//------------------------------// // In the Town of New Pasture // Story: Rainbow Dash Around the World // by MagicS //------------------------------// Slow didn’t even begin to describe how the trip to New Pasture felt to Wish. Mentally draining was a very good word to use though. Despite the welcome change of scenery, having to spend the entire time with the Head Inquisitor was incredibly stressful. Even though Vox “acted” pleasant enough and only talked every now and then to start up random conversations, Wish couldn’t get over her fear of her. She tried to simply look out the window most of the time. Or eat the snacks and food other Inquisitors brought to their carriage when it was time to eat. At the moment their procession was passing through a forest and Wish was busy looking to identify every different animal she saw. There weren’t as many as she knew should normally be in a forest like this. Maybe they hid from the large carriage? Or perhaps the dark sky messed with them quite a bit as well. She still saw a few birds, mostly hawks, woodpeckers, and owls. And a few squirrels ran up and down the trees while rabbits hopped from burrow to burrow. But all in all it was a quiet forest. While Wish was looking at it she noticed their carriage start to slow down and come to a stop. Another break. Despite Vox’s rough schedule for the working stallions, even she knew she couldn’t just have them pulling the carriages the entire trip without stopping. They had taken a number of breaks so far and usually that meant Wish and Vox would eat something but this time- “Come on,” Vox said as she stood up and walked over to the carriages door. “Let’s go stretch our hooves together.” “Okay,” Wish said and stepped out with her. And of course, she was smiling while she did so. Getting out and walking around the forest a little was actually nice, and Wish enjoyed the opportunity. She just would’ve enjoyed it even more without Vox around. She wouldn’t even have to force a smile. The pleasant smells and fresh air of the forest was something the dark sky couldn’t take away, and Wish basked in it. Letting a cool breeze wash over her as she stepped through wet grass and went to smell some flowers. It was like home. Her real home. “Figured you would like this. I never cared much for nature though. The stone forest of the capitol was always where things were best to me,” Vox said as she leaned up against a tree. “It just reminds me of home, I missed it,” Wish said. Vox grinned. “Savor the fun while you can. We’ll be back in that carriage in no time. Though who knows, maybe one day you’ll be able to go back to your old home. You’d like that, right?” Wish frowned briefly but nodded. “Yes.” For some reason that made Vox laugh. “Heh… well, I’m sure if you ask your father nicely enough that as soon as he’s finished with his work in the castle you can move back home and everything will be normal again. Nice and quiet just the way you like it.” “Yeah...” Wish answered. She didn’t know why that all sounded so funny to Vox. Why… why wouldn’t things go back to normal as soon as her father was finished with his work at the castle? Whatever his work actually was. “Well once we’re back in the carriage you can have a snack. Early tomorrow we’ll be at New Pasture,” Vox smiled. “If you want I can give you a little something to help you sleep better tonight too.” Wish flinched. “N-No thanks, I’m okay.” How did she know Wish hadn’t slept well last night? And she most definitely did not want any sort of “sedative” from Vox. “Suit yourself,” Vox shrugged. She looked across at the other two carriages and the supply wagons and the stallions who were pulling them. “I think these slouches have gotten enough rest. Time to get moving again.” Wish glanced at some of the ponies and saw how haggard and exhausted they all were. She definitely didn’t think they deserved to be called slouches. Vox and the other Inquisitors were clearly running them too hard, but she seemed to enjoy the pain she was putting them through. It was another moment where Wish could speak up, should speak up, but she remembered those red eyes from yesterday and she couldn’t. Instead she followed Vox back to the royal carriage, and the procession picked back up and got on its way. “We’re close now. Take a look,” Vox said and telekinetically opened up the carriage’s window so Wish could pop her head out and look ahead. It was early the next day, just past morning, and they had arrived on the outskirts of the town of New Pasture. Wish looked out the window and saw a small town of huddled together white buildings, wood and stucco houses and family businesses all painted white with shingled-roofs. It was a similar place to her home of Ashen Birch Thicket, Wish could tell that at a glance. It was all centered around this one main dirt road though. Which made sense since it was probably a busier road than any back home. At least it probably used to be. To the west there were also visible farmlands and barns, along with a few mills, including one that had an impressively large water wheel. To the east of the town there was a forested area and then a grassland that stretched on into the distance. A small town where everypony knew each other. Mostly of farmers and some ponies who probably worked carpentry and construction. Lots of happy families with lots of children. Wish actually started to smile for real. It was the type of place she could call home. “It looks nice,” she said. “Well I would hope you think that. We’re going to be here for two whole days,” Vox said, a bored tone in her voice. The carriages and wagons pulled into the city before stopping dead center