Note for the little wall,
At the last moment before closing hour, when only I remained at the Hall, a stag arrived to conclude an inquiry. This will have to wait until after shedding-day, but for reference, it pertains to damages to the granary walls used for the north-quadrant crops. We will wish to deal with this immediately after shedding-fall. A mason must be appointed to repair it as soon as possible.
In passing, he mentioned three strange folk entering the outer city, and this has me wondering. His description mentions two antlerless and one wingless creature, all small of stature. This talk of lacking antlers and wings has made me wonder if perhaps they are the Equestrians discussed earlier last season.
If this is the case, I do not know this demands an inquest, but I will put forth a suggestion that we send a raven to Orto once we reconvene.
This is not easily understood by my mind alone, so to delegate the appropriate resources to this conundrum, we must understand: Why are they here?
-Small-Consul Madarast Quosh
Cotronna. Cotronna happened all around the three ponies, the setting sun lighting for a moment longer the faces of peryton and buildings alike. Though the streets were nearly empty at the edges of the city, soon the ponies found streams of Cotronnans walking one way here, another way there, lines of the large antlered people forcing the ponies to hold to the left if they wanted to go forward. At some point, somepony had made that decision. Left, and forward.
They headed into the city because this was, after all, their destination. This was where they had wanted to go all along, and for the first few hundred steps, there wasn’t much room to ask exactly where they were going, simply because there was too much to take in. After the desolation of the mountains and the jungle, the rivers and creepy disused chambers, the noise of city life was overwhelming.
Beyond the simple fact of the noise, Rainbow Dash couldn’t really tell what was going on. Everything that happened, happened in the periphery of her vision, at the edges of her attention. She only noted that the building faces were tall and the streets were narrow, both less elaborate than Vauhorn’s gaily painted and decorated houses. Peryton walked in orderly lines keeping close to the sides of the road, and Dash’s own eyes were fixed on Fluttershy’s legs.
She’d let herself fall behind the other two. Every time she tried to look away, to find something else to stare at, she found that it only held her attention for a second or two. An open-faced building where a few peryton sat around a large bar talking loudly? Two seconds worth of distraction. A peryton leaning out of a second-floor window to look up at the sky? Barely half a second. Always, Dash’s eyes returned to the thin, jagged line along one of Fluttershy’s hocks. To the scar she’d gotten when they played around with the thundercloud, weeks ago.
“So. Um. Maybe we could ask one of the peryton if they have a ‘resting-house’ somewhere?” Fluttershy asked, the one voice capable of scattering Rainbow Dash’s concentration. The other pegasus walked as close to Rarity as she could, looking at the unicorn though the question was clearly meant for the both of them.
Rainbow Dash left it for Rarity to answer, more preoccupied with finding a way to avoid looking at that stupid scar. Fluttershy’s tail was too short to hide it. Looking around a little more clear-minded now, Dash noticed how rigidly all the peryton kept to the side of the road when there was plenty of free space.
She’d barely completed the thought when a peryton behind her nearly stepped on her hooves, proving her point. It wasn’t crowded. They made it crowded by walking so close together. Dash shot a frown over her back and moved up to walk side by side with Fluttershy outside of the line instead.
“That would be a good idea, wouldn’t it?” said Rarity at length. “Some place to stay. Yes, that would be a good place to start, absolutely.”
“What were you thinking about?” asked Fluttershy with an inquisitive smile. “I thought maybe you were being quiet because you were thinking about getting something to eat. I know that’s what I was doing. I’ve seen a few nice-looking restaurants, but most of them have been on the other side of the road, and I don’t know if we can cross here.”
“Why not? We’ll just ask them to let us pass,” said Dash. “Or we can fly over.” The whole situation was silly anyway. Like a queue perpetually in motion, the peryton on the other side blocked the buildings there, and it wasn’t because there was a lot of them. Stagrum was ten times worse, and if they actually used the entire street rather than walking two abreast at most, the evening traffic would be downright lazy rather than a fast-moving queue.
Dash moved a little further into the middle of the road, making use of all the wasted space to stretch her wings, suddenly aware that they were getting a fair amount of attention. Mostly covert, odd looks. She couldn’t be bothered to even comment at the moment.
“I don’t think we need to resort to flying just to find food or lodging, really,” said Rarity, leaning to the side to try to see past the peryton. “Acrobatics are a little impolite when they aren’t called for.”
“It’s called ‘aerobatics’,” said Dash, grinning. She didn’t often get to correct ponies, but if there was one fancy word she liked the sound of that wasn’t from the silly word-a-day calendar Twilight had gotten her, that was the one.
“Yes, well, whatever you wish to call it,” said Rarity with a chuckle. “I think I see a fountain up ahead. Let’s stop there and ask for directions, shall we?”
“I think that sounds like a good idea,” said Fluttershy, bobbing her head in easy agreement.
“Sure,” said Rainbow Dash. She looked over her back when she heard the faint rumble of a wagon coming down the smooth cobbles of the street, catching an open stare from the doe walking behind them. “What?” Dash asked, chuckling weakly. “I got spinach between my teeth?”
The doe shook her head slightly from side to side and cleared her throat, saying nothing to Dash. She didn’t look particularly angry or happy, neither curious nor delighted—instead, she simply looked confused. Dash shrugged and turned back to her girlfriend. “Hey, Fluttershy, move over a bit,” Dash added, patting her side with a wing. “Wagon.”
“Oh. Um, there’s not much room,” said Fluttershy. The wagon came up the street at high speed, the two peryton pulling it clearly in a hurry. They ran at a full gallop, and it was a wonder that they didn’t hit anyone. There was barely enough room for the thing between the two lines of peryton on each side.
“Rarity?” Fluttershy asked. Rainbow Dash frowned and tried to nudge Fluttershy in towards the unicorn in question to no effect whatsoever.
“I am already positively intimate with these walls,” said Rarity. “Oh ew. I think someone—oh. Never mind. That’s just water.” Still the wagon came closer. It wasn’t slowing down at all.
“Okay, uh, can you—whoa, hey, easy!” said Dash. Rather than stop and give Rainbow Dash a chance to get out of the way, the two lead peryton ran on at full tilt. Rainbow Dash leapt into the air at the last second, hovering while the wagon rushed underneath her. At her shout, some of the peryton walking nearby slowed down, but they pointed to Rainbow Dash rather than the wagon.
