War over the Sun

by starfox64x

Ch 5. Search for help.

War over the sun Ch 5

A few days passed and all seemed fairly calm. The dragons hadn’t made any moves as far as anyone could tell, although nopony dared leave their borders to investigate. The ponies of Ponyville continued to gather support in their own ways, managing to gather a couple of ponies who wanted to join in the direct fight, while others were kind enough to donate their time and money. The mane six gather at Sugarcube corner once again to talk more about their plans.

“So everypony is doing well?” Twilight asked to start their little meeting.

Pinkie bounced eagerly in her seat, “Yeah! I’ve been selling cupcakes like crazy!”

“Pinkie you ALWAYS sell cupcakes like crazy” Rainbow pointed out, rolling her eyes at her comment. However she did have a little smile on her face.

“Am I the only one thinking of a double meaning in that statement?” Rarity grinned slightly, and within a second Twilight burst out into giggles.

“I thought I was the only one!” Rarity and twilight began to laugh together while the others looked on in confusion. Applejack finally let out a little chuckle, joining the other two.

“Wait, are you thinking I meant ‘Pinkie is selling them like SHE’S crazy’?” Rainbow looked around, hoping for some help with the grammar joke. The girls began to laugh harder now; it was always funnier when someone didn’t get the joke.

Applejack was the only one with enough composure to respond, “Yes Dash, that’s the joke.” Pinkie Pie started to giggle as well, and soon the entire group was laughing together.

“What’s going on in here?” Spike was standing in the doorway, a little confused at why the girls were laughing so much.

Twilight wiped a tear from her eye, still chuckling, “Nothing Spike, we’re fine… What’s up?”

Spike decided to ignore the craziness and get on with their business, “I got a letter from the princess! She has a job for you guys!”

The group quieted quickly, now all eyes were on his as he unrolled the letter and began to read. “Dear Twilight, Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack, and Fluttershy, I have seen the work you’ve been putting in since you’ve arrived back to Ponyville, and I’m grateful that you’ve helped so much. But I have my own guards coming there soon to continue the effort. Now I would like you all to help with a special assignment to start on very soon.” Spike glanced up from the paper, seeing the looks on everyone’s face…

Twilight had a look of eager determination; as if she wanted accomplish whatever this task was to impress her teacher and make her proud. She already accepted the task in her mind, and she would do anything and everything to make sure it was done right.

Rainbow Dash also had an eager look on her face, but the grin on her face seemed like she would get more personal satisfaction out of it. Maybe she was thinking of a battle, knocking some dragons out of the sky, or drag one back to Celestia by his toenails. She wanted to knock someone around at least.

Rarity had a curious look on her face, she wasn’t expecting anything, and yet she suspected everything. She was uncertain about what they could possibly do now that would have such an effect on this fight for Equestria. However uncertain she may have been, she was interested in finding out what they would be doing.

Pinkie Pie was hard to read… she seemed eager, but she always did. She had a smile on her face, but it wasn’t one that seemed any different than any other smile she had. It was kind of creepy at how this situation didn’t seem to have an effect on her.

Applejack was more distant than the others. She was willing to listen, but she had pretty much made the decision to stay on the farm and help her family. Her eyes glanced around at the others, trying to gauge their reactions. She wanted to know what her friends had planned.

Fluttershy looked absolutely terrified. She feared the worst of course, even before anything was actually said. She shivered at her horrible thoughts… but she hoped for the best.

Spike looked back down at the paper in front of him and continued, “I was thinking of your friends and I recall you mentioning your friend Zecura. I know of a group of zebra tribe far to the south in the Dry Plains. I haven’t had much contact with them, so it may take some time and effort, but I would like to ask them to help if they could. I have direction leading you to them. just do you best and come to me if you need any help.” Spike rolled up the letter and pocketed it, the girls looked around the room, trying to figure out everyone elses opinions on the assignment just from the looks on their faces.

“I think it sounds fine…” Fluttershy admitted, smiling a little, “I mean… I think it’s better than going out to fight… maybe one of them knows Zecura! That might help us get them to help us out.”

