//------------------------------// // 111 - Old Foes // Story: Re:Harmony // by starcross7 //------------------------------// Even when they reached a full understanding with former Gaean spymaster Coco, it did nothing to relieve the tension pervading the cavern tunnels. The revelation of Coco being a spy could only mean that Gaea had, through Coco or otherwise, had discovered the location of the secret mountain base of Rainbow Falls. Whether Coco had any direct part of the possible discovery, nopony knew for sure. The reality every rebel and pirate had to face was this: everypony had to leave, and fast. As much as she wanted to be close with her little sister, Applejack could not bear to take her along as they infiltrate Pegasopolis. While Fleetfoot, Maud, and Coco had their own rescue mission to do in Coltcatraz, that meant leaving Apple Bloom and her two crusading friends in the care of the Spa Twins aboard the airship Spitfire. Applejack had passed through the airship’s docks one more time, and while she had no experience as an aerial shipwright, she could tell that only the bare minimum of repairs had been done to get that thing flying again. To think that would be the safest place that her sister and her friends could board, but with the final war between Pegasopolis and Gaea mounting up, Applejack had no other choice. The Rebel Mare situated herself with Winona in her assigned bedroom and jotted a few quick letters she needed to send to her contacts back in Gaea and elsewhere. She would send out more if she could remember them on the spot, like the zebra ambassador who served as her mole and the Chimera she once ran into when she was a filly. The letters would have to be routed to through one set of trusted ponies and then… she would have to put her faith on the letters being delivered. She gave the letters to Winona, and asked her to deliver them to Spike who will then use his fire breath to transport them to his adoptive pony parents. Here’s hoping that Gaea had not found a way to intercept dragon magic, because Applejack could not recall Winona as she had already run off for her delivery. After leaving her packed duffle bag outside her door to be loaded onto the slaver skiff, Applejack had one last thing to take care of before her departure. She existed her room to pass by calm yet agitated ponies as she deliberately trotted her way through the cavern halls towards Apple Bloom’s room. She knocked twice out of courtesy before entering in unannounced. The door nudged itself against a packed saddlebag that stood against the wall. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo sat watching their bedridden earth pony filly friend, and barely did they pay any attention to the rebel mare’s presence. At least they were prepared. Behind them were their saddlebags to take onto the Spitfire. “You mind givin’ me and my lil’ sis some space?” Applejack asked. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo nodded silently and obediently before throwing their saddlebags onto their backs and exiting the room. Applejack waited one beat after the door closed, and she reached over to the bowl of water and pulled out the moistened towel to wipe the brow on her little sister’s face. The anger towards Chancellor Posey still lingered within her, but this was neither the time nor place to lash out against the air over the cold-hearted mare. “Apple Bloom,” said Applejack. “I’m sure you can hear me, but even you don’t, I’m gonna tell you. I’m now leaving with Twi and the others head to Pegasopolis for the next Element. I’m sure we’re gonna see each other again, but I jus’ wanted to make sure you’re in good hooves. You got your friends, and Dr. Octavia is the best damn doctor I know so far. “Jus’ you wait, Apple Bloom. Once we get all the Elements, we’ll get the farm back. I promise.” Applejack rested the towel back into its bowl, and her eyes remained on her little sister as she walked backwards towards the door before she turned around. “Applejack?” It was her voice, clear as day. Applejack turned back around and saw her sister awake and staring back at her. The rebel mare would be relieved at Apple Bloom’s recovery, but knew well her heart remained in pain because of Posey’s betrayal. “Jus’ rest lil’ sis,” said Applejack. “Octy and Deep Blue’s gonna come pick you up.” “I gotta tell you somethin’.” “Tell me when I get back.” “I have to tell you know before it’s too late. It’s about Fluttershy’s mothers.” “Mothers?” “Mothers?” asked Twilight and Dash in unison. Applejack would not expect them to believe it, and even she herself couldn’t believe it as well. During their trip towards Pegasopolis, Applejack consulted with her