“Yes, it is I!” exclaimed the scruffy-looking earth pony stallion as he strolled up to Dash. “Doctor Caballeron. How nice to see you again, Rainbow Dash. I take it you got my letter?”
Dash opened her mouth to object that she’d gotten Daring Do’s letter, but her words froze in her mouth. The next thing she knew, she was smacking one of her own hooves against her face, heedless of the knife at her throat.
“I should have known…” she groaned. “Daring Do wouldn’t care about fame and fortune from finding the Sun Stone…and she wouldn’t have signed any letter ‘Daring Do’, either…”
Caballeron smirked, patting Dash on the head. “Ah, the excitement of meeting one’s idols. It can be quite blinding, can’t it? Truth be told we were worried you’d put things together on the airship ride over here. Glory must have done a fine job distracting you and keeping your mind elsewhere.”
As he spoke, his hench-ponies proceeded to relieve Dash of her saddlebags and tie up Dash’s wings. Dash looked around, looking for any sign of aid, but there was nopony nearby – the airport’s lobby had been completely deserted, the Wind Drifter not going anywhere until it was resupplied and re-fueled, and no other airships apparently scheduled to launch or land anytime soon.
Caballeron noticed her glancing around, and joined in a mocking way before continuing. “I wouldn’t bother crying out for help, Rainbow Dash. There are some local guards outside, but I’m afraid the glint of gold has rendered them blind and deaf.”
Glory chose that moment to speak up. “So my ‘donations’ to Emira Numnah have been put to good use, then?”
“Yes and no,” Caballeron came right up to Glory and threw a hoof over her withers. “She was less interested in the gold than the beautiful yacht it was smuggled here in. A small price to pay to smooth things over here since my last visit, and to get permission from Numnah’s father the Sultan to enter the Nether Lands.”
Glory had an awkward smile on her face, and wasted little time in extricating herself from Caballeron’s grip. “Yes, well…I can always buy another yacht, but there is only one Sun Stone.”
The big hench-pony finished binding Dash’s wings with a tight pull; she nickered and made to buck him at the slight pain, but he just grinned and dared her. She lowered her hoof and returned her attention to her erstwhile airship buddy.
She looked between the unicorn and Caballeron. “What the heck, Glory? I trusted you! You were just Caballeron’s lackey this entire time?!”
“Of course not!” Caballeron said. “Glory Pose is one of my many financiers, and buyers for the artifacts I collect. Her collection in Fillydelphia is second to none. We are equal partners, I assure you.”
“Ordinarily I leave the good Doctor to his own devices,” Glory continued, “and I reap the rewards – when Daring Do doesn’t steal them. However this particular expedition required a larger investment than normal…and so I decided to take a more hooves-on approach.”
“And we both decided to be proactive,” Caballeron’s bemused expression finally dropping into a scowl. “Three times before our paths have crossed, and each time you have been a thorn in my side. There shall not be a fourth! And should Daring Do choose to actually show her face in Saddle Arabia…” He chuckled, and drew a line across his throat. “You are insurance, Rainbow Dash.”
Dash was listening, of course, but her eyes were focused on Glory. The purple unicorn pouted at the look Dash was giving her. “Cheer up, darling,” she insisted, “you’re still getting to go on that adventure to Midnight Castle that you wanted! Even if it's not with who you wanted.”
“And even though it will be the last adventure you ever go on,” Caballeron added. He went to once again embrace Glory, but she held him back with telekinesis, and he settled on a hoof-bump with her. “Now, let us get going! The expedition will set out this very evening.”
Dash opened her mouth to voice an objection, but Glory’s horn flared, and the canvas bag was shoved over her head, blinding and muffling her. She was shoved by a hench-pony and forced to follow, guided along by the other hench-pony’s hoof on her withers. They turned, trotting not towards the airport’s main exit, but back towards the airfield – less public view, Dash supposed. Saddle Arabia apparently wasn’t so corrupt that a bound, blinded mare could just be marched out into the street in plain view.
At least there was no longer a knife at her throat, it being a bit too awkward for an earth pony to hold one effectively and walk at the same time. Sure, Dash couldn’t see anything but brown canvas (which at least smelled nice, thanks to the perfume that Glory stored in her luggage), but she was no longer in immediate mortal danger. Her wings were bound…but her hooves weren’t. And frankly, Dash was sick of being taken captive by Caballeron. It had happened twice before…but this time, apparently there was no Daring Do coming.
She whickered in annoyance at that thought. She’d been looking forward to seeing Daring all week, just for everything to turn out to be a lie concocted by two jerks so that she could be insurance?
Dash allowed herself to be lead along until she heard a door open in front of her, and felt the hot winds of Saddle Arabia on her fur, and the packed dirt and sand of the airfield beneath her hooves. But she lasted only another moment after that. She decided to put her years of being an awesome savior of Equestria, awesome Equestria Games-level athlete skills, and just generally being awesome to use. Plus a little of what she’d learned from reading Daring Do, of course.
She faked stumbling, which was believable enough with a bag over her head. The stallion guiding her grabbed hold of her tighter out of instinct, which was exactly what Dash wanted. The moment she felt him tense, she threw her entire body weight into the stumble, and he let out a yelp as he was thrown forward while Dash rolled, then, when she was on her back, rolled away from him. He tried to grab on, but she managed to shake him.
