obscuring anything further away than a few miles. That didn’t concern them though, what the sandstorm hid was too important to ignore or be cowed by. No storm or disaster of any sort could stop or dissuade them now. Nothing short of the world ending could curb their determination.

“You know it hasn’t been so long since I met up with you,” Rainbow Dash said.

“But it feels like we’ve forged ourselves a decent relationship,” Miss Valentine grinned.

“Either way, I’m glad the two of you are getting along much better now. And all three of us are going to have a great memory and story to share after the day is done,” Daring Do said.

Rainbow Dash cracked her neck and flapped her wings, levitating above the sand. “Let’s do this.”

Daring Do joined her and Valentine tensed up, getting ready to run.

“Yes, let’s,” the scarlet mare said and all three took off towards the sandstorm at a quick pace.

It may have not been the smartest way to do things with their lack of water and the sun beating down on them, but they were too excited to take things slow. The desert didn’t wait. In only a few minutes they would reach that sandstorm and barrel into it. The next clue, the next step, was right there, and maybe the Crystal Sea too.

“Last one there’s a rotten egg!” Rainbow said and sped up her flying.

“That aint fair, honey!” Valentine yelled and ran after her.

Daring Do only grinned and kept flying along.

Less than an hour later, Astral Comet and Popcorn were standing on the roof of a building while a massive blimp hovered overhead, casting a huge shadow across the town of Camelback and making most of its citizens gaze up in surprise and wonder. The two ponies looked down at the narrow streets to see crowds of camels talking with each other about what was going on. Probably not the best thing for their group but it was obvious that Shining Diamond didn’t care. They definitely didn’t want to stay here for long though, lest some griffons or local pegasi got curious and tried to fly up to the blimp. At least camels couldn’t fly.

“Not exactly the most inconspicuous right now, are we?” Popcorn said as she looked at the hovering blimp, the large propellers keeping it afloat.

Astral Comet snorted in agreement. “How long until the Brotherhood and the Murkers hear about this? Well, not like anyone knows what’s going on at least.”

A hatch opened up on the side of the large gondola and two flying figures came out of it, coming down to where Astral and Popcorn were.

“There’s our ride,” Popcorn said.

“Took them long enough to see us,” Astral nodded.

In another couple of minutes, the entire group was assembled on the flight deck of the Ziz. Shining Diamond proudly stood by the wheel of his gigantic blimp, staring out ahead through the window at the sandstorms to the north. Whitesheet, Sand, Velvet, Astral, and Popcorn all stiffly stood at attention behind him. And meanwhile another pony who the two from Camelback didn’t know stood behind them, her hoof impatiently tapping on the metal floor.

“Oh Astral and Popcorn,” Shining Diamond smiled as he spoke, his crisp and magnificent voice projecting through the whole room. “The news you’ve given me is even better than what I was expecting. Truly you’ve outdone yourselves. I believe fortune is smiling down on all of us right now.”

“Thank you, sir,” Astral Comet said, his chest puffing out.

“Our enemies are down to three, they have no idea we’re tracking them, and the Crystal Sea is right there in front of us. Ah, truly a day for celebration,” Shining Diamond beamed.

“Can we finish with the theatrics already?” Supernova said with a growl in her voice.

Astral Comet and the other lackeys turned to look at her and saw the smoldering anger bubbling just under her surface.

“I need to get that pony, you know where she is, so let’s go already,” Supernova said. “There’s no reason to keep floating around above this town now that you’ve recovered your minions. You might have everything you need now, but I can’t stop until Rainbow Dash is dead.”

“Umm... who is this?” Astral Comet asked. To his left, he saw a nervous Velvet Hooves repeatedly shake her head.

“A new business partner, Astral. Don’t mind her impatience, she has something supposedly very important to do,” Shining Diamond shrugged, still not even bothering to turn around and look at the others. “And I suppose you do make a good point, Supernova. Best not to waste anymore time here.”

“We don’t want the Brotherhood or Murkers coming after us after all,” Whitesheet said.

Shining Diamond laughed in derision. “Hah! I’m not worried about them, I just don’t want anybody touching those crystals before me. What would the stupid camels do anyways? They can’t fly, they don’t even have any weapons or magic to try shooting us down with. Well, who cares, time to get a move on. To the Crystal Sea!”

He pressed a lever forward and the great blimp thrummed and slowly started to leave the airspace of Camelback. Now on the move, a spark danced from the horn of Supernova while a deranged grin spread across her face. The minions of Shining Diamond gathered by the viewport to watch as they went directly towards the raging sandstorms, and overhead a dragon stuck in a cage groaned in pain and exhaustion.

“We’re going to be rich beyond belief now,” Whitesheet said with a happy smile on her face.

“I’m thinking as soon as we’ve ousted the camels from power we can start renaming some of the places around this desert too. From Camelback to Ponyback. Would be a fitting change,” Astral Comet said. “Cement it as a place of importance, where our victory was assured.”

“I’m merely going to be happy living like a king with a bunch of beautiful mares attending to my every need,” Sand said.

“I suppose that’s the only way you could get a beautiful mare to attend to you,” Velvet laughed. “But truly, that sounds good to me too, just switch the mares with stallions.”

“And I’ll never have to eat subpar food or drink dirty water again. I don’t care if an entire village has to go hungry, it’ll be nothing but the best, most gourmet meals for me from now on!” Popcorn grinned.

“We’re all going to get exactly what we want. As soon as this desert is mine,” Shining Diamond said. He looked at Whitesheet. “Whitesheet? Tell me, with all the cargo nets and carrying ropes we have, how much crystal can we harvest and take with us?”

“Several hundred tons, sir,” Whitesheet answered.

“Excellent, most excellent. It will surely take some time to collect it all, but it will be well worth it,” he laughed as the Ziz continued on towards the sandstorms.

The sandstorm raged all around the three mares, wind and sand blowing against them and into their faces unceasingly. It was a miserable experience that reminded Rainbow Dash of some of her worst times in the True North. She didn’t think anything could compare to the pain and annoyance of some of the places she flew through up there, but this darn sandstorm was proving her wrong.

“Ugh! At least the two of you have some clothes you’re wearing!” Rainbow Dash yelled to her two companions. Even at full volume they could barely hear her.

“It aint any better, honey!” Valentine yelled back at her as she struggled to resist the wind.

“Come on! We have to press on harder!” Daring Do said. “The map showed a spot further north from Camelback than where we are now, we’ve gotta keep going!”

“How big are these sandstorms anyways? How long do they last?” Rainbow asked.

“Out here? They last forever,” Valentine answered. “The storms north of Camelback never stop. That’s probably why the Crystal Sea was never found again after the camels lost its location generations ago. As for size, who knows? No one’s ever been dumb enough to try and go through one and map it out.”

“Good to know I’m still being as dumb as usual then!” Rainbow yelled.

“There has to be a dead zone at some point though, or like an eye of the storm, otherwise the camels wouldn’t be able to get in and out of where the Crystal Sea is in the first place,” Daring Do said.

“I think we’ll find that, or at least get an idea of where to go, as soon as we get to the spot marked on the map,” Valentine said.

“Well you’re the one who said she knew exactly where that spot was or whatever, so hurry up and take us to it!” Rainbow said.

“That’s what I’m trying to do! But if you haven’t noticed, we can barely see more than a few feet in front of us. It’s not going to be easy!” Valentine yelled.

Rainbow Dash frowned and looked out at the near impenetrable walls of flying sand all around them. “I’ve got the best eyes so I’ll try and keep a look out for anything unusual.”

“Be my guest,” Valentine said.

It was hardly any better even with all three of them working together. The sand was almost bad enough to start cutting into them and honestly was coming close to hurting them the more they tried to go through the storm. And if they looked or turned the wrong direction they got a face full of it right into their eyes, nose, and mouth. Even flying for Rainbow and Daring was tough as the winds wanted to take them away. Maybe the Crystal Sea didn’t want to be found again. From what little the three knew about it, it sounded like it had some sort of magical aspect to it. Maybe the sandstorm was the Sea protecting itself? None of them had the magical ability to tell. Rainbow did have weather experience but this sandstorm wasn’t the kind of thing she could really do anything about.

The three stuck pretty close together after that, with Rainbow Dash hovering somewhat above the other two and using her sharp eyes to find anything. Anything at all. But so far it was just rocks and ground that the sand was blasting over. It just seemed like any other piece of desert. If there was a landmark or something special hidden here, they weren’t close to finding it.

“Maybe Harzeen was messing with us when he said that something was supposed to be here?” Daring Do said.

“It sounded genuine when he mentioned it...” Valentine muttered.

“It could’ve easily been totally buried by the sand after all these years,” Daring Do said.

“Well we don’t exactly have a metal detector on our hooves now, do we?” Valentine sighed.

“If we still had a certain unicorn around I feel like he might have been able to help us out,” Daring Do clicked her tongue in annoyance.

“No use thinking of those two morons,” Valentine shook her head. A grin then opened up her face. “Not until we have the opportunity to pay them back at least.”

Daring Do smiled at Valentine still being able to think to the future. Since at the moment things weren’t going so great. They had to charge up a rocky hill together that had been weathered by years of unceasing winds and sands, going down the backside of it and simply being met by more sand and rocks. An unfortunate wasteland.

Rainbow Dash frowned down at Valentine. “How close are we to the spot on the map?”

“It should be practically right here!” Valentine said. “Just right around here somewhere!”

“I’ll find it then... someway, somehow, whatever’s out here I’ll get my hooves on it,” Rainbow said and flew with all her strength down to the sands.

All three of them spent the next hour combing through this part of the sandstorm in perfect unison. Thanks to Rainbow Dash directing them from overhead even while the winds and sands threatened to blow her miles away. It was because of Rainbow that they at least knew they weren’t missing any spots, no stone or grain of sand was going uncovered.

And it was then that through squinted eyes, Daring Do saw something wedged between two small sand dunes.

“Wait! I see something!” She shouted and pointed towards it.

The others followed her gaze and Rainbow’s eyes were able to make out what looked like a black stone coming out of the sand. It was smoother than a stone stuck in this kind of maelstrom would be, and it’s color didn’t fit anything else either. Quickly she zoomed in its direction while the other two followed her.

Rainbow Dash paused above the black stone and looked down at it, tilting her head. It looked like a mound or something sticking out of the sand.

Her eyes widened. Not a mound, a hump.

“It’s buried here, help me dig it out!” Rainbow said as Valentine and Daring Do arrived. She beat her wings hard to clear away some of the sand around it, then moved to try and block the wind and sand being blown at it by the storm.

“What a pain...” Valentine bit her lip as she used her hooves to excavate the rest of the black stone.

It wasn’t easy, the sand kept on falling back and the thing was fairly big in the first place. Once more a certain other couple of ponies would’ve been a big help here. But working together the three of them did slowly make progress. It was two steps forward and one step back the whole time but they were still slowly getting there. More and more of the black stone was being revealed to them and it became apparent this wasn’t some random stone but a carved statue. And they were all pretty sure what it was a statue of.

Finally they had more than half of it uncovered and all three of them stopped to catch their breath. From the looks of it they wouldn’t need to do anymore digging anyways.

A camel. A black statue of polished stone in the shape of a camel, it looked like its legs were probably on some sort of stand that was still under the sand. Except for one leg. One leg was raised and pointing just ever so slightly northwest.

Miss Valentine turned her head to look in the direction the camel was pointing. “The Crystal Sea...”

“They stopped in one place for a while but started moving again, sir. We’re almost on top of them,” Astral Comet said as he stood in front of the Ziz’s viewpoint with his horn slightly glowing.

The sandstorm obscured everything that could be seen by eyes, but magic sensing was a different matter altogether. While most of his subordinates had been a little worried about flying directly into the sandstorm, Shining Diamond knew there was no danger. He was correct too as the Ziz’s engine and propellers were powerful enough to make the large blimp easily slice through the storm. It only slightly had any effect on the blimp’s flightpath and Shining Diamond was easily able to adjust.

“Good! I bet they’ll be surprised when they see us. Let’s hope they’ve gotten to the Crystal Sea already,” Shining Diamond grinned as he manned the wheel.

“If they haven’t we’ll have a good enough idea of its location anyways,” Whitesheet smiled.

“Yes, yes, our victory is close at hoof. I can almost taste it!” Shining Diamond cheered.

And at the back of the bridge, Supernova paced back and forth. Small sparks continued to dance around her horn.

“Okay, so we’re going in the right direction, but this storm still hasn’t let up at all. Is that a problem?” Rainbow Dash asked Miss Valentine.

“I have no idea. I’m not an expert on this, I just know more than you,” Valentine replied.

