About two miles south of the Trans-Appleloosan Railway, there was a pullout for passing trains. Nothing as sophisticated as in the bigger cities. Simply a flat stretch of ground to draw a train aside if need be. Aside from the old, underused tracks that led out to a pile of logs blocking the end of the line, there was only a single small booth scarcely larger than an outhouse on a platform that looked like it was made from an old barn wall. The glass was boarded up and the door was shut.
Yet as soon as the first few rays of morning light shone through the old, weathered cracks, the door to the booth suddenly fell open and a pair of bodies tumbled out.
Rarity and Rainbow Dash, dirty, tired and sore, slumped out on the ground like they were sacks of potatoes. Both looked exhausted as their eyes lolled around in their sockets, which only made sense as both of them had been forced to sleep back-to-back on the single, uncomfortable wooden stool in the shack while propped up against each other’s backs. It was the only way both could fit.
After a moment of lying there, Dash craned her head to the sky, spotted the sun, then weakly smiled. “Heh…we made it. We’re alive.”
Rarity moaned as she slowly began to uncompress herself. “If I am ever forced to sleep on a hard wooden chair sitting upright again, it will be too soon…” She finally rolled off of Dash and plopped on the ground with a pitiful sigh. “How close did we get to Manehattan?”
Dash cracked her neck and shoulders and pushed herself up. She looked around and spotted a large mountain range that began only thirty miles away from them. She gestured. “See those mountains?”
The designer weakly looked up.
“That’s the Hyperborean Mountains. We’re on the east side of ‘em.”
“And…where is Manehattan?”
“About a hundred miles away from the west side of them.”
Rarity’s eyes bulged. She stared at Dash and the mountains for several seconds of silence. One of her eyes began to twitch, and a violent quiver came over her jaw as her body seized. Finally, she could take it no longer.
Smashing her fists against the ground, she let out a scream so loud it made Dash jump and recoil from her.
“Alright… That. Is. It! That is, absolutely, without a doubt, the very last straw! I have had it! Ever since I left Manehattan I’ve been waylaid, extorted, threatened, kidnapped, hijacked, disrespected, insulted, chased, shot at, stabbed at, electrocuted, and had my best traveling dress and boots ruined beyond all repair! I’ve been marched across country like a combat trainee, harassed like a common thug, watched my childhood teacher beheaded, been branded like a cow across my back leg, and forced to run across country in the dark to take refuge in a glorified outhouse to avoid being eaten alive from a hoard of Nighttouched groundhogs! And now…now after having endured all of that…I am still an entire mountain range away from the nearest telegraph!”
She snapped up and glared at Dash with such ferocity she nearly looked wild. She violently tore a loose thread from her dress and waved it in front of her.
“Do you see this? This is my wit! And do you know what? I’m at the absolute end of it!” She flung the thread to the ground, put her arms in front of her, threw her head on top of it, and began to break out in wailing. “It’s over! It’s hopeless! I have absolutely nothing left to give!”
By now, Dash was looking almost uncomfortable with Rarity’s overreactions. “Ok, ok…look, just chill out…”
Rarity raised her head. “Chill out?”
In a flurry, she was back on her feet at full height, and glaring down on Dash so furiously the mercenary actually recoiled.
“Chill out?! What, pray tell, do I have left to take out for any kind of chill at this point? Those train passes that we got last night were my last hope of getting back to Manehattan, and now we’re stranded in Appleloosa with no money, no transportation, no food, no water, and a scrap of paper that we might as well use for toiletries for all the good it is going to do us!”
“Hey, relax!” Dash quickly got to her feet again, wincing only a little at her side. “I got another way we can get back!”
Rarity groaned and ran her hand along her face. “At this point, unless you have an airship stowed somewhere, it doesn’t matter. On foot it will take days to cross those mountains.”
“Not if we went under them.”
Rarity slowly pulled her hand off her face. “I beg your pardon?”
Dash looked to the sky, but then around. She spotted a pathway leading away from the station, so she turned and began to head for it. “We better start moving now if we’re gonna make it. I’ll tell you on the way.”
Rarity stood there a moment or two; feeling hungry again and still sore and stiff from yesterday. However, having no other alternative, she groaned and began to walk after her. She caught up just as they reached the main pathway, which Dash quickly began to take for the nearest road.
“It just so happens that yours truly knows this area. I also happen to know of some associates nearby.”
“More Huntsman Guild members?”
“Eh, not these guys. Not quite as ‘savory’, but don’t worry. I can vouch for this one. They’re smugglers, actually. And they smuggle all types, including people. Especially during wartime. With the rails down, they’ll be getting lots of requests to get people under the Hyperboreans.”
Rarity began to look uneasy. “Did you say…smugglers?”
“Yeah.”
“Of…people?”
“Well, uh…occasionally.”
“Um…voluntarily?”
Dash sighed. “Look, do you want to get back to Manehattan or at least a telegraph in time to give that contract or not?”
Rarity realized she didn’t have a rebuttal for that. “Just one question. It’s my understanding that smugglers demand payment for their services and, after that jaunt on the train, all I have other than the clothes on my back is that slip of paper.”
“I…might have a way around that,” Dash responded; a bit more hesitantly than Rarity liked. “First things first, we gotta get there. I think I know the area but it’s still a long walk.”