The hench-pony wasn’t the real problem; Glory was, or more specifically, her horn and the fact that she could cut any escape attempt short with ease. But Dash had kept her ears locked on to Glory’s hoof-steps, and knew where she was. Hearing the tell-tale shimmer sound of a unicorn lighting up her horn even allowed Dash to better know where Glory’s head was; Dash had scooped up a bunch of dirt and sand, and flung it in Glory’s direction with a flick of the fetlock.
Glory shrieked and the sound of magic ceased. “My eyes!”
“Ha! Take that!” Dash was genuinely surprised that had worked, but she didn’t have time to celebrate; she needed to keep moving. Thankfully there was nopony in Equestria better at that then her. Dash turned in the opposite direction of Glory’s shrieks and started running as fast as her hooves could carry her.
“Fools!” Doctor Caballeron called out. “She’s getting away! After her!”
Dash risked slowing for only a moment, so that she could yank the canvas bag from her head. She squinted against the sudden glare of sunlight as she resumed running, glancing around as she tryied to take in everything at once. The Wind Drifter loomed overhead several hundred feet away, casting a massive shadow across the sand, while the whole airfield was surrounded by a tall fence topped with barbed wire. Here and there were horses – the tall equine natives of Saddle Arabia – performing various tasks to refuel and resupply the airship, all of whom stopped to look in Dash’s direction, though the airfield was large enough that the nearest horse was still more than a hundred feet away. Behind her the two hench-ponies had given chase, while Caballeron remained with Glory, helping her clear her eyes.
Dash’s wings strained against the rope binding them, but she couldn’t break it and didn’t have time to stop and untie it. With the barbed wire topping the fence, her best bet was to head out through the airport; she banked left and started running towards it.
Unfortunately this also brought her closer to a number of horses. Most got out of the way of the charging rainbow-hued mare, but two tried to interpose themselves between Dash and the airport. She dropped into skidding slide and passed under one, then kicked with her hindlegs to leap over the next. But he was particularly tall and she’d started from essentially lying on the ground, so she landed on his back instead of clearing him. He let out a surprised whinny as he turned to look at her.
“Uh…sorry,” she said, then leaped off of him and back to the ground and started running again. The horses, at least, had tried to stop Dash’s pursuers as well; none of them were supposed to be out on the airfield right now. Dash seriously considered just turning herself over to airport security since they’d probably keep her from Caballeron…but then she heard loud braying from the airport.
A pair of Saddle Arabian guards – bedecked in green cloth and silver lamellar barding – had emerged from within the airport. They spotted Dash and her rainbow mane and tail immediately and Doctor Caballeron only slightly less quickly, as he and Glory were running towards Dash.
“Her! Get her, quickly!” Caballeron called. The horses turned and charged for Dash.
“Ugh…” Dash groaned, turning and starting to gallop away, back towards the Wind Drifter. Right. Caballeron had apparently bribed one of the Sultan’s daughters and the guards loyal to her…and Dash sure as heck didn’t know which ones those were and definitely would not be able to vet any guards she ran into. These two, at least, could go firmly into the “unfriendly” category.
Time for Plan B, then.
Dash charged towards an airport worker. This one was trying to get out of her way, but she had been unloading bedsheets from the Wind Drifter to be cleaned. Dash only narrowly avoided ploughing right into her, but did grab hold of a duvet with her teeth as she passed on by. The awkward weight nearly caused Dash to stumble, but she managed to keep her hooves under her as she flicked her head so the duvet landed across her back, making it easier to carry.
Another glance behind her, and Dash saw the horse guards closing in – longer legs plus being used to running in sand, presumably, since otherwise Dash was certain she should have been faster. Caballeron and his goons were behind them, while Glory had stopped running, hooves at her belly while she gasped for breath. Not used to exerting herself, it seemed.
Dash returned her focus to the incoming fence. She banked again to run perpendicular to it, then grabbed the duvet she’d nabbed in her teeth once again and hurled it up towards the barbed wire, even as she leaped to try and get some extra height. Her wings strained against their bonds, trying to flap, though if they could then she would have been long gone.
The duvet’s end landed just on the other side of the fence, while the main part of it snagged on the barbed wire, pressing it down without letting too many of the barbs through its thick surface. Dash leaped again, climbing the fence and up the duvet. Some of the barbs still managed to poke through enough to scrape her legs and belly as she went over, but she managed to reach the top, grab the duvet, and leap down from the fence’s other side, bringing it with her. She landed easily, just as Caballeron, his goons, and the two Saddle Arabian guards skidded to a halt on the other side of the fence.
From behind them, Glory Pose lit up her horn and fired off a blast of magic; Dash dodged it, but unfortunately a second blast followed and struck Dash right in the shoulder before she could move. It stung slightly, but if that was the best that Glory could offer than Dash wasn’t too concerned, especially not with a fence between her and her pursuers.
Dash smirked, lifted a hoof to her forehead and saluted, and turned around…and saw five more Saddle Arabian guards charging towards her.
“Oh come on!” Dash exclaimed, turning and running beside the fence again, heading for the city of Istanbull.
