“Why are we walking the whole way there?”
“I told you already, at least five times.”
“But the reason was stupid. I could just carry you there.”
Rarity turned to Rainbow Dash. “And how well did that work out last time? Every pony in your entire regiment knew where you had gone.”
Dash shrugged. “Yeah, but I wanted ‘em to know. Make sure they knew, so when I got back everyone would know what a punk Rich is.”
“This is a delicate diplomatic mission. Attention is the last thing we want.”
“Whatever you say, milady. They make all the recruits march for days, pegasus or not. I was just concerned about your delicate constitution.”
Rarity pursed her lips. “You needn’t be concerned about me, specialist. Just keep an ear to the ground and make sure no one is following us.”
Rarity looked up at the sky again. They had been walking for a while. The bright blue of the sky had started to dull about an hour ago. The clouds had started first, going from white to pink a few shades at a time.
Rarity had seen pictures of dusk and night before, of course. They had shown them all the time in her days at grade school, the perfect example of how strange and backwards the Nightscape was. The softer colors had sent a shiver up her spine, the first time. A perversion of the sky, like it had rotted and grown moldy.
Rarity shook her head. She had grown past that propaganda a long time ago.
“Finally, something other than sand.”
Rarity looked up. A modest sign—barely even a placard—clung rustily to a squat fence. It declared “Welcome t Eclipston!”, far more proudly than it deserved.
“Eclipston?”
“Means we’re halfway there.” Rainbow stretched her neck and unkinked her wings. “Sounds like a good place to take a break, if you ask me.”
Rarity opened her mouth to protest, but a thought interrupted her. “Perhaps. Let’s find some place with a bit of, well, local charm.”
The town barely qualified as such. Buildings pockmarked the landscape, all built in the same squat, square style. The fence holding the town’s sign quickly gave up on encircling the place, even though that job possessed no real challenge. Shrubbery poked at the edges of the various foundations, and a few gnarled attempts at trees sprouted here and there.
Rarity reflexively looked to the center of the town, where the sundial should be. But instead of a proper sundial, a battered mechanical clock sat in a…well “tower” was an overstatement.
“Come on, I’m hungry,” Rainbow Dash muttered. She trotted off to the second-largest building in town. Another excessively proud sign across the front declared “In ”.
“Well, I suppose they don’t have a large tourism industry here,” Rarity said to herself.
The interior of the inn possessed the same qualities as the town; words like ‘rustic’ and ‘quaint’ came to mind. Unlike the exterior, everything had been immaculately cleaned, and recently.
Two hooves in the door, and Rarity’s vision filled with pink.
“Hi! Welcome ta Eclipston, ‘n’ ta Eclipston’s best inn!” The pink pony bounced up and down. “What can I put ya two down for?”
“Food and a bed,” Dash said.
“Just one bed?” The innkeeper’s eyes widened. “Oh my goodness, are you two sleeping together? Are you on vacation? Is this yer honeymoon?” She gasped. “Oh, let me get ya the finest we have! I’ve been savin’ some of my private—”
“Thank you, but no.” Rarity waved a hoof at Dash. “We are most certainly not in a relationship, or on vacation, and I most definitely want my own bed.”
The innkeeper paused in mid-air, then drifted to the ground. “Oh, right, sorry. Got a bit carried away there. Two meals ‘n’ two beds, comin’ right up! Have a seat, ‘n’ if you need anythin’ at all, just call for Pinkie Pie!” She bounced into the presumable kitchen. “Pumpkin, hurry up, we got two guests!”
Rarity sat down at a well-worn wooden table on a worn-down wooden stool. “I suppose menus are out of the realm of possibility.”
Rainbow snickered. “Ya think?”
“You know, you have been awfully sarcastic and snarky throughout our trip so far, specialist. I am beginning to suspect that you are not taking our diplomatic assignment seriously.”
“Why, what would make you think that?” She turned to the door Pinkie had hopped through. “Pinkie Pie, I want something hard to go with the food!”
“Okie dokie!” a muffled voice from the kitchen answered.
“Drinking on the job? What makes you think—”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, milady. It’s not like we’re on some secret mission.”
Rarity’s eyes narrowed. “Even if we were on some sort of secret mission, you are still on duty.”