Rarity made a firm decision that once she got back to Manehattan she would never walk anywhere again so long as she could afford a coach or steam taxi. Having to go on yet another rough, cross-country trip again hungry, thirsty, and still stiff and sore from the night before was reducing her to the point where she felt like she would collapse. She might have if today hadn’t been so different.
One factor that was that Rainbow Dash had them stick to the roads this time, so the going was more even and easier. Yet they had only been walking about an hour when they began to see others walking down the road, and going the same way they were. Soon they were more than a random occurrence. Many of them, and mostly in large groups, continued to pass them by. Some were on horses or in wagons, but all looked as dirty, sore, and distraught as the two of them did. Some even more so. A few of them had crying children, while others walked along as if in a distracted, hollow daze. As time went on, the road grew so thick with them that it was impossible to miss them, and several of them began to threaten to push the two off the road all together.
As the two kept walking along, Rarity gradually began to look at each one as they passed. Finally, she spotted one group consisting of an older man leading a horse that had a woman his age and one child on it. Another one walked on the other side.
She waved to him. “Excuse me? Sir?”
He glanced up.
“May I ask what all of this is?”
“Another Nighttouched surge last night,” the man darkly answered. “Took two more towns. Had ones bigger than anyone had ever seen, from what I hear. That wasn’t all, though. Trottingham airships attacked another town. Everyone says they’re taking advantage to invade. Whole military is up in arms.”
Rarity looked rather uneasy. “Oh my…”
“That’s not all. They got some sort of new soldiers running through Appleloosa now. Ones that got these weird tattoos or something on their hands. They’re attacking other cities too, from what I hear. Northern Appleloosa’s going to hell. I’m getting my family out before it gets any worse.”
Rarity slowed down at that, letting the group pass. Dash did much the same, before she dropped in next to her. “Let’s take that as our cue to keep the symbols hidden, got it?”
She said nothing; just pulled her sleeve down lower over her already-bandaged hand.
By the time noon had passed, Rarity was so tired and hungry she was getting dizzy. Dash, however, kept them moving forward as the land began to grow wetter and, as a result, more overgrown. The road became more maintained, but it also grew so thick that they were surrounded on all sides by civilians moving out. There had to be hundreds or even thousands by the time they reached that point. Rarity eventually began to see buildings up on the horizon up ahead, no more than a mile or two from the foot of the mountains. More than that, she saw planted hedge rows and basic stake palisades stretching both north and south.
She saw little more than this initially, however, for the caravan suddenly came to a stop. She and all those around her were forced to halt. Scarcely had they done so when Dash tapped her against the shoulder and gestured off the road. “Come on.”
Rarity felt a bit out of sorts doing this, but did as Dash indicated. Not too many people seemed to mind as they left. It was a bit of a hard walk as by now there were deep ditches on either side, but they got through and started trudging through marshy, insect-filled grass beyond. The two kept walking away from the road until Rarity could look back and see, much to her surprise, it stretch for two miles with no end in sight.
“What in the world…?”
“We’re at the Mount Aris border. And unlike Appleloosa, even this far north they got enough people to not only build a fence all along the border but folks to watch it too. And the Hippogriff Legion isn’t about to just let a bunch of Appleloosans flood their borders at their weakest spot,” Dash explained. She gestured up and down the horizon. “This here used to be a mining village before the shadow over Equestria got too close. Now it’s just an outpost. But that’s perfect for us.”
Dash continued to lead the two of them on away from the road for another three miles north, until the line of wagons trying to gain entry shrank into a thin ribbon before nearly vanishing. Only then did Dash turn around and began to trudge for the border again. Even from this distance, Rarity could still see old buildings and streets on the other side of the fence, but these ones were abandoned and left to rust and rot.
“Now, something really important…” Dash spoke up as they walked. “You don’t let anyone in there know you’re from Manehattan.”
“Wh-what? Whyever not?”
Dash winced at the sound of her voice. “You’ll see when you get there, but trust me. Huntsmen Guild members take whoever, but smugglers are more choosy depending on who you go with, and they don’t like Manehattanites. On that note, try and lose that city accent. It’s a dead giveaway.”
“Of all the…” Rarity began to fume, but finally bit her tongue. “Oh, very well.”
“And try to act more…I dunno…cool. You’re too uptight.”
Rarity’s face fell, her teeth gritting. “Well, do y’all want un I should act more country like?” she spat sarcastically; heavily exaggerating the accent.
“Eh, that’s too much. Tell you what…just don’t talk for the next day or two and let me handle everything.”
The designer nearly fumed, but didn’t answer. The two of them walked the rest of the way to the fence in silence. In spite of not looking too terribly formidable, it had one very important aspect. There was a manned guard actually patrolling it every several hundred feet. Rarity looked one way and the other, and in addition to one guard directly in front of them she saw one posted on either end of the fence barrier as well. She realized they must have had one all up and down the line, with a way of signaling others. Small wonder no one had bothered leaving the road.
The two finally approached the fence and went straight to the sentry. She spotted them and quickly turned to face them. Her weapon was shifted across her chest, but she didn’t try to take aim. Not that it mattered—it was more than enough for Rarity to stiffen and shove her marked hand further behind her.
Finally, the two reached the fence and halted directly across from the guard. She stared at them both with a hard-set jaw. “You can’t cross here. If you need to get into Mount Aris, cross at the customs post like everyone else.”
