The cool evening air made breathing a pleasure, as did the fragrant perfume of flowers. Sundance—sated by a light meal of salad greens with some kind of vinegar dressing—had no insecurity left within him and just enjoyed the company he found himself sharing a table with. The meal was served on a raised deck that offered a spectacular view of the surrounding town. Satisfied by his repast, Sundance felt inspired by all that he had seen and witnessed. It had given him ideas. He had a new sense of direction. This place had embraced the night, and was more beautiful because of it.
Sunfire Barony would somehow embrace the day.
There was music, there was dancing, there was an abundance of joy just waiting to be shared. This place was nothing at all like the big city—but Sundance knew that it could be. During their meal, Pebble spoke of population management and control. He'd barely understood half of it, but nodded and smiled whilst he made every effort to pay attention. Mostly, Pebble spoke of desperation, which he did understand. Management came down to preventing desperation. Find the sources, the causes, seek out discontent and root them out. All of which became harder and harder to do as the population multiplied.
A paper lantern floated by, borne away by the gentle breeze.
"We must get River Raider back to good health," Pebble said to Sundance. She paused, half-smiled, and waited for his startled state to subside. "To that end, I am sending you home with a phial of troll tincture."
"Troll tincture?" With a turn of his head, Sundance gave Pebble his full attention.
"Yes, and you must never, ever, under any circumstances attempt to use it on yourself or another pony, no matter how tempting it might be. Only River Raider and Nutmeg may safely use it." Pebble leaned in, her eyes flinty, and she gestured at her sister. "It is a dangerous concoction. Few can survive it. Ponies most certainly cannot."
"Why though?" asked Sundance, who wanted to know more.
"To put it plainly," Pebble began, "River Raider and Nutmeg are monsters. They're not at all like you and I. Their physiology is different. Distinct. Unique. Troll tincture is concentrated troll essence and for most of the gentle creatures drinking it, they would turn into a troll. But for monsters… the not-so-gentle creatures, it is a powerful restorative and regenerative draught. Their bodies can overcome the troll transformation brought on by the sudden spontaneous generation, and it heals their grievous wounds."
When he turned to look at Megara, who was picking at her multiple rows of teeth with her claw, it occurred to him just how different she really was. She wasn't like Corduroy, or any of the so-called 'gentle creatures'. And for that matter, River Raider rather sort of looked like a pony—she was stunningly pony-shaped—but she clearly was not a pony. For the first time in his life, Sundance was confronted with powerful evidence that there were creatures who were different. With differences that were more than just skin deep, or what shape their body happened to take.
He'd heard the term 'gentle creatures' before to describe the civilised—or not so civilised—species that existed. Ponies. Diamond dogs. Zebras. Griffons. Minotaurs. Those who built cities and civilisations. Though many ponies felt that diamond dogs were not deserving of that title… ponies such as his mother. Yet, for all of her differences, Sundance chose to focus on the similarities that he and Megara shared. Some part of him had changed in some fundamental way, and he knew for certain that he was no longer the pony he once was.
"If my sister gets mangled, or mauled, or hacked apart, just sprinkle a few drops of the tincture into whatever remains of her. It doesn't take much. And you'll never have to worry about running out because the tincture replenishes itself due to the regenerating nature of its essence."
A loud gulp escaped Sundance.
"My sister has the best and worst of both worlds," Pebble said as her sister continued to pick her teeth. "She's a manticore… which are amazing creatures on their own. But being part pony gives her magic. Far more than a manticore would normally have. This magic fuels her resilience, her strength, her agility, and enhances everything about her. Which makes her stronger than any mere manticore, and most other common monsters as well. That, plus her considerable intelligence, and extensive combat training from some of the deadliest warriors in Equestria, all of this combines to make her a formidable force."
"Pebble believes we need more hybrids," Megara said around her paw-finger.
"The nocturnal pegasus ponies were created for that very reason." One ear twitched and Pebble's muzzle contorted into a sneer of revulsion when her sister pulled out a wad of shredded meat from behind a molar. "They can do what we cannot. Nutmeg, must you do that at the table?"
"Yes," the manticore spawn replied with a nonchalant shrug. "It's as good a place as any. If you had paw-fingers, you'd being doing this too—"
"Would not," was Pebble's immediate response.
"When we were little—"
"Nutmeg, don't you dare."
"—she would pick her nose with her tongue, as little earth ponies and pegasus ponies tend to do."
"You jerk." Pebble's deadpan somehow conveyed a great deal of annoyance.
"For me, nose picking was a far more dangerous hobby, as my claws are razor-sharp. There were a lot of nosebleeds. My mothers thought I had horrible allergies to something."