The others seemed to agree, feeling comfortable with the idea of this project, especially Twilight, “Okay, maybe we should go talk to Zecura, maybe she’ll want to join us.”

“That sounds like a reasonable idea.” Rarity gave her a nod, “I’m sure she’ll agree to help us.”

“No.” she didn’t give them a cryptic rhyme, or even a smile for that matter. Zecura simply gave them a No with no explanation.

The girls stood outside her home, their shocked expressions apparently not moving the zebra. The group seemed to be waiting for more, but when she remained silent for a moment, Twilight finally spoke up. “B-but, we need your help.” She stammered, a bit surprised but the way she responded.

“Your intentions, are kind this I know. My family is not one I wish to see, so you can go along without me.” Somehow she finished the rhyme of her first statement, and still continued on. It was still odd to hear her rhyme in casual conversation, although it would sound eve more odd to heard her talk normally at this point.

“Maybe we can help you get back together with your family! I’m sure we can fix things if there’s a problem.”

“A solution to my issues is not one to be found. I will remain here, and I’ll see you around. I wish you the best on your future endeavors, and I wish you happiness forever.” She closed the door gently, leaving the others stunned outside.

“Well… That could have gone better…” Twilight was still in a bit of a shock, she had put all her assumption on this working, now that it failed nothing about her seemed to be functioning correctly.

“Yeah, no kidding, Sherlock…” Rainbow was getting riled up again, taking to the air suddenly, “What now?”

“Well… I suppose our only option NOW is to go ahead and try to talk to the zebra tribes ourselves… see if we can convince them without Zecura…”

“I bet this is going to be fun…” Rainbow shook her head and started heading back to town, “We were planning on heading out tomorrow right?” Rainbow didn’t seem to be sticking around for the others, but since she was holding the conversation the others decided to follow in order to keep up with everything.

Twilight caught up before continuing the conversation, “Yeah… tomorrow morning, by train to Appleloosa and then walking to the plains…”

“Alright, so who’s actually going?” Rainbow turned her head, looking for anyone who might be backing out.

“I can’t,” Applejack spoke up first, “Sorry girls… but I gotta stick around the farm with my family.”

“That’s very noble of you Applejack.” Rarity respected her decision, she had thought long and hard about her own family, “I’d like to go along with the others… Sweetie Belle will be fine with our parents while I’m gone.”

“WOO! I’m so glad you’re going too Rarity!” Pinkie bounced alongside the group, having recovered quickly from Zecura’s rejection. “This is gonna be fun!”

Twilight was beginning to see problems already… She knew she shouldn’t judge her friend like this, in fact it was one of the letters she had to write to her teacher, but something seemed to nag at the back of her head. “Pinkie we need to think this through… We need to think of a way to get the zebras to believe in us and help us.”

“Easy! We give them a giant buffet of sugary awesome!” the crest of her bounces seemed to get higher now, reaching to Rainbow’s casual floating height.

“Uh… well yeah, an offering of food might help… but we need something else.” Twilight turned to Fluttershy, giving her a smile. Fluttershy’s eyes widened, knowing that the attention was shifting to her. She didn’t have time to respons though, or even time to whimper at the thought of being involved. Applejack stepped in front of Twilight’s gaze, “Yeah, some diplomacy, I’m sure you could think of something…”

“Well, yes, I might…” she crooked her head back, trying to make eye contact with the yellow pony behind Applejack, “But I was thinking Fluttershy might be good at talking them into helping us.”

“Have you asked her yet?” Applejack asked her friend, her eyebrow cocked as she gave her a bit of a glare.. She couldn’t help but want to defend her friend. She knew she was scared, and didn’t want to be a part of most of this.

“Uh… well I suppose I haven’t… Um, Fluttershy?” Applejack moved away, letting twilight look at Fluttershy. She seemed quiet… staring off to the side of twilight, already thinking of the answer to the question that she knew was coming, “Would you mind coming with us and helping us talk to the Zebras?”

She was quiet for a moment… everyone seemed silent as well, listening for an answer… “Will there be fighting?”