Dash merely half-smirked back. “We’re on an emergency for Old Knick-Knack.”
The guard paused. She glanced at Dash a moment, then to Rarity, then back to her. After a moment, she glanced in either direction, seeing how far she was from the nearest soldiers, then back to her. “200 up front for the both of you.”
Dash kept smirking and shaking her head. “Uh-uh…you know that’s not how it works. You get the cut, same as everyone else.”
“Times change. Haven’t you noticed the border?”
“Times change, huh? Then you won’t mind us checking the next couple guards down and, once that doesn’t work out, come back here, huh?”
The guard frowned, but finally reneged and stepped to one side. “Get over here already.”
Dash nodded and readily hopped over the fence. Rarity, on her part, moved up and more awkwardly inched over one leg at a time.
“The code name is Sour Peach. Got that? Sour Peach.”
“Yeah, yeah…got it…” Dash grumbled as she reached out to help Rarity the rest of the way. “Come on, let’s move.”
She went ahead and held her hand to pull her away quickly from the fence to the nearest abandoned building; only letting her go to walk normally once there. Rarity looked behind them as the soldier resumed her spot and tried to look innocent. “That was a Hippogriff Legionnaire, wasn’t it? I recognize those gharish uniform designs anywhere…”
“You bet.”
“Why did she let us pass?”
“Nowadays, being a soldier is the easiest way to getting your throat ripped out by a Nighttouched in five years. A lot of them will take whatever pay on the side they can get, including looking the other way for a nice big smuggling ring. All you got to do is make sure they get their cut. That’s why she passed on that fake name. We tell it to the ring, and they make sure they get their percentage.”
“And, once again,” Rarity said with a groan, “the topic of money comes up. I don’t think I need to remind you we still can’t foot the original bill, let alone give that woman a ‘cut’.”
“What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her,” Dash answered, leading Rarity to sigh as she kept walking.
They didn’t have to go nearly as far this time. There was nothing to see in the abandoned city but rubble and ruined buildings—ones that Rarity honestly couldn’t tell were due to Nighttouched attack or warfare. She was hoping for the latter as there were a lot of shadows there, and even more as clouds began to roll in. Yet as they neared the foot of the mountain, most of the larger buildings gave way to smaller homes and finally shacks, before spacing out and revealing sets of abandoned train tracks. They passed a large station soon after before nearing the edge of town.
As they came close to that, Rarity finally noticed that there were several wood framed entrances forming openings in the foothills. The dirt around them was rather packed and rocky, even after so many years of being abandoned. At this point, Dash put a hand on Rarity and pushed her up against one of the last buildings before the mountains. She did the same but inched forward and looked out to the closest foothill. Her eyes focused on one building that seemed to be built right into the side.
“What’s-”
“Ssh! Like I said, quiet from now on! Don’t talk unless I talk to you first, ok?”
Rarity frowned but clammed up. Soon after, Dash moistened her lips, inched forward a little, and waved her hand out. The whole time, she stared at the windows of the building. Rarity looked as well, but it was dark and she couldn’t make out much. Dash waved again soon after, and continued to do so for almost a full minute. Only then, however, did Rarity think she caught a glimpse of a light in the window.
She turned to her. “We’re in. Stay behind me.”
She stood up and started walking again, with Rarity falling in behind her. Only now did the woman truly begin to feel a bit nervous, suddenly realizing that in a town full of ruins she could be rather exposed to many people lying in wait while she herself was clearly visible. They crossed the dirt patch to a small stoop and walked right up it to the building. However, they didn’t have to knock. The old yet functional door gave a click and opened wide, and the two walked right in.
Dash strolled through the threshold easily enough, but Rarity nearly gave a gasp and a start as soon as she stepped inside. Not only did the interior stink and was caked in grime and filth, not just from disrepair but continued poor usage and maintenance, she was faced with a pair of dirty, smelly, shabbily-dressed, and, judging by their expressions, foul-tempered individuals. It didn’t help that both were brandishing rifles and had both sidearms, bullets, and knives strapped to their hips.
Evidently she stared too long because one of them sneered. “What’re you looking at?”
“Uh…um…er…” Rarity stammered, nearly responding but then remembering not to speak.
Quickly, Dash grabbed her hand and pulled her further. “Ease off. This is a paying client, so you mess with her you mess with me.”
She snorted and looked away. “Not like I have much to be scared of with some has-been drunk, but whatever. Don’t want to spend the rest of my day cleaning your blood off my knives. Especially for nothing.”
Dash frowned but kept pulling Rarity. They made their way across the filthy room, but only to arrive into an equally filthy one on the other side. It was larger, however, and arranged in such a way that Rarity assumed, at one point, it had been a loading point for mining carts. There were no carts there now, obviously. Just another rather unpleasant looking person giving them both the stink eye and a set of tracks leading straight ahead into a dark tunnel. Far ahead, she could see someone had lit an oil lamp. Dash walked them past the third guard, who actually fingered her own sidearm a little as they went, much to Rarity’s unease, and led them both inside.
They passed into somewhere damp, clammy, and filthy; clearly an abandoned mine. Rarity didn’t care much for it either, or the fact that no sooner had they reached the torch than the path already split up and branched. However, Dash led them straight on and started to weave them through the caves, always knowing where to turn each time.
