The origins of the Elements are one of the deepest mysteries associated with them. In my adventurous life I have encountered three separate beings that claimed to be their creator, two of which I believed at the time. Princess Celestia herself once told me that it was possible she crafted the Elements, though she could not say for sure. The circumstances of the time the Elements were discovered make it difficult if not impossible to have a definite answer, but with what I have uncovered of the nature of the Elements, and from my observations of the beings claiming responsibility, I have come to the conclusion that none of their claims could be true. None of them, not even the Princesses, are powerful enough to craft the Elements.

In fact, the only being I can think of that might have the potential to create the Elements is also the one who would never, ever claim to have done so.

-From Section One of Harmony Theory by Twilight Sparkle

Chapter 3: Native Inflection

"Why aren't you home yet?" the stern voice of Professor Twinkle Shine demanded, the magical image of her frowning face staring holes into Star Fall. They were outside the cabin, the day half over, and the spellsheet Star Fall had prepared glowed dully under the image of her mentor. Astrid stood behind her charge, head high, eyes on the sky, and trying desperately not to be noticed by the irate unicorn. Star Fall herself cringed, failing to keep the guilty look from her face.

"Uh, well, we stayed a bit longer than we thought because there was more activity at the site than we'd expected. Then, uh, then something came up."

"Something?" Twinkle Shine asked, quirking an eyebrow. It was an expression the golden unicorn was fond of using, and it always meant trouble for her student. "What 'something' is this?"

"Uh, just something that dropped on my back. It's not trouble, but it'll, um, it'll delay us a bit."

"A bit," her mentor repeated. She lowered her head, letting her white mane fall over her eyes so that the purple stripe that ran through it hung over her left eye while her right stared through the part created by her horn. This was another expression Star Fall recognized, Twinkle Shine clamping down on her anger. "Star Fall, you are my precious student, and I care for you deeply. But if you are going to lie, do not make it such a transparent one. I will not take it lightly."

"Enough! You are running far behind schedule, and putting yourself in greater danger because of it. I don't care what you've run into out there, if you're dancing around it like that, it isn't important enough to keep you. You will be crossing the Everstorm in the next two days or I am coming to get you."

Star Fall stood with her mouth hanging open for a long moment. Coming to get her? That was something she'd never heard from her mentor. She knew Twinkle Shine didn't like the journeys Star Fall made for their government through the Everstorm to spy on the Republic, but she had never before actually threatened to come get her. That she could, there was no doubt. Twinkle Shine was the strongest Magical Talent in the Solar Kingdom.

She thought of the pegasus calling herself Rainbow Dash. She had been in a deep sleep since waking that morning, and there hadn't been any more thrashing or crying out. While her injuries were healing impossibly quickly, she was still several days, maybe more than a week away from being up for a journey. Star Fall wasn't going to leave her behind, not without knowing more.

"No," she said, forcing herself to lock gazes with her mentor. Her wings spread out, unconsciously signalling how ready she was to fight for this.

Star Fall couldn't resist shrinking back, but she managed to hold her eyes steady. "No. I'm not going back, and you're not going to come here. I'm going to take the time I need, and head back when I can."

"Look, I'll tell you later, alright? You won't believe me now, I'm going to have to show you in person."

Twinkle Shine held her student's gaze for a long beat before flicking her eyes to Astrid. "Sergeant Steelwing," she said. Astrid winced. Rank and clan name meant this was an order. "What has my student discovered?"

"Sorry, Fall," Astrid said. "A pony, maam. A pegasus mare. She fell out of the sky yesterday evening, banged herself up pretty bad. Star Fall's taking care of her, thinks she's important somehow."

Twinkle Shine paused at this, frown turning from anger to puzzlement. "How well?"

"That's not possible," Twinkle Shine scoffed. "There's only a hooffull of Dragons that still speak Old Equestrian fluently. Nopony has in over eight hundred years!"

"She does," Star Fall said. "She's also, well, uh, she's got some strange magic in her. I've never seen anything like it before. Once she's healed I'm going to take her with us through the Everstorm."

"I don't think so," Star Fall said. "She could have died really easily the way I met her. And if they wanted to capture me they could have done it at any time now. I don't think they know about me yet, this is something else."