Cozy Glow took in a deep breath as she stared at the portal that Grogar opened. She hated teleporting. It wasn’t something she could do herself, of course, but she hated having it done to her or having to do it. Still, the alternative was spending weeks trying to cross the South Luna Ocean by boat, probably smuggled into a cramped cargo hold of some vessel, hoping that nopony would notice her and Tirek stowing away; or else months on an overland journey that still would require a boat on at least a few occasions.
So instead Cozy watched Tirek, saddlebags across his lower back, pass through the black-and-yellow folded rip in space that Grogar had created. She mentally readied herself, and bought a little more time by waving to the ornery old goat.
“See you in a couple weeks, Mister Grogar!” She loaded her voice with sweetness. Grogar’s response was to roll his eyes, but before he could do something like shove her through, she adjusted her own saddlebags one more time, closed her eyes, took flight, and surged forward into the black pool of the portal. She did her best to ignore the pull of the brief moment of nothingness all around her, the sensation of falling in spite of her wings, the thought of something going wrong and being stranded between spaces and yet outside of them. But then…
Hot.
It was hot!
It was like an oven!
Cozy Glow used her hooves to shield her eyes from the sudden glare of the burning Sun, dropping down to the sand beneath her – and then letting out a yelp at the painful sensation of the hot sand against her hooves. Ahead, she saw green – the oasis she and Tirek would be briefly visiting – and saw that Tirek was already walking calmly towards it, though he’d pulled a long white sheet from his saddlebags and thrown it around him like a traveling cloak. Something to ward off the sun’s rays, Cozy guessed.
Which made perfect sense because it was hot!
“W-wait up!” Cozy beat her wings and took to the air, not wanting her poor hooves to suffer. She glanced around as her eyes adjusted to the glare. Aside from the trees, bushes, and grass of the oasis ahead, there was nothing but yellow-orange sand in every direction, shaped into wave after wave of windswept dunes that stretched as far as the eye could see.
Also, it was hot!
Cozy looked up to Tirek, squinting against the almost painfully bright light. “What the heck?” She demanded. “How is it this hot? I’m a pegasus and I’m baking!” Pegasi were supposed to be naturally resistant to temperature extremes, but it really didn’t feel like it right now.
Tirek smiled. “Yes, the Nether Lands can take some getting used to,” he said, though even as he did he spread his hands wide and closed his eyes, apparently enjoying the heat.
They reached the edge of the oasis, and Cozy quickly leapt beneath the shade of the nearest palm tree. The temperature immediately plummeted from “hot” to merely “way too warm”. She’d been under the glare of the Sun, had been in these Nether Lands, for maybe thirty seconds, and yet she could already feel sweat creeping across her body.
Tirek, at least, joined her in the shade rather than continuing to cook himself. He glanced back out at the desert, holding a hand up to his eyes as he scanned the dunes. “It is just about Summer, after all,” he noted. “And today’s a hot one.”
Cozy at last landed, the grass beneath her hooves much cooler than the baking sand only a few feet away. She started flapping her wings at her face, trying to cool herself. Think of the plan, she insisted to herself. Think of the plan, the Rainbow of Darkness, power and magic, it’ll be worth it! If I don’t fry first…
Tirek frowned as he took note of Cozy’s wings. “You’ll just make yourself hotter from the exertion.” He started forward once again, hands out and brushing the taller grass as he walked by. Cozy followed. The palm trees grew thicker together as they advanced towards the pool of water that fed the oasis, and in spite of herself Cozy found herself gasping at the sight that greeted them once Tirek had pushed some fronds out of the way.
The oasis sat at the bottom of a depression of sun-bleached white rock, a set of natural stairs leading down to a pool that was easily a thousand feet long and a couple hundred wide, the water a striking, vibrant blue. Palm trees and cacti and other desert plants struggled with each other to get as close to the bastion of life-giving water as possible – more so on the other side of the pool, where the vegetation became a thick copse of palm trees, desert shrubs, and grass. There were animals too – birds, mostly, but Cozy spotted a couple small rodents, as well as a small fox with huge ears.
“Wow,” Cozy finally let out, as Triek and she started moving down towards the water, Cozy moving from shadow to shadow as much as possible. “How’s all this water not evaporate?”
Tirek chuckled. “It does. But there is an underground river beneath our hooves that allows it to replenish. My brother and I found the source once…” He drifted off, and Cozy noted Tirek grinding his teeth. They’d reached the edge of the depression, and began carefully picking their way down the stone steps and to the water’s edge (or Tirek was careful, anyway, Cozy just flew).
Tirek at least had something of a smile as he reached the bottom, and kicked a hind hoof at the last step. “I remember that being wider,” he chuckled.
Cozy only half-heard him; she was busy shucking her saddlebags, then carefully pulling the bows from her mane and tail. She spent a lot of effort on the two every morning since the curls made her look extra cute, but frankly this heat and the sweating she was going to do would do in the curls anyway. The moment she was free of them, she galloped over and into the water.
The relief was instant. The water was by no means cool, but compared to the temperature of the Nether Lands it might as well have been glacial. Cozy trotted out until the water was up to her withers, then dove beneath it, hooves kicking and wings flapping and soaking herself as much as possible.
