//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Rewards for the Worthy // Story: Sun & Moon Act II: A Crown Divided // by cursedchords //------------------------------// “From each according to their ability; to each according to their worth.” - Motto of Cloudsdale Cloudsdale’s Old Quarter was a roughly square and flat patch of cloud at the peak of the city, supported by the four columns of the Spire underneath, and capped by a magnificent statue of the city’s two founders, a pair of alicorns named Atlas and Aqua, from an age gone by. These days nopony remembered precisely who they had been, but they’d built the city originally, and brought in the first batch of pegasi to live up in the clouds again. At the base of the statue was an inscription: “Rewards for the worthy.” It was the principle upon which Cloudsdale had been founded, that each be rewarded in accordance with their worth, as the pegasi of old had done. That statue stood in the center of a wide market square, which was ringed with all of the important administrative and academic buildings of the city. The Old Quarter had been the first part of Cloudsdale to be built, which was why its general architecture more closely resembled the city squares of the surface towns that Wind had seen in his studies. The tallest structures on the square were the four granaries, standing on the western edge of the city square like a row of giant thimbles. The cylindrical silos held the entire store of the city’s food, as well as the harvest of the current field. Every week, citizens would travel up to the silos to receive their ration of beans, an equal share for all. For today’s Championships, a grandstand had also been set up near there, with an excellent view out over the Midcity below. The rest of the viewing spots were scattered out on the edges of the upper city, around the great fields of bean plants that stretched out in all directions from the Old Quarter. These beans, tended in pools of water and carefully managed, were all that the city had to eat, and so each field was kept in a different state of maturity, ensuring at least one was always being harvested. Before the day’s races could begin, there was the Choosing ceremony. Technically, a pony was supposed to have their Choosing on their eighteenth birthday, the day that they came of age. But given the local importance of the race event, it was common practice to group together all of the Choosings that would have taken place in the race’s month. This meant that Tin as well as a dozen other young pegasi were gathered together on a stage in the middle of the Old Quarter’s square, while their friends and families got privileged seats in a grandstand that had good views on both the race course and the stage. The rest of the square was a hive of activity, with booths and displays set up by all of the major crafting guilds of the city. There were shoemakers and cloud-layers, bakers and bards, and of course impressive displays for the Marshals and the Flight Club. Wind knew that as soon as the race was over his mother and father were going to shepherd him through all of them, making him try everything until he found something that clicked. The thought made him shudder, but at least that was a few hours away for now. Down below, the ceremony was being overseen by one of the other Councilors of the city, a portly old grey stallion who was the representative for Swifton. Each young pegasus in turn stepped forward, as a band played a song that they had chosen for the occasion, before bowing to the Master of Ceremonies and making their Choice. Each Choice was recognized and given its due applause. Wind was sitting with his father on the stand’s second row. His mother was off getting her beans judged, and likely receiving all of the top prizes like she did every year. For his part, Wind gave his respectful applause for Tin’s Choice, but otherwise he was just waiting for the races to start. Snow also didn’t look particularly interested. “Two months,” he muttered to himself, then turned to look over at Wind. “Do you at least know what music you’re going to want played?” “That choice is an easy one,” Wind returned. “Raindrops on a Roof.” Snow chuckled. “I can’t say that I was expecting that. Kind of a folksy choice.” All of the music played at today’s Choosing had been modern pieces, of the sort most popular among the young ponies of the city. Raindrops on a Roof was anything but that, a song maybe as old as Cloudsdale itself, or even older possibly. “What can I say? I’ve just always liked the sound of it.” “Well, I’ll let your mother know then, I guess.” Snow sat still for a few moments more, as the last Choice was being declared down below them. “You know that the next couple of months are going to be pretty busy, right, Wind? Preparing for a Choosing is a big deal, and your mother and I are going to be spending a lot of time on it. Today is probably the last chance we’re going to have to actively