“Nice gig they got here, huh?” Dash chuckled as she rapped her knuckles against the wall. “This old mine got ditched during the last war because it was too close to the border of Equestria. They figured they’d lose it anyway on the next Nighttouched raid, only it never came this way. Now this mine goes all the way out to the main train tunnels leading under the mountains. So anyone who comes in here can slip right through and come out in Griffonstone.”
Rarity looked over her shoulder, making sure they weren’t being followed. “I couldn’t help but notice that, um…those folks didn’t seem to be from Mount Aris.”
“Oh them? ‘Course not. This ring is run by a group from Griffonstone.”
The designer went wide-eyed. “Griffonstone?! But…but…how is that possible?”
She shrugged. “Smugglers don’t exactly have national loyalties. The fact they’re from Griffonstone just means they know their way in and out of the country better. Besides, there’s a general rule about people from Griffonstone…the shortest way to their heart is a quick buck. And they got plenty of folks nowadays who need things moved around where no one will notice. Anyway, quick lesson over. Look sharp up ahead.”
Rarity went quiet again. The two wound their way through a few more passages, but eventually the tunnel widened into a junction and staging area. When it did, more torches arose and the two got a better view of the operation. Several other people were gathered there, either milling about or seated against old benches near the shaft walls, in addition to a number of other people that looked to also be from Griffonstone. The first group she assumed as their clientele, being civilians and travelers like her. However, most of them didn’t look to be the savory type either, and when they caught her staring at them it didn’t take long for them to give her the same look the ones from Griffonstone did.
This seemed somewhat appropriate from the various goods that were arranged into separate piles through the middle of the chamber. They ranged from decent sized loads to amounts that would fill an entire wagon, and while one looked like textiles and another looked like exotic fruits and vegetables, most of them were tightly covered with canvas and lashed down with ropes. The more tightly covered ones were practically guarded by their own handlers, some of whom were armed. Needless to say, in spite of this area being more active and with a murmur of talking, Rarity didn’t feel much safer there.
Once inside, Dash stopped, looked around, then turned back to her. “Ok, I need to go talk to one smuggler that owes me. You just sit tight in here until I get back.”
Rarity winced, looking around a little at her grimy surroundings and grimier-looking people. She fought the urge to protest but it was clear as the nose on her face.
“Eh, don’t worry. Besides…” Dash leaned and put a hand to her mouth as she whispered. “You got the same trick I have, right?” She pointed to Rarity’s hand.
Rarity had, in fact, quite forgotten about it. However, now that she remembered both it and last night when she managed to use it, she realized she might, in fact, actually be strong enough to punch at least some of the people in the room out—as barbaric a thought as it was.
“Just keep it a secret. I won’t rule out some of these guys are bounty hunters.”
Rarity nearly responded to that, but Dash was already turning and rushing off. She took a step after her before pausing, but then frowned, glanced about, and finally found the nearest and most out of the way bench that was open. She stepped over to it and sat down before trying to look as small and unnoticeable as possible.
Several minutes ticked by, Rarity growing more uncomfortable with each moment. At some point, a smuggler came out and conversed with one person trying to transport the textiles. Another came out several minutes later with two other smugglers that looked more in the “muscle” department to talk with another about their covered shipment. She didn’t see much as staring at anyone or anything for more than half a minute garnered some rather dark stares. At last, she was forced to look into her lap as time kept passing; wishing Dash would come back more quickly.
She finally reached into her dress and came out with the crumpled, somewhat-dirty contract that had been the cause of all of this. She sighed tiredly as she remembered all of the trouble she was experiencing and was still in the realm where it could be for nothing…
“Oooooo!”
Rarity snapped up in surprise to hear a voice right next to her, but jumped a second time on finding, seemingly out of nowhere, a young woman in a dress made from bright-colored fabric scraps, “traveling” gloves that were nothing other than old farm worker’s gloves, and a mess of curly, poofy pink hair had appeared over her shoulder.
“You’re smuggling a piece of paper!” she cheerily pointed out, before ducking back behind her. Rarity gave a third jump when she immediately jumped up again, but this time in front of her. “That’s amazing! I mean, I’ve seen a person smuggling a cart full of wine, a person smuggling some exotic birds, a family smuggling another family, a person smuggling wood, another person smuggling furniture made out of wood, two people smuggling a whole wagon of tobacco, four people who looked like they were smuggling something that was a lot worse than tobacco…” She abruptly leaned in and grinned. “…if you get my drift, wink-wink…” She leaned back. “…and a whooooole lot of people smuggling a couple wagons of gunpowder and bullets, but I’ve never seen anyone just trying to smuggle a piece of paper before! Wow, it must be a reeeeeally important piece of paper!”
Rarity recoiled as she poked her head over her shoulder and glanced over it a moment. She quickly pulled the contract away and folded it, but the young woman leaned back in glee. “I was right! It has ink and writing on it and everything! Even printed! Ooo, swanky!”
The designer was rather caught off guard at the way this strange woman had interjected herself, and was even more confused now that she was done but still standing in front of her and grinning. “Oh, um…uh…thank you…?” she finally answered, for lack of a better phrase.
This made her nearly bounce in one spot, seemingly overjoyed. “Oh wow! Do you know what just happened?”