Twinkle Shine glared at her student for along time, before huffing and shaking her head. "Fine. You think this pony is so important? Then I expect to be amazed when you bring her to my lab. But we can't wait too long. Not now. You have to be through the Everstorm in a week."

"A week," Twinkle Shine said. "That's all the time I can give you. If you're not sunside by then I'll have to find you myself. Are we clear?"

"Good," Twinkle Shine's features softened. "Star Fall, don't lose sight of your own importance and safety. The longer you're in the nightlands, the more the chance that you'll be discovered. Who knows what the Republicans would do to you."

"I will," Star Fall said, and the image vanished as her mentor cut the link. Her wings slumped. "Well, that didn't go too bad," she said.

"Yeah, that was downright civil," Astrid agreed. "The professor usually freaks out a lot more when we're off schedule."

"I don't know. I think she's worried about something. More than just me being late, I mean."

"Whatever it is, you got what you wanted instead of her. First time for everything, I guess."

"For Luna's sake, Strongheart, you're more than old enough to make your own sandwiches!" the rose-coloured earth pony mare declared, exasperated. "I thought soldiers were supposed to be stallionly and independent. What do they teach you in the army anyway?"

"Oh you little charmer!" Strongheart's mother said, breaking out into a grin as she tousled her son's mane. "That's so sweet. But I'm still not making you a sandwich."

"Awww," he got up from the table and started rummaging through the kitchen. He caught sight of her looked at him with love-filled eyes and he smiled back. Strongheart resembled his father more than his mother, tall and strong with a dark gray coat that contrasted with a bright blue and white mane. The purple eyes he had gotten from his mother, though. It was after his father left that he had gained his Glyph, a heart-shaped shield, protecting her even as she had protected and raised him. Once he had come of age joining the army had been a natural decision, and Strongheart had distinguished himself as a brave and selfless pony. He had loved his mother dearly, and he had been her world. Which had eventually led to here and now, with the two of them sharing this house while he waited for his next orders.

Evidently those orders were on her mind as well when she asked: "When do you think they'll send you your next deployment?"

He thought about it for a bit, putting the sandwich together. "I don't know. I think it'll be a little while, unless something comes up."

"It's just that I was talking to May Belle down the street and she said that her husband, who works over at city hall, you know, he said that there's been a lot of talk about the Kingdom building up forces in the southern sea. He also said that the Senate was talking about putting out a full call just in case. Then you'd have to go out. They'd put you on the front lines. A big boy like you. They'd put you out there and then...then."

He stepped up to her drew her into a hug. "Don't worry, mom. That's not going to happen. No way are the Sun-heads going to attack."

"Strongheart! Don't call them that!" she admonished, even as she returned his embrace. "They're ponies, just like you or I. How would you feel if they started calling you names?"

He shook his head and laughed with her. "Sure it is, mom," he pulled back, giving her his best reassuring smile. "Don't listen to what May Belle says her husband said, alright? It'll just make you worry."

"I can't help it. I just think of you out there, fighting. I imagine it every time I close my eyes. I imagine you lying there, dead, and I can't stand it. I can't lose you... not..."

He held a hoof up to cover her mouth. "Shh. Mom. I'm right here. Okay? You're not going to lose me. I promise."

"You're not old, mom, and you're not silly. You just get carried away sometimes."

"I suppose I do," she shook her head. "But you were hungry! Why don't you eat your sandwich and tell me your plans for today."

He smiled and brought his sandwich to the table, munching on it as they talked. "I'm probably going to go out and catch a movie later."

"Oh? Would you perhaps be going with someone? Maybe a certain pink filly with bows in her tail?" she asked with a sly look. "I know she's been eyeing you for a while."

"Mom! I'm not dating her, we just hang out sometimes. And not really even that for the past while, since I came back from deployment."

She giggled at his consternation. "Oh, my. You'd think with a coat that dark, no one could see you blush, but there it is!"

They continued chatting as he finished up his sandwich. The conversation meandered from what movie he might see to a dinner party she was attending later in the week, which he was invited to, to just reminiscing about good times. It was peaceful, and he soaked in that peace with a warm smile.