“What gives?!” Dash shouted, and one of the two peryton pulling the wagon turned to look briefly at her as he ran on, looking very much like the doe behind Dash had a moment ago. Confused. At least they had that in common, though Dash made room for plenty of annoyance as well.
Spotting the fountain Rarity had mentioned just ahead, Rainbow Dash sailed down to land at a tiny plaza set in the side of the road rather than try to follow the cobblestone on the ground. The tiled little rest stop wasn’t much bigger than the lot of a normal house. In fact, it looked like a building had been removed to make room for a fountain of sparkling clear waters flanked by three-story buildings.
A few benches lined the walls, two of which were occupied by small groups of amicably chatting peryton. Some of them looked up briefly when Dash touched down and grabbed a quick sip of water, trying to cool off in more ways than one. She splashed her face with cold water and shook out her mane.
“Are you alright?” Fluttershy asked. She came flying in from above, seizing Dash in a tight hug almost before she’d even landed.
“Oh come on, I’m fine,” said Dash, rolling her eyes, though she took the opportunity to rub her cheek against Fluttershy’s neck just because.
“I’ve never seen such… such savagery,” Rarity declared when she stepped out of the traffic as well. “We should report those peryton to whatever passes for a constabulary here, really. You could’ve gotten hurt!”
“Yeah yeah, whatever,” said Dash, letting go of Fluttershy. Making a big deal of something this small after all the business in the mountains was dumb, but she couldn’t deny the way her heart raced, either. “I don’t get it, everyone was staring at me like I’m the one who was crazy.” She looked over to three does who sat on a nearby bench below an open window. “Don’t you have rules against running people over here?”
The three peryton stared at her for a long few seconds. Two of them wore ornate filigree necklaces, and the third shook her head slightly, probably more as a I don’t understand what you mean than a why yes, we run ponies over with our wagons all day, if Dash had to guess. Another smiled awkwardly before all of them went back to their own conversation, this time with the occasional covert glance at the ponies.
“That all said, you were walking in the middle of the street,” said Rarity, pulling Dash’s attention back to her own friends. “Not that I believe it’s a very good defence, but you have to admit that much.”
“She was,” said Fluttershy, still staying close to Dash. “But when somepony’s in your way, you ask them to move out of the way, you don’t try to run them over!”
“Oh absolutely!” said Rarity, nodding gravely. “I still believe we should report this, and I don’t mean to play—”
“Seriously you guys, can we drop it?” Dash asked, sighing. “I’m bored thinking about it already. Rarity, do you think you can get us some pointers on where to sleep tonight?” She gestured to the nearby peryton, not much feeling like giving communication a second try. “I don’t think the peryton understand me. It’s like we’re not talking the same language,” she said, though she could clearly hear the does talk about something metal-related. They sat right next to the ponies, one of them looking up when Dash pointed at them.
“Of course, dear,” said Rarity, dipping her head in a nod. She took the requisite two steps to bring herself face to face with the does sat on the bench, cleared her throat, and smiled. “Hello there. My name is Rarity. Rarity the unicorn. A pleasure to meet you.”
Again the peryton looked up in blank silence before looking back and forth between each other. To Dash’s eyes, it looked as though they all expected or hoped the others would say something.
“Could we trouble you for some directions? We’ve just arrived, so we’re new to Cotronna, as you can probably tell,” Rarity continued. “You… can understand me, can’t you?”
One of the does stood up with a nervous look at her friends, forcing Rarity back a step. The larger peryton lowered her head, and stood back up straight, shaking out her wings just a little bit.
“That’s awfully formal, but very well, let’s try again,” said Rarity. She bowed low and smiled expectantly still. “There. As I said, I am Rarity, and these are my friends, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash—and you’re still looking lost.” Rarity frowned. “Is something the matter? Have we said something wrong? Should we leave?”
“No!” said the one doe, a burst of noise so sudden it startled even Rainbow Dash. “You should do no such thing if you need help of me, I—I simply do not know how to greet you.”
“How to greet us,” Rainbow Dash repeated, blinking. “You just did.” No sooner had she spoken than the doe bowed to her too, and Dash didn’t know what to make of that, so she ignored it.
“I try. I tried, but much grief was suffered when Vossos failed to make the right signs, for they meant much,” said the doe, inclining her head. “I do not wish to do harm by you.”
“Vossos?” Fluttershy asked—to which the doe bowed again. None of the doe’s friends spoke, instead watching with open interest.
“That would be an Aspect, obviously,” said Rarity, flicking an ear. “How about we dispense with the formalities? We just wanted to ask for directions to a resting-house and perhaps a restaurant or something.”
“One cannot simply choose to dispense with formalities,” said the doe with a scowl. “But we are talking, if on unsteady wings, and I believe the parameters of this dialogue are known to me. I… do not know what a resting-house might be, however. Perhaps you know other words?”
“If we were traders from Stagrum or some other city, where could we find somewhere to sleep?” Fluttershy asked.
The doe’s eyes lit up in recognition, and she nodded vigorously. “This makes more sense, yes—but you are not from Stagrum. You look like none I have ever seen.”
“We’re from Equestria. Across the west—well, the eastern ocean, from your perspective,” said Rarity.
“Diplomats. Emissaries. A bunch of other boring words,” Dash added with a snort. “Really. We just want someplace to sleep.”
“Oh. Oh,” said the doe, the pupils of her tiny dark eyes shrinking to pinpricks. “Then every word must be measured more than ever, and our conversation has started so poorly!”
Rarity let out a deep-seated sigh. “We’re doing fine, dear, I assure you. What’s going poorly is our attempt to find a place to sleep tonight.”
“Okay, one more block to this ‘housing’ person,” said Rainbow Dash as they crossed another street. This time, the road split in two, making a Y-shape with another tiny plaza at the tip where three roads met.
“That’s what she said,” Rarity agreed. “And I’ll be glad when we have some place to sit down. It’s getting late.”
Sure enough, the sun had well and truly set now. A few peryton disrupted the slowly thinning traffic to charge magical streetlights, and Fluttershy squeaked in fright as another wagon rolled by, even though she walked on the far side. Dash’s mane whipped in the draft of its passing.