Twilight didn’t answer right away, double checking her thoughts, “There shouldn’t be… we go in, talk to them, and hopefully they say they will help… if not, we go home… no fighting…” Fluttershy seemed to be thinking of the worst case scenario… she didn’t reply for a while, “Zecura talked about her people… They are trained to fight… but they would never start a fight without a reason…”

“What if they found a reason?”

“You remember Zecura… we broke into her home and said she ate Apple Bloom, after all that she didn’t attack us.” Twilight smiled, feeling her evidence supported her idea well.

“Well… yes, that’s true…” her head raised a little, feeling a bit more confident, “and she’s helped us out a lot… maybe her family is the same way?”

“Probably! And I’m sure if we told them we know Zecura than they’ll come and join us without hesitation!” Twilight smiled brightly, seeing her growing more comfortable with the idea.

“Well… I-I suppose I might be able to help out…” she replied with a little smile.

“WOO! This’ll be great!” Pinkie pie pulled her feathery yellow friend into her arms, hugging her happily, “Well, that’s almost everyone… We’ll miss you while we’re gone Applejack.” her arms surrounded her other pony friend, hugging Applejack now.

“heh, calm down Pinkie, you don’t leave til tomorrow… you can say goodbye to me then… “ AJ patted Pinkie gently as she was hugged, “Besides, if you want to bake enough sweets for the Zebras, you should get started soon right?”

Pinkie let out an overzealous gasp, “You’re RIGHT! I’m gonna go ahead and get started! See you girls tomorrow!” she rushed off out of the forest, disappearing from sight.

“I suppose we’ll all meet up at Sugarcube Corner again in the morning… You all get some rest.” Twilight broke off from the group, heading home.

“You too dear! I don’t want to see you look like you did the other morning!” Rarity called out to her, heading the same direction to head to her home. The others headed off to their own homes, preparing to rest up for the night.

Morning arrived fast, no one wanted to get up, but they all forced themselves to get up. Twilight was up around sunrise, looking around, “Spike? Spike you here?” she called out, looking around the room. His bed was empty, so she began to grow worried. “Spiiiike!” she called out as she searched. She found a big pile of scrolls on the floor. With Spike lying in the center of them, fast asleep. She recalled this scene before at the castle… she was curious about the contents of the scrolls, but she didn’t want to invade his privacy. Instead she used her magic to organize the scrolls, and place spike in bed, leaving a reminder that she would be gone. She realized she was running late, and rushed out with her saddlebags packed.

She walked into sugarcube corner, hearing stifled giggles coming from the kitchen. She quietly walked in, about to ask what was going on, but she was quickly hushed by Rarity, who seemed like she was about to burst out into laughter at any moment. The girls were gathered together, all looking at something… Twilight quickly made her way around the group, taking a look at what was going on… and now she too was stricken with the desire to burst out laughing.

Across the room were cupcakes and mini pies and cookies and all sorts of goodies. The dirty dishes were tossed in the sink, still covered in leftover dough. In the middle of the room, lying on a half filled bag of flour was Pinkie Pie, sleeping soundly. Twilight snorted quietly, trying not to laugh. She couldn’t recall a time when she saw Pinkie sleeping… or staying still for that matter. She seemed surprisingly peaceful for Pinkie, it was so unlike her. Maybe that’s why it was so funny. It was ironic and strange to see her like this… although it didn’t last long. Fluttershy let out a few soft giggles, causing a chain reaction to happen. Slowly everypony started to giggle, but it quickly escalated to laughing hysterically. Pinkie pie shifted, opening her eyes and seeing the others, “Hey! What’s so funny?”

The girls couldn’t respond, they just continued to laugh, falling over onto each other. “I can’t breath!” Rainbow dash exclaimed between fits of laughter. Pinkie just naturally joined in with the laughter, the group enjoying their time with one another.

After a while the group calmed down a bit, wiping the tears from their eyes, “so… I see you’ve been baking a lot, pinkie…” Twilight sniffed, trying to control herself once more, “I don’t know if we’ll be able to take it all with us….”