“Am I?” Rainbow lifted up a flap on her uniform. A clock had been sewn into it, one of those newer, digital timepieces that lacked the elegance and subtlety of a proper sundial, all red lights and numbers and electricity instead of shadows and angles. “Cuz according to this, it’s way past duty hours, and we’re definitely not on a secret mission or anything, are we?”
Rarity pursed her lips. “I suppose not.”
Clanks and thunks and bumps echoed from the kitchen. After a few minutes, Pinkie Pie emerged, balancing two plates on her back and holding a drink tray in her mouth.
“Alright, there ya go! The finest pancakes ‘n’ the finest wine in Eclipston!”
Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Pancakes? At this hour?”
“Anytime is a great time for a pancakes!”
Rainbow Dash grunted agreement, her mouth already full.
Rarity took a bite, and if not for her diplomatic instincts, she might have let out several letters, mostly Ms and Os.
“Well, this is certainly scrumptious!”
Rainbow Dash grunted agreement, her mouth even more full.
Pinkie Pie pulled up a chair. “Sooooo, if you don’t mind me asking, what brings y’all here? We don’t get visitors ta Eclipston too often, especially ones so fancy.”
Rarity glanced at her clothes. A matched seersucker skirt and blouse, striped white and aquamarine. She glanced at Pinkie Pie’s apron. It looked pink at first glance, but might have been red once. A pocket had fallen off and been sewn back on. Even the sandy gold of Rainbow’s uniform looked garish and overblown by comparison.
Pinkie Pie leaned in conspiratorially, covered her mouth playfully. “It’s a secret, isn’t it?”
“Well, yes.”
“Is it ‘n important secret? Maybe a dangerous secret?”
“Perhaps.”
Pinkie Pie clapped her hooves, rapidly and lightly, and a small chortle escaped her lips. “Oooh, I love secrets! There’s, like, no secrets in Eclipston. Everyone knows about that rusty clock ‘n’ the boggarts down the road ‘n’ that gnarled oak tree with the hollow branch. Life needs a few surprises ‘n’ secrets ta stay interestin’.”
Pinkie Pie leaned in again. “Ya know, we don’t get very many visitors from Corona, ‘n’ even fewer couples.”
“We are most certainly not—”
“Right, right, I know.” Pinkie waggled a hoof. “I’ve heard the stories. All the couples from Corona talk about how…” Pinkie looked left and right. “Well, you know, they don’t like, well, matched pairin’s in the Empire.”
“What?”
“S’alright, I know ya have ta play dumb, what with the spies ‘n’ all lurkin’ everywhere.” Pinkie shrugged. “I’m just sayin’, if ya two feel like savin’ some money, ya could get the one bed. It’s not like the Empire c’n stop ya out here.”
Rarity glanced at Rainbow Dash, who had started snickering through her mouthful of pancake.
“As if anypony, especially one of my impeccable taste and high station, could be romantically attracted to this, this…pancake-stuffed wad of sarcasm.”
Pinkie Pie sighed romantically. “Ah, young love is so nice ta see bloomin’, ‘specially in that stuffy old Empire.”
Rarity took another bite of her pancakes. She had never heard of any sort of mandate, de jure or otherwise, on the orientation or type of romantic intercourse allowed in her Empire. Perhaps in the military, but the official stance on that had been “don’t ask” for some time now.
Is this remote innkeeper merely deluded? Or do outsiders actually believe this? Is it some sort of propaganda spread by…?
Rarity bit her lip. She had done it again.
“Uhm, Pinkie Pie, perhaps you would answer a different sort of question for me?”
“Sure.”
“What do the people of Eclipston think of Corona?”
“Well, no offense meant, but y’all’re a bunch a stuffed shirts and laywers, from what I’ve seen.” Pinkie waved a hoof at Rainbow Dash. “I mean, y’all spend half your time ’n’ money on yer military, ’n’ it doesn’t even do anythin’.”
Dash finally swallowed, what seemed like a full pound of pancake and a worrying amount of wine. “Sounds right to me.”
“Specialist! Watch yourself.”
“Pfft. As if you get anything done up in parliament, shuffling papers and arguing all day.”
“We do not argue! We debate eloquently, defending our ideals and the ideals of our people.”