in the road. They were kind of blocking things off but Wish figured that meant that nopony was expecting anypony else to come down or up the road. Now that they were here too, Wish looked out the window again and saw a lot of ponies tentatively walking up to them. Most seemed surprised and confused. Did they not know Wish and the others were coming? And of course as soon as they recognized the Inquisitors a look of fear flashed across their faces briefly. There were at least more ponies out than there had been in the city, but that may have been due more to ignorance than anything. Vox grinned from beside her and patted Wish on the back. “Let’s get out there, I have an announcement to make to the town.” The Inquisitor driving their carriage had hopped off and opened up the door for them just in time. Wish and Vox stepped out and walked around to the other side of the carriage, where most of the ponies from New Pasture had gathered. Immediately the atmosphere changed as soon as Vox made herself known. Gasps of shock, fearful whispers, and concerned murmurs traveled through the crowd of ponies. Wish saw many of them pale and the few foals her age she saw ended up being pushed behind their parents to keep them hidden from sight. Wish knew Vox was scary but she didn’t know ponies outside the castle and the capitol knew her well enough. She was recognized even out here? It was definitely the appropriate reaction to the Head Inquisitor but Wish was still surprised to see it. That was right up until she looked past the crowd and saw a certain poster hanging up on the side of one of the buildings. Wish’s jaw dropped as she recognized Vox’s likeness staring out from the poster. Her eyes looked over at another building, and another, seeing copies of the same poster on all of them. What was going on? Where they everywhere in Hoofica? Her eyes narrowed as she looked harder and tried to read what was beneath Vox’s picture: NO SMILES, NO HAPPINESS, BE QUIET, OBEY, WE’RE WATCHING Wish shuddered. Who made those posters? “Hello, ponies of New Pasture!” Head Inquisitor Vox loudly said to the crowd, projecting her voice as best she could. The other Inquisitors came over to stand beside her and Wish. “As you know, I am Head Inquisitor Vox, direct subordinate to the King and Queen of Hoofica. Today I—we—have graced your town for a very special reason!” She announced with a very happy smile on her face. “There’s no need for any of you to be worried about us Inquisitors suddenly showing up, we’re sure you’re following the new protocols of Hoofica perfectly, but can your mayor please make him or herself known to me right now?” The crowd of ponies uncomfortably looked between each other before parting as a stallion stepped forward. He was younger than Wish would’ve expected for the mayor, maybe even younger than her father, with a beige coat and a brown mane and tail and blue eyes under a straw hat. “H-Hello, Miss Head Inquisitor,” the mayor said and bowed his head to her. “My name happens to be Onyx Justice, and I’m the mayor of New Pasture. What um, w-what’s the occasion for your visit?” Vox smiled at him and walked right over to Wish. “This little filly here is a valued guest of the Queen. She’s the daughter of the Queen’s most favored, Dreamweaver. Her name is Wish, and she got a little tired of living the life of luxury in Hoofica Castle, so she decided she wanted to go on a little trip and get some fresh air. And luckily for you, the town of New Pasture was chosen as her destination! You get to host the Queen’s own beloved Wish and make sure she has the happiest time here possible!” Wish blushed heavily in embarrassment and horror as most of the ponies in the crowd looked over at her. She could only nervously look down at the dirt after Vox’s proclamation. What was with that anyways? The Queen sure as hay didn’t love her. And why would she bring up Wish living in luxury? That was the exact wrong way to get her on the good side of these townsponies she’d be around for the next two days. It was on purpose. Vox definitely did that on purpose. Onyx Justice looked at Wish with an unsure look on his face but he dared not say anything disagreeable to Vox. “A-Alright, w-welcome to New Pasture. I hope you all enjoy your stay.” “Oh we will,” Vox giggled. “I mean, you had better make sure we do at least.” “Y-Yes...” Onyx Justice blanched. “Fantastic!” Vox clapped her hooves together and looked at the other Inquisitors. “You all watch over Wish now and help her with anything she needs. I’m going to be having a personal talk with the mayor in the meantime.” Onyx Justice quivered. “Y-You are?” Vox snickered some more, ignoring him for now as she continued to talk to the Inquisitors. “Have Wish make some friends with the locals.” She then looked back across the crowd of New Pasture ponies. “Parents! It’s a lucky opportunity for all of you! If you have any young foals around Wish’s age here, she’d love to make friends with them and hang out for the rest of the day. Bring your kids forward now, chop chop! My friendly Inquisitors will make sure everypony has fun, don’t worry about a thing!” Wish grimaced up at Vox. Saying stuff like that was probably just getting parents to worry even more. The Head Inquisitor then walked up to the mayor and put a hoof on his shoulder, leaning in and gazing into his eyes. “Now how about you show me to your home?” “Um, V-Vox-” Wish said, concerned and confused about what the Head Inquisitor was doing. Vox merely swung her hoof around and held it up in front of Wish’s face without even looking back at her. “Just personal business of mine, young lady. Go have fun now. Don’t hesitate