“I’m sorry, I’m…afraid not?”
In another instant, she was again at her side and leaning in with a smile. “You just won the prize for being the first person who’s said anything to me since I started waiting! It’s an informal award and more of a title, but eh…it’s the prestige more than anything.”
“Oh, um…” Rarity almost fumbled, again at a loss for words. “Thank you again…?”
“You’re welcome! Soooo….” She quickly zoomed out in front of her again. “Where are you taking your important piece of paper to?”
Rarity paused; assessing the individual. She was definitely a marked contrast to the rest of the room, which seemed rather dour and unpleasant. It was honestly a bit stunning and even overbearing. However, compared to the unfriendly and hostile stares, this unexpected burst of perkiness was a nice relief and actually made her feel more at ease. Reasoning that she meant no harm and that, despite Dash’s warnings, this individual wouldn’t be put off by her accent…
“Well, I’m taking it on to Manehattan.”
“Wow! Me too! Um…the going to Manehattan part, not the taking your piece of paper to Manehattan.”
“Oh really? Well, um…what are you, er, uh…smuggling?”
“Me!” she exclaimed in an excited squeal. “Crazy, I know, right? I don’t even have a cart to carry myself in!”
“I’m sorry, but…did you say yourself?”
“Uh-huh! Maud told me the only way a Gaiatian can get across Greater Everfree now is to use a smuggler, so here I am!”
Hearing that name, Rarity paused and looked the woman over, noticing how her clothing was scrapped together from leftovers and that her shoes were nearly falling apart, to say nothing of just a hint of an accent on her voice around certain words. At once, it clicked to her.
“You mean…you’re a Gaiatian.”
“Yup!” she perkily replied, nearly jumping again at that. “I’m heading out from my holdtown to go to Manehattan and learn how to be a baker! Maud told me there’s lots of places there that will let Gaiatians work without any papers at all!”
“‘Holdtown’? Don’t you mean…hometown?”
“Nope! My hometown got smashed to bits by Nighttouched bears, and once my family fled to a different country the government there put us in a hold-you-there-in-a-poorly-lit-badly-heated-no-plumbing-shack-forever-with-no-chance-of-ever-being-able-to-leave-town instead! But that’s too much to remember, so I just call it a holdtown for short. Pretty catchy, right? I would have much rather wanted to just get the papers and keep working there, but Limestone told me that the government made a big mistake with all that.”
“Oh…? Um, what mistake was that?”
“They went and made one law saying no Gaiatian could work without legal residency papers, but then they passed another law saying that no Gaiatian can ever be eligible for legal residency papers!” She giggled a bit harder. “And then they went even crazier and said any Gaiatian that’s seen outside of their residential zone without legal residency papers can be arrested on sight! So even if you could get the papers, you’d be arrested the moment you tried to get them!” She slapped her knee and laughed. “Isn’t that the silliest thing you ever heard? It’s like they want it so that no Gaiatian can ever become a legal resident!”
Rarity felt rather uncomfortable to hear all of that, but seeing as the young woman was taking it as a joke she decided to risk a small smile and minor chuckle as well. “Oh, uh…heh…yes, that was quite…obtuse of them.”
The woman stopped laughing and turned her head. “Say, are you feeling ok? You look like you’re a bit down?”
“What, me? Oh…oh no, darling. It’s just, I, um…have never met a Gaiatian as…enthusiastic as you.”
“Ooooooh…that’s what this is about. Yeah, I know. You were expecting me to be all…” Instantly, she rolled her eyes upward, squared her jaw, and spoke in an exaggerated monotone. “Thee needeth to get thee hence of sleep chamber and start churning butter ere dawn.” She giggled as she broke. “Tee-hee! I know! My family thinks I get to be just a little bit too much too, but I can’t help it. When I came in here and started waiting and I saw everyone looking all grumpy and tired and frowny I just wanted to start spreading some smiles! So I thought I’d try and cheer everyone up! But, um…”
She leaned in a second time, going into a whisper so loud half the room still had to be able to hear her.
“Just between you and me? I don’t think these smugglers really care for people singing. Unless they cheer by shooting their guns in the air and the one who shot needed to lift her gun a lot higher.” She gestured to her own poofy hair and shifted it, giving Rarity a start when she saw that there seemed to be a hole that wasn’t due to a curl right through it.
She was again left trying to find a word to say when a whistle went out. “Hey you.”
Rarity looked up again, spotting Rainbow Dash as she walked out of a different mine tunnel. Following closely behind her was another one of the smugglers. This one seemed a bit dirtier than the others, wearing a mining lantern on her head and with bits of other tunneling gear strapped to her sides. She didn’t have a rifle but still had a handgun and a pair of knives alongside a pickaxe. Her hair was shorter with the top swept over her head, sticking up in the front almost like a tuft while still keeping her eyes covered. Her look seemed very slightly friendlier than that of the others on her approach.
However, on stepping into the chamber her eyes focused on the pink-haired woman and her teeth bared. “I thought I told you to stop bothering the rest of the clients! I’ve had six-year-old sobbing brats get drug through this cave before that didn’t make half as much noise as you!”
The young woman stared back a moment before leaning into Rarity, once again whispering more than loud enough for the new arrival to hear. “Oh, you got her too? I don’t think she’s quite as grumpy as the others, but you might have a hard time telling the difference.”