“hehe, I dunno, I’ll try to pack them up real quick and see how much we can carry…” pinkie smiled, letting out a little sigh to help recover from her laughing fit.

With the bags packed and ready, the group moved their things to the train station, gathering into the next train headed for Apploosa. The group tried to keep things light and cheerful; the last thing they wanted was to get in a gloomy mood before setting out on their mission. There time in Apploosa was brief; they grabbed a carriage and gathered their things inside, taking turns pulling the massive load.

After a couple hours, twilight took a look at their map, “looks like we should be reaching Zebra territory soon… We’ve already left buffalo territory…” she took a look around, seeing a few worn out paths, probably their stampeding grounds. The land seemed to be much more flat out here; with light vegetation here an there… mostly grass layered ontop of the dry earth.

“Stop right there Ponies!” called out a voice ahead of them. Rainbow Dash obliged more so out of being startled than by cooperation. The others poked their head out to see who it was that called to them.

A tall Zebra stood on the side of the path, glaring at them, “What business do you have in Zebra territory?” he stood there in a strong, unmoving stance. He looked intimidating from his size. Although he was very lean, his muscles were clear to see and his height rivaled Applejack’s big brother. He wore many rings around his legs, neck and ears, like those Zecura had. His eyes seemed to resemble a much kinder zebra though, a bright shade of blue… it seemed strange to have such soft eyes on the body of such a menacing creature.

However, Rainbow Dash seemed to stand up to him “Whoa! Calm down Zebra boy! We’re just-“ Rarity used her magic to tighten the reigns around Rainbow’s mouth, quieting her before she said something they’d regret.

Twilight quickly got out of the carriage and approached him, “Uh, H-hello Sir, we uh.. We were coming to hopefully speak with your leader… we come by the order’s of Princess Celestia an-“

He huffed loudly, “You can take your princesses order and shove them in a cave. We do not bow to her.”

Twilight gulped, “I uh, I understand that you are not exactly within Equestria, but you see, we’re on the brink of a war, so we-“

“You want soldiers? So rather than sacrificing your OWN people you thought you could gather us up to be wiped out first?”

“NO! No we just… We need help, anything you’re willing to offer! Your people are in danger too! See, the dragons-“

He interrupted her again, “I know of what the dragons are up to, and we don’t care… We know about our geography, and if the dragons did indeed stop the sun we would still get daylight, so we don’t care about your problems.”

“Surely you must know that even eternal day would be harmful, all you water would dry up and-“

“WHAT WATER?” he bellowed, causing Twilight to jump back, “We haven’t seen rain in months! Your Pegasus ponies have been sending all the clouds around Equestria, and leaving us dry! Our lakes have becom mudholes, unfit for drinking, and are crops are barely able to survive in there conditions. If it weren’t for a spring underground we’d be dead months ago! And even then we’ve had to ration it sparingly. We want nothing to do with you Ponies. Leave our land and never return!”

Twilight found her legs frozen in place by fear. She didn’t know what to do now… she couldn’t leave, but she was being demanded to go. The others watched silently, even Rainbow Dash found herself unable to move… however one pony took a step forward.

“You have beautiful eyes sir…” Fluttershy took a step forward. The zebra glared at her, finding her flirting to be a insult… “I bet your wife admires them.”

This comment started him, “Wh-what? How do you know about her?”

She pointed to one of the many rings on his leg, one that seemed like two rings spiraled together, “That’s a ring that represents the bonding of two Zebras, isn’t it?”

He lifted his hoof, looking at the ring, “Yes, yes it is…”

“You’ve been married for three years now?” She asked, noticing a couple mark on the rings.

He hesitated to answer, looking between her and the ring, “That’s right.” He was too surprised by her knowledge to put up his tough façade. He just sort of stared at her unsure of how to respond.

“I bet your children have your eyes too.” The other girls just stared in disbelief as Fluttershy spoke with the Zebra, she didn’t seem intimidated at all, and she knew so much… it was unbelievable.

He smiled a little, his hoof lifting 5 rings around his neck, “Let me guess, you knew because of these?”