to ask the other Inquisitors or the ponies around town for anything. You’re here to be as happy as possible.” “Um, m-my home is on the other side of town from here...” Onyx Justice said. “Then let’s go, I’ve got a few things to fill you in on,” Vox chuckled and practically pushed the stallion forward. Wish watched them go for a bit, the crowd giving them a large berth, until one of the other Inquisitors cleared his throat. “Young lady, please come with us and we’ll have the parents around here introduce their children to you just like the Head Inquisitor said,” he told her. Wish felt awkward doing something like that but she just nodded and the whole group together walked away from the carriages and roads and into a more open part of the town between some of the buildings. She looked at some of the ponies nearby, mares and stallions standing with their children, most looked like they didn’t want to be here and she couldn’t blame them. Some of the other ponies of New Pasture, who didn’t have kids with them, actually did start to walk away. They seemed wary of the Inquisitors at first but as soon as they realized nopony was going to say anything they went back to doing whatever they were before Wish and Vox arrived. So soon it was Wish being flanked by the Inquisitors and a group of scared parents with scared children standing across from her. Wish didn’t know what to do next and she was having trouble finding her words. “U-Um...” her jaw quivered and she looked up at the Inquisitor that had spoken to her earlier. Seeing her plight, the Inquisitor spoke up again to the parents. “Okay, you all heard what the Head Inquisitor said earlier, so introduce your children to the young lady here so they can become friends and have fun.” The nearest family seemed apprehensive about having their children meet and get to know Wish, but they were even more apprehensive about disobeying the Inquisitors. So it was that an earth pony couple with a young earth pony colt and filly came up to Wish. The mother leaned down and whispered at her kids before patting them on the back and pushing them forward. Wish gulped down her nervousness and raised a hoof to tenderly wave at them. “H-Hi.” “Um, hey...” the colt said while the filly uncertainly looked back at her parents. “M-Mind your manners now, kids. Introduce yourselves to the other filly,” their father said. The colt still looked just as nervous as Wish but he managed to lift a hoof up towards her in greeting. “My name is Red Berry, um, p-pleased to meet you. Welcome to our town.” “Welcome to New Pasture… hi,” the filly shyly said, not really able to look Wish in the eyes just yet. “My name is L-Lucky Berry.” “I guess you already heard earlier but um, my name’s Wish. Nice to meet you,” she smiled as best she could at the two of them and shook Red Berry’s hoof. Red Berry was maybe older than her by about two years. He was robust for his age, a deep red colt with a deep blue mane and coal-like eyes. Lucky Berry on the other hoof was probably the same age as Wish but even smaller than Wish was, she had a shy and uncertain countenance to her, the type of filly to hide behind her mane. It was a light-red color that complemented her lime-green coat and pink eyes. Both of the siblings didn’t look unfriendly but it was clear that they weren’t sure how to act with Wish. It seemed like they were confused over the whole situation and were afraid to act in any way that might draw the ire of the Inquisitors. Wish thought about the posters of Vox that were all over town and wondered if those were responsible. “Good, good,” the Inquisitor by Wish’s side nodded before looking at the other families. “Well? I can see plenty of other children out there, hurry up.” After that it was a parade of eight more fillies and colts coming up to say hi to Wish and shake hooves. All of them guided and pushed on by their wary parents. Despite Wish smiling for them and being polite and happy, none of the other children smiled back at her. Something the Inquisitors noticed. A mare Inquisitor stepped up and looked over the fillies and colts that had introduced themselves to Wish. “What’s this? Why aren’t any of you smiling. It’s a happy occasion, you’re very fortunate to make the acquaintance of the young lady.” “B-But aren’t we all-” One of the parents in the back nervously spoke up before looking to a nearby poster of Vox. “Ignore those for now,” the female Inquisitor said. “The young lady wants you to be happy and have fun. Right?” She asked, glancing down at Wish. “That will make you happier too, won’t it? And your happiness is the biggest priority.” “Um, yeah...” Wish said as she looked across the faces of the other fillies and colts. “I-If everypony was allowed to smile and be happy, that would make things a lot better.” The female Inquisitor smiled. “Excellent! Well you all heard her, so don’t be afraid, smile away and do something fun together! What did you kids used to do for fun around here?” One of the colts who went by the name Brisk Hooves was hesitantly hopeful, he looked from the Inquisitor back to his mom. “C-Can we really?” “I-I um… I think so, sweetheart?” The mother said, looking at the Inquisitors and receiving affirmative nods from them. “Then um...” Brisk Hooves bashfully rubbed the back of his head and smiled at Wish. “D-Do you want to play soccer with us? We have a f-field out past the houses. Right before the farms start up and all. It’s kind of overgrown right now but we should still be able to play on it… i-if you want.” Wish’s whole face lit up and a genuine smile appeared on her. “I-I’d love to! That sounds really fun!” Out of the corner of her eye