//------------------------------//
// Early Arrival 
// Story: Royal Duties 
// by biasedeyes 
//------------------------------//

It was just after noon when Hot Air announced that they would be landing soon. The six friends had gathered in the center of the deck, treating this lunch like one of their customary picnics. Twilight had stopped reading the books on religion and turned her attention to her Arabic language texts. She smiled to herself as she reflected that this was kind of a picnicking voyage after all, and puzzled out how to say picnic and voyage and how to modify nouns in Arabic.
Rarity was sitting on a small couch which she’d managed to pack, alternating between some knitting and throwing the occasional pointed comment in on either side of the exchange between Rainbow Dash and Applejack.
Rainbow and Applejack were sitting on the deck and playing an interesting sort of tug of war. Rainbow had found that by moving just a part of herself, a hoof, an elbow, an ear, she could cause a portal to form for just that extremity. She immediately started using this to cause Applejack’s hoof to fall through the deck and stick up upside down next to her own hoof, and to knee and bat Applejack with her ears at range.
Applejack responded by quickly immobilizing the offending extremities with her magic, the result being that Rainbow twitched like an itchy dog from within a net of Applejack's magic, trying to find a point from which she could portal, and Applejack just kind of sat there grinning, streams of orange magic flowing from her horn. Occasionally, Applejack would get hit by the nape of Rainbow’s neck or some other point she’d neglected to immobilize, and her smile would drop for a moment as she grunted and forked her magic yet again to catch the offending point. This was accompanied by a constant stream of banter as Rainbow and Applejack slung subtle (or, in Rainbow's case, not so subtle) insults at each other.
Pinkie was sitting near them, facing the front of the craft. While she was technically obeying the ‘no flying’ rule she wasn't really following it in spirit. Every so often, whenever she heard or saw something funny, she would rear back on her hind legs, spreading her wings and letting the wind blow her over into a backwards somersault, giggling.
Fluttershy lay pressed against the deck in the center of her friends where she was mostly protected from the wind. She wore a small smile on her face and just watched her friends have fun.
As the captain cleared his throat Applejack let go of Rainbow, causing her to sprawl every which way on the deck. Then she reached out with a hoof and poked her prone friend gently in the side, drawing an extremely irritated glare from Rainbow. Pinkie flipped over backwards laughing from this. Twilight and Rarity looked up from their books and knitting, and Fluttershy looked down and poked at the deck.

Hot Air’s announcement, made in mildly guttering speech and accompanied by many pointed glances at Rainbow, conveyed the facts that they were miraculously ‘ahead of schedule’ and would be arriving in Barbhdad momentarily. If they went to pack now, they’d likely be done in time to view the approach to the city. If they wanted to fly in, well, that was fine with him. Only, he’d heard that Barbhdad was ‘on military high alert’ and, well, he wasn't going to be defending them from any countermeasures meant to secure their airspace.
Twilight and Rarity quickly packed up their activities and trotted back to their rooms. After a brief staring contest Applejack and Rainbow Dash did the same. Pinkie Pie laughed, spread her wings, and let the wind carry her back to her room in a way which would have given Twilight a headache if she’d been there to watch. Fluttershy saw that her friends were gone, and, buffeted by the wind, bit her lip and scurried off to her own room.

Twilight beat Rainbow to the prow of the airship. It had taken only a moment for her to pack up all her stuff, and she was excited to get her first glimpse at Barbhdad. When Rainbow hovered up to the bow of the ship Twilight was already there, hanging over the railing and peering at the distant city.
“Did you know?” she asked absently. “In the Classical Era they called this ‘the city of learning’.”
Rainbow looked at the far away city. She could kind of see why some ponies might think that. It looked dry, dusty and dull.

It wasn't long before the ambassadors joined Rainbow and Twilight at the bow to watch the city come into view. The vague skyline was slowly resolving itself into the distinct shapes of buildings. Lumen paced forward and pointed off the bow. “Look there!” he exclaimed, “That's the palace.” Twilight followed his hoof and looked down on the city. After a little searching she decided that he had probably indicated the large building with the tall bell-shaped towers. It was the only one with any green around it. From this distance, Twilight could just make out what seemed like a lush garden that took up most of the block in front of it.
“There’s the famous observatory!” continued Lumen, this time indicating a dome-shaped building. “I can hardly wait to show you around the city.” He looked around at them for a reaction, a proud smile on his face. His smile was impervious to Rainbow’s less than enthusiastic expression, but faltered when his gaze met his fellow ambassador’s frown. “Ah…”
“Sadly, we should delay the full tour until after the city is secure,” said Veris with a wry smile of his own. “still, we can give you a full tour of the palace before showing you to your rooms.” Lumen’s expression fell, but he didn't object. Rainbow flashed a smile at Veris’ change of plans, but when Veris and Rainbow caught the other’s eyes the smiles slipped from their faces, and their gazes lapsed into hard stares. Twilight coughed into her hoof and they both broke off and looked at her.
“Ah…” she said, turning to address Lumen, “perhaps we could make the most of our time in the air with an introduction to the city?”
Lumen was glad to oblige, and soon four pairs of eyes stared down at the landmarks he pointed out.

By the time they were flying over the city Lumen’s voice was getting scratchy, and all of Twilight's friends but Fluttershy had joined them.
“...and here you can see the shrine where Akhal-Teke brought back what he’d learned from the Zebras to found his own school of magic here.” he continued. He paused as everyone peered to look down at the building that they were passing close to. It wasn’t very big, just a bit larger than Sugarcube Corner.
“Why are there so many ponies down there!? It looks like a party!” squealed Pinkie, leaning off the prow of the ship, wings spread. It looked like she was considering swooping down to join the fun. Everypony peered down at the Saddle Arabians and Zebras gathered around the shrine.
“Ahem, well…” answered Lumen, bringing one of his long thin legs up to his lengthy muzzle. “Due to its history it has a… following among many of the zebras and some saddle arabians who dabble in old magic. Lately there’s been a rumor of some… important event regarding one of the zebra gods, hence the crowd.”
Twilight turned and looked at Lumen, her interest piqued by the first mention of religion she’d heard from the ambassadors.
“What sort of event?” she asked.
“Um… er… that is to say, ah…” stammered Lumen before he was interrupted by Veris.
“An avatar.” Veris said. Reading their blank faces, he continued, “One of the zebra tribes claim that their new chief is an avatar to their dark god.”
“Ava-what now?” chirped Pinkie. Her questioning gaze was echoed by the other elements.
Veris looked taken aback at having to explain. “An avatar is - the word in your language - a… a messenger with the, ah, the charge of a god. Most would consider you to be avatars of Celestia or Luna, with the powers you wield. Especially Rainbow and Twilight.” There was silence as the group considered this. “However, the important thing is, the dark god has not had a avatar in recorded memory. These ponies are discussing how this has affected their magic.”
There was silence until they slowed and moored above some of the most colorful and varied buildings in Barbhdad. Saddle Arabians and the occasional Zebra milled around in the streets below. “Here we are!” cried Hot Air “Barbdhad Market!”