She came up quickly, letting out a long, relieved sigh. “That’s better!” She exclaimed, doggy-paddling in circles a few times. “If you need me, I’m just gonna be in here forever, okay?”
“Sounds fine,” Tirek waved a hand from where he knelt at the water’s edge, having taken off his own saddlebags. “Just watch out for crocodiles – ”
“Agh!” Cozy shrieked as her wings beat as hard as she could make them, launching herself into the air after a few moments of struggle against the water. “Why didn’t you warn me, you big dumb centaur! We’ll have to hunt them down first and then I can…”
Her eyes grew wide when she realized that Tirek was laughing, gripping his stomach. Cozy hung limply in the air. The pieces, at least, put themselves together: there were no crocodiles here. Another moment later and she let out a roar, diving towards the water, skimming along it with her hooves pushing it in front of her, and splashing Tirek with a wave before he could get out of the way.
Tirek sputtered, throwing his white cloak from him before it got too much wetter, and eyed Cozy. She blew a raspberry at him – then yelped when his horns lit up and magic seized a huge chunk of the water beneath her. With a flick of his wrist, Tirek sent the water shooting upwards, soaking Cozy and dragging her back down with it once it fell.
“No fair!” Cozy cried out when she rose out of the pool.
“So what?” Tirek returned.
Cozy felt herself grinding her teeth. “I’m gonna get you, that’s what! I’ll…I’ll…” She wracked her brain, trying to think of something Tirek couldn’t do. “I’ll use all this water to make a cloud and strike you with lightning! I might just be a filly but I’m still a pegasus filly!”
“I thought you were a little monster.”
“I can be both things!” Cozy started splashing around in the water, wings beating rapidly, hooves stirring and kicking it up, trying to use her pegasus magic to turn it into vapor. “Just – you – wait!”
Tirek only laughed once more. “Go ahead and try! Good way to pass the time.” He put his hand to his eyes and glanced upwards, at the position of the Sun. “We’ll set out as the Sun starts to set. No creature crosses the Nether Lands during the day.”
“Not – going anywhere – ‘til you – suffer first!”
Tirek’s only response was another chuckle.
Tirek half-heartedly watched Cozy Glow literally try to kick up a storm as he walked at a leisurely pace along the water’s edge. A single adult pegasus wouldn’t be able to make much of a cloud on their own, and Cozy certainly wasn’t going to be able to – especially not in this heat, with the tiny streams of vapor she was making dissipating too quickly for her to really pack them together.
But it would tire her out, which was good if it got her to spend most of the daylight hours resting or even sleeping. She’d need her energy for the night of travel that was ahead of them, which was going to be rougher than Tirek would have preferred – to fool Grogar he’d needed to pack as though camping, not traveling.
Tirek picked his way carefully over the white rocks and to a slight bend in the pool, taking him out of sight of Cozy. This oasis wasn’t quite large enough to support a permanent settlement, but that hadn’t stopped the centaurs of the Nether Lands from building a few permanent structures…
And there it was. Sitting at the northernmost edge of the pool was a simple white structure, made of the same white stone that lined the edge of the water, a simple square shape from which water slowly flowed out – the mouth of the subterranean river, where it breached the surface and spilled into this oasis. It looked different from how Tirek remembered it, much more worn, and also smaller, though Tirek knew of course that the latter was due to the fact that Tirek had been much younger when he had last come here. The former, meanwhile, was a thousand years of erosion.
Tirek trotted into the water and up to the structure, which he was now taller than. He leaned down to glance inside, resting one hand on its roof as he did. The interior was larger than it appeared from the outside, enough for a young centaur and a gargoyle to fit inside. He had doubted he’d find anything, of course…
…and so was completely unprepared when he found himself looking at a pair of golden eyes.
“Gah!” Tirek exclaimed in surprise.
“Ahh!” The inhabitant of the structure shouted.
Tirek stepped back from the structure, just as the one inside darted out – a young centaurette, maybe eight years old, with pink skin and brownish-black fur. She galloped a few dozen feet away, stopped to look back at Tirek, then set off again, shrieking.
Tirek blinked in confusion, before shaking his head and gathering his wits. “Wait!” He called out, taking off after the centaurette. Probably she had been playing some hide-and-seek game. She had a lead, but he had longer and stronger legs, so catching up wasn’t in question – though Tirek skidded to a halt when he reached where Cozy Glow had been.
There was no sign of the pegasus filly, but there were two short-horned centaurs and another centaurette, all three adults, clad in desert robes to ward off the sun and clutching long spears, clustered around Cozy’s and Tirek’s discarded saddlebags and inspecting them.
The younger centaurette had dashed behind the others, who all raised their spears at his arrival even as their eyes widened at the sight of him. He easily stood head and shoulders above even the tallest centaur in the group.
“Who – ” That tallest centaur began. But Tirek snorted, seizing the spears in his magic as he stomped forward. He tore them from the centaurs’ grips and spun them in the air so they pointed at their owners, prompting cries of surprise and alarm. The young centaurette let out another shriek and turned to run, but Tirek snapped his fingers and trapped her in a magic bubble, lifting her into the air.
Tirek stomped one hoof, cracking the stone beneath it. “Where’s the filly?” He demanded.