That peace was shattered by a sharp knock on the door. He stood up. "I'll get that, if it's a salespony I don't want you buying another vacuum you don't need."

"But he said it had so many features!" she protested, picking up the used plate and taking it over to the sink.

"Uh-huh. So many features, none of them good at cleaning dirt off of floors," he said, walking through the small house to the door. With a tug he opened it, and saw that there was a pale off-white unicorn standing on the doorstep. His mane was a drab blond that hung limply around his head, but his eyes were an intense blue that seemed to smoulder in their sockets. Beyond him there was a black car parked, a pair of dark-uniformed pegasi wearing sunglasses flanking an open rear door.

"Director Straff," he said. A plate shattered. A choked cry came from the kitchen. He looked back, his face etched with pain, before turning to the unicorn again. "I'll be a minute," he said.

The pale unicorn stared at him for a long moment, then nodded. "Fine, you have two minutes."

"Thank you," he said, closing the door and rushing back to the kitchen. Strongheart's mother was sitting amidst the shattered remnants of the plate she had been cleaning, faucet running a constant hiss in the background. She was crying, tears wetting her face and dripping down to the floor. "Mom," he began. "It's alright."

"No it isn't," she sobbed. "You're going to go. You're going to go and you're going to die."

"No, mom. I'm going to be fine. They're just sending me on a simple deployment, okay? I won't even be gone for too long. The Kingdom's not attacking, I won't see any action, I'll be real bored and tell you all about how much I missed you when I get back."

"You won't come back," she wailed, reaching out and clutching to him. "You won't come back. You're going to die!"

"No," he said, hugging her as tightly as he dared. "I'll be fine. I'll come back. I promise. I swear to you, on Luna and her night, that I won't die, and I'll come back."

She cried into his coat for a moment, then grew still. "Make me believe it," she whispered.

She pulled back, staring at him with bloodshot purple eyes. "Please," she begged. "I can't on my own. Please, make me believe."

"Not as much as watching you walk out that door, and knowing you won't ever come back. Not as much as having to remember all the joy we had here, knowing it's gone forever. Please, Strongheart. Please, if you ever were my son, make me believe it."

He sighed, but nodded. She closed her eyes and he brought his forehead to hers, concentrating. A green light kindled in her eyes, infusing the whites with a pale tint as her body relaxed and her lips curled up in a smile. "Are you alright, mom?" he asked carefully as he pulled away.

She blinked at him a couple times, her gaze unfocused, then snapped back to herself. She took a look around and gasped. "Oh, my! I must have fallen. I hope I didn't cut myself."

"I don't think you did, mom," he said, helping her to her hooves. "I've got to go now, okay?"

"Oh? Oh! Yes, your new deployment. I certainly hope it'll be more exciting than you think it will be. My boy deserves some glory, not some boring old guard posting."

"I think I don't deserve such a great mom," he said with a sad smile. "I'll write when I get the chance, okay?"

"I love you too, mom," he said, then trotted out of the kitchen while she hummed happily to herself as she cleaned up the broken plate shards. He joined the pale unicorn outside without a word, and the two of them got into the back of the car, the guard pegasi getting into the front. Strongheart's mother waving to them from the window with a happy smile on her face and a vacant look in her eyes as they pulled away.

In a flash of green fire he shed the form of Strongheart and became Calumn once more. "Not too much," he replied, extending his diaphanous wings for the first time in months, the wings rubbing against his black carapace. "She didn't resist." He rolled his shoulders, his crooked horn scraping lightly against the roof of the car as he worked the kinks out of his natural joints. "I won't need a boost before going into the field." He settled back down, holding a hoof up to a vent and feeling the air flow through the holes. It felt good, cooling. "I'm ready for my mission, sir," he flashed his companion a fanged smile as he sat next to the pony, fully revealed as his true self, a Changeling.

The unicorn's horn glowed with a magnesium-white flare and lifted a file. "Max Cash," he said.

"Luna's black feathers!" Calumn swore, taking the file. "I thought we had him locked down!"