“Oh, that’s reassuring,” Rainbow sarcastically rolled her eyes.

“Just stay positive, okay? I have a good feeling about this,” Daring Do said.

Unfortunately they were still in the middle of a sandstorm with dust and sand being blown constantly at them. And now at the slightly changed angle they were walking it was closer to just blowing right into their faces. If anything the winds seemed to get more intense too and neither Rainbow Dash nor Daring Do were flying at the moment. They knew there had to be a break in the storm somewhere but it hadn’t been found yet and now the storm was slowing them down even more.

“That stupid camel statue better not be wrong, or fake or something,” Rainbow Dash said.

“I doubt it was. Did you see how it wasn’t even damaged after all these years in the sand? There must be something special about it,” Daring Do said.

Rainbow frowned and tried to squint through the veil of sand. She couldn’t even really see any shadows or shapes beyond it, in fact it was a miracle that light was even able to reach them at all down here. She clicked her tongue, it was a pain but she had been through worse. That was the pure and absolute truth. She could get through this too.

“Come on! We’re not letting this stupid sand beat us!” Rainbow tried to pump up her friends.

As they pushed on it was kind of like someone was right above them pouring buckets of sand on them. Or perhaps into fans blowing into them. Rainbow Dash had enough of snow to last her a lifetime, she had now had enough of deserts and sand as well. The only real positive to traveling through this storm was that it blocked most of the oppressive heat coming from above. If it didn’t, the three of them would probably be cooking on some rocks already. Rainbow Dash still had no idea how Valentine lived while wearing all that black. At least she had switched her black vest for green canvas. Crazy pony.

“There can’t be much further to go, it just isn’t possible!” Daring Do said over the howling winds.

Rainbow squinted ahead again and though it may have been her eyes playing tricks on her it looked like things got brighter up ahead. “I think you might be right!”

“I hope,” Valentine grumbled. “I’m pretty tired of this!”

“Yeah you and me both!” Rainbow Dash called right after her. “Forget it though, we just need to keep going dead ahead. I think I can see past the veil!”

It wasn’t just her now either, both Daring Do and Miss Valentine were able to notice the change. It filled them with renewed hope and vigor as they joined Rainbow Dash, all of them practically leaning on and supporting each other, and pushed towards the light beyond the storm. The sand was still smacking into them with the pinpricks of pain that accompanied it, but it didn’t dissuade them. Now they were almost there.

To Rainbow Dash, it almost felt like pushing your hoof past a waterfall. You felt all that water cascading around you but then it parted and there was nothing but empty air on the other side. That was how it was now, except it was a wall of sand being blown through the air that she was moving through.

With a final push the three practically jumped out of the storm... and fell right onto the hot sand in front of them since the wind was no longer blowing into them.

“Ugh!” Rainbow Dash groaned.

“Well that’s a perfect finish...” Valentine said as she spat out some sand.

“You guys... look,” Daring Do said.

The others looked at her and saw her staring straight ahead, Rainbow and Valentine then followed her gaze and saw that they were no longer in the middle of a raging sandstorm. Instead it really was like they were inside the eye of a hurricane or something. It was a calm spot with clear skies and the walls of the storm were miles away in the distance.

That wasn’t even all. Beyond the dunes, obscured by one particularly tall sand dune, part of the desert was glowing. White light that steadily pulsed from the surface of the sand blanketed what looked like a massive portion of the inside of the storm. If the light was any indication, the Crystal Sea was aptly named.

“Well what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Rainbow Dash said, she grabbed Miss Valentine and tossed her on her back (much to the startled surprise of the scarlet mare) and pulled up Daring Do before flying off to the top of the large sand dune in front of them.

“Wait for me!” Daring Do shouted and flew after her.

They came to a stop at the crest of the large sand dune and Valentine quickly hopped off of Rainbow Dash.

“You didn’t need to... woah,” Valentine said as she looked out at the desert past the dune.

“Yeah. Woah,” Daring Do agreed and Rainbow Dash just nodded wordlessly.

Softly glowing white crystals spread out before them across the entire desert. The crystal formations just grew up out of nowhere and were so dense you wouldn’t have been able to walk in-between them at all. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of crystals growing from the sand, many of the formations were the size of a wagon or more. It was truly spectacular and it was right there in front of them.

They had found it. The Crystal Sea.

“Wow. This thing’s actually here. I was always kind of wondering to be honest,” Rainbow Dash said as she scratched her head.

“I didn’t think it would be so... huge. “Sea” really wasn’t an exaggeration,” Miss Valentine said.

“It’s pretty incredible. A great find,” Daring Do said.

“Yeah, I-” Rainbow Dash started but then paused, her ears twitching. “You guys hear that?”

“Hear what?” Valentine asked.

Rainbow Dash frowned. Now that they were out of the sandstorm she could hear other sounds better, and the raging winds of the storm were being interrupted by something. She turned around and looked at the huge wall of sand and dust that they had just emerged from. “Uhhh, why is there a giant zeppelin coming out of the sandstorm?”

The others looked up and saw it too. A huge airship was pushing through the last barrier of sand and wind that kept the Crystal Sea secluded. The massive vessel soon cleared it entirely and cast its shadow down at the sand while continuing to move forward, on a beeline for the center of the Sea.

Miss Valentine growled and narrowed her eyes in anger. “It’s him. It’s Shining Diamond.”

“How’d he get here?!” Rainbow Dash asked her.

“He must have been following us,” Daring Do suggested. “Somehow, some way, he’s probably been following us for a while.”

“Fine then,” Valentine said. “We were going to have to deal with him at one point or another. I hate to say this, but I want you to carry me up there again, Rainbow Dash, the three of us can-”

“Hold on!” Rainbow Dash said and pointed at the blimp. “I think a door just opened up on it... someone’s coming out.”

“Beautiful! Simply beautiful!” Shining Diamond said as he looked out at the Crystal Sea.

“It’s even more amazing than I imagined...” Whitesheet said from beside him.

“Uh, sir?” Astral Comet said, pointing at something else down on the ground. “The Red Hornet and the other two are there.”

Popcorn, Sand, and Velvet Hooves came up to take a look beside him. Sand looked back at their leader. “It’s true, sir! They’re all down there!”

“Well we knew that was coming,” Shining Diamond shrugged. “It’s why we brought dear Supernova along for the ride.” He grinned. “And this is your moment isn’t it? You were waiting for the opportunity to take care of that rainbow pegasus, so go fulfill your job with me and do it!”

There was no answer.

“Supernova?” He looked over his shoulder and saw nothing but an empty bridge behind him.

Whitesheet blinked. “I believe she already left, sir.”

“Did she remember to take a parachute?”

Supernova stood on the small steps leading up to the hatch she had just opened on the side of the Ziz. Her narrow face peered down at the sands of the desert. Crystal Sea? She couldn’t possibly care less. The only thing that mattered to her was that blue, rainbow-maned pegasus sitting down there. Supernova saw her. She saw her target and a breath of relief left her lungs. It wasn’t over yet. Failure wasn’t an option, she had to finish things this time. With a single step she jumped from the blimp.

Falling at high speed towards the sands she lit up her sparking horn and fired an explosion directly in front of her. The shockwave from the blast buffeted her and slowed her decent slightly. Again and again she fired explosion after explosion to slow herself down and briefly push herself up to avoid smashing into the sand like a boulder.

Hundreds of feet she fell through the sky like this until the sand was right in front of her. A final, extra large explosion, blew up her landing zone and she dropped down into the fire and smoke, landing without a problem on the burning and melted sand. Taking less than a second to stand up straight and get her bearings, Supernova walked out of the smoke and confronted Rainbow Dash and the other two. They were a mere twenty feet apart and the trio of pegasi were standing together against her. Supernova’s horn sparked, but she didn’t attack just yet.

And meanwhile, Miss Valentine’s head slowly turned to Rainbow Dash and she leveled her with a withering glare.

Rainbow Dash bit her lip and chuckled nervously, shrugging at the scarlet mare. “M-My bad?”

“We can’t fly off and attack Shining Diamond with her here,” Daring Do said, tensing up and getting ready to take off as soon as Supernova looked like she was going to attack them.

“Actually you can,” Supernova suddenly said, spooking the other three.

Valentine narrowed her eyes at the deadly mercenary. “I beg your pardon?”

“I don’t care about you other two. I don’t care about Shining Diamond or whatever any of this is. If the two of you want to go fly up there and leave Rainbow Dash with me? I’m not going to stop you. I’d welcome it,” Supernova said, her eyes burning a hole into Rainbow Dash the entire time.

“We’re not going to just leave Rainbow Dash alone to fight some crazy mare trying to kill her!” Daring Do shouted.

“Yes you are,” Rainbow Dash plainly said while staring right back at Supernova

Daring Do looked at her like she was crazy. “What?!”

“This is my problem. I don’t know why she wants to kill me in the first place, but this is something that’s never involved the two of you. I’ll deal with Supernova. You two go up and stop Shining Diamond,” Rainbow told her.

“No way, Rainbow Dash. We all saw what she can do, I’m not leaving you to fight her alone,” Daring Do shook her head.

“Someone needs to carry Valentine,” Rainbow said and pointed at their scarlet friend. “Or are you just going to let that guy who you’ve been trying to stop this entire time get his way?” She grinned at Daring. “Trust me. I’ve handled worse than this crazy mare.”

Valentine put a hoof on Daring Do’s shoulder before she could challenge further. “Let’s do it, Daring. We have a job to do, and Rainbow has hers.”

“But...” Daring looked at the determined faces of her friends, at the evil glower of Supernova, and at the flying blimp above them. Finally, she sighed in defeat. “You better be okay. I can’t believe I’m running out on you again.”

“Heh, don’t sweat it,” Rainbow Dash cracked her neck. “I know how this pest works, I’ll be fine.”

Supernova’s eye twitched and a spark shot off her horn. “Don’t count on it.”

Daring Do bent her legs and Miss Valentine climbed on her back, the latter giving Rainbow Dash a grin. “Have fun down here.”

“I will. Try not to finish Shining Diamond off too quickly,” Rainbow said to her.

“You two...” Daring Do shook her head and flew up, giving Rainbow Dash one last look of dismay before she flew up towards the blimp.

Rainbow Dash watched them go for a second before turning her attention to the yellow unicorn staring her down. Rainbow’s eyes narrowed and she extended her wings, ready to blast off at full speed. Supernova stood her ground while sparks and crackling energy gathered about her horn, waiting to be unleashed. Both were waiting for the other to make the first move here under the hot sun.

“Before we do this, I wanted to ask you something. If you’re in the mood to answer a question this time,” Rainbow Dash said to Supernova.

Supernova raised an eyebrow at her. “What?”

“What do you think?” Rainbow Dash snorted. “Why are you trying to kill me?”

Supernova’s lip twitched and she seemed to be thinking about what to say, if she should even give any sort of answer at all. “I was told to.”

“You were told to? Not paid?” Rainbow asked in confusion. “I thought Valentine said you were a mercenary who killed ponies for money.”

“It doesn’t concern you,” Supernova bit out, her attitude worsening and her patience wearing thin.

“Doesn’t concern me? It One-Billion percent concerns me! You’re trying to kill me and you won’t even tell me why!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

“Well all you need to know is that someone wants you dead, that’s it!” Supernova yelled back.

Rainbow glared at her. “And you have no problem with that, do you? You don’t even know why you’re doing this but you’re still going to try killing me.”

That set Supernova off. “Yes I do.” She ground her teeth and furiously scowled at Rainbow Dash. “I know why I’m doing this!” Her Cutie Mark glowed red. “To survive!”

She aimed her sparking horn at Rainbow Dash and fired.

Daring Do and Miss Valentine both heard the explosion but neither of them turned back to look. Daring still continued to carry Valentine towards the blimp, aiming for that still open hatch that Supernova had come out of. The both of them couldn’t afford to think of Dash right now. They needed to take down this blimp even if it meant popping a big hole in it. Thankfully it didn’t seem like anyone noticed their approach, they were probably far too focused on the Crystal Sea, the blimp was still flying right to it without a pause.

“This thing is huge, how many ponies do you think are in there?” Daring Do asked.

“Not enough to stop me. Shining Diamond is about to get what’s coming to him,” Valentine said.

“How do we take it down in the first place?” Daring asked as they reached the steps leading into the aircraft. Because the vessel was moving, the wind was whipping at them and Valentine had to brace herself when she got off Daring Do and stood before the open hatch. “You okay?”

“I’m fine, honey,” Valentine nodded.

Daring Do went to land on the stairs as well but Valentine held up a hoof to stop her.