“I think this is the scariest city yet,” Fluttershy muttered. “Everything’s moving so fast.”
“It’s all rather… rushed,” said Rarity. “And I’m still staggered by the sheer formality in all their speech. When Phoreni and Deimesa both mentioned that they enjoyed their ceremonies, I didn’t expect to struggle to so much as speak with them. We spent more time quibbling over how we talked than we actually talked to the poor doe.”
Rainbow Dash scratched her snout with a wing as she walked. “Yeah, I dunno. At least they’re not angry with us? Like… none of them. I’m over the whole thing with the wagon nearly hitting me, but one of the wagon-pullers looked at me like I was the crazy one. They were, uh, I don’t know—”
“Put off?” Rarity suggested. “I get the feeling that they’re all constantly surprised by us, which is odd given that we’re hardly sneaking up on them.”
“It does make a little bit of sense, actually,” said Fluttershy, her ears at a constant half-tilt as they walked. “Remember when we talked about how we first felt when Zecora came into Ponyville?”
“Yes, I do recall our talk about that particularly embarrassing debacle,” Rarity retorted. “And my lifespan shortens every time it is brought up.”
“Well, in most other cities, they haven’t been like that. The peryton have all acted like we belong, almost, but maybe the difference is that in Cotronna, they don’t.” Fluttershy packed her wings tighter against her body. “It’s like we’re intruding. Not a lot. It’s not very bad and I’m sure they’re nice and all, but it feels a teensy tiny bit like they think we aren’t meant to be here.”
Rainbow Dash snorted, looking over at the scattered few peryton walking the other way on the opposite side of the street. She met the eyes of more than a few, trying to weigh the truth of that statement.
“Nah. That’s not it,” said Rainbow Dash, shaking her head.
Fluttershy raised a brow at her. “I’m sorry?”
“It’s just not it,” Dash added, shrugging. “They don’t look afraid. They don’t look like they want us to go away, so yeah, I dunno, you’re probably wrong.”
“Maybe,” Fluttershy conceded, though her frown stayed put.
“Corner of the block, this should be it,” said Rarity, stepping off the sparse line of peryton and onto the stone steps in front of a two-story building flanked by burgeoning potted plants large enough that all the passing peryton were forced to duck. This particular part of the city looked a little less oppressive than the narrow and crowded three-story building blocks further south. Dash could see a familiar-looking peryton plaza of proper size down the road. Numerous peryton antlers gleamed with light, picking their way through rows of market stalls.
“I don’t think we would have stood a chance at finding it if it wasn’t on the corner here,” said Fluttershy, looking down the row of same-faced buildings with unintelligible signs bearing peryton letters. “What do you think these are?”
“Probably shops?” Dash hazarded. “A lot of really boring shops that are terrible at selling their stuff?”
“This one we’ve been directed to,” said Rarity, pointing to the door belonging to the landing upon which they all clustered, “is hopefully some sort of hotel, and that’s all I’m worried about now. So, unless you mind, let us.” She lit her horn, scowled, and after a second of what Dash could only understand as magical fiddling-about, she slid the door open.
The three friends stepped into a small lobby barely big enough to fit a tall desk, a small cabinet, and a peryton doe in the middle of putting away a scroll case on a shelf near the ceiling. At the sound of the door sliding shut—before she even looked at the three friends—she turned, dipped a hoof in a bowl of water on the desk, and began the same kind of simple bow offered by the doe at the fountain earlier. She froze mid-way with her eyes wide open.
“No,” said Rainbow Dash, pointing a dire hoof at her. “We’re not going through this twice in ten minutes. Hi! I’m Rainbow Dash. That’s Rarity and Fluttershy—” she pointed, then quickly returned a bow just like hers. “—and now we’ve done all the weird stuff, and we can talk.”
The silence was palpable.
“Sorry,” Fluttershy whispered, her smile strained.
“What my very enthusiastic, bullheaded, but also well-meaning friend here is trying to say,” said Rarity, “is that we are obviously strangers new to your city, we don’t understand your customs, and we would very much like to rent a room with beds to sleep in. Also, if we are in breach of some kinds of local rules, do let us know rather than let us offend you again and again, though I suspect Rainbow Dash has got that covered already. The offending, I mean.”
The doe had stayed impressively still all the while, barely moving a muscle. She was small for a peryton, her body a near perfect monocolour brown, and her ears studded with two rows of brass jewellery of some kind. She finished her arrested bow with clearly practiced grace, her expression softening a touch.
“I see strange people who think in stories of Khylari at the expense of Vossos,” she said, sounding almost amused. She dipped her hoof in the bowl again and shook the water off. “I will… try to oblige if you will not hold it against me.”
“Khylari?” Rarity asked. “That is… the Aspect of honesty and ‘forthright speech’ and such?”
“Yeah. Sign us up for that,” Dash chimed. “I don’t think anyone’s mentioned Vossos before, but I’m okay with talking normal instead of having a staring contest. If Khylari’s down with that, Khylari is my favourite thing.”
“Why would we hold it against you if you were okay with talking to us?” Fluttershy asked, tilting her head. “Is this ‘Vossos’ about not talking?”
“If you align with Vossos, you might object because to observe things being done as they should is important for its own sake,” said the doe, one brow raised as though this was obvious. “Vossos’ stories tell us the value of procedure and protocol.”
“Wow, that sounds like fun,” Dash muttered.
The doe smiled. “In business, and especially when one is faced with the unfamiliar, it helps to have familiar rituals to begin with—or to fall back upon. In observing protocol, all things find their best use.” She gestured to the one window of the room and the darkness beyond. “My work day is over, but if you require my help, then my best use is to stay a moment longer for you. I will also tell you that my name is Ihassa Qual.”
“Then we are very pleased to meet you, Ihassa Qual,” said Rarity. “Is it impolite to simply call you ‘Ihassa’? Perhaps Miss Qual?”
The peryton doe shook her head. “Not at all. Names are not people. You may call me a loaf of phela, and as long as I know you speak of me, why not?”
“I think I will use one or both of your names, if you don’t mind, but thank you for taking the time to explain. I must admit, things were getting a little confusing.” Rarity smiled and dipped her head in thanks.
“Yeah, that’s cool of you. We really just—” said Dash, her words trailing off by themselves when she noticed Ihassa frowning deeply at Rarity.