She smiled a little, giving him a nod, “Yes, three boys and two girls, is that right?”

“Yes! That’s absolutely right…” his smile quickly faded though, and his big tough voice came out again, “You must have read up on Zebra culture on your way over here…” he gave her a glare, but she didn’t seem to be bother by it.

“Well, no, actually… A zebra lives just a little ways away from me… I visit her often and she taught me a lot about her culture… Um… Zuba keekway ushulum!”

The zebra seemed surprised by her babbling. He gave her a little grin, as if he accepted a challenge. He gave her a short reply in their language, still grinning.

Fluttershy nodded, “Cho, Yome teh cofcote.”

His smiled broadened, “Ochi may qwuest ca teh?”

The two continued back and forth, speaking in the zebra language until finally the zebra burst out into laughter, “I’m surprised you can speak our language so fluently… I thought maybe that you learned a few phrases on the way here… or that one of your unicorn friends was helping you with a spell… but you carry a conversation too well for it to be a hoax.”

“I find your culture fascinating to be honest… It’s very interesting… I wish we could talk more, but we really do need to discuss some other things first…” his smile faded at Fluttershy’s topic change… but his hard glared didn’t return, “We aren’t asking you to donate your time for nothing… we just want to try and discuss a way to make everyone happy.”

“I see… Well, I suppose it would be best to talk to the chief about this…” he said as he looked off into the distance, “Alright… I’ll ask if he wishes to speak with you… don’t be surprised if he refuses to let you talk to him…” his anger and ferocity seemed to vanish, although it was apparent he still wasn’t happy. He turned and motioned for the group to follow. The girls quickly gathered into the carriage, all crowding around Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy that was AMAZING!” Twilight said with a gleeful smile, “I had no idea you knew so much about Zebras!”

She blushed, shying away from them a bit, but she clearly had a smile on her face, “As I said… Zecura and I talk a lot…” The girls continue to praise Fluttershy for her work, Rarity even started to ask about the culture herself… Or at least the fashion sense they had.

The zebra led them to their village, which in actuality was a fairly big place. It wasn’t quite as modern or big as Apploosa, but the homes were well constructed and there seemed to be plenty of small businesses around where the zebras could barter for goods. At the far end of town sat a large tree, and like Twilight’s library, it seemed to have been hollowed out to allow a family to live inside. The zebra leading them slowed his pace as they entered town to avoid running into anyone. However at the sight of the carriage and the Pegasus pulling it, the Zebras seemed to quickly move out of the street, eying it cautiously with an uncertain look in their eyes.

Again, Rainbow couldn’t stand the silence, “So uh, Buddy… I don’t think we ever properly introduced ourselves… My name is Rainbow Dash.”

“Rainbow Dash? Hm… that name sounds familiar… My name is Shaleel. It means ‘quick foot’ in our language…” he paused momentarily, still processing her name in his head, “Wait, are you the one who performed the Sonic Rainboom?”

She couldn’t suppress the smile appearing on her face, “Yes! That’s me! I’ve done it TWICE in fact!” she seemed pretty proud of that fact.

“Yes, I’ve heard… word of such fascinating phenomenon spread fast in our land. I had hoped to do the same as a young colt… I’ve become the fastest zebra known in the land because of my ambitions… but I’ve never come close to going sonic speeds.” He seemed a little disappointed, but he knew it was impossible.

Rainbow Dash admired his ambition, and tried to cheer him up, “Hey, don’t be like that… You’re still the fastest around here, so that’s really cool!”

“Yes, I suppose it is ‘cool’… Maybe you and I could race before you leave…” he turned around and gave her another challenging grin.

She returned the look, a gleam in her eyes, “The fastest of Equestria versus the fastest in the Dry Plains? Hehe, sounds like fun!”

He continued to grin, heading toward the tree, “although I find it a bit unfair that you can fly… of course you would go faster in the air… so why not just try running?”

“Well, I’m better at flying… but I’m still pretty fast on my feet…” she had a challenging tone, as if saying ‘I’m still better than you without my wings’.