“What are you doing?” Valentine asked with a wide grin on her face. “Don’t you have someone else to help?”

Daring Do’s mouth opened in surprise and she looked down, seeing a series of explosions and smoking craters already dotting the sands. “B-But you both said...”

“I just needed to get up here, honey. Rainbow Dash is going to need your help a lot more than I will. So go and help her, let me deal with this,” Miss Valentine tilted down her sunglasses and winked.

“T-Thank you, and good luck!” Daring said before darting around and shooting back towards the ground, right where Rainbow Dash and Supernova were fighting.

“Like I’ll need it,” Valentine chuckled to herself as she walked into the blimp. A quick look showed a button next to the door that she pressed, closing the hatch back up. “Now… where to next?” She looked left towards what was certainly the “bow” and bridge of the great blimp, seeing a narrow walkway between walls of pipes, gears, and other metalworks. Looking right towards the stern she saw mostly the same. She had seen the great propeller on the back of the blimp that was responsible for moving this thing, the engines for powering it and the other propellers had to be at the back, right? Valentine nodded with a grin and ran to the right, towards the back of the blimp.

“If you care so much about why I’m trying to kill you, you can just mull it over when you’re already dead! Now stand still!” Supernova yelled as she fired an explosion into the sky at the quick and evasive Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash saw it coming and immediately banked out of the way of the explosion, avoiding it completely and not even really being affected by the shockwave either. “Missed me!” She blew a raspberry at Supernova and kept flying around erratically with no pattern to her movements, just to make it harder for Supernova to track her and keep up. “After seeing you fight before and how your magic works, I’ve got the hang of you. Unless you’ve got something else up your sleeve you’re never going to hit me! Blow up the sky all you want, cause I’ve got this and I’ve got you pegged!”

“Arrrghh!” Supernova screamed and fired manic explosion after manic explosion at Rainbow Dash. She was taking that “blow up the sky” part literally it seemed. Small explosions burst out everywhere all across the blue sky as the unicorn tried to take down the pegasus.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t scared by it at all this time.

“You know-”

Boom!

“-we can still-”

Boom!

“-talk this out!”

Boom!

“We don’t have to fight like this!” Rainbow Dash tried saying over the cacophony of the multiple explosions. “I can tell how terrified you are of whoever, or whatever, made you come after me! You don’t really want to do this! Remember, you’re a pony just like me, and you shouldn’t be going around killing others! Just turn that horn off or whatever and let’s talk things out. Peacefully!”

“Shut up! Even if I wasn’t being forced to do this I’d want to kill you anyways now just because of how blasted annoying you are!” Supernova yelled and shot an explosion at Rainbow Dash that blossomed into a dozen other smaller explosions.

Rainbow grit her teeth as she was rocked by the blasts, doing her best to avoid them all. It was pretty much the only kind of attack Supernova could use that came close to hitting Rainbow Dash: sheer overwhelming quantity.

“Well now I’m thinking that maybe Valentine was right about you!” Rainbow yelled down at her. “I want to give everyone a chance you know, but maybe you are just a bad pony! Or maybe you do have some sad story and reason you’re doing this, and you’re just as much of a victim as anyone, but I’ll never know that if you don’t say anything! So tell me, Supernova! Let me help you!”

The unicorn bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, dangerous energy crackling around her horn. “I don’t-” Her sentence was cut off as her Cutie Mark pulsed red and she unleashed a fresh wave of explosions at Rainbow Dash. The sky was blanketed in row after row of contiguous balls of fire. Supernova was frantically shaking her head back and forth as a painful sensation came from her flank. “I don’t have anything to say to you! Just die, die, die!”

Any other thoughts were burned out of her mind and she quickly zeroed in on Rainbow Dash again. Her horn sparked and another, massive, explosion erupted in the sky.

It was bigger than any of the others Rainbow had seen from her, bigger than Rainbow thought she could make, and she was only barely able to escape the blast radius because of that. Even then she could feel the intense heat wash over her, much hotter than the desert sun, and the wind trying to smack her out of the sky. It sent her into a tailspin but Rainbow Dash was able to recover from it in time, pulling up at the last second and gliding over the sand while Supernova tried to blast her again and again, only succeeding in making smoking craters in the sand.

“Okay, I think talking might be off the table for good,” Rainbow Dash grimaced as she flew on.

Luckily for her, the landscape wasn’t totally flat and even, there were large sand dunes and even a scant few boulders to hide behind. Supernova could probably easily blow them up, but it would still provide Rainbow a brief reprieve. Which she might need considering that unicorn never seemed to run out of juice.

Rainbow knew what she needed to do; she had to go on offense. A single punch would lay Supernova out. Just trying to dodge and evade wouldn’t work forever, she had to get in close. The problem was she was being kept at bay far too well. Supernova also knew her own weaknesses and the steady stream of explosions so far made it impossible for Rainbow Dash to get directly at her.

So with a new idea in mind, Rainbow Dash flew behind a nearby sand dune.

Naturally Supernova blew it up immediately, but Rainbow Dash didn’t fly out from behind the smoke and fire. Instead she flapped her wings hard against the smoke and sand, sending a gust of wind in Supernova’s direction along with the smoke and a cloud of sand and dust with it. Not just to obscure her vision but to block her from sending any explosions. If she tried firing through that cloud it would just blow up inside it.

Supernova knew this and instead of turning away and closing her eyes she immediately created a yellow shield around herself again. The smoke and sand harmlessly passed by her and when it was gone—Rainbow Dash wasn’t there flying directly at her.

Supernova blinked. She was sure that the pegasus was using that as a cover to attack her directly. But instead her opponent had disappeared completely.

“Where did you go?!” She yelled at the desert, dropping the shield and keeping the horn lit up to blast Rainbow Dash as soon as she appeared again.

She heard something coming from above her just in the nick of time. Supernova looked up at the sky—and squinted as she was temporarily blinded by the sunlight. That’s what Rainbow Dash had done. She had flown up high into the sky, directly at the sun, until the light completely obscured her. Now she was coming back down right on top of Supernova. The unicorn raised a hoof and blinked as she tried to remove the spots from her vision. At practically the last second she was able to see again and the flying form of Rainbow Dash filled her vision.

“Die!” Supernova unleashed an explosion at her.

“Gotcha!” Rainbow said and flung her hooves out—a large bucket’s worth of sand that she had been carrying went right into Supernova’s face.

“Agh!” Supernova squeezed her eyes shut as the sand got into them and the explosion backfired, erupting right at the tip of her horn.

Both pegasus and unicorn were blown away by the fiery explosion and Rainbow Dash thumped and skidded to a stop in the sand a fair distance away. She slowly got up on shaking hooves and coughed, sand falling from her mane and wings.

“Okay… that’s not how that was supposed to go,” Rainbow muttered.

“I would imagine not,” Supernova said as she walked around the freshly burning crater in the sand. Slightly singed in places but really looking no worse for wear. Her horn still arced and sparkled with violent energy and she tilted it directly at Rainbow Dash. “Now die and let me be free.” A harsh red glow came from her Cutie Mark-

And right before she could fire an explosion, a rope came from the sky and lassoed around her horn, tugging it to the right and making her accidentally miss completely. The explosion blasted apart the sand next to Rainbow Dash and she confusedly looked up to see Daring Do on the other end of the rope, pulling it and throwing Supernova to the sand.

“You—argh!” Supernova cried out as she fell, using her magic to burn the rope around her horn and scramble back to her hooves.

As soon as Daring Do saw the rope break she dropped it and flew down to Rainbow Dash. “Guess I got back here just in time.”

“What are you doing?” Rainbow Dash frowned at her. “You should be helping Valentine.”

Daring Do grinned. “The both of us agreed that you needed more help than she did. So now you are just going to have to deal with my decision.” She looked over at Supernova and saw the mare angrily getting ready to attack the both of them. “Well?”

Rainbow Dash barked out a small laugh and squared off against Supernova. “Alright, alright. We’ll do this together.”

“Burn!” Supernova yelled an unleashed a powerful explosion at them.

Miss Valentine reached a heavy door at the back of the large blimp, a large metal wheel set in the middle of it for turning and opening it up. She smirked in front of it, this had to lead to the engines. She didn’t know exactly how this blimp worked but there had to be something sensitive in there for her to break or turn off. And that would lead to her bringing down Shining Diamond for good.

She turned the wheel and opened up the heavy metal door—immediately hearing a lot of noise on the other side as steam blew, pistons and gears moved back and forth, containers boiled, and electronics buzzed. Stepping inside and closing the door back, she saw a large but cramped engine room that was the same mess of metal pipes and devices as the rest of the blimp, but with two large turbines at the back and a few even larger vats lined alongside them.

And she wasn’t alone. Several grease and grime covered ponies in overalls were moving between the machines and making sure everything ran smoothly and properly. Once she closed the door, they all noticed her arrival and turned to look at the intruder.

One of them, with a heavy wrench in hoof, came walking up to her. “Who are you? I don’t recognize you, are you a new hire by the boss cause you shouldn’t be in here. What do you think you’re doing?”

Valentine punched him hard across the face and knocked him out cold. As he fell to the metal floor she glared at the other engineers. “That is what I’m doing.”

Rainbow Dash flew right and Daring Do flew left as an explosion erupted between them. Burning sand and embers of flame rained past the both of them as Supernova turned, following Rainbow Dash of course, and fired another explosion from her horn. It wasn’t aimed directly at Rainbow Dash though—Supernova knew she couldn’t hit her like that—it was aimed at the sand in front of her simply to create another large blast of smoke and sand that would distract and slow Rainbow momentarily. Because Supernova then had to instantly turn around and fire an explosion at Daring Do, who had been attempting to fly at her from the other direction.

Daring Do flew upwards to avoid the blast directly hitting her, and still got rocked by the shockwave and sent flying backwards. But it was still two fast pegasi against one unicorn, and Supernova couldn’t look two directions at once. Rainbow Dash was already flying at her from the cloud of smoke and Supernova barely had the time to put up her shield.

The blue hooves of Rainbow Dash crashed into it and the flying pegasus bounced off—but not before sending cracks throughout the entire shield and almost shattering it in one hit.

Supernova growled and lowered the shield to fire a quick blast at Rainbow Dash but Dash had enough time to recover and jetted away as the explosion instead erupted behind her. Supernova then backstepped to get some distance between herself and the two pegasi, trying to keep them both in front of her and not let them pincer her again.

“You both… you both!” The unicorn shouted and ground her teeth, horn furiously sparking.

“Cry about it!” Rainbow said as she corkscrewed through the air, winding back and forth and diving all around.

At the same time, Daring Do was flying around a bit off to Supernova’s left. She wasn’t as fast or agile as Rainbow Dash, but if Supernova mistakenly focused on her for too long and missed she was giving a big opening to Rainbow Dash. And her shields probably couldn’t withstand a hit from the other pegasus either. So Supernova did what she did best and wildly shot out a flurry of random explosions everywhere in front of her. The massive barrage caused both Rainbow and Daring Do to fly further away for safety as fireballs filled the air.

“I can’t lose! I can’t fail again!” Supernova yelled. “You’re both going to die here!”

Rainbow Dash and Daring weathered the storm, dodging and running from dozens of explosions, and looked for any possible opening they had to attack.

“I don’t know if you all knew what Shining Diamond’s plans were and frankly I don’t care. You had the misfortune of being in my way,” Miss Valentine said as the last engineer collapsed in a crumpled heap, the lot of them now unconscious and leaving her the last pony standing in the engine room.

They were all still alive though. Valentine sighed and shook her head, thinking that maybe Rainbow Dash’s influence was making her go soft.

“Whatever… no time to think about that,” the scarlet mare said and looked around.

The engine room was still a mess of noise and moving machinery, with time the lack of engineers would probably cause some problems on its own, but Valentine couldn’t just wait around for that. She needed to find something important that could cause some direct and immediate harm. Something that could make this darn oversized balloon fall from the sky right now. She didn’t have much knowledge of technical or mechanical systems, the camels and their desert domain in general were very low-tech, but she could tell what was a big deal in here and what wasn’t.

A certain panel with many levers and glass-concealed dials on it attached to several of the vats looked quite promising.

Miss Valentine grinned as she quickly trotted towards it and took a look at what it read on top of the panel:

MASTER FUEL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

“Oh no, I wonder what could possibly happen if I turned this off?” Valentine laughed and swiftly yanked down each lever.