Element of Truth three times, and it confirmed the most fantastical genesis she could barely imagine. Here in this cramped cockpit, the blue pegasus and the purple unicorn gave quizzical stares at their orange earth pony friend. “That’s scientifically impossible!” Twilight cried. “Are you smokin’ something I should know about?” Dash asked. “There’s just no way!” “That’s what Apple Bloom told me when she dove into the Realm of Truth with Fluttershy,” said Applejack. “She told me that in the past Firefly somehow impregnated Posey, which resulted in her givin’ birth to Fluttershy. Look, I don’t care if you believe me or not, but if the Empress finds out who she really is, she’s gonna kill her, or worse!” “I most certainly believe you,” said Sunny. “You do?’ “In the Before Times, there were advanced spells that made such things a commonplace, should a consenting same-sex couple choose to. In Fluttershy’s case, she was mostly conceived when both Posey and Firefly were in the presence of a powerful magical artifact.” “Come to think of it, Apple Bloom told me they were, and it had a butterfly statue on it.” “No mistaking it. Fluttershy is not only the daughter of both Posey and Firefly, she is also the daughter of the Element of Empathy.” “Fluttershy is a magic baby?” Dash exclaimed. “That means that she... I… Firefly… and… Argh, this is confusing the hay out of me!” “Regardless, we need to hurry rescue Fluttershy as soon as possible,” said Twilight, “and we need to focus. Dash, do you think you can find another slaver skiff around here?” Dash straightened up and sharply saluted the unicorn. “In ten seconds flat,” she replied. “What are you planning, Purplesmart?” “I'm tired of planning. We're going to rescue Fluttershy, come what may.” What a dreadful day. First she had to ride several long hours in a cramped skiff with barely adequate amenities. Second, the entire operation was thrown asunder when the docks blew up. Third, a stallion pegasus assassin destroyed her only means of contacting her friends. This bears repeating: what a dreadful day. At least Rarity was alive and breathing, but now the clothes on her back started to reek of warm sweat despite the cold. With no way to access her map, she was lost, and she had to resort to dodging a patrolling guard from one grimy crevice to another. She knew not how much she advanced, for all she knew she could be going in circles. It was probably twice she circled around that big phallic of a weapon that pointed to the ground below. When she thought she reached a heavenly rest stop, she would open the door and find a giant hole had torn through whatever luxurious bed chamber that might have been there. The random holes in the wall did help her maneuver through the dark halls of Cloud 2 much more easily, but she could not help but assume that they were made quite recently. The more she passed through these holes, the warmer the hallways became. Rarity really wished for a shower right now, and she thought about coaxing a handsome pegasus to make it rain on her. Just as it became warmer, it became colder. Rarity hid herself around the corner down the hall when she saw the shadows of guards floating close by. “Did you hear?” the first one asked. “They captured one of the intruders. She was disguised as one of the slaves.” “Is she cute?” asked the second one. “She is, but she didn’t put much of a fight.” “Not my type then.” “Must be one of those pansy pacifists from the ground who joined the pirates or something. She’ll get what’s coming to her.” Captured? Rarity’s heart sank, and the two pegasus stallions’ description of that pony could only mean that Fluttershy was captured. Of all the ponies, why did she come along? Second to Rarity in their little group, Fluttershy was the most ladylike and the most beautiful pegasus Rarity wanted to doll up ever since she first met her. She had so much ideas for her pegasus friend, and now she was captured. This would not stand. Deep breaths, Rarity, deep breaths. No need to lose your composed dignity as the Diamond Princess. The unicorn waited a while for the patrolling guards to fly off. She had a feeling that she would be seeing less of them, and so she braved trotting as quietly as she could to find her dear friend. As the Diamond Princess of the Crystal Empire, it was not uncommon for her unicorn of her peerage to be stalked. In a twist of irony, Rarity now stalked ponies who, to objective view, were more “common”, but it was all done for the sake of her friend. It was only those two pegasus stallions she was stalking in the hopes of finding Fluttershy. Alas, they were too fast, and when they jetted off after a receiving an order from their magical