“I’m here!” Cozy Glow’s voice called out. Tirek glanced up, and saw that Cozy had taken flight and hidden herself among the palm trees, though she hurried back down to hover at Tirek’s side, her fur already drying in the oppressive heat. “I heard them coming and hid! Swam away a bit and then flew up!”
The centaurs, meanwhile, had started backing away, but Tirek had their stolen spears follow them. He looked them over in detail. He sneered. “Nomads. Must have been camping on the other side of the oasis. I should have anticipated this, they always were a nuisance…”
“Sorcerer,” one of the centaurs spoke up, apparently recovering from his initial shock – with it being replaced by a look of repugnance. “Soul-taker! When did you arrive here? How? There’s nothing but sand for a hundred miles in every direction!”
“He…” the adult centaurette spoke up, “he looks like…Vorak…”
Tirek’s eyes grew wide, while Cozy gasped and put her hooves to her mouth – and then giggled in anticipation.
Tirek barely heard her, as he started stomping towards the adult centaurette, directing all three spears at her now. Her two companions tried to react, one charging at Tirek while the other attempted to yank his spear from the air. Tirek swung his arm and caught the charging centaur in the throat with his forearm, causing him to stumble to the ground, gasping for air, while the captured young centaurette screamed.
The other centaur had found no luck in retrieving his spear. He reared back and kicked Tirek in the chest with his forehooves when he grew near, but Tirek only grunted, barely registering the pain and smacking him away.
He leaned down close to the centaurette’s face. “I look nothing like my weakling father!” He roared. She tried to fall back an away, but Tirek and his new spears followed her every step. “How do you even know his name after all this time?”
Even as he said it, it occurred to Tirek that it was entirely possible that the centaurette had been referring to a different Vorak. But the centaurette’s eyes grew wider as she fell back on her haunches.
“T…Tirek?” She stuttered out. “You’re Tirek?”
“That’s not an answer…” Cozy sang, drifting closer. She paused in the air, then landed on one of Tirek’s broad shoulders. “You pushed the ‘family’ button. You shouldn’t have done that!”
The adult centaurette was keeping her mouth shut now, anger and determination on her face. Tirek’s eyes narrowed as he stepped back, reining in his temper – slightly – and gesturing. The two fallen centaurs were lifted into the air and thrown towards him, and he caught them both around the throat. His magic flared and he opened his mouth wide, sucking in their magic – their power. They cried out, but could do nothing to stop him as the color faded from their eyes and their coats.
He dropped the two to the ground, then gestured and drew the bubble containing the young, whimpering centaurette closer. He lay his hand on the bubble without breaking eye contact with the adult. To his surprise, however, the centaurette only hardened her gaze, clenching her fists and tilting her head back, exposing her neck to the spears. Tirek’s threat was clear…but the centaurette wasn’t giving in.
Tirek growled, but before he could do anything else Cozy took to the air again. “Hang on, I got this,” she said. Rather than going to the adult, however, Cozy landed in front of the bubble containing the young centaurette, smiling up at her.
“Hi! My name’s Cozy Glow! I’m a pegasus filly. What’s your name?”
The young centaurette was still whimpering, having fallen to her barrel and hugging herself with her arms. She glanced at Tirek, but he obliged Cozy Glow’s plan by turning away – though he also trapped the adult centaurette in her own bubble, silencing her attempted outburst, while lowering the young centaurette’s bubble to the ground so she could be closer to Cozy and popping it.
The centaurette didn’t dare run. She finally let out a small sob as Cozy got closer to her. “E…Eissas,” she whispered.
“Hi, Eissas!” Cozy returned. “My friend and I came here aaaaallll the way from Equestria! It’s super far away! So we don’t really know too much about where we are.”
The centaurette – Eissas – sniffled. Cozy pressed on. “Look, what my friend did to your friends probably seems pretty mean…but in fairness, they were pointing spears at him! He can even make them fine. Right, Tirek? Show her!”
Tirek raised a brow as he looked over his shoulder. Cozy waved him on. With a sigh, Tirek crossed his arms even as he channeled magic through him – and released it, sending the magic he had taken from one of the centaurs back to him. Before he could do much more than rise to his hooves, however, Tirek trapped him in a bubble, then pushed him away over to his centaurette companion.
Eissas watched with wide, tear-filled eyes. Tirek turned around to face her. “I can restore his magic,” he poked the other fallen centaur with one hoof, ”just as easily.”
“Uh-huh!” Cozy nodded, taking to the air so she could hover at eye-level with the taller centaurette child. “But first we need your help, Eissas.” She pressed her forelegs together before her. “Just tell us everything you know about Vorak and Tirek! Then we’ll leave. Promise!”
Eissas wiped away tears. “P-promise?”
Cozy nodded once more. “Mm-hmm! Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!”
“I’m not doing that,” Tirek said quickly as Cozy performed the little dance that went with her vaunted Pinkie Promise. He looked to the centaurette, “but yes. You have my word.” The paltry magic of these common centaurs would hardly be a loss.
Eissas chewed on her lip, but finally settled down. She took in a few deep, shuddering breaths and let them out slowly, then shifted so she was sitting in a more comfortable position, upper back straight.