Immediately the needles on the dials all flipped to zero and Valentine heard a sharp whine emerge from the panel and machinery around her. It took less than a second for the effects of Valentines sabotage to become apparent as the whole engine room shook and alarms buzzed on. Steam vented from pipes and clattering pistons and the turbines slowed and slowed down before eventually stopping. Valentine smiled at her hoofiwork and walked back towards the door.

“Almost done here.”

On the bridge, Shining Diamond and the rest of the crew were alerted of the problem when the Ziz suddenly lurched and slowed down slightly. A beeping noise came from one of the stations on the wall and Whitesheet hurried over towards it. Her jaw swiftly dropped and somehow she even paled upon seeing what the problem was.

“S-Sir! We’ve lost power to the propellers! Fuel levels are at zero!” She announced.

“What?! That’s impossible! What’s going on in engineering?!” Shining Diamond demanded. He angrily looked over at his other four minions. “You four! Go down to the engine room right now and get to the bottom of this! Do you hear me?!”

“Yes, sir!” Sand Flash replied and with a curt nod to the others he led the four of them out of the bridge. They all knew they were in big danger if the propellers weren’t working, and worse danger if they disobeyed Shining Diamond.

Shining Diamond grit his teeth as he held onto the wheel of the Ziz in an attempt to steer it as best he could with the minimal power remaining. “I will not have victory snatched from my hooves, not when my goal is right here before my eyes...”

Whitesheet nervously watched the stations and readouts as he worked, not liking one bit of what she was seeing.

Sand Flash took point as the party of four marched down the narrow corridor in the middle of the Ziz with Velvet Hooves, Astral Comet, and Popcorn all behind him. The primary emotions of the party were confusion and fear as something like this had never happened before to their great vessel. With every step they could feel it slowing down and the machinery around them grew quieter.

Because that was distracting them they practically walked right into Miss Valentine in the middle of the blimp.

Sand Flash’s eyebrows shot into his mane as he and the others came to a screeching halt. “The Red Hornet!”

“Supernova was supposed to stop you!” Velvet Hooves objected.

“Oh, more flunkies of Shining Diamond?” Valentine said. “Well let me tell you you made a big mistake trusting that mare.” She cracked her neck and took a step towards them. “But not nearly as big of a mistake as joining up with Shining Diamond in the first place.”

Astral Comet’s eyes narrowed and he fired a beam of magic at her, the first of the group to gather his wits and realize they needed to fight.

Valentine easily backflipped over the beam and it impacted harmlessly against the floor, barely leaving a burn mark. Astral just wasn’t much of a combat mage.

“So you want to be the first one who gets it, huh?” Valentine said to him. She tilted down her sunglasses and glared at him with her deep blue eyes.

Astral’s jaw clenched. “J-Just get her!"

Sand Flash and Velvet Hooves both ran at Valentine, there wasn’t enough room in this interior corridor for them to extend their wings and fly, with the stallion reaching her first and throwing out a high punch at her face. Valentine easily dodged under it and gave him an uppercut to the chin, making him stumble back while Velvet reached her and simply tried tackling Valentine to the ground. Valentine merely jumped up and slammed her hooves into Velvet’s back to make her collapse with a whumph. A second later she tilted her head to the side to avoid another beam of magic fired by Astral. Valentine mockingly raised an eyebrow at him this time.

“The four of you really aren’t fighters are you? Talk about uncoordinated,” she snorted.

“G-Get off of me!” Velvet shouted, struggling to toss the other mare off her back.

Meanwhile Popcorn was just frozen in fear and Sand was groaning in pain, grasping his jaw.

“Maybe you all should’ve taken some lessons in how to fight rather than hire some unreliable psycho to do the job for you,” Valentine said and stamped hard on Velvet’s back.

“Ngh!” The pegasus mare whined.

Valentine shrugged. “Well, it wouldn’t really help you anyways.”

In a flash she jumped off Velvet and got up close to Astral. He was too startled to react in time and a scarlet hoof roughly grasped his horn and yanked him around towards the wall of the corridor. Valentine smashed his face directly into the cold metal and released his horn, letting the unconscious unicorn slide to the floor. At the same time, Popcorn had finally found her courage (or perhaps only acted out of fear) and came behind Valentine with her hooves raised high above her head in attack.

A swift kick from Valentine into the stomach of the yellow mare knocked the wind out of her and made her double over. Where another hoof met the back of her skull and made her go nighty night.

Now it was only the three pegasi. Sand Flash and Velvet Hooves both got up again to face her, but neither were looking favorably at their chances.

“Well don’t keep me waiting,” Valentine said to them.

This time they came at her together—or at the very least as close to together as they could thanks to the confines of the corridor making it tough for that. But they did at least intend to attack her at the same time so she couldn’t dodge and retaliate to easily. Unfortunately for them the difference in skill was simply too great. They probably knew this, and were probably terrified of The Red Hornet, but to their credit they were still trying to complete their mission for their boss and they weren’t going to go down without a fight.

Sand Flash threw a hook at the left side of Valentine’s head while Velvet Hooves aimed lower, trying to sweep out her legs as she ran into the other mare. Like this, Valentine couldn’t simply jump over them. Of course there were things to do besides dodging. Valentine’s left hoof came up and before Sand’s punch connected she hit his leg right in the knee joint, bending his limb and almost breaking it and making his punch go off-course. On reflex he even screeched in pain and stepped back.

As Velvet tried to tackle into her, all Valentine did was swiftly tilt her head down and smash the crown of her head directly in-between Velvet’s eyes. The mare twitched and went limp, eyes rolling back into her head as she fell to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.

Sand Flash didn’t even notice that though, it had happened too fast and his leg was in too much pain.

So he also didn’t notice the scarlet hoof until it knocked him into next week.

The last of her opponents now out and on the floor, Valentine took a moment to smile before looking at the way to the bridge. Only one thing left to do.

Rainbow Dash flew low to the ground at top speed, a huge trail of dust and sand being carried and knocked up by the wind behind her. She wasn’t flying directly at Supernova but instead a bit off to the side of her. Daring Do meanwhile flew directly above the unicorn and threw small stones gathered from the desert down at her, trying to nail the unicorn in the head or at the very least force her to stop sending explosions or get her to move around. The attack was working as Supernova found it difficult to concentrate enough to fire an explosion that would actually go anywhere near Daring Do.

“Stop it, stop it, stop it!” Supernova roared as her horn shot sparks everywhere while she dodged another rock. The second she tried to use a spell she had to break it off at the last moment to dodge again. Out of the corner of her eye she was forced to pay attention to the speeding form of Rainbow Dash too.

Another rock was thrown at Supernova but this time she swatted it out of the air with her hoof and managed to fire a powerful explosion at Daring Do. The khaki-colored pegasus avoided being hit directly but still got singed and was sent spiraling down and into the sands by the force of the explosion. Supernova didn’t have any time to celebrate this small brief win though. Rainbow Dash had just reached her. Supernova put up her shield to block a direct attack but that wasn’t what Rainbow Dash was up to in the first place.

The rainbow pony shot right past Supernova at supersonic speeds like a missile, all the sand and dust around her shot up like a fountain and created a huge cloud that engulfed the unicorn. The sheer air pressure from Rainbow’s pass practically almost knocked Supernova to the ground as well. Stuck in this cloud of sand she couldn’t use any explosions or see where her opponents were now.

“But you can’t see me either so just what are you planning? What do you think you stupid ponies can do!” Supernova yelled. She dropped her shield and kept her horn lit and ready to blow up anything that moved.

Suddenly two powerful gusts of wind came at her from the sides, blowing harshly against her and not letting up for a second. The sand and dust was blown away completely, revealing Rainbow Dash and Daring Do floating outside it and throwing all the wind they could at Supernova. The yellow unicorn’s mane and tail whipped about and she had to close her eyes thanks to the fierce wind, it was flinging sand everywhere and she was starting to struggle to even breathe.

With each flap, both Rainbow Dash and Daring Do got slightly closer, inching ever so slowly towards the dangerous unicorn so they could eventually get within striking distance of her.

“Haaaah!” Supernova shouted and detonated an explosion right on her hooves that sent the entire plan up in smoke. All three ponies were blown in different directions and landed on their backs in the sand.

Rainbow Dash grit her teeth and groaned as she sat up, looking around for where the other two were. “Come on! This is getting ridiculous!”

“I hear that!” Daring Do called from about a hundred feet away in front of her, waving a hoof around to get Dash’s attention.

Meanwhile a coughing Supernova walked around on wobbling hooves to Dash’s left and Daring Do’s right respectively. “S-Shut up… just stop talking. J-Just stop all of this.”

“Tell that to yourself,” Rainbow glared at her.

“Can’t lose...” Supernova shook her head, sweat dripping down her face. Her breath was ragged and she looked wretched and disheveled. “Can’t lose!” She shouted and raised her head, horn sparking, and looked directly at Rainbow Dash.

The explosive spark in Rainbow’s face came a second later, but she was already flying up and back into the sky. The column of flame that sprouted up in an attempt to consume her came up short. Supernova didn’t plan on letting up, already she was following Rainbow Dash and looking to blow her to pieces—when a rock hit her in the side of the head and knocked her to the sand.

“You’re losing it,” Daring Do said, juggling another rock. “Back in Two Hump Oasis you were way more aware. We couldn’t do anything to you when you were focused.”

“Ngh!” Supernova whined and swung her horn in Daring Do’s direction—but had to instantly switch to shielding herself as Rainbow Dash came down on top of her. The shield shattered completely but Rainbow Dash was still bounced away by its rupturing.

Rainbow fell and rolled over the sand while Supernova scrambled to her hooves and got ready to blow her up.

Only to be felled by another rock that hit her in the back of the head after Daring Do had flown behind her during the confusion.

“YOU!” Supernova screamed in rage, her horn sparking like crazy, and turned around to finish Daring Do off for good. As she did though, she realized her rage was about to be her downfall. Just before she could fully turn back around to defend herself, attempt to dodge, or try and blow Rainbow Dash out of the sky, a blue hoof collided with the side of her head. Her vision went black for a brief instant and the next thing she knew she was lying on the hot sand and her head was spinning. The sparks and magic from her horn had all gone out.

“That does it, you’re finished,” Rainbow Dash said, floating above her. A steely frown graced her face. “I don’t want to see you following me again, got that?”

Daring Do walked up to her and winced down at the out of commission Supernova. “Is that really good enough?”

“I’m not killing her,” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “There’s something wrong with her, even with whatever else she might have done in her life, I’m still not going to kill her when I’ve already beaten her. If she gets out of this desert alive or doesn’t… we’ll see what happens.”

“I won’t… you won’t get away,” Supernova sputtered, a spittle of blood coughed out of her mouth. “I can’t lose. I can’t lose.” Her eyes weren’t even focused on Rainbow Dash anymore—she was just blankly staring ahead at the sand.

Rainbow Dash sighed and looked up at the blimp still flying towards the Crystal Sea. “Let’s go help Valentine.”

A sudden wave of heat and magical power erupted out of Supernova and pushed Rainbow Dash and Daring Do away. The two slid across the sand and looked back at the unicorn to figure out what had just happened.

“Can’t lose… can’t lose….” Supernova repeated as heat and steam hissed from her Cutie Mark, the explosion on her flank glowing red at first before becoming a blinding white.

“What the hay is going on?!” Daring Do yelled.

“I-I dunno!” Rainbow Dash shook her head.

“Can’t lose… can’t lose… can’t lose… can’t lose...” Supernova’s eyes had gone white as well and red cracks started to spread all over her flank from her Cutie Mark, leaking violent energy into the air. Her horn sizzled and bolts of magical energy lanced out from it at random intervals. Magic gathered at its tip and continued to grow brighter until it was like a miniature sun. “Can’t lose… can’t lose… can’t lose… can’t lose… CAN’T LOSE!”

The miniature sun sparked and Rainbow Dash just barely had time to grab Daring Do and start to fly away before it exploded.

The blast was deafening—worse than anything Supernova had done before. Rainbow and Daring Do were both carried away by the powerful explosion as heat washed over them. They tumbled into the sand over a hundred feet away, burnt and with their skulls rattling. As they struggled to rise, the pair of pegasi looked at where Supernova had been standing and saw a huge fire with a column of smoke already rising high into the sky.

“She… I think she blew herself up,” Daring Do said. She gulped and wiped away the sweat on her brow. “I guess it’s over then.”

“No.”

Daring Do looked at Rainbow Dash and saw her friend staring deeply into the fire.

Rainbow Dash’s sharp eyes picked out a shadow in the middle of the flames, beginning to emerge from the inferno. “It’s not over yet.”

“We’re still not getting any power back, sir!” Whitesheet fearfully said to Shining Diamond as she looked over the control panels on the bridge. She was beginning to become a nervous wreck and sweat poured down her face.