earset pieces, she lost sight of them. Rarity had heard distant shouts that they needed assistance with assisting wounded ponies at the chemical storage chamber, which struck her as odd considering pegasi of Pegasopolis were known to be merciless to weak ponies. Now she felt alone, and despite her garments, she felt cold. This was no time to be giving up. “Hey babe,” spoke a murderously snake-like voice. “Wanna have some fun?” Rarity could not suppress her stealth, and she let out her surprise with a scream. She started throwing everything at the aggressor who shouted behind her, be it cloaks, earrings, combs, brushes, and a seemingly unending supply of hairpins. The aggressor, which was a white pony with a yellow mane and tail, cowered backwards and threw her up front legs to cover her face. That hairstyle looked awfully familiar, though. “Ow, hey!” cried the pony. “What gives? It’s me, Pinkie Pie!” “How do I know it’s you and not some brutish pegasus in disguise?” Rarity asked. “Tell me something that only Pinkie Pie knows.” “I sniffed your underwear.” “Okay, it’s you. Wonderful.” “Jeez, Rares, aren’t you glad to see me? ‘Best Pony’ Pinkie Pie?” “Genuinely, I am, but I do wish you would have proved your identity with a less than lewd response. And what happened to your mane?” “I spilled mustard on it.” “And your coat?” “Flour.” “As much as I want to bathe that mess out of you, we have more important matters at hoof. Fluttershy’s been captured and I have no way to signal our friends. You wouldn’t happen have your Tele-Orb available, would you?” “Lemme check my mane… Let’s see, I got rubber bands, lint, more hair, gum wrappers, plastic explosives, broken Tele-Orb… or two…” “Yours too? Then we have no way of contacting Twilight and the others. As much as it would cause me to sweat and become dirty, it looks like it is up to us to rescue Fluttershy. Alas, I have been wandering these dreaded steel and cloud halls for heaven knows how long, and I am quite lost.” “We can take the bridge.” “The bridge?” “I just saw the Empress and her guards load an unconscious yellow mare onto a dragon’s back, which then took them towards that black cloud fortress thingy. My Pinkie Sense told me that Fluttershy is in danger, and there would be no way I’d get there in time from where I spotted them. Then I saw this awesome bridge in the distance, but I had to double-back into the Factory to get to it. That’s when I ran into you. If you ride on my back, we can get there lickety-split with my trusty Pinkie Gear.” “Wait, perhaps we should reconsider—THIS!” An attempt at protest failed when the pink pony loaded the Diamond Princess onto her back. In a blink, they sped off, and due to the constricting nature of the Factory, Rarity had to endure a multitude of sudden twist and turns that made her eyes and stomach feel the same way. She was almost ready to slap Pinkie at the back of her head with the rolled up cloak she managed to hold on to, but just as they started off suddenly, they made a sudden stop. They already arrived outside. They reached the bridge, a very long one at that. The suspension wires took the appearance of gnarled black roots, and its spires were topped by black stone carvings of dragon heads with torches installed in their mouths. The surface appeared neither sturdy nor flimsy, and there were hard cloud panels compressed between the lattice of black metal. Almost to Rarity’s amazement, they stopped in the middle, and yet they were so far from the monstrous Factory that was Cloud 2. Ahead of her loomed the demonic silhouette of the Black Cloud. Rarity could not believe the distance they travelled in such a short amount of time. She barely glanced below the bridge and could not see the ground below. To her left and right, she only spotted faint lines of other suspension bridges shuddering at the calm and cold breezes. Far off she could see the fleets of Pegasopolis Cloudships flickering like distant fireflies. She was thankful that Pinkie stopped, but the sense of urgency for Fluttershy’s safety made her wonder why Pinkie made a full stop. “I had to regain my balance,” said Pinkie. “Boy, we are sure far away.” “Indeed we are,” said Rarity, “and while I question the stability of this bridge, we need get to the other side as soon as possible.” “I’m on it!” “Wait! Can you, perhaps, go a little slower?” “But isn’t Fluttershy in danger?” “I know, dear, but if I end up losing my supper with all this speed, we may not be in good shape to rescue her. Just a little slower will just do. Not too slow because we must make haste.” “I’ll see what I can do. Hold on, Rarity!” The Pinkie Gear whined and whirred, and it sped off its user plus one