Rainbow Dash had already gotten back into the pancakes. “What about that time an MP took a swing at somebody?”
Rarity scoffed. “That only happened a few times. And the last time was decades ago.”
Pinkie Pie patted Rarity’s hoof. “Aw, don’t take it personal, sugarcube. It ain’t your fault. All that propaganda they feed ya in school, ’n’ all those crazy laws yer Queen used ta pass. It’s been like this since way before any of us was born.”
Pinkie Pie leaned back in her chair. “And besides, it’s not like the Nightscape is any better. All the stuff they have ta eat, and all the weird things they do ta their animals. They call ‘em loonies for a reason, after all.”
“Well, it is not as if Eclipston has it any better.”
“Sure don’t!” Pinkie Pie chuckled. “The last visitors we had before y’all showed up was months ago. Of course, we got a thrivin’ tourism industry if ya count tumbleweeds, but they can’t really strike up a decent conversation. All the bordertowns are the same as us, tho’, so at least we get some points for solidarity.”
Rarity glanced to the side. The inn remained empty. “What would you think if, purely hypothetically, the sun and the moon started to move again? Would it help everypony get along? Would it change things for the better? Would everypony stop being divided?”
Pinkie Pie laughed. “Oh wow! I never heard a question that crazy before! The sun and moon movin’ again? Like they did before the sisters threw their hissy fit?” Pinkie laughed again. “I bet everypony would start movin’ back and forth more, at the very least. Maybe we’d get some more customers.” She leaned back thoughtfully again. “As fer gettin’ along? Who can say? I suppose anythin’s possible. And a change that big, somethin’ big would be bound ta happen. But I can’t really say fer sure.”
Pinkie Pie scooted her chair over, planted an elbow on the table. “I’ll tell ya this much, tho’. It’d be real interestin’. And this place could stand ta be more interestin’. I’ve lived here my whole life, ’n’ I ain’t seen anythin’ interestin’ yet. Well, maybe that five-legged goat, but that was the exception. I guess we’re due fer somethin’ interestin’ ta happen sometime soon.” Pinkie pointed at her tail. It vibrated slightly, for a few moments. “It’s like rain, you can feel it comin’, but ya don’t know exactly when or why it’ll show up. And the way yer talkin’, maybe interestin’ is on it’s way sooner than I thought.”
Pinkie hopped out of her chair. “Anyhow, I’ve taken enough a yer time. Here’s yer keys. I put ya in the big room. Two separate beds, but they’re in easy reach of each other.” She winked slyly. “Just call for Pinkie Pie if ya need anythin’. Or Pound Cake, it’s almost time for her shift.” Pinkie hopped into the kitchen. “Pumpkin, finish up them dishes. I’m gonna go prep the lovebirds’ beds 'n' head out.”
Rarity took another bite of her pancakes. “Quite a bit of local color around here.” She turned to Rainbow Dash, who had taken a break from stuffing her face only because she had emptied her plate and glass.
“What do you think, specialist?”
“I mean, if you like her, go for it.”
“Excuse me?”
“You said ‘local color’, and I’m guessing by her name that she’s the most colorful thing in this dirtpile by a few hues.”
“I meant the discussion, you crass hedonist.”
“Permission to speak freely?”
Rarity paused at that. If Rainbow Dash hasn’t been speaking freely until now, then what was ‘freely’? “Always.”
“I think you shouldn’t bother quizzing everyone we come across. It’s like I said when we first met: maybe you should think about how you’re going to react to the change first. If it even changes.”
“And how do you intend to react to the change we are trying to bring about? When it happens?”
“Still quizzing everyone.” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “But, I wouldn’t have to go through a day’s hike for some decent pancakes or some fungale, so that’s a start.” She hunched over in her chair. “And, I’m not holdin’ my breath or anything, but it might be nice to not have officers breathing down my neck every minute I’m on duty, a bit less paperwork to fill out.” Rainbow returned to her allegedly casual slouch. “But who am I kiddin’? If some miracle happens and the empires make up, that’ll mean more paperwork.”
Rarity shook her head. “I think I’m ready for bed.”
“If you want to sample local color, I can hang around down here for a bit.”
“Specialist, shut up.”