“What?” Rarity asked. “Is something wrong?”
“You lowered your head,” said Ihassa, pointing at her.
“Did I?” asked Rarity, blinking. She reached up to touch her own chest with a hoof. “Me?”
“You just nodded very deeply, I think,” Fluttershy supplied. “Maybe like a little bow?”
“Well, then I suppose I may have, but I hardly think about all those things in detail,” Rarity said. “Why do you ask?”
Ihassa shook her head. “Now I am the one who is confused. I assumed you did so for a purpose, that there was significance to that act. It was more than a simple nod, your head was a little lower—ah, no matter. I understand I must have been mistaken.”
“I don’t understand why it matters,” Rarity said, sighing. “Or rather, it doesn’t, at least not to me.”
The doe let out a short caw of laughter. “No and yes! You do these strange things but you do not know why. You are like the traders who rent my houses, so confusing, doing things and then saying that they do not matter, but it is fine. I will try to listen only to your words. What do you need of me? I say I will stay for your benefit, but my time is not infinite.”
“Someplace to sleep would be nice,” Fluttershy said before Rarity or Rainbow Dash could reply. She leaned to the side, pointedly looking to the stairway behind Ihassa. “Do you have a spare room? And do you know if we can buy food at the… market? I think we saw a market outside, on the next block.”
“Rooms,” Ihassa repeated, shaking her head slightly. “No, I do not have rooms in this building that are for others. Upstairs are my archives. What I have are keys for houses, and houses contain rooms. If you can do as Phostos and match the worth of a key, you will have one.”
In one swift motion, Rarity yanked open her saddlebags, grabbed two gemstones and a few bronze slivers that had miraculously survived the trip so far, and deposited the payload on the desk.
“Beds, please,” said Rarity. “And if Phostos finds this to be an ‘uneven’ trade in your favour, I frankly don’t care. If you want more gems, or gems of a different colour, tell me now.”
Ihassa stared at the pile of shiny stuff, blinked, and leaned behind the desk to levitate out a large metal key before she made for the door.
“Come. I will show you the house.”
Ihassa led the way down the street under the faint illumination of street-lights not half as bright as Dash would have liked. In the short time they had spent in the doe’s office, the streets had filled up a little again, with more peryton out and about than before. At least Rainbow Dash thought so. Now they used the entire street, and it was a lot easier going, more akin to the smattering of ponies meandering their way to Sugarcube corner for lunch than a market rush.
“It’s after dark,” Ihassa said when asked. “People with more sensible work than I are on their way to leisure, and there is no need to keep the street clear. No wagons after sundown proper—come, this way.”
“I’m still trying to understand,” said Fluttershy after a moment. “You’re not afraid of us, you’re just afraid of offending us by saying hello in the wrong way? Or you don’t think you know how to talk to us?”
“I do not feel fear when I look upon you, no,” Ihassa said, pointing down the street. “It is just down here. See the darkest of the three red houses? This one.”
“So you’re confused because we’re different?” Dash suggested. “Everyone we’ve talked to so far has frozen up really bad.”
“Is your judgment a judgment of all of Cotronna simply because I had to think before I spoke to you?” Ihassa asked, glancing over her back, frowning. “If one has never met people of your kind, whatever you call yourselves—”
“Ponies,” Rarity interjected.
“—then of course one cannot rest comfortably on the rituals of protocol, and if one doesn’t have the safety of modes of greeting and their return, it is uncomfortable in the same way one feels apprehension when one is halfway through making soup and finds one has no barley. Is this not true for all?”
“No?” Dash said. “I don’t think I’ve had barley soup.”
“If I don’t know what to say, I usually just run. Or hide. So… maybe,” Fluttershy admitted, her ears flat.
“You might not exactly be the best example, dear. No offense,” Rarity said. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, while Fluttershy herself nodded, conceding the point.
“If I lower my head to someone who wishes my audience—a moment. This is the house,” said Ihassa, looking both ways before she crossed the street. Dash took wing and flew over the traffic instead, landing by the doorway of a narrow two-story building nearly indistinguishable from the others. The wall held one annoying sliding door and two tall windows for each floor.
“If I lower my head to greet someone who approaches me, believing they wish to ask something of me,” Ihassa began anew when she stepped up to the door with Rarity and Fluttershy in tow, “they return the bow of patronage, and the terms of our talk are set. There is no ambiguity. Expectations are established. If there is a presumptive mistake—” she stuck her tongue out as she inserted the key in a small lock set high on the door, “—then they will tell me with the angle of their head and antlers, with wing and talon, and I can adjust. We will find the most purposeful basis for communication.” She levitated the key up to her snout and squinted, yawning soundlessly. “And I have the wrong key. Esorys’ spit, my mind has already quit the day! Wait here, and I will be back in a moment.”
Without even waiting for a reply, Ihassa turned and took off down the street, heading for the corner office which was still in view. Rainbow Dash held back her laugh until the rambling doe was out of earshot.
“Procedure, protocol and fancy bows,” said Dash. “Wow. Imagine if instead of a festival to Myrtella, there had been a Vossos party when we got to Orto. That would have been wild. Or is that ‘mild’?” Fluttershy giggled and shook her head.
“It’s not very surprising,” said Rarity, looking a touch more sober than the pegasi. “It fits with what Phoreni said when we left the grove, and Deimesa said something of the same. They both suggested Cotronnans enjoy their rituals and their ceremonies, and I guess saying ‘hello’ is a sort of ceremony too. I feel silly for not realising.” She shook her head and sighed. “They do seem to put a lot of stock in doing things just so though. If they’re worried about offending us, maybe that means it’s easy to offend them, too.”
“Oh. I don’t like that thought at all,” Fluttershy said, sitting down by the door. “I think they seem like interesting people. I think it’s a lot nicer to think about that.”
Rainbow Dash didn’t say anything to that, because she didn’t have anything to add. They always knew that these peryton would have their own particular brand of weird. What bothered her more than the peculiarities of Cotronnans was the fact that this was their only challenge right now. They weren’t flying their hearts out to escape from a huge flaming bird of doom. They weren’t pushing themselves to their limit, discovering new strength within themselves as they flew higher than the air itself. No, they were discussing how to avoid offending peryton.