rider. Rarity could feel the bumps and shakes transfer up from the uneasy bridge through Pinkie Pie. While they were going fast, it was not fast enough to induce motion sickness. It felt more like a pleasant sleigh ride in winter, and as much as she wanted to enjoy the ride, the worry over Fluttershy’s safety prevented her from doing so. The further they rode, the larger Black Cloud towered over them like an oppressive titan until it gradually occupied the entire view before Rarity’s eyes. At the end of the bridge stood two armed stallion guards with mirrored visors in front of the double black gates. They had already spotted both Rarity and Pinkie Pie, but neither of them showed any outward signs of panic. Their eyes beneath their visors tracked the mares’ movements, and slowly they lowered their spears as they engaged their battle stances. In turn, Rarity and Pinkie Pie acknowledged their response, they gradually slowed themselves to a halt several feet away between the light emanated by the bridge’s torches. “Well, they’re not going to let us pass,” said Rarity. “In that case,” said Pinkie, “we’ll speed through them and—“ “Let’s not waste your Element’s power just yet. Perhaps I can charm them.” The Diamond Princess stepped off her ride and her friend. She took a deep breath, and in light steps she skipped over to the spotlight generated by the torch over the door. Rarity stopped just before the guards’ spearhead tips and flashed out a flirtatious double blink complete with a seductive smile. “Pardon me, dear sirs,” Rarity began. “I am Diamond Princess Rarity of the Crystal Empire, and I humbly request an audience with the glorious Empress Commander. I wish to establish cordial relationships between your country and mine over your finest drinks by a warm fireplace. I’m sure you handsome stallions will allow a pretty princess like me pass.” “You’re a unicorn,” said the white pegasus stallion with sideburns. “Indeed I am.” “A unicorn… A cowardly horned devil who hides behind castle walls and fights with hexes and curses.” “I beg your pardon.” "I thought your kind were wiped out in the mud ponies’ concentration camps, and it looks like you’re the descendant of cowards who turned tail and ran. That’s so typical of your kind.” “We have a rule here against cowardly ponies,” said the mustached pegasus stallion, “and that is to kill them on sight.” “Hey, don’t you talk to my friend like that!” Pinkie Pie cried. The sneer on the two stallion guards vanished to give way to a frightened wince. Right as Pinkie Pie stepped into the spotlight, they quickly dropped their spears and prostrated. “Lord General Surprise!” cried the sideburns guard. “It is an honor to be in your presence!” “We did not know she was with you!” the mustached pegasus stallion cried. “We will accept any punishment you have issued onto us!” Rarity was almost ready to fight them hoof-to-hoof on this small cloud platform, but here these supposedly “brave” guards, for all their talk, cowered before her and Pinkie Pie. Rarity had a vague idea who Lord General Surprise was, but this was quite a development. It was fortunate that Pinkie’s mane remained stained with mustard and her coat powered with flour. The cloak Rarity left on her friend’s back concealed the lack of pegasus wings. She almost wanted to get back at the guards for saying such derogatory remarks about her race, yet at the same time she felt a little sorry for them. Rarity could not help but notice a growing yellow stain on the cloud floor beneath them. “A punishment you say?” said Pinkie with a devilish smile. “Okay! You two, hop on one hoof and say ‘I’m a dopey dope’ twelve times.” They did. Rarity then sat on her haunches grimacing at the amusing sight. “Next thing, take the other end of your spears and poke each other’s butts with it.” Now things were getting a little lewd, but without hesitation the stallions took turns poking each other. Rarity, however, could barely suppress her chuckle with her own hooves. “Now kiss each other—and use lots of tongue!” What? This was, as dear Applejack would have put it, out of left field. Rarity had heard of passionate relationships between stallions in the Royal Guard and in the clergy, but she had never seen it first-hoof. Again, without hesitation, the stallions kissed each other without abandon. It looked so wrong, and it felt wrong. And yet, Rarity could not avert her eyes from this hypnotic homoerotic act, and she became almost sad that they had to stop to take a drooling breath. As for Pinkie Pie, she could not stop laughing and rolling on the cloud surface. She rolled so many times that the weight of her body started to create a shallow groove beneath