Aghast, Sundance sat in stunned silence and tried not to think about geysers of blood.
"Eventually, I got pretty good at it and learned to be careful. Nose picking was more like… surgery. A careful procedure of extraction where the slightest mishap had a cost of blood."
Recovering just a little from being both startled and stunned, Sundance thought back to when he was little. He too had spent a lot of time mining for nose gold. It was just something that foals did. Now when he needed to clear his nose, he had other methods—though their levels of sophistication and maturity were questionable. Well-mannered ponies went into the restroom and went to work with a squeezable rubber bulb which had a probe that was inserted into the nose. There were no such hygienic devices to be found in the barony though, which necessitated other methods.
"Are you leaving tonight?" asked Pebble.
Sundance almost answered, but discovered the question wasn't for him.
"I'd planned to, yes. Sundance still has the sight. You can see the shine in his eyes. I think flying home might be the first lesson in facing the strange and unknown."
When he licked his lips, they were still vinegary.
"Something about the unknown dread in the mountains bothers me," Pebble said to both her sister and to Sundance. "I'll ask around for insight and advice. There are druids here in Lulamoon Hollow. Equestria might still have a few thousand-year-old-evils just waiting to unseal themselves. Something that makes the animals act peculiar is a serious warning sign.
"Those mountains are full of monsters. It is a fragile ecosystem that could easily be undone. There are manticores and owlbears and displacer beasts and all manner of highly magical megafauna. For them to come down out of the mountains… I find that worrisome."
"So you think it is something from Equestria's storied past?" asked Megara of her sister.
"Perhaps." The half-hearted shrug from Pebble did not display much enthusiasm. "It could very well be. Or it might be a vault that spilled open. There's a distinct possibility that one of Grogar's minions has set up shop and plots nefarious villainous deeds. It really doesn't matter what it is… what matters is making right what has been disturbed. Equestria needs those animals. We don't need them going extinct. You don't just throw away lives because they are inconvenient. Whatever balance we had, whatever equilibrium, it must be restored. Sundance, you need to make this a priority."
"But what do I do?" he asked, uncertain of how to fix something that he could not comprehend.
"Not sure." The earth pony inhaled, blinked, and then turned the full force of her deadpan expression upon Sundance. "Scout the area and look for signs of suspicious activity. No, I don't know what those signs might be. Trust in my sister's instincts. That's probably our best option right now. But like I said, I'll ask around."
"Hold up a second," Megara said as she held out her paw to her sister. "Did you just tell me to scout an area that is almost one-hundred thousand square miles? Have you taken leave of your senses?"
"If you only count the mountains themselves and not the whole of Sundance's territory, you can narrow your search to a far more reasonable seventy-thousand or so square miles." Fearlessly, Pebble stared down her sister, who bristled with discontent.
"Seventy-thousand or so square miles," Megara said in a sing-song voice to mock her sister. "Seventy-thousand or so square miles. La-de-da! You make it sound like a weekend plan!"
"Well, several weekends, really… but I wouldn't dawdle. This might be an actual crisis."
Whiskers a-quiver, Megara leaned in over the table and attempted to stare down her fearless, defiant sibling. "You're telling me to find a needle in a haystack!"
"A needle in a seventy-thousand square miles or so haystack. The sooner you get started, the better."
Frustrated, Megara threw her front paws up into the air and waved them about, all while she roared out her annoyance.
Meanwhile, Sundance tried to process what he'd just heard—and couldn't. His brain couldn't even begin to comprehend it. The numbers were far too large. He had no clue his barony was that large. That was large though… at least he thought it was. Maybe it wasn't. Perhaps his sense of scale wasn't developed enough to have an opinion on this. Megara roared a second time, and this time when she did it caused his bladder to contract. The sudden shrinkage filled him with an urgent need.
"Excuse me… but where is the nearest little colt's room?"
Everything shimmered silver and the stars overhead offered more than enough light for Sundance to see. There was beauty to be found in the night and he found himself almost enraptured by all that he saw. Though he was still finding his wings, so to speak, he took to the night skies with little effort. And what a beautiful world it was. There were sleepy little farms and homesteads nestled together beneath a blanket of royal purple sky and stars. Open meadows were dappled in rippling bands of moonlight as clouds flowed along rivers of current.
Megara, though a powerful flier, was slow. Her top speed was a mere fraction of what Sundance was capable of, and he wasn't considered fast by pegasus standards. Of course, there was a lot more of Megara to carry through the air, and her wings were distinctly different than his own. Then there was the matter of aerodynamics, which she completely lacked. It would take hours for them to get home.
