Twilight made her way up one of the Crystal Palace’s many staircases and found Celestia, Luna, and the ambassadors in the dining room, in front of appetizers for what would be a very early dinner. The ambassadors had switched back to their clean, unaccented Equestrian, making Twilight cringe inwardly at the thought of her own Arabic accent. Even though Twilight couldn’t quite make out what they were saying it seemed that every word was thanking the sisters.
Celestia noticed her almost immediately, and turned her head to Twilight.
“Oh, Twilight!” she said with a small smile, voice ringing across the dining hall, “We were just sitting down to dinner. Could you call your friends? We’d like to get started right away!”
Twilight nodded and started to turn back downstairs, before feeling the weight of the crown on her head and thinking the better of it. She reached up and touched it instead, feeling for her friends through the elements.
The teleport practically cast itself, and five ponies with elements around their necks popped into existence in the air in front of Twilight. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were wrestling, but Applejack and Rarity dropped to the ground with a thud, while the winged elements variously glided, swooped, and fluttered to the near end of the table. After fielding an irate glare from Rarity with a sheepish smile, Twilight also approached the table, Applejack and Rarity following right behind.
Once they were all seated, princess Celestia wasted no time. “Greetings, everypony!” she smiled at the element bearers. Then her smile vanished, and her face grew sober. “Lumen and Veris,” here she indicated first the brown stallion, then the green, “our ambassadors from Saddle Arabia, are very worried that the situation there may be deteriorating as we speak. It’s going to take a couple days to get there, so unless anypony objects, I suggest you pack after dinner and get settled in your bunks on the ship tonight.” Celestia paused, and the six elements traded glances with each other and the princess’ concerned eyes, the ambassadors traded a glance with each other, and Luna continued to gaze at the lettuce on her plate. Then, six friends, with varying degrees of vigor, nodded their assent to the alicorn. “Okay.” Celestia continued, more softly. “Remember what I told you.” she finished, whispering to Twilight across the table.
Celestia had told Twilight quite a bit over the years, but most recently she had stressed to her that she should keep the other elements near her, that Saddle Arabia’s fate was important, but what really mattered to her was the safety of her Equestrian subjects, Twilight and friends included. Twilight saw something close to fear in her mentor’s eyes, a look that reminded her of the time when, as a filly, she had fallen trying to get a book on a high shelf. Surprised, she gave a quick, embarrassed nod.
The silence following Celestia’s announcement lasted through the first course of dinner, broken only by the rustling of salad and drip of dressing. The silence continued into the second course, when Rarity broke it by turning to the lanky brown stallion next to her with a smile and a “So, tell us about Saddle Arabia.”
The ambassadors were only too happy to comply. From their descriptions, it seemed that, during peacetime at least, Saddle Arabia was a marvelous place. It was, after all, as Twilight knew, the birthplace of algebra and modern optics, as well as modern astronomy. Since then they had been surpassed in such disciplines by Equestrians such as Starswirl, but they maintained a rich culture from that time, including a special brand of geometrically based architecture which effortlessly straddled the line between art and science. Able, finally, to speak in Equestrian, Twilight asked about some of the first of these unique buildings, which housed famous organizations founded at the time of their construction. She was dismayed to hear that the Arabian Optical Society had been dissolved not twenty years earlier and the building repurposed as a temple. The Philosophical Mathematics Society was still around, but had also given up their historic grounds to another temple and moved into a smaller space. Twilight was relieved to hear that the Astronomical Society had, if anything, gotten bigger over the years, and fully occupied its traditional site, with overflow. The famous telescope, used by al-Khathiawari himself, was still operational, having been maintained all these years. “You should see it” boasted Lumen, “all gleaming bronze, with the same angle plates used by Khathia still polished and only slightly worn. They’ve got better stuff nowadays, of course, but there’s something to be said for tradition. It’s only sad they can no longer look at...” he stopped suddenly, as Veris extended a hoof almost to his shoulder. Glancing around, he suddenly fixed his eyes on his plate.