her. “Okay, okay,” giggled Pinkie. “A few more final things: throw your spears off this cloud.” They did. “Take off all your armor.” They did, thus fully exposing their insignias of a winged star for the sideburns stallion and a falling star surrounded by a pair of wings for the mustached stallion. “And take these presents as gifts.” From underneath her cloak, Pinkie presented to the stallion guards two finely-wrapped boxes with the traditional colored ribbon wrapped around them. The guards stared at them confusedly for a few seconds before staring back at Pinkie while trying to maintain indirect eye contact. “What are we do with these my Lord General?” asked the sideburns guard. “Don’t open them for a while,” Pinkie Pie winked, “preferably after we enter.” “Is that all the punishments?” asked the mustached guard. “That’s about it.” “Are you sure?” Their anxious eyes implied that they wanted more, as if they would give up their lives to wash out their shame of insulting Rarity. “I’m surely sure,” smiled Pinkie. “Just remember to smile when you open your gifts. Now, can you let us in?” “Of course, my Lord General!” Both the sideburns guard and the mustached pegasus guard took positions at each side of the door and pressed their hoof against a flat square glass panel on the cloud wall. Like magic, the large demonically gothic doors whirred open to reveal a cavernous black halls of Black Cloud dimly lit with a line of burning torches. If not for the urgent need to save their friend, Rarity would have been fully repulsed by the strong smell of ash and the awful demonic design of the hallways. She looked away for one moment to take one deep breath before stepping into the mighty fortress. Shortly after, the doors closed behind her and Pinkie Pie, and with no guard in sight ahead of them, the Diamond Princess breathed a sigh of relief. Then a big explosion rattled the doors, and one of them toppled from its hinges. This exposed the site of the explosion, and where the two stallions and the presents stood, in their place was a large hole in the cloud surrounded by pieces of confetti. "Pinkie, was all that necessary?" Rarity asked. "I only knocked them out." "With what?" "Confetti bombs. Was that too much bomb and not enough confetti?" The answer to that had to wait. Almost immediately, the explosion sounded the klaxon alarm, and the overhead sprinkler system drenched the unicorn and her earth pony friend, which started washing away the mustard and flour from her mane and coat respectively. This was not the kind of shower Rarity wished for, and on top of that, she could see several winged pegasi guards flying towards them down the tunneling hallway. She had no time to panic on her hooves, for Pinkie engaged her Pinkie Gear and sped the Diamond Princess to heaven knows where. Blurs of red lights and orange torches filled Rarity's vision, and the shouts of angry guards grew louder. She half-expected Pinkie to stop and fight them all. Instead, the pink pony crashed through a set of crystalline doors and barricaded themselves with whatever they could find, bet it metal pipes, lances, and chairs. Rarity wobbled for almost a minute before she could regain her balance. When she focused her eyes, she immediately thought she was home. It was a large chamber, but not as grand as the chambers of the castle, but the walls sparkled, and its furniture, though not intricately carved, were immediately recognizable. On the back wall was what appeared to be that infernal crystal computer system that had been installed at the top of the spire complete with a giant screen. At one side were a row of tables filled with pieces of black crystalline armor, and at another was a partially assembled crystal tank and a sleek crystalline flying contraption. The sight of these weapons her Empire had a hoof in producing caused her anger to wash away her panic. It would not be unheard of that Pegasopolis would steal technology from another nation. No, this was different. Pegasopolis would be too proud to use another country's weapons against their enemies. "Rarity?" Pinkie asked. The Diamond Princess slowly turned towards another set of crystal doors in the large chamber, and watched it swing open. "Are you okay?" asked Pinkie. She was not. The Diamond Princess stood her ground as the occupants of this sparkling yet devilish lab revealed himself. He was surrounded by two lanky red-maned unicorns, now dressed in blue and white striped armored vests. The leader himself, fancied himself in a one-piece black and white suit stitched with whatever technological abominations concocted from his devious mind. "Princess," grinned the stallion. "Blueblood," Rarity muttered.