Searching the mountains would be a long and arduous task, he realised.
Though she lacked speed, she had power. She carried her gear, her equipment, some food, an assortment of weapons, and a huge packsack. There was also the twenty foot long pollaxe that she insisted that she bring along, a weapon that Sundance had trouble physically lifting because it was so ungainly and so heavy. He'd given it his best effort and when he'd toppled over to the floor, she spent several long minutes laughing at him.
He deserved it.
"How do you see at night?" he asked as he slipped into a glide beside Megara.
"My eyes can see the infrared spectrum," she replied as she flapped her wings to remain airborne. "That's the cause of the fiery glow. It's magic. I don't understand how it works. But heat gets turned into vision. It's normal for manticores and allows us to hunt at night."
"Right now, the world is all silver. For me. It's beautiful. Not a lot of colour. Just… silver."
"For me, hot things like you are kinda red-orange—"
"You think I'm hot?"
"A hot lunch, maybe. Morsel."
Rather than be scared, Sundance decided to go along with the joke and laugh.
"I gotta say, there's more to you than I thought," Megara said to Sundance. "Most little ponies would be overwhelmed right now. Meeting me, having night vision, facing the darkness and overcoming their fear of the dark. Flying home during strange, unfamiliar conditions… I must confess, you've impressed me. Though only somewhat slightly."
"I wasn't always this way," he replied. "There was a time in my life when I would have been overwhelmed. All of this would have been too much. But I've been exposed to some stuff. Seen some stuff. Life, it seems, made plans to change my worldview. I made friends with a diamond dog."
"Corduroy."
"You know her?"
"I do," Megara was slow to say. "When I'd go and stay with my grandparents, she and I would play together. Sometimes. Though, she didn't play much. Spent too much time with her nose in a book. Doc Hedge would forcibly toss her outside to play on occasion, and she'd spend the day in a snit." The manticore sighed and her wings slowed. "A few years back, some things were said. We haven't spoken since."
"It's never too late to make things right," Sundance said. "Corduroy is the most forgiving, most gentle creature I know."
"She is." Afflicted with a scratchy voice, Megara cleared her throat. "I was young and stupid. Like, seriously stupid. I mistook her pacifism for cowardice and I ran my mouth. I wish I hadn't. Ugh, I hate myself for what I did. I was young. Didn't know any better. I told her that she could do more to help the world if she wasn't such a coward… and I said other things. It just sort of spilled out of me. And she avoided me after that. Rightfully so."
"Corduroy will forgive you if you ask—"
"I know she will," Megara snapped. "And that makes everything worse. She's a stronger, better creature than I am. Corduroy has her values, her means, and her principles. Which I wish I had. I'm not looking forward to our inevitable meeting. Somehow I gotta fess up and make right. Corduroy will have her high ground and she'll forgive me because that's what she does, and I won't deserve it."
Sundance, who didn't understand pacifism much at all, kept quiet.
"Corduroy comes from a warrior culture. The diamond dogs have a long, proud martial history." A half-sigh half-growl slipped out. "I was pretty full of myself at the time. I thought that creatures that had the strength and the means to fight owed the world their strength. We had an obligation to defend the world and all that was good, or so I thought. It seemed pretty reasonable and straightforward at the time. But Corduroy didn't want to fight. She never raised her paws in anger. And being a big dummy, I thought she was a coward. Me? I'm the coward. After our falling out, I've made every effort to avoid her… but now I gotta face the music and I'm scared."
"What was she like as a puppy?" he asked, because he had no clue what to say.
"Smart," Megara replied. "An egghead. A bit of a know-it-all. She took injured wild creatures, wrassled them into submission, and patched them up. She wanted to be like Fluttershy. That's the thing, Sundance… she was a terror. Even as a puppy, she was strong. She was fearsome. She had the ways and means to forcibly subdue dangerous creatures for their own good so that she could help them… and I thought she owed the world more than she was giving. Because I was stupid."
"I think that you're being too hard on yourself," he said matter-of-factly.
"I have to be hard on myself. I'm the only creature big enough and strong enough and dangerous enough to kick my own ass and hold myself accountable." Again she sighed. "It's the one thing that I've done that I truly regret. I don't know how to fix it, so I've avoided it. And that… that reeks of cowardice. I'mma big fraidy-cat. A scared shittin' kitten. And it made things weird between me and my dad, because he loves Corduroy like she was one of his own. He never says a word though. He just gives me that look. It's the worst look in the world."
"My mom has that look and she uses it for law enforcement."
"I miss my playmate. I suppose I'll have no choice but to make things right…"