Twilight was confused, and about to ask him politely to continue, when Pinkie, who had no patience for the interruption, interjected.
“What? Can’t look at what?” she cried, bouncing out of her chair and into the face of the brown stallion in a way which indicated intense curiosity to those who knew her, but which, Twilight reflected, might seem like a challenge to anypony else. The ambassador certainly seemed to take it as that, flinching and stammering.
“Ah... ah, they can’t look, can’t look at Hokkai’s comet.” he finally managed. Twilight raised an eyebrow. True, the last time Hokkai’s comet had been around was a decade ago, but, Luna willing, it would be back in sixty years. Any astronomer worth their salt should understand that, and almost everypony who wanted to would have the chance to see it at least once.
Before she could comment, Lumen moved on to explain Arabian fashion to Rarity, answering the questions she asked in detail. Arabian clothing, it seemed, traditionally served to keep the wearer’s sweat from evaporating too quickly in the desert climate. The garments, which covered the back while leaving the legs free so as not to constrict movement, were called saddles, hence Saddle Arabia’s name. Nowadays, with more water available and most ponies not needing to travel long distances on hoof, this function was less important, and the Saddle Arabians were freer to develop different styles. It seemed, however, that only the fashion for mares had done so, and that stallions would still tend to wear clothing which echoed past utility.
“You mean to say,” asked a shocked Rarity, “that there’s no allowance for style at all?”
“Well, most clothing still follows the traditional pattern, even the mares’. But yes, while a mare’s saddle might have all sorts of allowances for looks, the most that’s common on a stallion’s are some manner of geometric design from our illustrious past.”
Rarity’s throat gurgled in what might have been, if there was such a thing, a polite gagging sound. “Well, tell me about mare’s fashion then. Surely they’re not still stuck wearing burlap sacks?”
Lumen smiled. “No, no.” he replied, “Fashion for mares uses all types of fabric, with various designs, and beads. One of the older fashions that’s made a comeback in recent years has the mare wear a veil over her muzzle made of silk, or gauze...”
“A ve’el?” asked Applejack. “Din’t you say Arabia was mighty windy? Wold’nt a thing like that just flap right off?”
“Well... yes.” replied Lumen. “But mares mostly stay inside, so...”
“Inside?!” asked Pinkie “Why would everypony stay inside? That’s silly!”
“Well, you see...” answered Lumen, “Mares... Mares are...” At a loss for words, he turned to his fellow ambassador.
“Mares are the water of Arabian society.” Veris continued smoothly. “And stallions the earth. Mares are naturally weak, shapeless if not contained, and susceptible to sun. Stallions are more solid, a fertile basis for growth with a mare’s support. A stallion who defies his mother, his wife, who wanders without settling down, we call a ‘dust devil’. It is one of our worse insults. A stallion ‘worth his salt’ will protect the mares in his life as tradition demands, saving them from the harshness of the outside world. Only the hardiest, most important, and most defiant mares frequently appear in public in our culture.”
“But surely they’re not that fragile?” interrupted Twilight “Arabian stallions and mares still look mostly the same, wouldn’t it be better to have a young mare go out in public than her old father?” Twilight paused, fixed on Veris’ eyes. They were greener than his coat, and darker towards the pupil, blue, or purple maybe.
“Forgive me, honored Twilight,” he replied, staring back at her, “but you clearly do not understand the difference between Arabian mares and stallions. While, in certain cases, the traditional ways may not be the best, they are this way for a reason.”
Ignorant on Saddle Arabian anatomy, Twilight inclined her head. She would really have to study their morphology and sexual dimorphism when she got a chance.