“Are you okay? You’re being a little quiet.”
Rainbow Dash barely noticed that the words were for her, and a moment later, she felt Fluttershy’s muzzle press up under her jaw. She didn’t do much except nuzzle back absentmindedly. Again that word returned to her: They were safe, and things could return to what passed for normal for ponies in Perytonia. It wasn’t that Dash didn’t want to be the best girlfriend she could possibly be, but it meant she no longer had an excuse to push them to their limits. No longer would she get to see—
Dash felt something wet against her snout. A light flick of something brushing against her muzzle and nose.
“You licked me,” said Rainbow Dash, the words escaping her before her brain fully realised what had happened. She stared at Fluttershy, incredulous. “You licked me!”
“And might I add, you’re a lovely shade of crimson, darling,” Rarity commented. Sure enough, Rainbow Dash felt her cheeks flush.
“I’m sorry,” said Fluttershy, not sounding very sorry at all. She wore a lopsided smile. “You were staring at the door and not answering.”
Fluttershy, her terminally shy girlfriend, had licked at her muzzle in public just to get a reaction from Dash. Rainbow Dash’s cheeks still tingled. She shook her head and seized Fluttershy with a wing, pulling her into a hug.
“I’m fine,” Dash said, still chuckling. Whatever came next, cuddling and messing around with Fluttershy wouldn’t get old. She gave her girlfriend another squeeze just as a brown doe picked her way through the streets, a key dangling in the magical grip of their prospective landlady.
“This should be the key, here,” said Ihassa. “I did not mean to make you wait, but I think Teimos has taken it upon himself to make a new sorting system for our keys again, and I do not appreciate it.” The key slid into the lock and turned with a simple click. Dash waited for the peryton to handle the annoying sliding door, then stepped inside, but her friends didn’t follow.
“If we have further questions, will you be at the office?” Rarity asked, turning to the peryton doe. “I assume that is also your home?”
Ihassa cawed with laughter. Rainbow Dash looked to her friends, confused, wondering if anypony wanted to explain the joke to her, but Rarity and Fluttershy looked equally blank while Ihassa’s mirth slowly died out, ending in an awkward silence.
“I’m sorry, is that a silly thing to ask?” Rarity asked, frowning just a touch.
Ihassa cleared her throat noisily. “I… did not think you meant to ask—that is, yes. You do not sleep where you work.”
“Clearly the Boutique does not exist, then,” Rarity said under her breath.
“I am due to be at my home long ago now, and it is shedding-day tomorrow, so I will not be there then, either,” said Ihassa. “You must know this, but perhaps you do not have shedding-days?”
“Never even heard of it,” said Dash, shrugging. “Is that like… weekend? A day off work?”
Ihassa gave a shallow nod. “‘Off’ work? Yes. Those words fit, and you understand it, but I really must leave now. If you have complaints or concerns about your housing, Teimos or I will be at the office the day after shedding-fall.” She bowed her head and spread one wing half-way, looking expectantly to the ponies before she caught herself and shook her head.
“Is that… another greeting or farewell-ritual we should know about?” Fluttershy asked, her head at a tilt. “Is it polite to bow back? Or maybe spread our wings, too?”
Ihassa smiled at her. “Not unless you wish to suggest that my leaving is overdue. I cannot tell you how you should react, because I cannot tell myself how you feel. It is my mistake for forgetting you do not know. Habit.” She nodded to herself. “Often, to say or do the wrong thing is worse than saying or doing nothing at all. But! As I have said many times now, I am in a hurry. First, I will bestow upon you the key to this house—” she said, hovering the key in front of the ponies. Rarity caught it with her magic and nodded her thanks.
“—given, and taken,” Ihassa noted, stepping down the stairs. “And then, I will say goodbye.”
“Alright. Seeya,” said Dash, leaning against the doorway. Rarity and Fluttershy both waved their goodbyes and slipped past Rainbow Dash, while Dash herself stood by the door a moment longer.
Opposite of their house was a larger plaza, a marketplace burgeoning with life even late in the evening. When she looked to where peryton met, she could see a bunch of these little exchanges of bows and gestures with wings, antlers, and in one case, magic. It looked a lot less weird when both parties were in on it, like really complicated yet casual and practiced hoof-bumps.
Rainbow Dash bit onto the edge of the sliding door. She tugged at it and tried to work a hoof flat against it so she could shut the door properly, sparing a few choice muttered words to whoever invented the stupid things.
“What about you, Rarity?” asked Fluttershy somewhere deeper inside the house. “Are you okay? I hope you don’t mind me saying, but you’ve been a little quiet ever since we reached the city, too,” she added.
“I’m just tired, dear,” Rarity replied. “Just tired.”
To Rainbow Dash, Rarity neither looked nor sounded very tired at all. The unicorn soon figured out how to make the magical globes hanging from the ceiling glow, and within minutes, the ponies had taken stock of the house Rarity described as “functional”. The oddest thing was a heavy set of grey-grown curtains separating the living room from the kitchen.
Rainbow Dash took Rarity’s words for it anyway. She herself hadn’t bothered checking what lay on the other side, and for all she knew, the curtains hid a circus. Dash half sat, half lay next to Fluttershy on a bench by one of the living room’s two tables, and over by the other, smaller table, Rarity unpacked her own saddlebags with exacting care, levitating out the creepy white masks she’d found in Vauhorn, a small and dirty bolt of silk, colourful scarves and a bunch of other stuff Rainbow Dash barely remembered Rarity had.
“It’s nice to finally be able to sit down and breathe for a little bit,” said Fluttershy, exhaling slowly and noisily. “Everything’s moved so fast lately, but now I’m looking forward to a long night’s sleep. How about you girls?”
Rainbow Dash, agreeing with only some of that, gave a simple nod, reaching up to touch her snout one more time. It didn’t hurt any more, and now it was her mind that was numb instead.
“We could get something nice to eat, first,” Fluttershy continued. “We know they take gems here, and I think I saw someone frying some food at the market just across the street. It smelled like the phela they made in Vauhorn. We probably shouldn’t wait too long though.”