“O…once…once, long ago, a centaur child named Vorak w-was exiled from his tribe, his sorcerous uncle usurping his father’s reign…i-in the depths of the N-Nether Lands, at the edge of h-his life, he was saved by a young gargoyle named Haydon…she took him to the Stone Mountain against the wishes of her people. In her care he recovered – ”
“And he earned the respect of the gargoyles, returned to his tribe, deposed his uncle, united the centaur tribes, united with the gargoyles, created Gar-Centauria, yes,” Tirek growled. “I know that part. Skip ahead, child.”
Eissas shivered, but nodded. “W-well…Vorak had a son, Tirek, and Haydon a son, Scorpan. When…when their respective spouses passed on early, Vorak and Haydon cemented the land of Gar-Centaura with a marriage, and Tirek and Scorpan became brothers, but Tirek, he…h-he…” she flinched, looking up at Tirek. “Are…are you really…?”
Tirek ground his teeth together, but before he could say anything Cozy took to the air and set a hoof down on her shoulder. “I think we know that part too! But yeah, this really is Tirek. I guess that kind of makes him King Tirek, huh? But skip to the part where I’m guessing Scorpan came back from Equestria.”
Eissas shivered again. “S-Scorpan returned alone, but…but not alone. Vorak had grown ill, Haydon had already passed on…Scorpan became king, but…but it’s said that Tirek’s shadow lingered over him. He went to…to Midnight Castle, disappeared inside for three days, and when he came out…he possessed the Rainbow of Darkness.”
Tirek and Cozy’s eyes widened as they looked to each other. Cozy turned back to Eissas. “You mean to tell me that it’s not there anymore?” She asked, anger edging into her voice.
Eissas shook her head. “N-no! Scorpan, he…he reigned, but his reign was…was as black and as evil as Tirek’s…” She swallowed. “In, in the last year of his reign, he had a statue built on the shore facing Midnight Castle. It shows…shows Scorpan’s family, when they were younger. Himself and Haydon and Vorak and…and Tirek. Then Scorpan entered Midnight Castle again, with the Rainbow of Darkness. He never came back out. He had no heirs. The gargoyles returned to Stone Mountain. The centaur tribes broke apart. ”
Cozy Glow flew backwards, landing once more on Tirek’s shoulder. “Huh. And here I thought Scorpan was a little goody two-hooves! Or claws or…whatever gargoyles have.” She looked to Tirek. “Too bad it was after he’d left Equestria, huh?”
“Yes…” Tirek intoned, though his thoughts were turned inwards as he processed this information. He’d known that Scorpan was long gone, of course – gargoyles weren’t immortal. Nor were centaurs, for that matter; Tirek’s long life was a property of the dark magic he knew plus Tartaros and the prison’s time-impeding magic. He’d also learned that Gar-Centauria was no more already, but he hadn’t known the details. Equestria had been a very insular nation until recently so information about the ancient history of other lands was hard to come by.
But something didn’t add up. He could perfectly well understand why Scorpan would never rescue him from Tartaros: once a traitor, always a traitor. But to learn that Scorpan had become a cruel tyrant? He had been soft and weak. Tirek had difficulty imagining Scorpan gaining a reputation for a reign as black as Tirek’s heart.
No, this had to have something to do with the Rainbow of Darkness…and Scorpan’s weak nature. Dark magic always had a strong influence on the weak-minded. Equestria itself provided the Nightmare Moon and Stygian as major examples, and that was the peace-loving, pacifistic ponies. If the ponies could corrupt Scorpan, then of course true darkness could.
“So…what does this mean?” Cozy asked, breaking Tirek from his reverie.
He crossed his arms. “It means that Eissas did as she was told,” he said, turning around and restoring the magic to the other centaur he had defeated, then dispelling the bubble around the other two. He gathered up their spears and broke them in half with his bare hands, then threw them away. The adult centaurs had gone to Eissas and quickly shuffled her behind them, but they knew better than to flee.
Tirek considered them. Finally, he stepped forward, and loomed over the three smaller creatures and the one much smaller child. “You’ve seen my power. But you’ve also seen that I can be merciful.” He pointed a finger across the pool, at the copse of palm trees. “The rest of your tribe…over there, waiting out the day? How many are there?”
They looked between each other. Finally, one of the centaurs spoke up. “Forty.”
Tirek nodded. He held up three fingers on one hand. “Food. Water. Proper traveling gear for the Nether Lands. Enough to last for two weeks. Give myself and Cozy Glow these things, and I will leave your tribe unharmed and in peace.”
Cozy flitted up and landed on Tirek’s shoulder, giggling once more. “I mean, you’ll obviously agree,” she said, “since me and Tirek could just take it all anyway! So why not spare yourselves the trouble?”
The centaurs considered, but they really didn’t have a choice. Finally, the adult centaurette stepped forward. “No more sorcery of any kind while you’re here – ”
“No.”
She stepped back at the firmness in Tirek’s voice, eyes wide. Tirek stroked his beard, not breaking eye contact. She would either acquiesce…or she wouldn’t. Tirek was fine with either option.
Finally, she hung her head in defeat. “Fine. Come with me…”
The centaurs turned and started trudging away. Tirek folded his hands behind his upper back and followed. “I see magic has gained an exceptionally negative reputation among my people,” he noted. “My own fault, I suppose.”