Hearing this all clearly enough made the smuggler nearly hiss. “You’re just lucky we’re on a budget or I’d ask Greta to take another shot, and this time make sure it isn’t a warning.”
By now, seeing the reactions between the two had clearly made Dash nervous. “Um, so…Rarity, this is Gilda.” She gestured to the smuggler, who looked away from the pink-haired woman but only to cross her arms and frown at the designer. “She and I go way back, and she’ll be the one we’re hiring for this trip.”
Gilda scoffed and rolled her eyes. “‘Hiring’. Real nice choice of words, Dash.” She turned about while snapping her fingers at Rarity. “You. Her. Me. Back in my ‘office’.” She nearly turned all the way around to keep leading, before she paused, looked back to the pink-haired woman, and stiffened as she grew very reluctant. “You too Thumbkin or whatever your name is…”
This only made her giggle again as she stood up. “It’s not Thumbkin, silly! Remember? It’s Pinkamena Diane-”
“Just get moving before I cough up the money for an extra bullet myself!”
The young woman got up easily enough afterward, which was more than what Rarity could say. Between the cold, mean attitude and the almost casual way she talked about dealing with the client, the designer was rather nervous to be around Gilda. Dash, however, seemed normal enough and beckoned her on, and so she reluctantly rose and followed the two of them back into the tunnel. The pink-haired woman was right behind them, and Rarity was again puzzled on seeing her seeming to happily skip along; completely unmiffed by both the hostility and the threats.
“Gilda and I go way back,” Dash casually began to explain once they were a good distance from the main cave but still worming their way through other lit mine tunnels. “All the way back to when they still would let Griffonstone citizens train as cadets in Cloudsdale. Those were the days, eh?”
“Guess I should be grateful that I wasn’t actually in Griffonstone when the first Light Eaters crossed the border,” Gilda casually shrugged. “Missed the worst of it being a displaced refugee. Of course, it didn’t matter when the Farmland War hit a couple years later…but at least I got plenty of contacts to set this business up. Maybe being in that glorified scout camp was worth something after all.”
Rarity looked unnerved on hearing that, again forgetting Dash’s warning. “Oh my…you were in Cloudsdale as well when…?”
“I think I had a bit of a rougher time of it than Dash over here,” she added, slyly smirking at her over her shoulder. “No free pardons for me. Had to start finding places to hide like abandoned mines. Not that I mind. Especially since it means I still got it while those cushy Huntsman jobs have been letting ol’ Dash here grow soft.”
“Heh, you wish,” she snickered back. “Give me shoving a couple wagons a month under a mountain over needing to guard a herd of 500 cattle from twenty guys on horses as they go across country eighty miles.”
Both smirked and snickered before Gilda turned and kept leading them on. They wound their way through a few more passages until pretty much all the noise from the other caverns had faded to nothing. Only then did Gilda take them to the end of one cave that actually narrowed to the width of a doorway, before an old door and frame was set right in front of it. It was bulging and gapped, but it seemed to have transformed at least the end of one of the tunnels into a somewhat private room.
At here, Gilda snapped back to the three again. Rarity almost recoiled, fearing that the wrath was meant for her, but instead she jabbed out a finger as sharply as a knife and poked the skipping, pink-haired girl in the chest. “You wait out here. I don’t need to try and hear myself think over you cracking another lame joke about this abandoned coal mine.”
“Ooo! That reminds me! What’s the key that people who dig for coal like to sing in? A mino-”
“I said shut up!” Wheeling around in fresh irritation, Gilda threw open the door and stepped inside. Dash readily followed while Rarity, again a bit unnerved at Gilda’s sudden violence and the young woman’s continued obliviousness, walked after them. As soon as both were in, Gilda nearly slammed the door behind them in spite of the fact it looked as if it would break it to splinters.
The interior was rather cramped, poorly lit, had only a single chair (which Gilda immediately walked up and took), and, worst of all to Rarity, was extremely dirty with coal grime. There was no way she could avoid pressing into the walls and wincing as it irreversibly stained what was left of her traveling dress. At any rate, no sooner had she and Dash come to a stop and Gilda sat then she squared them both in her eyes.
“Ok, ‘princess’,” she flatly addressed Rarity, “Dash explained your situation to me, including where you’re from and what you do for a living so here’s the deal. Five thousand apiece as soon as I get you into Manehattan, meaning ten thousand all together.”
Rarity’s jaw almost hit the ground. Since Gilda knew the truth, she forgot about holding her tongue. “T-Ten…thousand?! I…I had no idea it would be that much!”
“Well it is, and if you want back to Manehattan in time for your business deal, that’s what you get.”
“I don’t have that kind of money readily available!”
Gilda scoffed. “Yeah right. Dash already said you were paying her twenty.”
Rarity wheeled on her, but Dash could only anxiously blush. “Uh, well…you really can’t keep any Griffonstone’s attention unless you bring up money pretty fast.”
She fumed at her a moment, but then let out a pitiful moan and turned back to Gilda. “Ma’am, I’m sorry but I’m really not sure I can come up with that amount. I’m already not sure how I’m going to find the twenty-thousand to pay Ms. Dash.”
“Wait what?!” Dash instantly shot back, wheeling on Rarity just as fast as she had wheeled on her. “You were planning on stiffing me the whole time?!”