“heh, we shall see… for now, I believe you have business to attend to.” Shaleel stopped outside the large doors into the tree, “Wait out here while I talk to the chief.” He headed inside while the girls waited, gathering out around the door.

“Okay, so what exactly do we have to offer these zebras?” Rarity looked at the others, her brow raised.

“Sweets! Remember?” Pinkie pulled out one of the cupcakes she baked and popped it into her mouth.

Rarity rolled her eyes at Pinkie, “I mean long term offerings… Surely you came up with something, Twilight”

Twilight bit her lip, “well… I was hoping we could talk about it… maybe a trade system between Apploosa and the zebras? I dunno, we’ll talk to see how things go…”

“Wait, the Princess didn’t give you ANYTHING to work with before we got here?” Fluttershy seemed shocked that they came here basically unarmed.

“Don’t worry… we seem to be having some luck… do you know of anything that they might want? You seem to know more about their culture more than any of us…”

Fluttershy thought quietly… “Well… They like Rings… mostly to show off their family and their social status… Different designs mean different things, but they cherish them a lot…”

“What are they made of? Gold?” Rarity seemed curious, and eager to help as well with her knowledge of fashion.

“Mostly, but sometimes they just make them out of whatever they can find… string, rope, grass… It’s a preference thing…”

“Well that might be something! I could offer to make them exquisite rings! I’m sure their chief will admire a nice diamond encrusted ring or two!” Rarity seemed to have diamonds in her eyes as she spoke, imagining the creations in her head.

“Oh, well, see, its just that-…” before Fluttershy could say anything, Shaleel returned to them.

“The chief will see you… I’ll let you know he doesn’t seem very happy.” He figured they seemed okay, and deserved a word of warning…

“Okay, thank you… Oh! We brought gifts! Pastries and sweets to offer…” she motioned to the boxes behind her, to which Shalees inspected,

“Hm, alright, let me get some help for those…” he walked to the door, calling inside. Two zebras came out and helped carry the boxes inside. However Rainbow Dash and Shaleel remained outside. “You aren’t going to join your friends?”

“Eh, I’m not much of a talker… I think I’ll just stay out here and hang around the carriage…” She replied with a shrug.

“Would you want to race like we discussed?” his grin returned, and a fire in his eyes seemed to shine brightly.

Rainbow couldn’t help but smile, “Lead me to the starting line and tell me where you want to meet me at when I BEAT YOU!”

He laughed heartily at her enthusiasm, “Than let’s go, Rainbow Dash… Let’s see if the rumors are true…” he led her out of town, while the others headed up to the chiefs royal chamber.

He stood tall as a noble would, looking down at the ponies from his high throne. It wasn’t laced with gold or jewels, just fine fabric lining his seat. It seemed warm and comfortable. “So… I understand Princess Celestia has sent you…”

Twilight stepped forward, nodding, “Yes sir, we were sent by her… We uh, brought gifts!” she stated, motioning toward the sweets.

The Chief walked down from his throne, sniffing the treats. “Hm… Would you mind joining me for one?”

“Of course!” Pinkie jumped over to the box and popped two into her mouth. Twilight used her magic to quickly pull her aside, quickly apologizing for her outburst.

“I-I am so sorry about that… she uh… she like treats…” Twilight let out a dry laugh, trying to smile.

The chief was amused by the pink one, “No that’s fine… please, you can join me too.” He said, grabbing a random cupcake out of the box.

Twilight did the same, nervously holding it close, preparing to take a bite. But the chief stopped her, “That one seems tastier… would you mind?” Twilight was a bit confused, but agreed, trading the cupcakes. She took a bite of hers without hesitation, easing the mind of the chief, who was concerned about the possibility of poison in the gifts. He was a leader of his people, so there were bound to be those after his life. Nevertheless he took a bit of the cupcake that was given to him and smiled, “This is delicious… I have to admit…” he motioned his guards over, letting them take a couple. “Who baked these?”

“I did!” Pinkie bounced to his side, taking another pair out and eating them quickly.