Cozy giggled once more from where she sat on Tirek’s shoulder, though after another moment she took off and landed in his shadow, to get out from the sun’s glare. “So…” she whispered. “We’re not really gonna just let them get away with pointing spears and stuff at us, are we? I’m not saying you have to steal all their magic, but maybe just, I dunno…make them treat us like royalty for a few days!”
“I am royalty,” Tirek pointed out. “But no. We are here for a purpose and shouldn’t waste time.” At Cozy’s pleading gaze, however, Tirek found himself sighing. “Perhaps if they’re still here after we get back from Midnight Castle.”
“Yay!”
The last Running of the Leaves. That was the last time that Rainbow Dash had run this much.
She had managed to make it from the edges of the airfield and into the city itself. She’d kind of hoped that the maze of buildings would serve to throw off pursuers, but the horses chasing her knew the city streets and alleys a lot better than she did. And maybe not all of them were loyal the bribed Emira, but the horses could call in help from other horse guards anyway. The Saddle Arabians just saw their fellow Royal Guard members chasing a fleeing mare and so leapt in to help.
Dash skidded to a halt at a sudden dead-end. She turned around to run back the way she’d come, but saw a pair of green-and-silver-clad horses charging down the alley at her. The building on the right had narrow stairs leading up to its roof on the outside; she took them, quickly finding herself on one of the countless flat-topped apartments connected by planks and walkways. She picked one at random and charged for it.
Two more horses appeared on the rooftops. She turned around and went for the other walkway, leaping from slightly-taller building to slightly-shorter one, clearing the distance between the narrow alleys with ease.
“There’s gotta be, like, an Equestrian embassy or something, right?” Dash asked herself as she ran, looking out across the city. It didn’t help. Almost all the buildings looked basically identical, the same three-, four-, or five-story mud brick buildings. There were the occasional landmarks, like minarets and larger stone buildings with onion-shaped domes, but Dash was pretty sure that none of them were embassies. Maybe. Checking in at the local embassy hadn’t been a huge priority for her.
Dash leapt between two buildings and down into an alley, landing easily on all four hooves, then started running towards what she hoped was the alley’s exit. What she really needed right now was a disguise, since her rainbow mane and tail stood out like…well, like a rainbow mane and tail should under normal circumstances.
Or the use of her wings. She’d had a few moments of respite here and there where she’d tried to gnaw off the rope binding her, but the hench-pony who’d tied it must have been a colt scout or something because the knots were not coming loose no matter how much Dash pried at them.
Emerging from the alley, Dash found herself in a small marketplace. Souks, that’s what the brochure had called them. It was only small in the fact that it didn’t take up much space – it was cramped, full of horses either hawking wares or looking to buy them. The size of horses next to a pony allowed Dash to actually hide amongst them in spite of her notable features, ducking down low and making her way over to a table where various brightly colored spices and fruits were being sold. She managed to slip under the table cloth without any of the horses noticing.
She waited a few seconds just to be sure, then once she was she got to work on the rope around her wings, setting about trying to untie the ropes using a combination of hooves, teeth, and more than a few words that would not be appropriate for her students back at the Friendship School to hear her speak aloud. Eventually the easiest thing proved to be actually gnawing through a length of rope, severing it after several long minutes of effort and quickly untying herself once she had.
“Aw yeah,” Dash mumbled, pumping a forehoof a few times in victory. She stretched and unstreched her wings as best she could in the cramped space under the stall to get feeling back into them, then threw herself forward and out into the souk, beat her wings, leapt into the air –
- and was immediately caught in a blue telekinetic field. “What the – ?!”
The souk, even now, was being cleared out by a half-dozen Royal Guards, pushing the horses away from the stalls they’d been operating or shopping at. Another was escorting distressingly familiar faces – Doctor Caballeron, Glory Pose, and the hench-ponies, who had by now picked up a third earth pony. All five looked tired and were panting, Glory especially, but it was her horn that was glowing with angry blue light and holding Dash in place.
Caballeron was laughing. “Well! That was a merry little chase, Rainbow Dash. Of course you had a tracking spell placed on you back at the airport by the talented Miss Pose.”
“That’s – right…” Glory gasped out, settling down on her haunches and putting a hoof to her stomach. She produced a handkerchief and pressed it to her mouth as she coughed. “Eugh…now I know why…I leave the adventuring…to others…”
“Actually most of the time it’s quite dull,” Caballeron provided, patting her back, “but somehow, never when the really good treasure is being sought out.” He looked back to Rainbow Dash. “Did you think you were making a, shall we say, dashing escape? No, my friend, you were being herded this whole time! Though I admit you didn’t make it easy.”
Dash struggled against the telekinetic field, but while her every movement did seem to get to Glory, making her wince, she wouldn’t let go – at least not until one of the Royal Guards grabbed her and pulled her down to the ground, another approaching Dash not with ropes, but with manacles and chains.
Caballeron chuckled as he strode up to Dash, looking her in the eye. “So now we have made it clear that there is nothing you can do that I have not anticipated – ”
And then a pith helmet flew down from a nearby rooftop and smacked him across the jaw, causing him to stumble and fall.