“Yeah. I can go get us something to eat in a sec if you don’t want to,” Dash said. “If they have that fruit-filled bread here too, that’s great.” She frowned as she watched Rarity arrange, rearrange, and re-rearrange the stuff on the table. Now she levitated over Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy’s saddlebags as well, extracting the large and unwieldy antlers from Fluttershy’s pack. Fluttershy herself raised a brow in curiosity, though she didn’t offer comment.
“If tomorrow is a rest day here, I don’t know if their palace is open,” said Fluttershy, covering a yawn with a hoof. “The royal palace in Canterlot is closed on weekends, so if Ihassa’s office is closed, their palace probably will be, too. We could take the day off.”
Rainbow Dash nodded absentmindedly, and Fluttershy smiled. “If we’re lucky,” Fluttershy added, “we’ll at least find someone to ask for directions and ask about their leader. We should tell them about what happened in the mountains, too, or ask about it—um… actually, never mind. They won’t really know about it, will they? They might not even care. Maybe we’ll have to write a letter to Ephydoera instead. We could ask their leader here what they think we should do, at least. What was it they called their prince or princess again? A head consul?”
“I really thought we could ask Ihassa about it, but she was in such a rush. She was friendly, but I don’t know if she wanted to be a friend, if that makes sense.” Fluttershy paused, looking to her friends in the ensuing silence. “Does that make sense?”
“We’ll have to find our way to the palace somehow if we are to present this sigil to them, certainly,” Rarity said before Dash could even consider the question. She sounded distant, distracted, like she was taking part in a different conversation entirely.
“Mm, but not tomorrow. At least, that’s what I think,” said Fluttershy. “You don’t think we should hurry over there and give them the invitation right now, do you?”
“Oh absolutely not,” said Rarity, shaking her head. She levitated out what little paper had survived the journey through the mountains. “No. I’ll need some time—a day is perfect. A day should be all I’ll need to finish this… I hesitate to call this a dress, but it’ll certainly have to be something to wear.” She stared at all the items arrayed in front of her and sighed. “For better or for worse, I now remember what I was planning. I do hope this goes over well. It has to be a success, it simply must.”
Fluttershy tilted her head in question, while Rainbow Dash quietly wondered what Rarity was doing with the antlers Fluttershy insisted on lugging about.
“Right now,” Rarity murmured, “I wonder if I didn’t prefer being in jail to wrangling with this particular creation.”
Fluttershy gasped. “Rarity, why would you say that?”
Rarity simply shook her head and clicked her tongue as though she hadn’t even heard Fluttershy.
“Rarity? Are you listening? If something is wrong with the dress—” Fluttershy began to say.
“It’s not a matter of wrong,” said Rarity, finally looking up. “These outfits I’m putting together are precisely what they have to be. I finally understand the terms of perytonian ‘fashion’.” She waved a hoof at the jewellery, the masks and her tools. “I have figured out what I need to do to get their attention. I’ve decided how to create something that will make my creations truly take center stage—it’s just… very different from what I usually make. If I seem a little preoccupied, that’s the reason,” she finished lightly.
“Okay,” said Fluttershy, nodding very slowly, the usually demure pegasus’s tone bordering on severe. “But we’ve already talked about this. Your dresses are lovely, but we’re not really here to show them dresses or outfits. We’re here to invite Perytonia to come visit Equestria.”
“By giving them a some weird gold thingy,” Dash added, “which I always thought was weird, but if the Princesses sent a letter with us, it’d be mush by now, so I guess that part of the plan still works out, heh.”
Rarity’s eyes were unfocused, her attention drifting even as she nodded. “Yes, yes, I’m not blind to why we are here, but we also know now that these Cotronnans appreciate ceremony.”
“Maybe, but we don’t really understand it,” said Fluttershy, frowning. “They have some very complicated gestures and greetings we haven’t learned, but I’m sure there is more to it than that.”
Rarity waved a hoof. “Inconsequentia, darling dearest. The important part is that they put effort into their rituals and such. What better way to greet them than by presenting this sigil with a ceremony of our own, hm? We can send a message. Think of it as the proverbial olive branch.” The unicorn’s voice quickened. “All this while, we’ve visited so many of these fragmented cities so far apart, we’ve met peryton who are more different than even pegasi and unicorns, yet they all keep to their own business to a degree that beggars belief!”
Fluttershy licked her lips and glanced over at Rainbow Dash. Dash shrugged and nodded. “That’s what I’ve been saying since we got here,” said Dash. “Probably. Something like that.”
Rarity nodded enthusiastically in return. “What if we can show them—through the power of fashion—how much they could benefit from the very same kind of harmony that we enjoy in Equestria, hm?” She levitated up one of the Vauhornite masks, some of the jewellery from Stagrum, and the scarves from Orto. “I’m still ironing out the details, of course, but I am certain that while we invite their leader to Canterlot, we could also show them how much better things could be if they all came together! A message of harmony. Of… of togetherness.”
Rainbow Dash grinned. “I don’t know if a dress can say all that, but I like the sound of it. Why not?”
“It doesn’t sound all that bad,” Fluttershy agreed with a cautious nod. “As long as they understand that’s all we’re trying to say.”
“Mhm, yes, absolutely. All those things—but more importantly, if they realise the quality of my work in the process,” Rarity said, inspecting one of her own hooves with feigned disinterest. “Why, then that’s a boon I’ll graciously accept. Goodness knows I could use a victory like that. This entire journey has been a fashion disaster from the very beginning, I’m sure you recall.”
Fluttershy didn’t look entirely convinced. She stepped off the bench and walked over to Rarity’s table. “Okay,” she said, stepping up to stand side by side with Rarity. “I guess that would be nice, but why did you sound so worried a minute ago if you think you know what you want to do?”
It took Rarity a moment to mount a reply. At Fluttershy’s simple question, the doubt returned to Rarity’s expression. The unicorn frowned critically at all the random stuff she had amassed. She looked vaguely confused herself, though she forced a smile.
“It’s nothing, really, I just need to think differently for this particular creation, and it’s proving to be a challenge, but if I were to take the simplest possible approach—” Rarity paused for a second. “Fluttershy, do you think I could use your antlers?”
“The antlers?” Fluttershy asked, blinking rapidly. “For a dress?”
“Again, it’s not really just a dress,” said Rarity, shaking her head no. “An outfit.”
“Oh. I… guess? Sure?” Fluttershy said. Rainbow Dash cocked a brow, waiting for an explanation that never came.