search for a vocation for you.” “Yeah,” Wind replied, trying to sound as if the prospect excited him. “Once the races are done, we’ll see what there is to see.” Snow’s eyebrows came up. “Not before? We have maybe twenty minutes before Shine’s race starts. Enough for a quick flyabout.” “But don’t you need time to prepare if you’re going to be the race official?” “Really, Wind? You’re that determined already to get rid of me?” Snow sat back into his seat and sighed. “You know, if it weren’t for your mother and I, you’d probably be spending today with your head in the clouds away from any responsibility. One of these days you’re going to have to take some, and I don’t want you suddenly alone and helpless when that happens. So we are going to find something here that tickles your fancy, or else maybe I will let your mother start tutoring you for the Academy’s entrance exam.” Wind grimaced at such a prospect. Honestly, he wasn’t entirely certain which scenario sounded worse. Here in the upper city, the free sky beckoned above, clear and blue as far as the eye could see. Wind could imagine himself up there in those heavens, alone with the wind and the Sun, with not a soul to tell him how to live. It would be the perfect life, but it wasn’t a life at all, now was it? “Snow!” A voice suddenly came from over Wind’s shoulder. When he turned, he saw that the speaker was a mahogany stallion with a small band of office around his neck. It was Trim Acorn, the current Master of the Calendar and chair of the Council. “A pleasure seeing you out here on this fine day!” he continued. “This would be your son Wind, if I recall? Why, he’s just about coming up to his age, isn’t he? You and Sun must be so proud.” Wind’s father stood up immediately when he saw the Master, offering him a short hoofshake and a small bow. “Why, of course we are, Master Acorn. Wind here is going to leave a lasting legacy for Cloudsdale, mark my words. Some day, I hope that he might inherit my seat on the Council.” “Now you know we don’t give out positions by heredity around here, right, Snow? We’re not unicorns, are we now?” Trim rolled his eyes as he said the term. “We pegasi believe in the proof of merit, that we all should honourably serve in the position where we’re most able. Why, that’s the reason we are all here today, of course. Do you have a favourite in this upcoming race?” Snow wagged a hoof. “You know very well that I’m the official for this one, Master. No favourites allowed.” “Ha, very true.” Trim said, nodding in approval. “In any event, I should think that you would head over to the starting area soon. The preparations for the first division should be getting started about now.” An uncertain look passed over Snow’s face, and Wind willed it that his father would give in. After the race, it was just possible that he could slip away and find some other way to spend the afternoon. Finally, Snow nodded to his boss. “Of course, sir. Wind, you can stay here I suppose. We’ll meet up again once the race is over, right here, I think.” With that, he set off for the starting line, which this year was on the southern axis of the city, about ninety feet or so above the field in that direction. Trim watched him go with an odd look on his face. “Such a dutiful fellow, your father is,” he said quietly, though well within Wind’s hearing. “A tremendous role model, I’m sure you’ll agree?” Naturally, Wind couldn’t help but nod. This was the Master of the Calendar, after all, the leader of the whole tribe. “Some day perhaps I shall be able to carry his banner without feeling small beside it, sir.” Trim favoured him with a light smile. “Something tells me that it won’t take long. Mind, you have no such stipulations upon you as your father does. I’ve heard from a mutual friend that you do have a small favourite in this upcoming race. A good investment, perhaps?” “Perhaps,” Wind allowed. A check with the bookies this morning had shown Shine with reasonable two-point-five to one odds. In truth, the race favourite was actually the Master’s son, Spry. “Shine’s a fearsome competitor, and it takes a lot to beat her. I’ve got the marks to show that.” For once in the day he felt a little proud that his black eye was still standing out so prominently upon his face. “Hmm. Well, the best pegasus of course shall win, as the tribe has always allowed. I hope that you’ll excuse me; there is some ceremony that needs to be attended to shortly, but I wish your friend the best of luck.” Trim departed with a quick bow, then flew off in a low glide, somehow managing a regal air even in flight. When Tin made his way up to the stand, he was carrying a deep bag of candied beans, which he promptly offered to Wind. “Three weeks allowance for this,” he said brightly, “but worth every coin. Even your mother couldn’t shake together a treat like this, and from what the foreponies tell me, next year it should be even better!” In addition to the large crop of beans, there