After a brief lull the conversation continued, elaborate dishes giving way to some simple desserts and cakes. Everypony asked questions about various aspects of Saddle Arabia and listened to the ambassadors explanations, except Rainbow Dash, who seemed preoccupied with filling her stomach. Twilight could swear she consumed entire plates all by herself, and she was pretty sure half of them was not the correct portion of dinner rolls for a single pegasus. Applejack wanted to know what they did for food, Pinkie what they did for fun. Fluttershy even managed to ask a quiet question about what sort of animals they had there, although Veris may have misinterpreted that, since he spoke at length about the neighboring races, the camels and zebras. Celestia and Luna excused themselves, each carrying off a small piece of cake, and reminded the group they would be seeing them off in a couple hours.
When dessert was done and everypony else was rushing off to pack, the ambassadors waited at the door for Rainbow Dash, who had decided that it couldn’t hurt to use the airspace above the table to do a few postmeal loop-de-loops. As she landed and was about to trot off to pack, the brown one cleared his throat and held up a hoof for attention.
“Ah, Honored Dash, my colleague and I, we both, both want to know...” he looked at the stallion beside him for help.
“Do you stand with the Sun or the Moon?” asked the emerald green stallion.
Rainbow just looked at them quizzically.
“He means, ah, do you... do you like Celestia or Luna?” asked the first.
“Oh. Yeah! I mean Luna’s actually really nice, and Celestia... well, she’s Celestia!” Rainbow started to leave again, thinking the conversation over.
The two stallions looked at each other, and the green stallion held up one of those long thin legs in front of her.
Rainbow turned, already losing patience with the Arab stallions, and losing more when the hoof lowered, and the stallions began to whisper quickly in Arabic. She knew ambassadors were basically just ponies you had to be nice to no matter what, but really! She’d just made it through the doorway when the voice from the brown stallion stopped her.
“Wait! My colleague, he says... he says you must walk with the Moon, since all things must have balance, and it is clear that the Honored Twilight walks with the Sun. Is this true? Do you worship the night, and honorable Twilight the day?”
Rainbow Dash whirled around, feeling that the conversation had taken an insulting turn. “Look,” she said bitingly, “I don’t know how it is with you, but I’m a stuntpony. I don’t get dizzy easily, not from walking! And I’m pretty sure both Twilight and I can walk and even fly whether it’s dark or not!” She turned and strutted off, already considering whether or not she could find the cook in time to smuggle some rolls into her pack. Those Arabian ponies sure were weird!
Twilight kept expecting Spike to come up from behind and take the bag she was lugging behind her with her magic. It seemed like not so long ago, right after Spike had hatched and was transferred to her care, that she’d used her magic for everything, despite and because of him. It hadn’t taken long for Celestia to find that her favorite student was falling asleep in her classes, and pin the blame upon said student’s already cognizant and indolent dragon. She had a talk with Twilight, telling her that she shouldn’t do everything for Spike, and remind him that magic still took work. Since then, Twilight had always made sure that Spike had taken care of himself, and even helped her, thanking him for his contributions as Celestia suggested. She felt responsible for Spike, but relied on him. She had had little time left to pack whatever books she needed, and where normally Spike would know what she was reading and be one step ahead of her, she had no idea what she would need besides the books she’d brought with her. She scraped a couple books on Saddle Arabia off the nightstand into her saddlebags, and spent an hour pacing fruitlessly through the Crystal Library lamenting that she couldn’t bring the whole thing with her. Any books in Arabia would be harder to read, as she couldn’t skim Arabic yet. Eventually, Twilight selected a couple travel guides, slipped the volumes into her woefully understuffed saddlebags after checking them out, and proceeded to take her luggage to the top of the Crystal Palace spire. She pulled her wheeled bag onto the causeway connecting the Crystal Palace to the airship reflecting the late rays of Celestia’s sun. Hopefully Spike would be okay managing Fluttershy’s critters. He was still young, and prone to be a bit immature, but Fluttershy seemed to think it would be fine. She couldn’t bring him along on this mission. Saddle Arabia seemed like it would be dangerous, she didn’t want to bring him into such a situation. Besides, Saddle Arabia had less than enlightened views on dragons. She was sure she’d made the right decision leaving Spike behind. She was sure of it.