"We've got him on insider trading, and collusion with the Solar Kingdom," the pale pony said. "But the more we looked into that, the more it became apparent that we were only scratching the surface. We still don't know the full extent of his activities, and he's growing more bold all the time."

"I can't infiltrate," Calumn pointed out. "He's proven that he can spot a Changeling."

"We don't need you to try to get close to him," Straff said. "The situation has had an unexpected change. Read the file."

Calumn flipped through the file. Most of it he had seen before, basic intelligence on Max Cash and his close associates. Some of it was new, estimates of his holdings in the Sunlands, outlines of his criminal endeavours. He didn't need to read all of it in detail to know it was mostly just vague outlines and speculation. Cash ran a tight ship as far as his true goals and resources were concerned. There was an entirely new section, though, and he flipped to it as soon as he was sure that was where the meat of the file was. Indeed it was something interesting, if impossible. The date on the report meant that the incident it described had happened only a day ago. "Is this accurate?" he had to ask.

"Yes," Straff replied. "We've got independent confirmation on the sonic boom, and the officers' injuries were real enough. The lab is still analyzing the crime scene, and won't have any new information for at least a week. Even then it'll be our police contact who will be handling that angle of the investigation. What we need you to do is find that mare."

"This says she was heading to the Verge," Calumn said. "That means she's looking to cross the Everstorm. If she's two days ahead of me, and supersonic besides, I'm not going to be able to catch her before she does, no matter how hard I push."

"We know," Straff nodded. "Calumn, we need you to go full active. Infiltrate the Solar Kingdom territory and find this mare. We need to know how she's connected to Cash, and why."

Calumn closed his eyes, letting out a slow breath. Infiltrating the sunlands was one of the most dangerous things a Changeling could do. Pony spies could and did slip between the two kingdoms whenever an opportunity presented itself. If they were found out they were usually pursued by local forces and if caught they were questioned, tried, usually hung, sometimes just imprisoned. Not so for a Changeling. If word got out that a Changeling was in the sunlands, the Royals unleashed the Griffins. Unless he had been feeding deeply, Calumn was no match for those legendary berserkers. Changelings that got caught didn't get a trial, they got torn apart.

"You already have it," Straff said. "Strongheart's being redeployed into a major threat arena. That's made stronger ponies desert. You know his history, his friends, his personality. You can pass any authenticity test you might encounter."

Calumn winced. "That'll kill her," he said, thinking of the rose-colored pony he had just left behind.

Calumn nodded in acceptance. There was really nothing he could say to that. Straff didn't care that two years was enough for him to come to care for her, even if he'd only been pretending to be her son the whole time. "Cover it up," he said. "Make it seem like I took off with important information. Something connected to Cash. Give me something to get into whatever this mare is part of. When mom... when she asks you can stonewall her. It'll be easier on her, and easier to muddy the waters for anyone getting suspicious."

Straff snorted. "Fine. You already know everything we have on Cash, but you should take the reports on his excavations."

"Not yet, but I have a feeling that whatever it is, he's getting close. Otherwise James Bay wouldn't be lying dead thirty meters underground. That's where the mare was first seen, so its a good bet information on those projects will be your key in."

"Right now? Apprehension only. You have dispensation for as much mind magic as you need to obtain and control this mare, but only if necessary. If you need to you can thrall her, but only her, and only if nothing else is a viable option. If the situation escalates I'm personally authorizing you to use your best judgement. Follow the usual guidelines. The information is top priority, followed by your personal safety. Bringing the mare back can take a distant third."

"I don't know, but events have a habit of going out of our control when Max Cash is involved."

Calumn shot the pale unicorn a sharp look. It was extremely rare to hear the director apologize for anything. "None? Why?"

"I've already got the Senate breathing down my neck about the resources we've been devoting to Cash, I can't afford any more than what I've giving you already. You'll have to find your own way across the Everstorm. I've put the network on alert for you, but they've been told not to stick their necks out for you if they don't have to. Passive information only."

"Ouch, that's practically out in the cold," Calumn said. "Can I at least have some seed money?"

Straff levitated a pair of saddlebags over to him. "There's a hundred and fifty full moons in there, as well as a few minor tradeables. This is out of my personal pocket, so don't waste it."