“Hm, I should have guessed…” he grinned, taking another cupcake and taking a big bite, “but I know you didn’t come here to share sweets…”

“Well, yes… We were… hoping to talk to you about lending a hoof for us…”

“Why?” he said simply, taking another bite as he listened to Twilight.

“W-well… Dragons have invaded and the plan to take control of the sun… It’ll destroy everything in one way or another-“

“We can adapt” he pointed out, “We have adapted to hardships, and we will continue to adapt…” he said in a flat tone.

“Y-yes… I’ve heard that you’ve adapted to… many hardships-“

“Drought, famine, sickness… yes, plenty of hardships,” he wasn’t being particularly mean about it, but he was obviously not happy.

“Y-yes, I’ve heard…”

“And now that your ponies are looking their own hardship in the eye, they fear it and don’t want to face it alone… so you want help.”

“W-well, in a way, yes… B-but we’re willing to offer help to your people as well! Anything that you can think of, we’re willing to offer help to your people. All we ask is for help in any way you can offer it.”

“I am not.” He said simply, “I haven’t heard a word from Celestia in years. She must have known about our ‘hardships’… and yet not until this moment when she believes she needs help, does she come to us to offer help…” the room was silent… Even Pinkie Pie had a half eaten cupcake in her hoof, but she didn’t dare take another bite, or even chew the bite in her mouth for fear of making a noise. “I cannot believe in a leader who is so… so uncaring for anyone not under her rule… So I will refuse any offer she has, and I will have none of my people serve for her.”

“B-but sir! She does care! She’s just… been preoccupied for a while… She does care and WE care!”

“I don’t think you do… I’ve heard stories of common pony folk from my daughter living in your land… uncaring, deceitful, and ungrateful… Your people shunned my daughter and claimed she used black magic on them with no evidence, but suddenly when she offered them the cure, oh they were MORE than eager to be friendly to them… Only when she had something to offer you did you show her any kindness or care.”

“That sounds like Zecura!” The other ponies had the same idea… but Pinkie was the only one to speak it out… they knew the reaction to this would be… less than pleasant.

The chief’s eyes widened, “you know my daughter?”

“Yeah! She lived just outside Ponyville!” The girls looked at her, begging her to stop talking with their eyes, “We actually got her to cure us of Poison joke! It was kinda funny looking back on it, but she was really sweet once we got to know her.”

“But before that you shunned her! Claimed she was an evil enchantress, and only when she offered to help you did you decide she was worth calling your equal.” He raised his voice, standing high above the ponies, “I want nothing more to do with you ponies… I want you to leave by morning and not a moment later. I want nothing to do with your people and we will endure our own problems like we always have. And you should work on doing the same… now leave!”

The ponies felt defeated; uncertain of how to fix the situation now… they simply nodded and left quietly to their carriage. Twilight took a look back before the door closed, noticing the chief waving the box of treats away. The two guards seemed unhappy that they had to throw away the tasty gifts… but the took it and left…

The four gathered by the carriage, assuming that somepony would have a plan for their next move… but they were all fairly silent for some time, “Um… I wonder if we can find a hotel around here…” Rarity finally spoke up amongst the silent ponies.

“Even if we could, I doubt that anyone would let us stay…” Twilight mumbled, looking down at the ground, “If he hates us this much, I’m sure his people don’t like us either…

“What’s that?” Fluttershy’s words seemed to come from nowhere… but the other looked around, spotting two dots in the distance, kicking up a lot of dirt… and heading straight for them…

Out in the plains, Shaleel led Rainbow dash to a fairly large boulder poking out of the ground. “So then Rainbow Dash… we start together here… and we race to the plateau in the distance… then we come back, and the first one to touch the carriage will be known as the fastest in the world…” he grinned a little at her, but she simply grinned back

“Alright Shaleel… I won’t even fly to try and beat you…” she descended and stepped down to his level, lining herself up to him, “Are you ready?”

“Oh I am… Are you sure you want to risk embarrassing yourself?” he asked, moving a smalle rock behind him, “I’m going to kick this rock against that boulder, making it fly high into the air… when it touches the earth, we start… deal?”