was a very small patch of sugar beets that grew sporadically out in the confines of the east field. Tin had worked on it in his apprenticeship. The farmers had only just recently figured out the right conditions for them to grow, and hopes were high for a good harvest this time around. Of course, they only offered the sugar for events like this one. “Is she down there yet?” Wind asked, taking a hoof-full of the sweets for himself. “Lane number three,” Tin said, pointing out their friend. “There’s some real tough competition out there, or at least that’s what everypony else seems to be saying. But Shine will take ‘em on, no sweat!” Despite the prior confidence, Wind hoped that he was right. Shine had been practicing for this race for months now, and her entrance into the Flight Club could hinge upon it. Performance in the Open races was one of the metrics that the Club used to judge its entrants. If she had been here, Shine would have told him all about the intimate details of their scoring system, and how high she would need to finish in order to guarantee herself a spot, but for now he would simply have to cheer her on to the win. There came a sudden shout. “Racers ready!” The eyes of the crowd turned to find Snow now hovering over the start line, wearing a blazing orange uniform seemingly bright enough to challenge the Sun. If any racer was ignorant enough to fly into the official today, they would be wearing that jersey about town for a week. “Remember that we want a clean race,” Snow called down to the competitors. “We’re here to celebrate the pegasus spirit, and the joy of free competition. In that vein, I’ll be keeping a close eye out for any skulduggery, and a swift disqualification will follow any violations caught. Is that clear?” After receiving nods all around, Snow withdrew a whistle from underneath his jersey. “On the third sounding, you shall go. Take your marks,” – he sounded the whistle once, bright and clear in the suddenly silent sky – “Get Set!” – Wind’s heart picked up by just a fraction of tempo, though it was probably nothing compared to what was going on for the competitors below – “GO!” Shine took off from her starting spot like a stone fired from a sling, and her thirteen competitors followed in short order. The group of pegasi painted a brightly coloured blur against the white and blue backdrop of the city beneath, taking a steep dive first before the full-G one-eighty that Wind had seen the day before. Shine executed that turn with finesse, though a couple of her competitors were less able, losing their edge and falling head-on into a protective cushion of clouds that was waiting underneath. Tin whistled as the two fallen pegasi got themselves sorted out and hurried to catch up. “That corner’s going to be a real fun one as the laps count down. Especially if things are close.” Wind nodded in agreement beside him. Once the course reached the top of its climb, it twisted to the west like a snake, beginning a highly technical sequence of loops and dips that eventually took the racers out of view and around behind the rear of the city. When they emerged over the top of the Old Quarter, preparing to dive down for the second lap, Shine was still out in front, but not by much. A light green stallion with a soft blue mane was right on her wing-tips, and doing his best to make up the inches with each flap of his wings. As the leading group passed in front of the stands, Wind and Tin yelled themselves hoarse, regardless of how well Shine was able to hear them for the moment. Each of the laps progressed in much the same manner, with a hoof-biting climax always at the bottom of that dive, and every so often a few more racers eating the protective barrier on that section of the track. But Shine held her own, if only by a hair. By the fourth lap of six, the race was virtually neck-and-neck, with Shine for the first time trailing her competitor but only by a nose. By this point the rest of the pack were noticeably lagging behind, leaving virtually all the focus on Shine and her remaining competitor. “That would be Spry Acorn, right?” Wind asked Tin, reaching over and politely borrowing a brochure from one of the ponies on his left. “Yeah, for sure,” Tin replied, a little difficult to hear with his mouth half-full of beans. “I can see why he had the short odds now. But Shine will take him on. She’s been saving herself for the end, I’m sure.” Indeed, when the leading group passed in front of the stand again, starting off the second-to-last lap, Shine had gained herself a small lead once more, and it looked to Wind as though her competitor was finally feeling the strain of the effort. As they settled once more into the run-up to that corner, Wind could see the determination on Spry’s face, and he willed Shine to hang on. Then, in an instant, just as the pair were slowing their descent to prepare for the hard turn at the bottom, he saw Spry dive hard down the inside, far too fast for