Calumn focused his energies and resumed Strongheart's shape before putting the saddlebags on and slipping the file he had taken into them. "Thank you," he said. The car slowed to a stop, just outside of city limits. "Any other advice?"

"Keep sharp," Straff said. "We know next to nothing about this situation, about this mare and about whoever she's working for. Avoid Cash and his crew if you can, try to stay out of the spotlight if you can't. Be bold, we can't afford to wait around on this one. Don't get caught. Don't die."

Calumn nodded. "Will do," he said, and opened the door. The car was leaving soon after he had gotten out, and he looked to the path ahead of him. The forest and the mountains stood before him. Beyond that, the Everstorm and the Sunlands, and somewhere in there was his target. He took a moment to collect himself. He hoped that he could return to Strongheart's life when this was all over, and to the mare who loved him like a son, even when he wasn't hers. But that was for the future, and right now he had a hard journey ahead of him. So he set his jaw, focused his gaze on the horizon, and started walking.

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes. They were gummed up and it actually took an effort to pull the lids up. When she did get them open everything was a blur of color and light, she couldn't make out any details. A few blinks started sharpening up her surroundings, and she devoted a bit of thought to figuring out how the rest of her was doing. Her wings were in agony, of course, and two of her legs were reporting that they weren't going to be doing any walking soon. Surprisingly, the rest of her didn't feel so bad. Her head still hurt, but not as much as the last time she'd done a high-speed faceplant.

She pulled her head up and looked around. She was in a bed in a log cabin with weird glowing designs stuck to the walls and floor all around her. That was weird. She vaguely remembered seeing another pegasus in this same setting, but her memory was a little fuzzy. She turned her head and surveyed the rest of the cabin. It wasn't too large, but it had a hearth and a couple large windows that showed the colors of sunset through them.

As she was looking the door opened up and a pegasus came through. She was young, and she looked a little soft. Not a strong flyer or weatherpony, then. Any sort of weather-work tended to build up muscle. It wasn't quite apple-bucking but it required long hours of hard, tedious effort. Unless, of course, you were as good as Rainbow Dash, who could pull together a storm or clear the skies in no time at all. Even then, it took a whole lot of work to get that good.

Despite her softness, she was a pretty mare. Blue eyes, a white coat that was looking a little brown with the dirt and dust worked into it, and a yellow and red mane and tail that made it look like her hair was on fire. It reminded Dash of her idol, Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts, even if the colors were completely different. Her cutie mark caught Dash's attention next. It was a strangely angular seven pointed star inside a circle. Dash didn't think she'd ever seen a cutie mark like that one before. It was especially not something she'd expect to see on a pegasus.

"You awake again," the pegasus said, smiling at Dash. Her accent was atrocious and she sounded like she had learned the language from books or something else that couldn't talk back, but she was at least understandable.

"Yeah, thanks again," Dash said. Star, the mare's name was Star. "Hey, Star, can you tell me what all this is about?" she waved a hoof at the glowing paper all around her.

"Magic for healing," Star replied. She laid a hoof on Dash's head. "No fever. Good. You healing fast."

"Yeah, that's me. Fastest pony in Equestria," Dash said, grinning. "I don't do anything slow," the boast was already out before she realized that it could be taken in a very wrong way. "Uh, forget I said that last thing, okay?"

"Why? You say you very fast, yes?" Star asked, no indication in her expression that she'd caught the double entendre at all.

"Thank Celestia for small favors," Dash muttered. "Yeah, I am fast. Just not at everything. I can be slow when I want to! Just never at flying! Or, uh, healing, I guess."

Star laughed, shaking her head and smiling. "I sorry. I not understand." Dash couldn't help but snicker. "What? I funny?"

Dash just laughed harder, even as it hurt her broken wings. "Sorry. Just, 'I funny'? That's hilarious. I think you mean, 'I don't understand', or 'am I funny'."

"Oh," a look of intense concentration furrowed Star's brow. "I am forgetting to verb. Rules of language are hard. I do not always remember how to make sentence right."

