"So is there anything I should know about this Red Tape guy?" Rainbow asked wearily as she and Celestia made their way through the castle grounds. The princess herself had decided to escort Rainbow to the carriage that would take them to the Chiruus' village. Celestia assured her that it was to prepare her for her stay, and not because of Rainbow's near mental breakdown.
"I don't believe so, Rainbow Dash. He's your typical sort of government nobility. Except..." She trailed off, smirking mischievously. Rainbow narrowed her eyes, and the alicorn's smirk grew a little bigger. "Well, he can be a little stubborn."
"And the rest aren't?" Rainbow deadpanned. The whole reason she was going on this dumb mission was because the nobility was stubborn.
"A fair point, my little pony. But most of them don't have special talents in the art of being stubborn."
"It's an art now?!" Rainbow nearly whined as she spoke, but that was impossible. The pegasus never whined, that was something prissy ponies like Rarity did. No matter how many times they had insisted it was complaining.
Princess Celestia merely winked and hummed in knowing. A minute went by in silence, but for once Rainbow didn't mind. The Princess seemed to radiate an aura of calm around her, and besides, there were plenty of statues of war heroes for the adventurous mare to daydream about.
Wow, check out the wingspan on Commander Easy Glider! "Leader of the most decorated long distance scouting squadron in the nation's history." Nevermind the stuff he did for the Wonderbolts! Lieutenant Thermal Draft, "Revolutionized Aerial to Ground Combat in the Zebrican-Equestrian War." That was like, before even Luna was banished! Captain Mercury, "Led-" Wait what?!
Rainbow came to a screeching halt. Screeching not because they were going particularly fast, but because she had actually screeched the last part of her thoughts out loud. Celestia was at the pegasus's side in an instant, relief already replacing the worry that had been etched on her face moments before.
"Ah, I see you've found-"
"Quick Silver has her own statue?!" Rainbow spat jealously. How come that obnoxious, grumpy, cloud-bucking, sleep-ruining-
"-Course not Rainbow-"
It's so not fair! I've saved Equestria! A lot! What did SHE do? I mean, sure I have that window in the castle. A few actually. And I guess there's that throne in Twilight's castle...
"Rainbow Dash, please-"
Okay yeah, Discord's statue is gone, bad example. But that shouldn't count! They totally last forever if there isn't some king of chaos living in it! Windows don't! And I don't look like a chair, so the throne doesn't- Hey!
Princess Celestia was holding Rainbow fast in her magic, one eyebrow cocked with a light smile on her face. Rainbow realized she had been completely ignoring her princess, something that no one outside of Twilight ever had the gall to do. And only because Twilight was a little crazy. She gave a sheepish grin.
"Er, what was that again Princess? I didn't catch all that. Heh."
Celestia released her magic, and spoke as though she hadn't witnessed any sort of temper tantrum moments before.
"I was only mentioning that you'd seemed to notice Quick Silver's namesake, Captain Mercury. And before you ask, I had the captain's express permission to use her true name." Rainbow closed her mouth just as quick as she'd opened it. "You get to know a pony rather well during times of war, especially when they're one of your sister's greatest weapons against you."
Rainbow's eyes were wide as dinner plates as she whipped her head to look more closely at the statue. It was actually the statue she had seen on her way into the castle. Captain Mercury did indeed look stern, almost frighteningly so, but Rainbow's sharp pegasus eyes could also pick up on the tiny frown and wrinkles under the piercing eyes. This was not a happy pony, and it didn't seem like it was just because they were strict. But otherwise, they were a rather unremarkable looking pony. Though she did look a bit like Quick Silver.
"But Princess, why do you have a statue of her then? I'm not sure I'd want a statue of my enemy in my garden." Except to keep an eye on them like Discord. Or gloat. Even Rainbow had enough tact to know not to say that out loud.
"Simple, she helped me defeat my sister."
"What?! But you said- Why would-" If Quick Silver was anything to go by, the Chiruus adored Princess Luna. Ultimately things worked out in the end, but Rainbow could almost feel the Element of Loyalty inside her twitching.
"Please allow me to explain, I was actually going to go into this somewhat on our walk anyway." Celestia turned her attention from Rainbow Dash, and gazed at the statue.
"When Luna started the civil war, very few ponies supported her cause. She had her Night Guard to be sure, but their numbers couldn't compare to the rest of the Royal Guard. They were only about a quarter of the size of the rest of the military, if memory serves. Regardless, we were certain we would squash the rebellion practically overnight, and I would talk sense into Luna."
Rainbow didn't know much history that didn't directly relate to pegasi, but even she knew the Lunar Rebellion lasted for ten years. It was one of the longest wars in Equestrian history. How could such a small army put up a fight for that long?
"Obviously, that didn't happen. I won't go very deep into it, but Captain Mercury is one of the express reasons the war lasted so long. She was... smart. Tactical or calculating doesn't do the mare justice. Typically, civil wars in nations across Equus hold the records for the highest body counts due to the nature of the war being the nation slaughtering itself. Battles that Captain Mercury oversaw hold records for being the lowest. And that goes for both sides."
Celestia sighed, and broke her gaze from the statue, once again focusing on the living pony before her. "Captain Mercury is a hero, and truth be told I might have put her statue here even if she hadn't betrayed Luna, out of sheer respect."
Rainbow waited for her to continue, but Celestia was silent.
"Er, that is really impressive and actually kinda awesome, but... Why did Captain, uh, Mercury...?" Rainbow winced and trailed off, but relaxed when Celestia smiled and nodded slowly.
"Her given name has been lost to time, it's quite alright."
Rainbow nodded in appreciation before continuing. "So, why did she betray Lu-Princess Luna? You never said."