the turn, and slam full-force into Shine as she was slowing up ahead of him. The impact sent them both careening off of the course, and elicited a gasp from the grandstand, Wind and Tin included. Shine did her best to recover, but her speed was too great, and into the barrier she fell. Spry though did manage to get his wings back underneath him, and took off for the next corner with all of the speed that he could muster. Wind cast a look around for his father, in the hopes of seeing him disqualifying the Master’s son right away. That had to have been an intentional interference, hadn’t it? It sure had looked to him as though it was. But Snow was nowhere to be seen, and so all Wind could do was join in his friend shouting for Shine to get up again and back on with the race. It took several agonizing seconds, during which most of the other racers came and went, for Shine to recover, pulling herself out of the cloud bank still looking slightly dazed. With a start, she looked back up at the course, and took off once more, but now with plenty of time to make up if she wanted to break into the top five, let alone if she wanted to win. “Did you see that, Tin?” Wind turned to his friend. “I could swear that Spry ran into Shine intentionally there to knock her off.” Tin shrugged his shoulders in response. “Tough to say. He was clearly tired, after such a long and hard race, and stressed from being behind again. Sometimes mistakes happen, especially on that corner.” “I swear that he did. Where’s Dad? He should at least have made a mention of it, or give Spry some kind of penalty.” Wind finally spotted his father perched high up over the stands, watching as the main field made its way through the technical twists that took them around the back of the stands. On impulse, he took off himself, climbing rapidly up there. Perhaps Snow had had his eyes elsewhere, and had simply missed the infraction as it happened. The atmosphere rippled Wind’s hair as he climbed, until eventually he was hovering aside his father up on the perch. “Dad, did you see Shine’s fall on the first turn? Spry cheated to trip her up, I saw it!” Snow didn’t even turn to look at him. “What in Atlas’ name are you even doing up here, Wind? Do you want to get us both thrown out for interference? Come talk to me after the race if you have an objection, but right now I have no time to spare!” Not giving his son a second look, he flew off a second after he had finished, with two more competitors trussed up in the protective barriers. Wind fluttered himself back down to the stands. Of course his father was right, but even so he had wanted to see action taken right away. As he came back down, Spry roared over the finish line to start his last lap, with no other ponies in sight to challenge him. The rest of the chase pack followed fifteen seconds or so later, with Shine at least in the mix among them. “Gee, Wind, you really think that strongly that you saw that?” Tin looked incredulous, but his voice carried a note of real concern. “I mean, I’ll admit it looked a bit odd, but I can see the argument both ways. If Snow saw it and thought that it was all clean, then he is the official after all.” Conflicted, Wind sat back down hard. He thought back over what he had seen. The expression on Spry’s face hadn’t been one of a pony exhausted and barely sure of where he was going. He had been tired, sure, as much as any other pegasus would be after such an intense race. But when he had dove down the inside it had been deliberate, just enough to knock Shine out while leaving himself enough space to regain control and take off with his lead. “He cheated. I’m sure of it. Once things are done I’ll talk to Dad and get it all sorted out.” Since the race was going to finish, he didn’t really know what the compensation would be for Shine after an infraction like this. She probably wouldn’t be given the win, but something at least would be nice. Tin nodded to himself. “Well, if you’re so sure of it then I believe you. I guess it would make sense in a way, doing it right there in a place where everypony had crashed a few times already, and so late in the race too. I guess I would like to know what Shine herself thought of it. She had the best view on it, after all.” A rush of applause went up through the grandstand as Spry crossed the line to claim his victory. Wind caught sight of Trim nodding in approval as his son coasted over to the winner’s circle. Surely the Master would be disappointed when he found out his son had cheated, but that was simply the price that would need to be paid. A few seconds later, the chase group came over the back end of the city, and Wind spied the red streak of Shine’s mane in a tense battle for third. She edged her way onto the podium by a hair, and as soon as she was over the line Wind had taken off to see her, with Tin in hot pursuit, though he was still holding on to his bag of beans. Shine was doing slow laps of the finish area to