“Good. One day really isn’t much time at all, and I’d need at least one more item. Perhaps some local fabrics too? Maybe they would appreciate that gesture?” Rarity asked nopony in particular, tapping a hoof on the stone floor. She took a sudden, quick breath. “Well, I do need more fabric at any rate. Yes. This will have to do—there’s even a market outside. Will you two girls manage without me for a moment?”
“Uh,” was all Dash got out before Rarity had tossed some gems into an ohron, halfway to the door.
“Okay?” Fluttershy said, staring after her. The door opened and closed, and they were sans a unicorn. Fluttershy trotted halfway towards the door herself as though she meant to follow, but she evidently thought the better of it, furling her wings tight on her back. Rainbow Dash slipped off the bench herself and scratched her belly with a wing, walking over to the heavy cloth that sectioned off the living room, poking her head through to the simple stoveless kitchen. The curtains split the ground floor in two like they were separate stages. Better than sliding doors, at least, Dash thought.
“I’m glad she’s… better?” Rainbow Dash heard Fluttershy’s voice say, muffled by the thick grey-brown curtains. The other pegasus pushed apart the curtains to stand with Dash between the two rooms. “Except I didn’t know she was doing worse, first,” Fluttershy continued.
Rainbow Dash shrugged, giving the kitchen a quick once-over. No food. It was too much to expect that a borrowed or rented house would come with a complimentary fruit bowl, apparently. The entire place was completely bare except for a small bowl of water on a shelf by the door.
“I dunno, it’s Rarity making dresses. Or not-dresses,” said Dash laughing. She pushed through the curtains and made for the staircase leading up to the second floor instead. “Let’s go check out the bedroom.”
“There’s another water bowl here,” said Fluttershy. She had paused by the top of the stairs, pointing to a wooden bowl on a tiny end table. Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, poked one of the three beds. It was hard, and they hadn’t been made. One of the closets probably had linens or something, then.
“Yeah?” said Dash, looking up and trying to remember what Fluttershy had said. The other pegasus dipped her hoof in the water and flicked it about, tilting her head.
“Like that,” said Fluttershy. “Ihassa did that a lot, did you notice?”
“I guess,” said Dash, frowning. “What’s it supposed to mean?”
“We didn’t really ask, but she did say that they really liked their procedures, so it has to mean something to them,” Fluttershy said, shrugging. “Oh. The beds aren’t made.”
“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash. She stared at one of the cupboards for all of two seconds before she decided she didn’t feel like doing anything about it for the moment. “Not much of a hotel, huh.”
“Well, it’s a house,” said Fluttershy, smiling. “It’s probably meant for someone who wants to stay for a little longer. Maybe the traders stop here for a while. Didn’t Khaird say he used to travel to Cotronna sometimes?”
“Yeah like… once every ten years or whatever,” said Dash, laughing. “Hang on, I’m gonna go get something.”
Fluttershy nodded, and Rainbow Dash spread her wings, sailing down the stairs to the first floor, trotting through to the living room tables. Rarity had upended half their stuff there, but where was—ah. There. Dash picked their large, well-worn blanket off the ground and tossed it onto her back. She couldn’t be bothered to make the beds, but she really wanted something softer to lay on. She hurried back up the stairs and tossed the unfolded blanket onto the closest bed, not bothering to spread it out. She simply leaped on top of the soft bundle.
On the far side of the room, Fluttershy had the shutters of one window open. She stood on one of the beds, resting her forelegs on the high windowsill, looking out. From where she lay, Dash couldn’t see whatever it was Fluttershy saw. She just saw her girlfriend leaning out, hindlegs stretched out.
“I can’t see Rarity, but she has to be somewhere down there in the market plaza across the road,” said Fluttershy without turning around.
“Probably, yeah,” said Rainbow Dash. She flipped onto her back and stared up at the ceiling, trying to determine what the hatch was for rather than look at her girlfriend. The way she stood, there wasn’t a way to not look at the stupid scar.
“Maybe. But she said she wanted fabrics. She probably wants some very specific things, and they can’t have everything in one place, can they? She could be anywhere now. We just got to this city. She could get lost,” Fluttershy said, her voice fraught with concern.
“She’ll be fine,” said Rainbow Dash, wiggling her way deeper into the blanket. She couldn’t get comfortable. Maybe there was a point to the whole ‘folding the blanket double and laying down properly’ thing Rarity did.
“Probably,” Fluttershy agreed, “but she could be alone and scared, too. Maybe we should go make sure she’s okay.”
Rainbow Dash rolled back upright and tried to smooth out the blanket with her hooves. “Stop worrying,” she said with a chuckle. “Rarity is fine, and I’m gonna stay here, thanks. Vauhorn worked out because Neisos was cool, but without anyone around who can explain stuff, I can only take so much crazy peryton in one day.”
“That’s okay,” said Fluttershy, pausing only for a second before she added. “Maybe I should go look for her. I could check the market across the street at least.”
Dash laughed. “Come on, Fluttershy. No offense, but if anypony here’s gonna get scared by themselves, it’s you.”
Fluttershy looked over her shoulder, still leaning against the windowsill. She smiled and nodded slightly. “You’re probably right. Everything here is moving so fast, and these peryton are really hard to talk to.”
Rainbow Dash bit onto the blanket and dragged one side to meet the other. There, she declared, laying down again. Much better.
“I think I could do it, though,” said Fluttershy, nibbling her bottom lip. “It’s not that terrifying, is it? Just… walk across the street and look around—oh, but it’s ever so dark. They all use magical lights, and there are no real streetlights in the market. And what if one of them asks me a question and I don’t know what to say? What if not saying anything is the worst possible thing?”
All jokes aside, of course Fluttershy could do it. The idea of wading through a marketplace full of weird peryton looking for Rarity was trivial for Rainbow Dash, but Fluttershy would need a push to actually do it. Old, non-best-girlfriend-ever Rainbow Dash would have given her a rude shove without a second thought—as would Rainbow Dash of a few days ago. While they were trying to escape the mountains, Dash rarely ever had a choice about pushing them all to do all they could, and that was the only thing that kept her from feeling bad about last week.