“Blasted idiots!” Shining Diamond yelled as he used the wheel to keep the blimp as steady as possible even as it continued to descend. “Go find them and fix the darned problem yourself!”

“Y-Yes sir,” Whitesheet nodded and went over to the door.

“Incompetent buffoons all around me...” Shining Diamond grumbled.

Behind him he heard Whitesheet turn open the door-

Whack!

He turned around to see Whitesheet knocked to the floor by a grinning scarlet mare who walked onto the bridge. Whitesheet’s head hit the hard metal floor and she was out just like that. Shining Diamond narrowed his eyes and stepped away from the wheel, glaring at the intruder.

“The Red Hornet.”

“Shining Diamond,” Valentine said back to him.

“Well then,” Shining Diamond reached up to take off his hat and tossed it to the floor. “I suppose if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.”

What stepped through the flames was not Supernova.

The unicorn had transformed, she had grown taller and thinner than she already was. So ghastly thin she looked more like a skeleton with yellow skin stretched over it than a pony, her grotesque bones visible everywhere. Her mane and tail, formerly only reminiscent of flames, had become actual burning fire that embers fell from. On her flank, the Cutie Mark that used to be a violent explosion had warped into a black question mark with glowing red lines like veins radiating out from all over her flank and her upper back legs. Her horn had changed it’s shape, becoming more curved and changing color as well, from yellow at the base, to orange, to red, and then a bright white at the tip. While her face had become a warped, serpentine mockery of a pony’s, her jaw and muzzle both thinner and longer while her teeth inside her mouth had turned to needles. Saliva dripped from her mouth and onto the sand, where it burned and melted the grains it hit, sending up small puffs of smoke. Her forked tongue flickered out of her mouth and her eyes—her eyes. Her sclera had become roiling yellow flames, the irises a burning red, and the pupils a slitted black.

Those flaming eyes rolled about in her head before stopping and locking onto Rainbow Dash.

The monster hissed as an inferno of sparks shot from her horn.

“Wha-What is she?” Daring Do looked on in horror at the monster that used to be Supernova.

The deranged, mutated unicorn screeched like a banshee when she saw Rainbow Dash. The sparks from her horn raged with far greater intensity than they had before and even lit random fires in the air around her. She dug her thin, nearly knife-like, hooves into the sand and lowered her horn at Rainbow Dash. The flames making up her mane and tail grew twice as big and a massive stream of fire billowed from her horn towards Rainbow Dash, the flames being ushered forth were so hot that the sand they traveled over was reduced to bubbling, melted glass.

“Dangerous,” Rainbow Dash gulped.

Miss Valentine was slammed into the floor by Shining Diamond’s telekinetic magic. He raised her up to slam her down again but although he was decently powerful and skilled with magic he still wasn’t a heavyweight, Valentine struggled and fought his control and shortly popped the aura of magic around her. She gracefully dropped to the floor and started running at him, no worse for wear after the single slam.

“Tch,” Shining Diamond clicked his tongue and ran to meet her. He wasn’t a coward.

Valentine moved very fast though and as soon as she was in striking distance a hoof was already coming up to his face before he could move one of his to block or attack her too. She went right for his chin—but it was blocked not by his hoof, but the tiniest possible shield of magic. Valentine’s eyebrows shot up in surprise and Shining Diamond punched her in the gut, making her slide away. She glared at his glowing horn and rubbed the spot he hit her.

“So you’re pretty decent with that horn of yours, huh?” She said.

“Oh, I manage with it,” he chuckled.

“But every unicorn has a limit to what they can do before they get tired,” Valentine said. “So let’s see how well you can keep up.”

Like a cat she jumped forward and started darting from right to left, feinting to one side and then the other. If he wanted to try and shield himself from her blows she’d make it as difficult as possible for him to predict where she was going to hit. Once she got up close and personal with him she threw a barrage of punches at his body, not single powerful strikes like the one earlier, but a flurry of smaller blows just to try and overwhelm him with numbers. Her scarlet hooves were like a storm, four, eight, ten of them flying at Shining Diamond at once.

He constantly backed up away from her and dodge and weaved between her blows as much as he could, smartly reserving his magic for when he absolutely needed it. A shield here, a shield there, as much as Valentine attacked him his defense stayed solid.

Right up until he noticed a small smirk on Valentine’s face and he backed into the bridge’s wheel. He suddenly had less room to maneuver and was momentarily surprised by accidentally hitting it, a scarlet hoof came up at his chin that he blocked with a shield—only for it to be instantly withdrawn as another hoof came at his left shoulder and punched him hard. Shining Diamond grunted in pain and stumbled away from the wheel, but Valentine followed and came after him for another round of attacks.

Shining Diamond shot a beam of magic at her head that she ducked under and ended up destroying a panel on the wall behind her.

Can’t let that hit me by the sound of it. Valentine frowned and ran at Shining Diamond, again criss-crossing as she ran so he didn’t have a straight shot at her.

He got off two more beams at her that she both hopped around before she got close enough to hit him again. His horn flared with powerful magic to make as many shields as he could but to his surprise, Valentine didn’t strike at him directly. She pivoted on her hooves and slid across the slick metal floor, making a semi-circle around him to get behind him while he was still confused by her movement. Valentine then went low and kicked out his back legs, making him fall to the floor with a startled yelp.

“Ack!” He propped himself up on his front hooves and turned his head to aim his horn at her. Instead of a pinpoint attack that could potentially take her out permanently, he went for the low-risk, low-reward option instead. A single large wave of magic lashed out from his horn and slammed into Valentine, knocking her back and into the wall behind her.

“Mrph!” Valentine grunted as her back slammed into the cold metal and she fell to her hooves, she took in a deep breath and glared at her opponent. “Oh come on, is that seriously the best you can do?”

“No!” Shining Diamond answered and fired a concentrated laser at Valentine. It wasn’t just a one-shot beam that hit something and stopped, the laser continued burning across the floor right towards Valentine.

Knowing it would probably slice right through her flesh if it touched her, Valentine dove to the side to dodge it. The laser bisected a chair behind her and Shining Diamond turned his head and horn to follow Valentine, aiming to dice her to pieces. He was carving a red line through the bridge and leaving melted metal behind in his chase. The swift laser soon reached Valentine and she barely jumped over it in time, the ends of her tail being cut off.

Valentine frowned as she landed and reached inside the canvas she had wrapped around her body while Shining Diamond brought his deadly laser back towards her. She ran straight at him and Shining Diamond grinned, seeing an easy target. Valentine pulled her hoof from the canvas and threw something at him. Something so small and narrow that Shining Diamond didn’t even properly see it until it hit him right in the eye.

“Ow!” The crystal pony yipped and automatically canceled his magic, the laser disappearing, and brought his hoof up to cover his now watering eye.

That was all the opportunity Valentine needed to close the distance and wallop him in the face. Once to make him stagger, and then a second time to spin him around and send him to the floor out cold. Valentine huffed and took a second to calm down and get her heartbeat back to normal. She looked at the floor and saw the tiny red feather she had plucked from one of her wings, thrown quill first right into Shining Diamond’s eye.

“Dumb wings...” Valentine muttered and glanced at the unconscious Shining Diamond before looking out the window. The blimp was still going down. Valentine stood by the blimp’s wheel and grinned, reaching up into her beret and retrieving her switchblade. She flipped it open and held it up before the crumpled Shining Diamond… then turned around and stabbed it into the groove of the wheel, popping it off and making it clatter to the floor. “Heh. Time to get out of here.”

She started walking to the door-

“Help...”

Valentine’s ears perked up and she looked at the ceiling to see a chained dragon inside of a cage. He looked burnt and beaten up and barely conscious. She raised an eyebrow at him. “Well it looks like Shining Diamond did a real number on you, honey.”

“Please, help me...” the dragon repeated, staring imploringly into her sunglasses.

Valentine frowned, she looked down at the unconscious Whitesheet and then back up at the dragon. “I’ll help you get out of there, but you’re going to have to help me with something too.”

The desert below had become a nightmare land of fire and melting sand that bubbled like lava. No longer restrained to just making explosions, the monster of Supernova set fire to everything around her in her pursuit of Rainbow Dash. Each fireball and tornado of flames that was summoned chased the blue pegasus relentlessly. Daring Do could hardly get in or do anything, the heat itself and the multitude of fires keeping her at bay.

As Rainbow Dash flew to avoid another column of flames, an explosion erupted right in front of her that she had to fly to the side to avoid completely. Burn and scorch marks dotted her coat, wings, and tail, and she was feeling the effects of the intense heat.

“What do we do?!” Daring Do shouted to her flying companion on the outskirts of the fire.

“I don’t know!” Rainbow Dash answered. “I don’t think we can fight her or get close anymore—we have to wait her out somehow.”

Daring Do looked at “Supernova” and realized that for better or worse, Rainbow was right. The air shimmered and wavered around the monster and wherever she stepped the sand left behind caught fire and melted. They couldn’t touch her. Not directly at least. Her body had become a fiery explosion, an unparalleled inferno, in pony form.

The one thing Daring Do had to her advantage was that the monster was paying even less attention to her than Supernova had originally, and she used that to try thinking of some kind of plan for them while Rainbow Dash flew for her life. She wracked that author and archaeologist brain of hers and watched, examining their enemy for anything they could use. The monster was very thin and weak looking physically, a rock to the head might be all they needed. But Daring Do wasn’t sure if that could be risked or if she could get close enough to throw it with enough force to do the job. What else?

The Cutie Mark. That might’ve been the strangest thing about all of this. It used to be a big explosion but now it had turned into a question mark. How? That went against everything everypony in the whole world knew about Cutie Marks. And why? Daring Do looked harder at it. She might not have had eyes as sharp as Rainbow Dash, but she could still make out that black question mark.

Each time Supernova cast a spell, whether it was summoning more flames or creating an explosion, the cracks around the Cutie Mark glowed red and the Cutie Mark itself pulsed before going back to normal. But if her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her, she was certain that the cracks had grown wider and more numerous. Just ever so slightly.

“R-Rainbow!” Daring Do shouted to get her attention. “I think you’re right! We can outlast her! I don’t think her body can handle all that magical power, her Cutie Mark’s getting all weird!”

“Good! How long do you think it’ll take before she stops?” Rainbow asked.

“Umm… I have no idea!”

“Awesome!” Rainbow said and dodged another explosion while twin twisters of fire closed in on her from the sides. She rolled out from between them as they smashed into each other and created a larger twister that exploded outwards and reached far enough to light Rainbow’s tail on fire. “Oh great!” Rainbow yelled as she tried smacking the fire out.

Daring bit her lip. This was getting really hairy for Rainbow Dash. She had to do something more direct now rather than just hoping they could keep avoiding the monster’s attacks until they broke down, or ran out, or whatever might happen.

Her original idea of a rock was unfortunately the best thing she could come up with. Daring Do flew down to the sands to look for one, most everything around them was on fire or melted away though. She had to look for a boulder that had been blown up earlier in the fight before Supernova’s meltdown. She ended up flying to between two fires still burning in the sands, a pile of rocks lying by them. The rocks were burning hot and she juggled the one she picked up between her hooves a few times before flying in closer to where the monster unicorn was.

The monster still wasn’t paying any attention to her at all, even as Daring Do flew well within vision of her. Daring for her part struggled with the intense heat of the flames around her, it was like being roasted over a camp fire or inside an oven. Despite the sweat coming off her in buckets and the worry that her clothes were about to ignite she still managed to get within decent range of the monster.

“Take this!” Daring yelled and chucked the rock as hard as she could at the monster’s head.

As soon as it got within two feet, a pinpoint explosion shot from its horn and blew the rock to pieces. Without the monster even looking at it. Even so, the cracks around the Cutie Mark got worse and even the question mark itself looked like it was becoming cracked.

Not about to let up, Daring Do went for a different approach and flapped her wings hard in the direction of the monster, kicking up a huge cloud of sand to try and give Rainbow a moment where she wasn’t being attacked. The sand cloud rushed towards the monster—and melted and burned away into nothingness. Particles and shards of glass at best were all that was left over.

The question mark Cutie Mark pulsed again but this time there was another effect. The monster howled in pain and grasped her head while jets of flame and steam shot from the Cutie Mark.

“R-Rainbow Dash!” Daring Do shouted up to her. “I think we just need a little more, her magic is going completely out of her control, she’s starting to get overloaded!”

“I’ll try and do something about that!” Rainbow Dash said as she was still busy avoiding fires.