cool herself down, and though Wind could see the droop in her shoulders, she flashed him a bright smile as soon as their eyes met. “Third place will do!” she said. “It’s not a guaranteed placement, so it’ll come down to what the coaches think of my record this year, but at least I’ve done everything that I could.” “Congratulations!” Wind returned, considering how best to broach this subject. “We were both so worried for you on the second-last lap there. What happened?” “Oh, that,” Shine chuckled tiredly. “I knew that Spry was close up behind me, but I was focused on my descent the whole time. I didn’t see anything until suddenly I felt him hit and then I was into the barrier. Shame that something like that had to happen in such an important race, but at least I’m still all in one piece. At least I think I am, right?” She presented her left eye to Wind, a devious smile growing on her face. Her and Tin burst out laughing. “Shine, I think that Spry—” “Good race, by the way,” Wind felt a hoof at his shoulder as the race’s winner sidled himself into the group. Spry looked just as spent as the rest of the competition, though of course his grin was just a few degrees wider. The coif on his mane was still nicely intact too, which was really quite a miracle given what he had been through. “You had me really doubting for a long time there. Congrats on third.” He offered Shine a hoofshake, which she took without hesitation. “At the end of the day, though, the better racer won, and that’s all that matters.” Wind could have left it at that, perhaps should have given that he hadn’t spoken with Snow about it yet, but something in the tone of Spry’s voice got to him. Cheating was one thing. To do it and then have the audacity to say the better racer won was something else entirely. “That’s a really bold thing to say,” Wind spoke up, getting the attention of both of the racers, “for a cheater.” Spry’s eyebrows rose up a couple of inches, and then he laughed. “Hey, I don’t know what you’re talking about, friend. Wasn’t it your dad running this show? If you think there’s been a problem, talk to him about it. As far as I could tell this was a clean race from start to finish.” Wind turned back to Shine, who looked a mix of shocked and confused, doing his best to keep his voice level. “Shine, I saw him. He deliberately crashed into you to take you out in that turn. Never mind winning, he shouldn’t have finished the race at all.” The smile on Spry’s face had vanished. “Is that it? Like I said, if you have a complaint, talk to your dad about it. But as far as we’re all concerned, I won this race, and that’s all that there is to say.” “You rotten cheat!” Wind flew forward, right in front of the Master’s son. “You really think that you’re going to get away with this, don’t you? You see down there?” He pointed at the statue marking the entrance to the Quarter. “Rewards for the worthy. Does that not mean anything?” Wind’s rant was cut off as he felt two pairs of hooves at his shoulders, and looked down to see that one of those hooves was also still clutching its bag of beans. Suddenly his anger all disappeared. Spry looked triumphant. “Sorry if your friend’s jealous, Shine. Unfortunately we can’t all be the best. I’ll see you on the podium, though.” He turned around and flew off, quickly running into another group of mares surely eager to spend time with the city’s new Champion. “Come on, Wind, really?” Shine’s voice at his side was concerned, though with a clear undertone of anger. “I don’t know what happened, but I’ve run into Spry around the town before. He’s not a cheater. And besides, he’s the Master’s son. If there was ever a pony who would want to play by the rules, it would be him.” “Yeah, maybe just take it easy,” Tin said from beside her. “We’ll see what Snow has to say, but nopony got hurt at the end of this. It’s not the end of the world, no matter what happens. Maybe we can try to be happy anyway.” He tossed Shine a few candied beans, which she snagged and downed in a single bite. Wind, though, could barely keep his thoughts straight. Sure, nopony had gotten hurt, and Shine would probably make the bar for the Flight Club anyway. But honour was everything in Cloudsdale. It was why the ponies who proved themselves the best were afforded the rewards. Spry’s win should mean nothing if he had gotten it through trickery. That was the kind of thing that you expected from a unicorn, but surely not a pegasus. And somehow he would make sure that this time justice was served. “Okay, now that that’s all through, we can talk.” Snow did not look the least bit happy, although at least he had been able to remove his official’s jersey, and now had on his usual conservative councilor’s uniform. “First of all, what were you thinking flying up to me while I was in the middle of officiating the race? Never mind that you were distracting me from my job, you were putting yourself in harm’s way! The grandstands are sectioned off