Celestia winked, and continued walking, leaving Rainbow to fly after her. "Hm, it seems I didn't explain, did I?"
Rainbow merely groaned.
The princess of the sun chuckled in her musical way, flashing the exasperated mare an apologetic smile. "To be honest Rainbow Dash, I never asked, so I don't actually know for sure. Though I do have educated guesses."
Rainbow repressed her next groan as best she could and said, "I guess I get to find that out in the village?"
"I am curious to know if my suspicions are correct. You'd be doing me a personal favor." There was more chuckling as Rainbow grumbled under her breath. "If it helps, you can consider it one step closer to being immortalized as a statue."
Princess Celestia held in a very unprincess-like snort at the expression on Rainbow's face, instead opting to hold her head high and walk along as majestically and all-knowing as possible. In contrast to the display, the cyan pegasus floated along merrily with lopsided grin splashed across her face, daydreaming of all the awesome poses her statue could feature her in. If one looked closely, one could almost spot drool beginning to drip out of the corner of her mouth.
Finally, the duo arrived at the holding area for the royal carriages. Princess Celestia led Rainbow Dash over to a particularly large, enclosed carriage with several ponies milling around it. Rainbow recognized Luna, Quick Silver and Gallant Heart for some reason, two pegasi of the guard, and a tan unicorn in a suit jacket with a dark brown mane she could only assume was Red Tape, if the cutie mark was anything to go by. A rainbow being squeezed by red tape, she couldn't help but roll her eyes.
"Ah, my sister and Rainbow Dash have finally arrived! Now you all can set off, post haste!" Luna hadn't seemed to have lost any of her energy, it was a wonder she wasn't bobbing in place.
"With all due respect princess, perhaps we might be graced with just a little more information on where it is exactly we'll be staying? Perhaps on how long we will be staying?" The unicorn's voice was strained, and upon closer inspection, his mane was fairly disheveled and the suitcase by his hooves had bits of articles of clothing hanging out. Apparently Luna had helped him back, and then apparently dragged him here.
"Fine, fine. As we'd already told Rainbow Dash," Red Tape's eyes flicked to examine Rainbow Dash for the briefest of instances, "You'll be staying at the Chiruus' village for a week. The village itself is built in the mountains in the north."
"Normally, a flight to the village would take half a day of hard flying, but we'd rather not exhaust the poor guards pulling the carriage. You'll arrive sometime early tomorrow morning." Celestia picked up after Luna, and dipped her head towards the pegasi guards. Quick Silver rolled her eyes behind the princesses' backs.
Tch, I better not be stuck in that thing the whole time. Stupid Red Tape and Gallant Heart, not having wings... Rainbow imagined similar thoughts going through Quick Silver's head, but managed to hold back all signs of her annoyance. She felt herself getting competitive with the bat pony again, noticing Quick Silver watching her out of the corner of her eye. In this little contest Rainbow wanted to prove how totally composed and stoic she was.
"A warning, it can be rather chilly up north. Red Tape, I trust you know a self-warming spell?" Celestia turned her attention to the brown stallion.
"Of course, it's one of the simplest spells taught at your very prestigious school, my princess." Red Tape's voice was sickly sweet, very much unlike how he addressed Luna. Rainbow couldn't help rolling her eyes this time, but mentally kicked herself when all Quick Silver did was flick an ear.
Darn, point to her.
"Excellent, that's about all that's relevant I believe. All three guards will be staying in the village with you, to take you back at the end of the week. Good luck my little ponies, and we await your presentations when you get back."
Presentations? I guess that's a nice way of saying evidence for the trial. This sucks, why me? Why can't we just ditch the non-fliers? Why is Gallant Heart even here in the first- oh. Rainbow watched almost dumbfounded as Gallant Heart took Red Tape's suitcase between his teeth, opened the carriage door, and followed the unicorn inside.
He's like that uppity jerk's servant! Rainbow's wings clenched to prevent them from flaring out. Gallant had kept a neutral expression, but anyone could see how his eyes were glazed over in the most dispassionate way possible. Rainbow might have thought she was getting ahead of herself, except evidently Quick Silver had noticed too as her tail swished violently and her nostrils flared as she entered the carriage next.
Flapping her wings once to clear her senses, Rainbow paused on the step into the carriage. The pegasi who were going to bring them were strapping themselves to the harnesses, and the princesses had backed away to give them room for takeoff. They were each wearing encouraging smiles, Celestia's graceful and hopeful, and Luna's energetic and confident. Rainbow gulped and gave her best cocky grin in return.
Stepping inside and closing the door behind her, Rainbow Dash quickly examined the interior. It was plain and wooden, about what she expected. At least the seats were cushioned. Maybe she could nap or something.
The occupants basically ignored her as she stepped further inside. Red Tape was lost in examining documents he had pulled from somewhere, and Gallant Heart was sitting beside him. He at least flashed Rainbow a quick smile before staring out a window, eyes glazed over once more. That side being occupied, that left Rainbow to sit next to, ugh, Quick Silver.
Unlike Gallant Heart, she had removed her helmet, her silvery mane in sharp contrast to the dark wood of the carriage. Like Gallant Heart however, she too was gazing out the window, except her eyes were focused. Probably staring at Luna.
Rainbow sighed, and took her seat next to Quick Silver, sitting as far away as possible. No sooner had her flank touched the cushion, the carriage lurched and they were off. Another cursory look around the carriage, and Rainbow's body slumped. Yup, this was going to suck. She resigned herself to practicing not being fidgety and getting lost in her thoughts. She had almost succeeded, if not for the Royal Canterlot Voice.
"OH YES, BE SURE TO TRY THE MOON CAKES WHEN YOU ARRIVE."