The monster recovered from her pain and—with flames still leaking out from her—snarled up at Rainbow Dash. Her horn sparked with enough energy to set the air on fire again and a volley of flaming missiles were shot up into the sky. As soon as they reached around where Rainbow Dash was flying they were joined by a series of brand new explosions. The sky was blanketed in fire and balls of death streaming through it to try and take down the rainbow pegasus.

It was impossible for Rainbow Dash to avoid this completely and she was rocked around by explosions, doing her best to avoid the deadly fireballs from hitting her directly, but she still ended up clipped in the wing by one. Only a few outer feathers were burnt and scraped off but it was enough to momentarily send her down.

“No!” Daring Do yelled. She looked at the monster and saw blinding white light shooting out from its flank, the question mark Cutie Mark had almost completely melted away by the look of things.

And still the monster pressed forward. The sparks flying from its horn became a permanent shower and bits of its curved horn were peeling and crumbling off. The monster fired out a stream of fire but it went off to the side and fizzled out in the air while Rainbow Dash fell straight to the sand, unable to right herself in time.

“Not good, not good...” she panicked and covered her face with her hooves, crashing down and leaving a gash in the hot sand.

“Rainbow, I’m coming!” Daring Do flew over to try and help her. “You have to get away right now!”

Rainbow Dash groaned and stood up, shaking the sand off of her and coughing. “Where’s—oh.”

The incredible heat washing over her told her everything and Rainbow Dash glacially turned her head to see the fire monster slowly walking towards her. Ten feet away. Nine feet away. Eight feet away. Fire and bolts of magic shot from her horn in every direction, out of the monster’s control, and her flank burned a bright white while red cracks had grown to cover her entire body.

Somewhat ironically, Rainbow Dash found herself frozen in place. The inferno eyes of what was once Supernova looked deep into her own and the monster’s mouth of needlesharp teeth hung open. It was pure instinct and animalistic hunger that was driving the monster forth.

“Rainbow Dash!” Daring Do yelled to try and get her to move. The other pegasus was still too far away and not fast enough to get to her.

Five feet away and burning saliva dripped from the monster’s mouth to set fire to the sand under her.

Rainbow Dash stood up and opened her wings-

And the monster’s hoof paused in midstep. The glowing white light faded from its flanks completely.

Rainbow Dash blinked and Daring Do came to a stop a few feet away from the monster. The question mark had vanished and the growing red cracks had spread and widened even further. While the two pegasi looked on, what was left of the monster’s horn caught fire, and other flames erupted from its legs, body, head and neck, all crawling over and consuming it. A viscous lava dripped down onto the sand and melted it away, turning it into a bubbling pit while the flames reduced the figure of the monster to less than a skeleton and finally just a raging bonfire.

Rainbow Dash and Daring Do silently stood and watched the fire, breathing heavily and sweating. Eventually the flames burned themselves out, far quicker than they normally would, and all that was left behind was a hole of glass and ash.

“Nghh, my head...” Shining Diamond said as he woke up on the cold floor. He rubbed his temples and reached a hoof up towards the wheel station, pulling himself up and trying to get a grasp on the situation. His eyes were still closed with a dull throbbing pain like a headache right behind the shut lids. “Whitesheet? Anyone? Why does everything feel so… slanted?”

There was no answer and he awkwardly fumbled at the wheel next to him, only to find nothing but air.

“Huh?” He finally managed to open his eyes and saw that the wheel had been snapped off.

And that the bridge was tilting downwards.

Because the Ziz was tilting downwards.

Shining Diamond blinked and looked at the large viewport at the front of the bridge. A massive sea of crystals filled the screen and he could see the nose of his great blimp about to impact them.

“Oh dear.”

Another massive explosion tore through the desert but this wasn’t the product of Supernova or any magic. Rainbow Dash and Daring Do were shocked by the blast and looked behind them at the Crystal Sea, where a larger fireball than any was already billowing up into the sky. The damage to the crystals was spectacular and it seemed most of the Sea would soon be consumed by fire and debris.

“Welp, kind of wasn’t paying attention to that but I think the blimp just crashed,” Rainbow Dash said.

Daring Do hissed as her heart stopped. “Valentine, did she-”

“Hey! Hey you two!”

Rainbow Dash and Daring Do looked up to see a parachuting Miss Valentine coming down towards them—along with a dragon carrying something, or a bunch of somethings, in his arms.

“What the?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow.

Miss Valentine and the dragon landed right beside them and the two pegasi saw that the dragon was carrying almost a dozen other ponies, who he unceremoniously dropped onto the sands. Most of them were unconscious but a few groaned in discomfort.

“Who are they?” Daring Do asked.

“Shining Diamond’s lackeys,” Valentine grinned. “And our dragon friend here was a prisoner of his.”

“You rescued them from the blimp before it crashed?” Rainbow sounded surprised.

Valentine’s grin widened. “The whole lot of them. Aside from Shining Diamond himself. Figured that was an acceptable loss.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “It’s better than nothing I guess...”

“Can I go now?” The dragon asked. He looked tired and pretty unhappy that he had to essentially rescue his tormentors. “My job’s done.”

“Thanks for the help, honey,” Valentine said. “But first I’ll need you to carry them back to Camelback too. Where are you going to go after that?”

“Anywhere but here,” the dragon sighed and sat down, resting until it was time to go again.

Valentine looked at Rainbow and Daring Do. “So you took care of Supernova?”

“In a manner of speaking...” Daring Do rubbed the back of her neck.

“It’s over with her. That’s what’s important,” Rainbow said. She took a deep breath and looked back at the burning and devastated Crystal Sea. “Uhhh… is this what we wanted? I don’t know what you two really wanted to do with the Crystal Sea, but was this it?”

“As long as Shining Diamond didn’t get to do as he pleased with it, that was the important part,” Valentine said. She looked up at the sky, the column of smoke from the blimp’s explosion was reaching miles up. “I don’t think this place is going to stay hidden forever now either. Whether it’s camels, or anybody else in the desert who gets here first, I think there are going to be some changes here.” She smiled and lowered her sunglasses to look directly at Rainbow Dash. “And I think I’ve become optimistic enough to believe they’ll be good ones.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled slightly in amusement before sitting down and closing her eyes. She took a deep breath and felt a wave of exhaustion, but also relief, roll over her.

“Something wrong?” Daring Do asked her.

Rainbow blinked and looked up at her longtime friend. “No, it’s just… it feels really good to win.” She exhaled and looked between Daring and Valentine. “Well what are you two going to do now?”

“I think it’s back to Camelback for a day or two and then-” Daring Do smiled at Valentine.

Valentine nodded. “And then it’s off to find those two idiots who betrayed us… but before that I need a new vest.”

Daring Do snorted and looked at Rainbow. “What about you, Rainbow? You’re welcome to come with us.”

“Oh is she now?” Valentine said, all in good humor.

Rainbow Dash laughed and stood up, dusting herself off. “Thanks but no thanks. I bet it would be a lot of fun, but I’m flying south still. I’ve got my own goal after all.” She grinned at Daring Do. “Next time you see me I’ll be known as the only pony who’s flown around the entire world.”

“Good luck out there,” Daring Do said and hugged her.

“Thanks, good luck to you too,” Rainbow said.

“Good luck,” Valentine said to her. “No hug from me though, honey.”

“Figured,” Rainbow shrugged.

Rainbow Dash flew over the last dredges of the Great Camel Desert on her journey south. A journey finally renewed after helping Daring Do and Miss Valentine stop Shining Diamond. She was happy for it though, those adventures were once again practically the reason she was doing this in the first place. But now she was back on her way, traveling south without distraction.

Three days ago it had been that Lorg the dragon carried her on his back away from Camelback and to the southern oasis of Broken Hoof. He had been slightly more agreeable to helping Rainbow Dash than Shining Diamond’s minions since she was part of the group that rescued him. After that it was a day of recuperation and she was off to the skies again.

She was not going to miss the desert. The sand. The heat. None of it.

“I can’t believe I miss snow,” Rainbow Dash blinked as the sudden realization dawned on her. “I really can’t.”

Her mood had improved considerably though compared to when she had first entered the Great Camel Desert. While the fight with Supernova had perturbed her, the success and survival of her friends filled her with hope and satisfaction. That was proof. Proof that she wasn’t wrong to come here, proof that she was needed and could help while traveling on her journey.

And it was because of that that she just felt so… relaxed. And happy. For the first time in a long time she could just happily fly over the world.

A smile broke out on her face as she looked at the horizon. “Sometimes, life is really awesome.”

The hot desert sand that covered an entire country eventually gave way to a yellow, dry, grassland. It was still hot and desolate but at least different from rolling sand dunes stretching everywhere. Rainbow Dash would take it. It showed she was making good progress and since it was fairly early in the day she could travel across a great deal more of these grasses before stopping. Squinting her eyes she was fairly sure she saw trees in the distance, so this place wasn’t just a complete wasteland of dry grass and heat. Maybe. Maybe there was water somewhere too? At least she had moderately gotten used to the desert heat after all that time, so the harsh sun above her now wasn’t so terrible.

Clouds were still an uncommon feature of the sky here, there wasn’t much to look at above or below where she was flying yet. No animals that she could see so far. Not much color aside from yellow. It would probably remain like that until she actually got to those trees.

For not the first time, Rainbow wished she was the kind of pony who could really appreciate quiet landscapes and pure nature like this. If she had a poet’s heart maybe she could really find some beauty here or come up with something special to say about it all. But while she didn’t hate the quiet world of nature or anything, it didn’t really do anything for her either. She knew that if she spent a whole day just flying over stuff like this she’d get bored.

Flips, dips, dives, corkscrews, she took the opportunity to do them all just to shake off the monotony of flying straight ahead. She was in a good enough mood to goof around anyways. It’s not like there was anything specifically for her to fly towards either.

What was south of the desert? Cart D’Evron had told her some things. Giraffes, a huge kingdom that had vanished or something, and then some really nice place with lots of farms and flowers or whatever. She’d have to see it for herself. At least one of those things sounded like it could give her another big adventure.

He had really warned her to not keep going directly south after the giraffe’s homes. Saying to go east or west instead.

Rainbow was definitely thankful for his kindness, but the warnings just made her more excited.

She wondered how he and his company were doing? Seemed like he was leading a pretty steady life, maybe he would even reap the rewards of the Crystal Sea. She hoped so, he helped her out back there when he really had no reason to. Well, if he did suddenly find himself wealthier, she could consider that as paying him and his company back.

After less than an hour, the grasses beneath her started to gain a little more color. It wasn’t a spectacular change but it was something. Things were more green now and small amounts of water were visible, dotting the land. Just simple watering holes. What really caught her attention were the large trees that she could now see and fly around directly. Hugely thick trunks, possibly thicker than any other tree she had seen, with flowering branches and green canopies only at the very top. They stood out in the grasslands like sentinels, far taller than anything else.

“Wow,” Rainbow Dash said as she flew towards a nearby one and checked it out. She searched around its leaves and—aha! Found fruit nestled inside. Safe to eat? She’d take her chances.

Pulling one of the fruits off the tree was easy. Opening the dry outer shell was not. She flew down to the ground and found a rock, pounding the fruit on it until it finally opened up and she could get at the good stuff inside. Rainbow took a hoofful of the seeds and pulp from inside it and ate it with nary a second thought.

She chewed for a while and swallowed it down, shrugging. “Decent.”

After that she flew back up to the top of the tree, it was probably close to a hundred feet tall, and took a big look south. Things got greener and greener the further she could see, with more trees not just like these huge monsters in the distance. Hills too to the east and west, and she was certain she saw some birds flying around as well.

“Somewhere new, huh?” Rainbow Dash grinned. “I’d say I’m making pretty good progress.”

She flapped her wings and took off south at faster speed. Traveling around the world didn’t stop.

Things had actually become nice out. It wasn’t so hot and dry anymore, the lands she was now traveling over were temperate and hospitable. When so much of her journey had been from one extreme to another, these places were extra nice. Green grass, small streams, lots of trees and bushes, all covered the land below her. There was even a pleasant breeze to accompany it all.

More than just nature, there were roads down there too. Dirt paths through the grass and the trees that were big enough for wagons to use. She had to be going the right way to her next destination. Whatever it would turn out to be, the roads had to go somewhere.

Rainbow Dash started whistling to herself as she flew lower, just above the trees. The trees here were more normal looking than those giant ones from earlier, more numerous as well, but they didn’t completely cover the lands like a dense forest or jungle. There were plenty of small animals and birds running or flying between them as well. No signs of civilization that the roads might lead to just yet, but she was sure she’d get there in time. It was the middle of the day and she had a lot of time to fly before it started to get dark.