Rarity grit her teeth; at this point more frustrated than embarrassed. “I would have done absolutely everything in my power to get you the money as quickly as possible but, no, I’m not sure I would have had it available to me as soon as I got back to Manehattan. I’m sorry to say that, contrary to popular belief, Manehattanites do not sleep on piles of money stuffed in mattresses and light our cigarettes with 100-dollar notes, especially when we are trying to keep our company’s afloat.”
“I’ve been nearly tagged by bounty hunters, stabbed, knocked through train cars, and almost killed and you weren’t even going to get me my money on time?”
Rarity spun on her. “Don’t you dare begin to think this whole thing has just been on your head! I have been with you every step of the way and dreading every hour that I’m going to end up dead in a gutter with a worthless slip of-”
“Both of you shut up!”
As the two were inching into each other’s faces, they froze and whirled back to see an equally angry Gilda glaring at both of them.
“I don’t really give a damn about your little business deal or sob story getting here. All I care about is that if you want to get your asses over to Manehattan, the price tag is a firm ten-thousand for the both of you, and I had better get it as soon as we get there.”
Dash turned to Gilda and scoffed. “Come on… I can’t believe you’re actually charging us. After I ran those rum runners through here that one time and got you that bonus, too!”
“You should know trying to use friendship as an excuse for a discount doesn’t get you very far with me. Especially not when you’re always broke. I’m already thinking I’m an idiot for waiting to get paid until after I do the work. That being said,” Gilda straightened up. “You two better not get any ideas talking to any of the other smugglers about trying to get a better deal than mine. It’s not going to go very well with you.”
Dash crossed her arms, but Rarity didn’t like the way she said that. “How so?”
“You must have been on the run if you haven’t heard the news. Appleloosa’s almost turning itself inside out right now. Rumors are shooting around everywhere, and they’re getting worse all the time. First there’s the Nighttouched crossing the border.”
“Big deal,” Dash shrugged, “Happens all the time.”
“Not like this. These ones are new. Meaner. They don’t even really act like animals anymore. Practically the whole Appleloosan military is going on alert. All signs point that the next big push is going to be right into half of northern Appleloosa. They’re saying they could lose up to a quarter of the land if the Light Eaters join in.”
Dash uncrossed her arms, looking as stunned as Rarity. “Merciful heavens…” the latter muttered.
“That’s not possible,” Dash answered, even though her voice sounded unsure. “They haven’t made a move that big since they first showed up eight years ago.”
“You two better believe it, because Appleloosa does and so does Trottingham. They already made several attacks. Most of them have been on the northern border but one went into the central area. Everyone’s saying they’re going to invade Appleloosa once it’s reeling from the Nighttouched. And guess what? It gets even better. Now they’re saying there’s an infiltration.”
“Infiltration?”
“Folks showing up with weird powers causing all sorts of hell. Burning, blasting, and leaving ruins behind. Some think it’s new weapons from Trottingham and spies disguised as normal civvies are using it. Other folks say it’s actually something Trottingham cooked up that got loose and is trying to escape, and that’s why they’re here…hunting them down. Some say it’s a new kind of super Nighttouched that’s actually disguised as people. In any case, one thing’s in common…these folks all look like normal people until the moment they start using these powers. After that, they go on a killer rampage.”
She shrugged.
“Well, that and the fact that they got the same kind of symbols on their hands you two have got.”
“Wha…?”
Before Dash or Rarity could react, Gilda snapped forward and, in the same motion, pulled out one of her long knives from her side. It swung out so fast that Rarity squealed, thinking she had just been cut right into as the blade swept across both women. Rarity recoiled in shock while Dash snapped back at the ready and made a fist on instinct, but Gilda, smiling cockily, leaned back in her chair and calmly put her knife away.
Both paused a moment before looking where she had cut, but looked even more uneasy on seeing she had sliced through Dash’s glove and Rarity’s bandage. Their hexagonal symbols were both on display.
Dash, in the end, simply frowned and crossed her arms again. “I figured that secret would get out someday…”
Rarity, on the other hand, was left stammering at the move Gilda made. “H-h-how…how did…?”
“I’ve got more going for me than being a smuggler. I’m also quite a great thief…among other things,” the smuggler smirked back. “Point is…you two likely saw the roadblock on the way in. There’s no way you two are getting to Manehattan without a smuggler now. Especially not since just this morning the Appleloosan government put a general warrant for people with those symbols on their hands.”
She leaned forward.
“I’m a bit more on the up-and-up than those greenhorns out there. I keep my ears open. But they’ll get wind of it soon enough and they’ll realize those same people will be coming through here trying to get out of Appleloosa while they can. And once they figure it out, they won’t be taking you two anywhere you want to go. They’ll likely hang onto you here for a while until the government starts offering a bounty, and then they’ll get their money out of you in that way.”
Dash eased her fist but grit her teeth uncomfortably. Rarity looked far more worried, especially realizing that Dash’s speed and talent hadn’t helped her just now. Her thoughts toward Gilda grew more uneasy.