“You can start right now and I’ll give you a head start if you want to.”

“heh, your confidence could be your downfall Dash… we shall do this fairly…” with a hard kick of his leg, the rock flew into the boulder, and just as he predicted, reflected and flew high into the air. The two took their position and waited, watching each other carefully. The tension between the two was thick… but the tension was shattered as the rock fell to the ground, sending the two flying. Rainbow was shocked at how much distance he gained in a matter of seconds. She had to push herself harder than usual to catch up. She closed the gap slowly, already giving it her all just to catch up to him. He looked back, grinning, “You tired already Dash?” he called out to her, “Or is it that you LIKE the look of my backside?” he waved his tail at her mockingly, teasing her.

She growled, pushing herself harder to catch up with the Zebra ahead of her. He laughed, turning back ahead, continue his quick pace. The two approached the wall of rock ahead. Shaleel began to slow himself down, in an attempt to hit the rock wall and bounce away without hurting himself. His front hooves landed against the wall, and he pushed himself off to get going in the opposite direction… however he didn’t see Rainbow Dash. He looked around, then up, seeing her flying above him. She had run full speed into the wall, jumping up, running up the wall briefly before pushing herself off, gilding back toward the ground, maintaining her speed as she descended, landing and running off, “Hey! You said no flying!”

“I wasn’t! I was gliding! There’s a difference!” she called out, running quickly toward the town.

“That won’t stop me!” he yelled at her, closing the gap quickly. By the time he caught up to her they were approaching the town, she could see the carriage ahead. She closed her eyes, pushing all her muscles to their limits, forcing her legs to do more work than ever before. Shaleel was doing the same, sweat pouring from his body. The two were tied, rushing toward the carriage. In a flash the two slammed into the side of the carriage, collapsing to the ground together in a pile of sweat. They breathed heavily, unable to speak. The other ponies standing around them just stared silently.

Finally after a moment, Rainbow dash spoke up, “I-I won!” she said out loud, letting out a laugh.

“No… No way!” he replied, poking her side, “I got here first!” he started to laugh as well, enjoying the competitive game they had.

“Uh… are you two okay?” Fluttershy was unsure of what was going on, and was concerned about her friend.

“We’re okay… I just had to prove that I am the superior speedster around here.” She said, looking at Shaleel.

“Oh you know you cheated back there, I obviously won that race.” He replied with a big smile, “I can’t be beaten.”

“You just were! Hehe.” She leaned against the carriage, still catching her breath.

“Um… I think you both crashed at the same time…” Twilight butted in, trying to end the argument.

“heh, okay… a tie I can live with.” Shaleel said laughing again.

“Yeah… I can accept that, I guess.” Rainbow replied, joining in the laughter, “Oh wait, how did the uh… thingy go?” the blood wasn’t getting to her head, so she couldn’t think of the right words at the moment.

“Well, we were kicked out…” Twilight said with a frown. “They won’t negotiate with us.”

“Oh… crap… I’m sorry…” she replied, starting to get her mind around all this.

“I’m sorry.” Shaleel sat up, frowning at the group, “I was sure he wouldn’t be very agreeable…”

“and now we’re stuck in a town that hates us…” Rarity let out a huff, grumpy about the situation, “and it’s almost dark, we’ll never get to appaloosa in time…”

“Well… I have room… we can let you stay in our spare room.” Shaleel offered, looking at them.

The group looked at him with a shocked expression. Rainbow was the first to speak up, “You would do that for us?”

He nodded, “You don’t seem so bad… you’re nice ponies… you came all this way to help your people, and offered gifts without getting anything in return… I can’t be mad at you…” Shaleel took a stand, wobbling a little, “It’s no problem to me.”

“Won’t you have to talk to your wife about it first?” Fluttershy asked quietly.

He sighed, “That was a long time ago… I just haven’t gotten rid of the ring.” He explained, taking a breath before starting off toward home.

The girls looked at each other nervously. They weren’t sure what he meant by that… but they decided not to ask… instead they just followed behind, pulling the carriage with them…