Hunger and thirst weren’t an issue, she had seen plenty of fruits and flowers to eat, and even the grass if she had to eat that too. The flowing streams and watering holes in this grasslands, or plains, or whatever a place like this was supposed to be called provided her with plenty to drink as well. Not having to worry about that stuff, unlike when she was in the desert or True North, really lifted a huge weight off her shoulders.

She did a flew loops as she whistled and slowly flew her way south in carefree fashion. For a moment she thought to maybe go down to the ground and start walking down the road, but she still wanted to travel faster until she actually saw something.

Rainbow Dash passed over another line of trees and paused for a second as ahead she was certain she could see a wide open valley between a couple of small hills further on without many trees obscuring the rest of the land. If she was right though… she thought she saw what might be buildings. It was hard to tell since they looked a little unusual. But it was a good sign to her. Time to fly over there and check things out.

The closer she got the more sure of things she was. Those were definitely buildings, and there were definitely creatures out and about walking between them and in that open valley.

Things looked slightly off to her pony sensibilities though. The shapes and sizes seemed wrong, like her perspective was warped in some way or the dimensions were off.

It was only when she got close enough to really make out the details of the small village did she realize what it was.

She was thinking about things and looking at the buildings and creatures from a pony’s point of view. Naturally things would look odd, considering the buildings were built for much taller creatures, and the ones walking around were giraffes.

“Oh,” Rainbow Dash said as she noticed the giraffes for the first time as more than just shapes in the distance. No wonder the buildings looked big, it was just like when she found the mammoth city back in the True North. It seemed to be a fairly busy little village, Rainbow saw dozens of buildings and lots of giraffes out and about. The road she had pretty much been following led right into the center of it all.

The buildings now that she could see them up pretty close weren’t especially impressive though. Mud and grass huts, domes, and long rectangular ones. The giraffes obviously didn’t have much in the way of construction or modern mechanics and such. Rainbow Dash didn’t exactly want to knock them for that though, if it worked for them then it worked for them. It was just pretty obvious she wasn’t going to see anything like she would in Manehattan, Las Pegasus, or Oreville here. They didn’t even have any buildings made out of stone or wooden plank.

Since it was such a quiet and peaceful looking place, she also seriously doubted that there would be any fun adventuring to be found here.

Rainbow Dash dropped down from the sky and onto the road just right outside the town. Her arrival gained the attention of a number of giraffes but most only looked over for a moment before going back to their business. She wasn’t surprised, they were probably used to ponies and other creatures coming through here if what Cart said was anything to go by.

That made things a little awkward for her though. Did she just try walking up and talking to one of them? Boy they sure were tall…

Most of them seemed pretty uninviting to talk to as well. Not unfriendly, they weren’t sneering at her, or frowning, but they weren’t smiling either. They just looked really calm, stoic, disinterested. Not just in regards to her either, no matter where she looked, she didn’t see a single giraffe smiling or showing any sort of emotion. Maybe they were just a really quiet group of creatures?

It was also funny looking around and seeing giraffe children that were already many times bigger than she was.

“Oh well,” Rainbow Dash said and flew back up again, she saw a giraffe that she was pretty sure was a cow… oh geez, she hoped that was the right term for female giraffes, who was walking alone and didn’t look too busy. Since that was as good a bet as any, Rainbow Dash decided to talk to her.

“Yo!” Rainbow said as she quickly flitted over to the giraffe, waving to get her attention.

The giraffe blinked and turned her head to the pony interrupting her walk. She didn’t look angry, or surprised, or anything at all really. “Yes?”

“Umm, hey. I’m from like, far away, do you giraffes have anybody here who I can talk to? Or like, do you know anything I can do?” Rainbow asked.

“This one is unsure what you mean,” the giraffe replied.

“Uhhh...” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck. “I mean, well, who deals with merchants and travelers coming through this place?” She quickly changed tunes.

“That would be He Whose Neck Is Long,” the giraffe answered.

Rainbow Dash blinked. “Alright then. And where can I find him?”

“He is standing and conversing with She Whose Legs Are Short over there,” the giraffe pointed at two other giraffes standing outside a large dome.

“Oh, um, thank you,” Rainbow Dash said and started to fly away before stopping and raising an eyebrow at the cow. “And what’s your name by the way?”

“This one is known as She With Neck That Is Long,” She With Neck That Is Long answered.

Rainbow Dash took a moment to look. She did have a pretty long neck.

“Uh, hi. Are you “He Whose Neck Is long”?” Rainbow Dash asked the male giraffe standing outside the entrance to one of the village’s large domes.

“That is what this one is called, yes,” the giraffe nodded. His eyes were half-lidded in a tired expression, but he was giving Rainbow Dash his full attention. The other giraffe; “She Whose Legs Are Short”, was politely and quietly standing by after Rainbow Dash had come up to speak with her conversation partner.

“Great, my name is Rainbow Dash, I was told you’re the one who deals with outsiders and merchants?” She raised an eyebrow.

“This one is indeed the liaison for such things,” He Whose Neck Is Long replied. “Are you a merchant, or just an outsider?”

“Just an outsider,” Rainbow smiled. “I came here from really far away, I’ve been flying for the past couple of days and I found your village. So, uh, was just kind of wondering if I could learn about it and stuff. Maybe find a place to eat and sleep for the day? I’ve never actually met any giraffes before and I guarantee you’ve never met any ponies from where I’m from.”

He Whose Neck Is Long blinked and he looked over at his companion. “Would you please excuse us for now? It seems this one has business.”

“Of course, this one will return later,” She Whose Legs Are Short said and walked away.

“Sorry about interrupting,” Rainbow said.

“It is no matter, this one and that one will meet again later tonight,” he said. “May this one ask where exactly you are from, pony Rainbow Dash?”

“Big country called Equestria, aaaaalll the way on the other side of the world,” Rainbow said. “What’s your village called?”

“This place is known as Dacty. Welcome,” He Whose Neck Is Long bowed ever so slightly.

“Cool. You get a lot of travelers and merchants through here?” Rainbow asked.

“Many through, yes. Not many stop for trade and sale, most do business elsewhere,” he answered.

“Yeah I can see why...” Rainbow said as she looked around at the grass and mud huts.

“Is there any specific reason you stopped here?” He Whose Neck Is Long asked.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I mean not really, I’m kind of just traveling all over the world, and I’ve got friends back home who would be super curious to learn anything about a new group of creatures and their home. If I see a village like yours I kind of just automatically stop now.” She glanced up at the sky. “And I have no idea how things south of here are like, so even though it’s only the middle of the day I was thinking of stopping here for the night. If that’s okay with you giraffes?”

“You staying here is no issue for us. However, we do not have lodgings for a creature of your stature. But if you would like you can take a tent to the outskirts of Dacty,” He Whose Neck Is Long answered. “Is there anything else you’d like to know about Dacty? We are a small giraffe enclave in the north-center edge of giraffe territory. The camels don’t like us moving any closer to their desert.”

“Yeah that aint really a surprise,” Rainbow Dash sorted. “So you’re just a small town and there are other places giraffes live around here?”

He Whose Neck Is Long nodded. “Yes. This one is from another village. This one moved here for work. The Long Neck of Dacty is He Whose Neck Is Longer Still, if you would care to meet him while you are here.”

Rainbow Dash blinked and tilted her head. “That’s your leader or something?”

“Yes. This one has been told that a similar term would be “mayor” or “chief”. This one apologizes if he is not making things clear for you,” the giraffe said.

Rainbow Dash awkwardly waved her hooves in front of her. “No, no, no, it’s totally cool. I get it. I don’t know if I’ll like really be doing anything here or staying for longer than a day though, if you have questions about where I come from, or if there’s something special about you giraffes you want to share with a super awesome outsider who will tell others about you then we can do that. Otherwise I’m gonna be flying south fast before the sun’s even up tomorrow.”

“This one would be happy to hear about your home. Though there are better giraffes in the village for that, such as She Whose Neck Is Not Quite So Long, an older giraffe and our storyteller,” He Whose Neck Is Long said.

“Umm… cool, like maybe tonight I can go see her then,” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck. The way giraffes talked was already starting to strain her brain.

“Very well. And as for something special about us giraffes that we would like travelers and visitors to know about—this one can think of nothing more fitting than our poetry,” he said.

Rainbow Dash blinked, her face blank. “What?”

“Our poetry. We giraffes take great pride in our way with words,” he said with the same lack of emotion and expression as always. “In fact, a large poetry recital is happening this afternoon in our Poetry Hall.”

Rainbow Dash blinked again. “What?”

He Whose Neck Is Long gestured to one of the long rectangular mud and grass buildings in the village. “There, our hall. Quite a few giraffes are going to be reciting poetry just a short time from now. Would you care to come with this one and watch the recital? This one can think of no better way to quickly attune an outsider with our culture and way of life.”

“I, um. Maybe if... I gotta...” Rainbow Dash sighed and dragged a hoof down her face. “Aw geez, I literally don’t have anything better to do. Alright, let’s go to the poetry recital.” She almost shuddered as those words left her mouth.

He Whose Neck Is Long didn’t seem to pick up on her reservations at all. “I am sure you will find it most enjoyable, there will be some great poems read today.”

“Y-Yeah...” Rainbow winced.

Cart had said that giraffes were kind of weird. Now she was getting to learn that first hoof.

The ceiling of the Poetry Hall was high for her standards but for the giraffes it was only a couple of feet over their heads. Rainbow Dash hovered beside the head of He Whose Neck Is Long as he sat near the back. Probably because he knew Rainbow might be distracting to the other giraffes here. The hall had a small stage at the very front and nothing more than very simple wooden benches running down the rest of its length. It was a good thing her wings weren’t tired, sitting down and trying to see anything would be a pain.

“The poetry reciting will start soon,” He Whose Neck Is Long told her. “It should carry on well into the night.”

“Well… into… the night?” Rainbow Dash paled.

He nodded. “Yes. We speak slowly and deliberately so the full weight of every word can be pronounced and felt when it comes to our poetry recitations. And with the large number of giraffes here today, the entire recital will take quite a few hours.”

If I could switch places with… literally any of my friends right now, I would. Rainbow thought to herself. Extra funny if it was Applejack.

She looked around at the other giraffes and saw that most of them hadn’t so much as been glancing or stealing looks at her. She supposed a pegasus wasn’t too uncommon of a sight for them if they had plenty of travelers and traders come through here. And like always, they were all stony and blank-faced, not really looking excited at all for the upcoming poetry.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “So are your poetry recitals always quiet like this? Should I not applaud or anything?”

“You may applaud if you so wish,” he answered. Although he didn’t say if he would be applauding.

“Alright then,” Rainbow said and then waited while floating around his head for the actual poetry stuff to start. Not that she was especially looking forward to that.

Still, these giraffes were pretty polite and “friendly” enough. It definitely wouldn’t sit right with her or her friends if she was rude to them. It was pretty clear they were willing to be helpful to her, and they were very open. At the very least, Twilight would enjoy hearing all about giraffe culture. That egghead was so going to owe her for all the new stuff Rainbow Dash was going to be able to tell her about once she got back home.

“The first poet is getting ready,” He Whose Neck Is Long suddenly said.

Rainbow Dash looked and saw a giraffe on stage, everyone else in the hall had gotten even quieter in the meantime. She herself was not quite excited or full of anticipation, but perhaps wondering how exactly this would go. The giraffe took center stage and cleared his throat before slowly looking out across the entire hall of giraffes.

“Thank you for coming here today. This one hopes you enjoy this one’s poetry,” the giraffe said and took a deep breath.

“Giraffe, giraffe, walking through the grass. Giraffe, giraffe, his neck long. Leaves, leaves, acacia leaves. Tasty, tasty, on the tree.”

Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped and she gaped at the performance in pure disbelief.

“Giraffe, giraffe, walking through the trees. Giraffe, giraffe, his neck short. Leaves, leaves, acacia leaves. Tasty, tasty, on the tree.”

“Giraffe, giraffe, walking through the grass. Giraffe, giraffe, her neck close. Giraffe, giraffe, two walking together.”

“Giraffe, giraffe, walking through the trees. Giraffe, giraffe, his neck short. Leaves, leaves, acacia leaves. Tasty, tasty, on the tree.”

The poet then bowed his head slightly. “Thank you for listening.”

Rainbow Dash blinked.

No one applauded.

“A somber poem. Did you enjoy it?” He Whose Neck Is Long asked her.

“I… um… it was interesting?” She responded.

He nodded. “Yes. There will be many more coming. This one is sure you will enjoy quite a few more.”