Right now, Fluttershy’s scar stared Rainbow Dash down, as did the weight of all those memories she had suppressed in the name of escape and survival. Fluttershy’s tear-streaked face during this year’s hurricane effort. All the misery she’d heaped upon Fluttershy so far during this journey. Right now, Rainbow Dash lay on a comfortable bed in a borrowed house, and the price of failing to kick Fluttershy into action was that Rarity might take a few minutes longer to get back home.
“Sure,” said Rainbow Dash. “But you know she’ll be back soon. Don’t worry about it, jeez.”
Fluttershy pushed off the windowsill and sat down on the other bed. “I am worried, that’s the problem,” she said, frowning slightly. “I know she’s probably fine. Rarity can take care of herself. She’s a very capable pony, but I would feel a lot better if I knew for sure. She ran out the door ever so quickly.”
Rainbow Dash sighed and sat back up again. “Would it make you feel better if I just fly over there real quick and see if I can find her?” she asked.
Fluttershy shook her head. “You said you didn’t want to go.”
Dash shrugged. “I don’t, but I can do it. It’s not a big deal. It’ll take me two minutes, tops. We’ve talked about it for more than two minutes. You could make the beds in the meantime. Win-win!”
Fluttershy licked her lips and drew breath, letting it out again slowly.
“That’s very nice of you. I mean, it’s nice of you to offer, but I don’t really want you to do it, no.”
Dash scratched her head. “Okay. So… you want someone to do it, but it’s not me, but—uh, do you want to do it?” Dash asked. She pointed to Fluttershy, past her, towards where the market lay. “If you really want to go look for Rarity, why don’t you?”
Fluttershy folded her ears. “I… I’m not sure I want to, no. Or, I guess maybe I wish I could do it, but it would be ever so scary.”
And there it was. She didn’t really want to do it.
“That’s cool,” said Rainbow Dash, nodding. “If you don’t wanna do it, I’m not gonna tell you to do it.”
Fluttershy shuffled her wings awkwardly, staring at the ground between the two beds for a long moment. “I’m probably just overthinking it, aren’t I?” She smiled a touch and shook her head. “It’s just a short walk away. In the darkness. With lots of really strange peryton, and just one pony for them to stare at instead of three. And maybe I’ll knock on the wrong door on the way back and stand in front of some very nice peryton who wonder why I’m bothering them—oh, no, I don’t think I could do it.”
Rainbow Dash sighed. She already missed the mountains. She wanted to tell Fluttershy that of course she could do it. The price of failure might be less, the stakes lower, but Dash wanted the same thing as ever. To make Fluttershy do the thing. Because she knew she could do it.
Dash herself also knew her words wouldn’t be a simple “yes.” She wouldn’t say “I think you could do it.” It would come out as Dash saying whatever she had to say to make Fluttershy go look for Rarity, and before she knew it she’d be pushing Fluttershy out the door by force, making Fluttershy sad or terrified or everything in between. Now they tried to fly across the mountains, and Fluttershy cried that she couldn’t give any more lift.
Dash didn’t say anything, and neither did Fluttershy, the other pegasus looking at her across the room, almost expectant.
“Hey, so, uh,” said Dash. She cleared her throat, beginning anew. “Listen. I know I’ve pushed you around a lot, alright? I know.”
Maybe Fluttershy would appreciate some honesty. Rainbow Dash sure wished things were simple right now herself. She knew she had been confused a lot whenever Fluttershy tried to explain things back in Vauhorn. In fact, to all accounts, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were terrible at talking together, which was why Dash did as little of it as she possibly could. She just didn’t like the idea that Fluttershy sat in fear of Dash suddenly grabbing her by the tail and forcing her to do something stupid again.
Now, Fluttershy’s face was blank.
“I don’t want to do that anymore,” Dash added, flicking one ear, trying to get the white lie out convincingly. Want was such a tricky word, but it sounded so much better if she was decisive about it. “I mean everything like… making you fly the cart, or whatever. Stupid stuff. I’m done with that, okay?”
Fluttershy stared at her own hooves for two, three, four seconds, her chest moving slowly with breath, but her face showed nothing. Her ears were stiff and her wings tight, but otherwise her features were perfectly schooled.
“Okay? Is… that what you really want?” Fluttershy asked.
No, thought Rainbow Dash. I wanna continue showing you how awesome you can be. I wanna go back to before I realised how much I’ve hurt you and how stupid I’ve been, but that’s selfish.
“Yeah, duh. Of course it is!” lied Rainbow Dash, when all she wanted to do was tell Fluttershy to head out there, to realise that these peryton weren’t half as scary as Fluttershy was amazing. No big whoop.
She wanted Fluttershy to come back triumphant, and then they could run around town all night and be confused about weird bowing and gestures and dipping hooves in silly little water-bowls or whatever.
“That’s old Rainbow Dash stuff,” said Rainbow Dash when Fluttershy didn’t reply. “I can be a way cooler girlfriend than that. The only reason I gave you a hard time in the mountains was because I had to,” she added, trying not to feel guilty about how much she had enjoyed it. Did it count as being a jerk if she had fun doing something mean when she didn’t have a choice? Probably.
She expected Fluttershy to look happy with that. After all, Rainbow Dash only said what she’d been trying to live by for the past few weeks. She smiled at Fluttershy, and she expected Fluttershy to smile back, to appreciate it, but since this was all pretty obvious, there probably wasn’t much to say. No, Fluttershy hardly needed to thank Rainbow Dash for saying she wasn’t going to be a stupid meanie to her girlfriend. Dash rolled onto her side and stretched out her one free wing, satisfied she had done the right thing, while Fluttershy slipped off the bed, making for the stairs.
“I’m going to go see if I can buy us some food,” said Fluttershy, simply. “I’m hungry.”
Dash blinked. “Huh? Outside? Okay, I thought—”
“And… Rainbow Dash? I think maybe it’s okay, if you don’t mi—well, no. I think we should probably just be friends, really,” said the other pegasus.
“Wait, what?” Dash asked, sitting up so fast she nearly fell over forwards.
“I think we made better friends than we did girlfriends, that’s all,” said Fluttershy, her voice quavering a little bit. She didn’t look at Rainbow Dash, already halfway down the stairs. “I’m sorry. Anyway, um... that’s how I feel,” she said. “I’ll be back in a little bit. Bye.”