"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad somepony speaks Equestrian. You have no idea how crazy it is to be stuck wherever I am, this 'world of night' or whatever, and have nopony speak Equestrian. I mean, I've never met anypony who didn't, how was I supposed to know?"

"Sorry, not clear. My fault," Star said, thinking. "Do you speak Solar?" The last word wasn't anything Dash recognized, but like many of the words the two stallions she had escaped from had spoken, it sounded vaguely familiar.

"Do you speak Lunar," Star asked. Again that word was both unrecognizable and familiar.

"Nope. I don't know if you've gotten this yet, but I'm not from around these parts. Like, really not from around here." Star's eyes searched Dash's face, as if she was trying to catch her in a lie. "Look, I'm from Equestria. I don't know if you've heard of it, but it's the place where the pony who raises the sun lives. You should at least know about her. Celestia?"

"Well, she's not really a god, I guess," Dash said. "I mean, we don't really pray to her much or anything. She's more of a Princess. A really big, really powerful Princess who makes the sun come up."

A deeper frown creased Star's brow for a moment before smoothing out. "I know Celestia, she brings day. I am from world of day. We are in world of night. You get better, I take you to world of day."

"What? Okay, I think we've got another verb problem or something, 'cause I did not understand what you meant there."

Star stamped a hoof in frustration. "Did not think lessons in language were important. Hard to remember all of them. Used to reading, not speaking."

"Hey, I think you're doing fine. I've got this friend, she's great with the mail, but no depth perception, she sometimes has trouble with Equestrian and she was born there. How many other people do you know that speak Equestrian?"

"Okay, yeah, that makes sense. So, maybe you should get your teacher and they can get this whole talking thing off the ground, huh?"

"Great," Dash sighed. Well, she supposed she was stuck here until her wings healed up anyways. "So, what were you doing out here anyway?"

"Oh! I get it. Teacher, research, you're a student! Is that where you got this fancy magic paper? Are you a medical student, or some kind of animal doctor?"

"No, magic student," Star said. She turned her flank and gestured towards her cutie mark. "Special Magic."

Dash didn't need a clarification on that one. "Wow, your Special Talent is Magic? That's pretty amazing, especially for a pegasus. I mean, the only other pony I've ever met whose Special Talent was Magic is my friend Twilight. She's an egghead, but once you get to know her she's pretty cool."

Dash grinned back at her. "Yeah, it is. Don't tell her I said this, but Twilight's more than just pretty cool. She's awesome. Like, almost as awesome as me. She's got more power in her horn than entire townfuls of other unicorns. She's a student, too, but her teacher is Princess Celestia herself! How crazy is that?"

Star's face went slack, and Dash wondered what she had said wrong. "Twilight Sparkle?" Star asked.

Star shook her head again, looking at the ground and muttering to herself in a language Dash didn't know. "Rainbow Dash, where are you from?"

"I told you, I'm from Equestria," Dash said, a little weirded out by the strange behaviour she'd been encountering every time she said the Princess's name. Star had seemed different, but here she was doing weird stuff again.

Star stamped her hoof again, pacing back and forth for a minute as she continued talking to herself. Dash watched, unsure if she should interrupt or just let it play out. Suddenly she turned to Dash. "You believe, don't you?"

"Well, duh. That's what I've been saying. Why wouldn't I believe I'm Rainbow Dash? I totally am Rainbow Dash."

Star ran a hoof through her mane, her wings fluttering open slightly before resetting themselves at her side, restlessly moving as if they wanted to snap open and take off. That was worse than hoof-stamping as far as pegasus frustration levels went. "Okay," Star said. "That is good. I will take you to my teacher, she will know better."

Star sat down heavily next to the bed, staring at Dash with an odd look that the blue pegasus couldn't quite place. It was concern, but also annoyance and curiosity. "You will heal quickly," she said. "You are special. How are you special?"

"I told you I'm fast. The fastest pony in Equestria. I'm the only pony in forever who can do the Sonic Rainboom! Do you know what that is?"