“Now,” she went on, “normally I wouldn’t even give anyone the time of day about this. In fact, to be honest, if I could I’d love to cash the bounty in on you, princess. Dash and I go way back and I don’t love dollars enough for that, but you? No problem at all. I’m only giving you this special one-time offer on a few provisions. One is that Dash here is asking me and I did make some money off of that job of hers that went bad. Two is that I couldn’t get a bounty on you anyway. So right now I’m your best bet of getting back with your precious little contract. Deal?”
Rarity swallowed. She was over a barrel and Gilda knew it. She didn’t dare say no to this agreement now. Not when she was right in a lion’s den with no defense. She slumped and sighed. “Alright, alright…”
“Oh, one condition,” Gilda added as she leaned up again, frowning a little. “By now the two of you have noticed Ms. Pinkamena Diane Pie out there. She’s got me so annoyed that I’m practically praying that the Timberwolves make a visit and take her off my hands…”
While Gilda was idle enough about this, Rarity’s head snapped up. Dash actually shifted back on seeing her face. For a brief moment, a violence and anger that she didn’t think the designer was capable of flared in her eyes.
Gilda didn’t notice as she was idly looking about at the time. “But it just so happens, whether she fully knows it or not, she’s got the same issue the two of you have under those miner’s gloves she’s wearing.”
Rarity’s anger turned to surprise. Dash uncertainly jabbed her thumb behind her. “Miss Cotton-Candy-for-a-Haircut actually has one of these?”
“Blabbed the whole thing to me without me even asking. She did, however, have a ton of cold hard cash on her to pay for her passage.” She grinned. “That’s what I love about Gaiatians. Since neither of you can give me a down payment, she’s going to end up being it. She comes with.” She sighed as she turned back. “Who knows? Maybe the two of you can keep me from bludgeoning her to death en route…”
“Uh…we have to go…with her?” Dash asked uncomfortably.
Rarity was likewise uneasy, but only partially due to Pinkamena’s unusual demeanor and cheerfulness. It was more of the fact that she realized Gilda would now have sole custody of three people with those hexagonal symbols. Not only did it make them an even more appealing target to someone like the man in armor from the night before, but if Appleloosa really did offer a bounty then Gilda would have it all to herself.
She finally put her foot down. “And how, pray tell, are we supposed to have any confidence other than your word that you won’t turn us in to the authorities?”
“I never said I wouldn’t turn you into the authorities,” Gilda retorted. She raised her own hand afterward, showing off a glove similar to Dash’s own. Soon after, she unstrapped the bottom, pulled it off, and showed it to both.
Dash’s jaw dropped as Rarity was caught off guard yet again.
Another hexagonal symbol, and this one with one of the points enlarged just like both of theirs.
“I said I couldn’t. Get why I’m the only smuggler here you can trust yet?”
The door to Gilda’s “office” opened up, and she immediately stepped out with Dash and Rarity in tow; the latter of the two not looking entirely comfortable. Nevertheless, the young woman immediately leapt to her feet gleefully.
“You’re back! All done discussing and bargaining and yelling-at-each-other-so-loud-I-could-hear-you-through-the-door-so-I-just-hummed-to-myself-because-it’s-none-of-my-business?”
Gilda gave her a sour look. “I’ll take that five thousand from you right now.”
“Okie-dokie-lokie!” A bit to the surprise of Dash and Rarity, she reached right into her own poofy hairstyle, rummaged around for a moment, and then, astonishing them both from an act that seemed more for a magician than anyone else, actually pulled out a small, weathered, leather bag with a clasp. She opened it up as Gilda extended her hand. Soon she was rapidly pulling out 100-dollar notes and counting them out into it. “Onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnineteneleventwelvethirteenfourteenskipafewfifty!”
Gilda frowned at that last bit, but held up the money and quickly recounted it herself. Seeing it all there, she tucked the bills inside her vest. “We’re leaving right now,” she flatly stated, pushing her way past the pink-haired woman and none too gently shoving her aside with one elbow before walking down the shaft. “Keep up. Fall behind and you get left behind.”
Dash, taking that threat very seriously, soon rushed in behind Gilda. Rarity took a bit longer to follow suit, but as soon as she did the pink-haired woman lit up and began to cheerfully skip alongside her—a bit difficult in the tight mine tunnel. “Ooooo! You’re coming with us to Manehattan? Yay! It’ll be just like when me and the family moved! Only hopefully less Nighttouched and people with guns!”
“Yes, um, perish the thought,” Rarity uneasily answered, squeezing alongside her, and finally offering her hand. “My name is Rarity and my companion is Rainbow Dash, Ms. Pinkamena.”
She took the hand and immediately gave it a vigorous shaking, but after it was done she snickered. “Oh, Pinkamena’s just the name my parents call me. You can call me ‘Pinkie Pie’! Or just ‘Pinkie’! Or ‘miss’! Or ‘you’! Or nothing now and then, like when you need to say something like: ‘Do you want ice cream?’ or ‘Run! Fire!’ or ‘Help, stop this bear from chewing my head!’ Hey!” She grinned as she bounced along. “Now that there’s four of us, it’ll make a game of I Spy much more fun! I spy, with my little eye, someone from Griffonstone!”
Dash looked over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow. “Are…you talking about Gilda?”
“You got it right with the first guess! Wow, you’re a natural!” Pinkie cheered. “Let’s go again! I spy, with my little eye, someone with a piece of paper in their pocket!”
Dash groaned and turned back around. “We deserve a discount for this…”