for a reason, and if somepony had lost control around a corner, we could have all been hurt!” They were standing in the square around the back of the grandstand, in their own open spot as the other ponies milling about were giving them a wide berth. Wind knew that there was nearly no way that he was going to be able to slip away for his own afternoon now, but what had happened with Spry and Shine was more important than avoiding a few more vocations. Of course, he was going to have to endure Snow’s anger for a little while more too. “And what do you think would have happened if someone had tried to cheat while you had me distracted? If something like that ever came to light it would bring shame onto the both of us, and by extent onto your mother. I thought that I could leave you alone for half an hour without anything coming of it, but I guess I was wrong. You’d better believe I’ll be keeping a close eye on you for the rest of the day.” Snow’s tone had fallen just a bit by the end of that sentence, which Wind sensed meant that his rant was running short on steam. He took the opportunity to try changing the subject. “Did you actually see the incident between Shine and Spry on that first corner?” he asked, doing his best to summon as forceful a tone as he could while still staying respectful. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about when I got up there, after all.” Snow was hovering, as pegasi tended to do when they were agitated, just a few inches off of the ground, though he was working his wings a bit more than was necessary for maintaining his altitude. “Of course I saw it. It was my job to see it. Do you have an objection to the way that I called it?” Now that they were on the right topic, Wind let his own fury off the leash a little. He had to make sure that Spry got his just desserts. There simply wasn’t any way that he could keep silent on it. “I do, in fact. Spry dove down on purpose, and crashed into Shine to take her out of competition. I was looking at him, and there was no way that what happened was an accident.” Snow narrowed his eyes as he looked down at his son. “Are you accusing the Master’s son of cheating? When he clearly had the chance to win the race anyway? It was a risky move by him for sure, but it’s a tall order to assume malicious intent.” “Spry was tired. He knew that he wasn’t going to win otherwise. And him being the Master’s son has nothing to do with this. All pegasi of Cloudsdale are held to the same standards of honour. It’s what holds our world together.” That last part was very nearly a quotation from the pledges that he had learned as a foal. He certainly shouldn’t have had to remind his own father of the principles upon which the city had been founded. At least Snow’s eyebrows came back up. “Your own word isn’t much, son, though at least it feels like you’re telling the truth. Have you talked to Shine herself about what happened?” Wind tried to avoid gritting his teeth. Everypony was asking him the same questions today. “She said that everything happened too quickly. Unfortunately, she didn’t get a good look at what was going on with Spry. But I think that if any cheating did happen, you’d want to get to the bottom of it, Dad, or else you could bring shame down onto the both of us.” His eyebrows still down, Snow nodded in contemplation as he considered that point. “Okay, I’ll see what I can find out. Right now though it’s your word against Spry’s, and my own call too. I’ll admit it’s suspicious, but it could be nothing. I’ll have to see what everypony else saw.” He sighed. “I guess that means that I have to leave you be, for now. The eyewitness accounts will need to be caught fresh if we want to have any chance of succeeding. Is it too much to ask for you to try out a few of these displays while I’m gone?” Wind took another look around. Truthfully, he hadn’t expected his father to see things his way, even if technically they weren’t any closer yet to stripping Spry of his unearned win. Perhaps he did owe his father a little bit for it. “I’ll try to see a few of them. And thank you for listening.” Snow’s frown softened for the first time that afternoon. “Well, thank you for being a concerned citizen and letting me know of this potential infraction. I’ll see you at the Gala tonight, I think. You’ll be able to find your mother in the bean-judging tent. With any luck, by now she will have received all of the ribbons that she is due.” Snow gave Wind a firm nod, and then he turned around and headed back to the grandstand. Overhead, the Division 2 race whistled past, with a real battle for position developing at its front. Each of the day’s winners were to be honoured at the celebratory Flight Club Gala tonight, and though Spry would certainly be in attendance as the Master’s son, Wind would appreciate seeing him recognized as the cheater he was. He tried to keep that image in his mind as he ambled over to the chandlers’ table and sniffed some soaps.