Rainbow Dash blankly stared up at the stage as the first giraffe poet left and the next one came up. It was going to be a very long afternoon.

“The leaves are green in the heat.”

“The leaves turn yellow as they age.”

“The necks are short.”

“The necks become long.”

“Giraffes go on. Giraffes sleep. Giraffes eat. Giraffes grow. Time goes on, giraffes come and go. The trees stay. The leaves stay. The rocks and the ground stay.”

“The necks are short.”

“The necks become long.”

“Running. Prancing. Dancing giraffe. Dancing leaves, and dancing grass. Spinning, running, tumbling about. Legs still short, neck still short. Running. Prancing. Dancing giraffe. Legs no longer short, neck no longer short. Walking. Sitting. Resting giraffe. That one sees more giraffes, legs and necks still short, running, prancing, dancing about. Happy giraffe. Calm giraffe. Peaceful giraffe. Content giraffe. Those ones see that one. Sad giraffe. Boring giraffe. Tired giraffe. On and on. Leaves fall about. Old giraffe, neck no longer strong. Those giraffes, no longer dancing. Together. Walking. Sitting. Resting giraffes. All giraffes. Necks short. Necks long. All giraffes happy. Those that sit and those that dance. Those with old necks and those with young. Running. Prancing. Dancing Giraffe.”

“Giraffe.”

“Acacia leaves.”

“Giraffe eats acacia leaves.”

“Ground.”

“Soil.”

“Giraffe becomes part of the soil.”

“Neck long. Neck short. Giraffe eats acacia leaves.”

“Neck long. Neck short. Giraffe becomes part of the soil.”

“There was one giraffe. His neck long. Time went on and his neck grew longer still.”

“There was another giraffe. Her neck long. Time went on and her neck grew longer still.”

“There were two giraffes. Now together. Together as the seasons went on. Together as the sun and moon rose and fell. Together as the trees grew. As the wind blew. As the leaves became plentiful. As the leaves became sparse. More time went by.”

“There were three giraffes. His neck short. Time went on and his neck grew long.”

“There were four giraffes. Her neck short. Time went on and her neck grew long.”

“Together, giraffes. Together through everything. The good, the bad, the cold, the warm. Giraffes together forevermore.”

“Giraffe. Gir-affe.”

“G. For gazing eyes that gaze long ways.”

“I. For idleness that leaves us calm.”

“R. For recitals of poetry that mean much.”

“A. For acacia leaves that are eaten.”

“F. For fur that covers us.”

“F. For fur that covers us.”

“E. For excitement that poetry brings us.”

“Giraffe. Gir-affe.”

“Giraffes with necks that are long. Giraffes that live quiet lives. Giraffes that make homes of mud and grass. Giraffes with legs long. Giraffes that embody all in giraffe.”

“Giraffe walked home.”

“Giraffe whose neck was just right.”

“Giraffe was happy.”

“As were giraffes with necks short and necks long. All giraffes together and happy. All giraffes that embody all in giraffe. All giraffes quiet and calm. No giraffes, no other giraffes at all.”

“Giraffe. Gir-affe.”

“G. For gazing eyes that gaze long ways.”

“I. For idleness that leaves us calm.”

“R. For recitals of poetry that mean much.”

“A. For acacia leaves that are eaten.”

“F. For fur that covers us.”

“F. For fur that covers us.”

“E. For excitement that poetry brings us.”

“Giraffe. Gir-affe.”

Rainbow Dash felt drool leaking from her mouth as she stared in a complete daze at the stage. The fugue her mind was in could not be understated and she was slightly worried about her brain melting and dripping out from her ears. What was even happening right now?

“Quite the variety of poems today. Some sad. Some happy. Do you have a favorite so far?” He Whose Neck Is Long asked her.

“Umm… I… the one that had the word running in it, maybe?” Rainbow answered.

He nodded. “This one enjoyed that one as well.”

“The next poet coming up should have quite the poem to recite,” He Whose Neck Is Long told Rainbow Dash.

“Why’s that?” She asked, desperate for anything that could possibly be exciting.

“The poet had been courting another giraffe, but she chose a different poet who is not performing tonight. I am certain the poem we are about to hear will be wrought with intense emotions and very passionate. You may even see some giraffes cry as they listen to it,” He Whose Neck Is Long said.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow and looked around. Seeing all the completely stoic giraffes around her made her pretty doubtful of that. “I’ll take your word for it.”

“You seem to be enjoying the poetry so far. Perhaps you will be moved too,” her giraffe friend said.

Rainbow had to fight the urge to look at him like he was insane.

“I-It could happen...” she very stiffly responded.

A minute later another giraffe walked up on stage, the poet He Whose Neck Is Long must’ve been talking about, as far as she could tell he was a slightly younger looking giraffe. Not quite as tall, and his neck not quite as long as most others. Dear sweet Celestia, was she starting to think in giraffe terms? Is that what this insane repetition of poetry was doing to her?

The giraffe onstage took a moment to gather his thoughts it seemed, quietly looking over the crowd and then bringing up a hoof to rub his elongated throat. Maybe that meant he had a long poem. She kind of hoped not. In any event he cleared his throat and took a deep breath before speaking-

“A giraffe, whose neck is long.”

Rainbow Dash immediately sighed.

“A giraffe, whose neck is longer still.”

“Together, opposite sides, another giraffe between them.”

“Her legs, short. Her neck, short.”

“Her walk, her prance, her dance, her run. Like flowers. Like beauty. All that the giraffes can see. No leaves, no village, no trees, no sun, no sky, no other giraffes. Just her. Her legs short, her neck short.”

“A giraffe, whose neck is long. Dances. Together.”

“A giraffe, whose neck is longer still. Dances. Together.”

“The world stops. The village stops. Three giraffes only.”

“She whose legs and neck are short dances with he whose neck is longer still.”

“A giraffe whose neck is long dances alone.”

He stopped there and took a slight bow before shuffling off the stage. To Rainbow Dash’s surprise there were a few very quiet claps and stomps of appreciation, and many giraffes had a more solemn expression on their faces. She had to admit too that at least that poem had a little more real emotion in it than the others.

“Young love,” He Whose Neck Is Long sighed. “It can be beautiful but also sad.”

Rainbow Dash had nothing to say on the topic, love wasn’t exactly her thing, so she just watched the stage and waited for the next giraffe. Hopefully things were almost over. How many hours of insane giraffe poetry had she listened to now?

“And so the giraffe stretches. He reaches high. Higher and higher. Reaching for the leaves. But his neck is still too short.”

“A giraffe with neck longer comes. His neck is not too short. He reaches high, reaches and reaches, the branch comes lower.”

“The first giraffe now reaches again. He reaches and reaches. The leaves are now close enough. He eats.”

“Two giraffes eat leaves together.”

“As it should always be. Giraffe, giraffe, together. Giraffe, giraffe, community.”

“Later another giraffe. His neck too short.’

“And another giraffe. His neck long enough.”

“Two more giraffes eat leaves together.”

“As it should always be.”

Rainbow Dash’s glazed over eyes watched as the latest poet left the stage. Then surprisingly there wasn’t another giraffe to come up and the crowd in the Poetry Hall started talking amongst themselves. She blinked and wiped the drool from her mouth. “I-Is it over?”

“Yes. He was the last. The poetry recital for today is over,” He Whose Neck Is Long answered.

Rainbow Dash held back the urge to cheer and scream out in joy.

“It was quite an excellent night of poetry if this one says so. You are quite lucky to have arrived today,” He Whose Neck Is Long said.

“I-I am?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him.

He nodded. “Yes. Truly a great showing. Many exemplary poets were in Dacty today. Would you care to meet any of them? This one is sure they’d love to discuss their poetry with an outsider.”

“No please!” Rainbow Dash quickly held up her hooves and shook her head. “I-I mean… I’m sure they’re tired after reciting their poetry. And they wouldn’t want some doofus who doesn’t know anything about poetry bothering them.”

“This one sees. Then perhaps you would like a tent now. Or to talk to our storyteller?” He Whose Neck Is Long asked.

“I… uh,” Rainbow Dash looked outside the small “windows” of the hall (really just holes in the mud and grass) and saw that while it was almost night it was still way too early for her to sleep. She sighed in defeat. “Yeah, let’s go talk to your storyteller.” She glanced back at him. “Didn’t you have a date with that other giraffe to keep?”

“That one will understand. Duty comes first. The village will remain,” he said. “You wouldn’t have much of an idea of what to do if this one wasn’t here to help you navigate Dacty and our ways. That one will see what this one is doing as a good and necessary thing.”

“Well thanks for helping me out,” Rainbow Dash said. And she did mean it. Even if her brain was fried from the poetry. The giraffes were indeed not an unfriendly folk, just weird. Exactly as Cart had put it.

Other giraffes started walking part the two of them, leaving the long hall since the poetry was done with. She saw a few at the front of the building by the stage talking with some of the poets—something she was thankful to have been able to talk her way out of. Most of the giraffes that walked by again either only vaguely acknowledged her presence with a slight nod or glance or just ignored her completely. Stoic was the word of the day. He Whose Neck Is long waited for the aisle to clear up and he started to leave the hall, with Rainbow buzzing right by his head.

With it now being dark out in the village, Rainbow Dash had expected to see less giraffes around than earlier. That turned out to not be remotely the case however. If anything there were even more giraffes out walking around the small village of Dacty. Maybe they just preferred the night time to daytime. It was possible that the coolness in the air was more inviting after how hot it was during the day.

There were even more couples out too. Male and female giraffes speaking alone together outside of the huts, behind the huts, in places just slightly more private than the rest of the village. She quietly looked to her side at He Whose Neck Is Long. Was it really okay that she took over his whole day and dragged him away from that girl giraffe he was talking to?

He said it was perfectly good but she had the suspicion that giraffes were too reserved and polite to say anything directly negative or refusing to her.

“So where’s this, She’s Whose Neck Is Not Quite So Long live?” Rainbow asked him, fairly certain that’s what he said the storyteller’s name was. The quicker they got to her and Rainbow Dash could then get a tent, the quicker this guy could get back to his own life.

“Only a little further. That one has her own hut. As is fitting of a storyteller,” He Whose Neck Is Long answered.

Rainbow didn’t know what being a storyteller had to do with that but she really didn’t think she wanted to get in a long, drawn out conversation about it either. Her giraffe pal continued to slowly walk through the dark village while she flew close to his head, always at eye level. After not too much longer they came to a “small” hut. It didn’t look like it was wide enough to be more than one room on the inside but it was very tall for some reason, the mud tapering off until it become cone-shaped on the top half. A curtain made of long grass also functioned as its only door. He Whose Neck Is Long lifted up a hoof and parted it for Rainbow Dash to enter.

“Thanks,” Dash said and flew on in with him coming in behind her.

It being night out it wasn’t a surprise the hut was mostly dark aside from a few grass—candles? Torches? Rainbow couldn’t decide what the best term for them was. Either way they only barely lit up the interior and revealed an elderly female giraffe sitting on a wide mat. Her fur was graying all over but her eyes were still sharp and her head snapped over to He Whose Neck Is Long as soon as she saw him enter.

It was one of the fastest movements she had seen any giraffe make.

“He Whose Neck Is Long. And an outsider pony. Why have you come to the storyteller?” She Whose Neck Is Not Quite So Long asked.

He Whose Neck Is Long blinked and looked towards Rainbow Dash. “This pony is known as Rainbow Dash. She comes from very far away. She would like to tell you about her home and her journeys. And also hear about us giraffes. Our history and our ways.”

“This one sees,” the storyteller stood up and gently exhaled, looking at Rainbow Dash deeply. “Then first allow this one to make you feel at home by regaling you with our giraffe history so you understand us.”

“Okay,” Rainbow shrugged.

“First—in the old days—there were giraffes. Some with necks long, others with necks short...”

Oh no. Rainbow Dash grimaced.

Giraffes.

Giraffes.

GIRAFFES.

Rainbow Dash had heard enough about giraffes to last a lifetime. It all kind of turned into a whirling mush inside her head and the only thing left over was a bunch of giraffes and descriptions about necks. It had been a long day and her brain needed some rest. From hearing about giraffes. From looking at giraffes. From spending a whole day in a giraffe village. By the time the storyteller had finished her story about the giraffe’s history and why they were the way they were—Rainbow Dash had completely zoned out and everything was just white noise.

“Do you now understand us giraffes?” She Whose Neck Was Not Quite So Long asked.

“Yes,” Rainbow Dash answered automatically, stiffly nodding her head.

“Good. This one is happy to hear,” the storyteller said.

“As is this one,” He Whose Neck Is Long said.