The next few seconds were a blur…to the non-pegasi present, probably. But Dash let out a whoop when she saw a tan-and-gray pegasus leap down from a nearby rooftop with wide-spread wings. She landed on the ground skidding and spinning, hind legs kicking out and catching both of Glory’s right legs, sending the unicorn tumbling over with a cry of shock, which transformed into one of mixed frustration and pain when sand was kicked into her eyes. Rapid wingbeats carried their owner backwards and to her thrown helmet, scooped up in a single fluid motion even as she delivered a complimentary hoof-flick to Caballeron’s muzzle as he tried to rise.
Dash acted immediately. Her wings beat hard, sending her flying forward and into the horse with the manacles, driving him back and making him drop the manacles from his mouth. Dash caught the chain of them in her teeth and swung it around with a flick of her head, catching the other Saddle Arabian in the chest and sending him stumbling.
The two pegasi both kicked off from the ground, wings wide as they soared upwards and over to a nearby rooftop, landing with synchronization that wouldn’t have looked out-of-place at a Wonderbolts show.
It was then Dash’s fangirlism finally kicked in as she fully processed who had arrived. “Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh! That was so cool!”
Daring Do slipped her pith helmet back on as she smirked. “Rainbow Dash, good to see you again…why am I always saving your flank?”
Dash whickered, even if she could hear that Daring didn’t have real malice to her words. “I had everything under control!”
“Uh-huh.” Daring looked back down into the souk. Most of the Royal Guard was occupied holding back the civilian horses, while Caballeron’s hench-ponies were helping up the doctor and Glory. Caballeron was glaring almost palpable hate at Daring.
“Daring Do…” he hissed. “Daring Do! Why can I never be rid of you?!”
“It’s a talent,” Daring supplied. Caballeron roared, and the two pegasi took that as their cue to leave, flying straight up into the hot afternoon skies over Istanbull before Glory could recover or the Saddle Arabians could decide to try throwing their spears. Thermals from the city below made rising high into the atmosphere a piece of cake, and soon the two found a narrow but serviceable cirrus to alight upon. Istanbull stretched out beneath them, and beyond it farm fields that soon gave way to fields of yellow grass, and beyond that, the desert of the Nether Lands.
Dash was looking Daring over. “So…” she tapped her forehooves together. “Did you, like, intercept Caballeron’s letter to me? Ooh, or was this all part of your plan, luring him out or something? Was I a distraction while you snuck into his headquarters and stole a map of Midnight Castle? ”
Daring’s brow raised. “Maybe when I get to writing,” she said, but shook her head. “But no. Sorry, Dash, I had no idea that Caballeron was going to try and kidnap you again. I just knew that he was going to Saddle Arabia with a lot of gold donated by Glory Pose.” She frowned. “Last time Caballeron was in Saddle Arabia, he was trying to steal the legendary Flying Throne of Kai Equus…and made the Sultan very angry. I keep an eye on Caballeron whenever I can, and when I saw his travel plans, I knew I had to get here to stop him.” She stood on the cloud, wings spread wide. “If whatever Caballeron’s after was worth him trying to patch things up here, then it must be something rare and valuable – something that can’t be allowed to fall into the wrong hooves!”
Dash grinned a little at hearing Daring Do’s impromptu speech, though it dropped. “Hey, but wait, Caballeron didn’t make up anything with the Sultan, just one of his daughters. Emira Numnah. So why don’t you just go to the Sultan and explain what’s up?”
Daring blinked, then tucked her wings away. “Ah. Well…um…” She rubbed the back of her neck. “Let’s just say that the last time I was in Saddle Arabia was one of the adventures that A.K. Yearling didn’t write. I’m…not on much better terms with the Sultan’s family than Caballeron.”
Dash’s eyes widened. “Wait, there’s an entire secret Daring Do adventure that nopony’s ever read?”
A blush looked downright weird on Daring’s face, but there was the hint of one anyway. “No.”
“No meaning yes?”
“…yes. Look, it’s not important!” Daring beat her wings a few times. “I haven’t been able to learn what Caballeron is here for – but I’m guessing you have? Something about Midnight Castle…something in the ruins of Gar-Centauria?”
Dash let out a laugh, leaping into the air. “Yes! Ha!” She looked down at Daring. “So this means that I really will be going on a Daring Do adventure after all!” Her eyes widened, and she flew right up to Daring. “We should get moving right now! Glory hit me with some kind of tracking spell. I don’t know how long it’ll last, but if we start going to Midnight Castle right now then Caballeron will have to follow as fast as possible – he’ll leave in a rush, might not be able to go fully supplied or prepared!”
Daring considered, rubbing her chin with a hoof. “Fine. Keep circling Istanbull, stay away from any balloons or airships the horses send up – should be easy for a Wonderbolt.” Dash beamed, and Daring continued. “I’ve been getting some supplies together, have a map to the oases across the Nether Lands. I think we could cross it with just a few days of hard flying. We’ll definitely be able to outpace Caballeron. I’ll get what I have, see if I can get anything else for you, then you can explain what’s going on while we fly.”
“Got it!” Dash said, falling away from Daring as the other pegasus leapt from the cloud herself, diving back down towards Istanbull. And Dash couldn’t help it: she let out a completely uncool giggle. Things were back on track! Sure, Caballeron was here, but that only made everything even more cool and exciting!
This was going to be awesome!