Star shook her head, and so Dash regaled her with the tale of how she got her cutie mark. She kept the words simple and she couldn't be as visual as she usually liked when telling stories, but she made do. Star seemed fascinated, asking questions and listening intently. Dash had to backtrack a few times to explain things like what Cloudsdale was and a lot of other things she thought would have been self-explanatory to any pegasus. She was in a foreign land, though, and she guessed from the clouds she had seen during her brief chase through the sky that the pegasi just let the weather run feral here. That would mean they didn't have cloud cities, since you couldn't keep them stable if you didn't keep tight control of the weather around them. It would also mean ground-based weather factories, which were really inefficient, or unicorns magicing up clouds and rainbows. Which was a horrifying thought.

Thinking of that, Dash supposed it was no wonder that a pegasus would have a Special Talent in Magic. It was in pegasus nature to command the clouds, and a Talent in Magic might be the only way to do that if the unicorns were in charge. Not that Dash had anything against unicorns, but they did tend to think their magic could solve any problem, and just didn't consider how ponies who didn't have horns could still get things done.

Dash was just finishing her tale when the door opened, and a Griffin wearing heavy saddlebags walked into the cabin. Dash was reminded of Gilda, she had the same white feathers about her head and golden eyes. This Griffin was larger than Gilda had been, though, and instead of a few dyed feathers forming a fringe over her eyes, this one seemed like the tips of every feather on the top and down the back of her head as well as along the trailing edge of her wings had been dyed a deep green. Dash knew that those were clan markings, but she had never seen one cover so much of a Griffin before. What it could mean, she had no idea.

The Griffin said something to Star, who turned quickly to Dash, apprehension in her eyes. "Do not worry," Star said. "She is safe."

"Well, yeah. If she weren't she wouldn't have just walked in here like that," Dash replied. "Hey, I've hung out with Griffins before. Does she speak Equestrian?"

"Well then tell her I said hi, and that I'll respect her kills if she respects mine," Star gave her an incredulous look. "Just tell her, okay?"

Star turned to the Griffin and said something, hopefully not mangling the phrase too much. The Griffin's eyes widened and shot to Dash, focusing her raptor gaze until it nearly glowed in the dull red light of the spellsheets. She said something back to Star, and the two had a short conversation before the pegasus turned back to Dash. "She says you will hunt together then."

"Astrid," Dash repeated. She locked gazes with the Griffin, then pointed her hoof at herself. "Rainbow Dash," she said. The Griffin nodded, then set her bags down, opening them up and pulling out a bunch of pale yellow flowers. Dash's stomach growled loudly at the sight of the food.

"Here," Star said, taking the flowers from Astrid and holding them for Dash. "You need to eat."

She didn't need any convincing. Dash eagerly chomped into the blossoms, barely chewing before swallowing them down. It was like she hadn't eaten in forever. These were obviously wildflowers, and usually that wasn't her thing, but right now they tasted like cloud cake with the best frosting Pinkie Pie could come up with. "Oh yeah," she said through a mouthful of petals. "That's the stuff."

Astrid said something to Star, and the two of them shared a laugh. Dash watched that, feeling the camaraderie between the two of them, and suddenly her injuries didn't hurt so much. It was good to see other ponies laughing, and Star and Astrid reminded her of the way she and Gilda had been once.

Watching Astrid she spotted something else, a silver light filtering through the window. Moonrise. It was kind of late, seeing as how the sun had set about when Dash had begun her cutie mark story, but who was she to question when Luna chose to raise the moon? She watched the white orb rise into the sky, perfectly framed in the window. But the more she saw of it, the slower she chewed, until the flowers were spilling from her open mouth onto the floor. Her eyes were wide, unbelieving. "No," she said, shivering in sudden fear. "No, it's not possible."

Star looked, frowning with new worry. "Yes, it is moon. Normal moon. Nothing special."

"Don't you guys see it?" she asked. "Look at it! I mean, sure, once, but not now! That's not normal anymore!"

Star looked again. "All my life moon has been like that. Normal. Rises and falls for Luna, God of night."

"But it can't be," Dash whispered, a strange creeping fear stealing into her. "We freed her." The moon hung in the sky like a beacon, nearly full. Its bright surface marred by a series of blemishes that created the shape of a unicorn mare's head.

Harmony Theory

by Sharaloth

Chapter 3: Native Inflection