she just barely saw an Inquisitor wipe his forehead in relief. “G-Great! We’ve got enough ponies for two teams, j-just let me get my ball from home and then we can run to the field!” Brisk Hooves said. “Okay!” Wish nodded. The happy mood was infectious and it spread quickly through the other fillies and colts, even some of the parents seemed pretty happy. Wish followed on the heels of Brisk Hooves, Red Berry, Lucky Berry, and the others as they ran down one of the dirt streets of New Pasture, heading first to Brisk’s home and then to the soccer field close by. There were more posters along the walls of the buildings she passed by, but they were already forgotten in Wish’s mind. She was letting herself feel happy for real again. Head Inquisitor Vox shut the door to the mayor’s house behind her as the two of them entered his residence alone. It was a small place, and plain didn’t even begin to describe it—it was outright bare. There were even spots on the walls where it looked like pictures had once hung that were now empty, and marks on the carpet that showed where furniture used to sit. Now there was hardly more than what was absolutely necessary to call a home functional and furnished. “Nice place ya got here,” Vox said with a smile as she sat down at one of the few chairs. If Onyx Justice wanted to frown, he was too scared to. Vox noticed the tenseness in her host’s body and she raised an amused eyebrow at him. “What? You can talk or ask questions you know? Obviously we aren’t here today on normal Inquisitor duty. You’re honestly lucky in more ways than one.” “W-We-” Onyx Justice managed before his breath caught in his throat. “Hm?” Vox snickered at his trouble. “We’ve been good… e-ever since the changes, we’ve followed along with e-everything,” Onyx told her. “I know,” Vox rolled her eyes. “Did you listen to a word I said? Is my reputation so bad that you seriously can’t think about anything else? Heh—well, you don’t have to answer that actually. But anyways, this is going to be different from the last time Inquisitors visited your town. This time it’s all about that little filly you saw out there.” “The Queen’s guest?” Onyx asked. “Oh yes. Her very, very, important guest.” Vox nodded. “So I’m now going to inform you of what’s going to happen in this town for the next two days while we’re here. Do you understand?” Onyx Justice hesitated for a second but nodded. Vox smiled. “That’s good. So you see, my job right now is to make sure that silly filly has a great time here. A happy time. And to do that, she needs to have fun and not be bothered by a bunch of scared and depressed townsponies. Got that? She needs to run around with fillies and colts her age and see some honest smiles on their faces. She needs everypony else here to be a happy host. So those posters all around here? Forget them. Forget what you’ve heard about me. Forget everything else. The only thing that matters is that filly having a good time.” “And. I think you know what would happen if she didn’t. After all you do seem very familiar with my reputation.” “Y-Yes,” Onyx Justice nodded much more fervently this time. “Heh. Well, things will be pretty easy on you to be honest. All you need to do now is spread the word throughout the rest of town. It’s happy fun time for New Pasture. If things go well you’ll even be rewarded nicely for giving the young lady a good time,” Vox said. “Thank you...” Onyx Justice said, though he didn’t exactly sound like he believed her. “Glad this talk went so well. You’re an excellent host, Mayor Justice,” Vox winked at him as she stood up from her chair. “You go take care of your business now and I’ll, well, I’ll be watching. Ta ta~” She swiftly walked across the living room and went out the front door. Onyx Justice listened for a while until her hooves had completely disappeared down the street. Only then did he reach up and clutch his straw hat in terror, doing his very best not to cry. A ball came soaring towards Wish and she expertly stopped it with her front hooves before turning around with it and running towards the opposing team’s goal. A few ponies stood in her way and they started to run at her to take or kick the ball away. She faked out the first one coming at her, feinting that she would take the ball right and then immediately juking to the left instead. But the next pony she didn’t think she could get past so she pivoted with the ball and kicked it away to another pony on her team before running to open space to get into position to retrieve it again. This was great. It was great, it was great, it was great. She was getting to have real fun, real kid kind of fun, while running around outside and hanging out with ponies who were genuinely happy to be doing this with her right now. These other fillies and colts didn’t have fake smiles when they played soccer with her, they weren’t hiding anything. Sure, they may have had some other worries, Wish could tell that when she first arrived, but right now everypony was just playing soccer and forgetting about that kind of stuff. It was a little annoying having the Inquisitors here watching over things, but Wish did her best to ignore them. They were just standing around anyways. For some reason none of the parents or other adults in New Pasture were around to watch though. Wish wondered if they were busy doing other stuff. It didn’t matter, it didn’t stop this from being fun. Even though the soccer field was overgrown with weeds and the “goals” were just two sticks jammed into the ground a few feet apart from each other. You didn’t need more than that to have a good time. The ball came back to Wish from another pony as they passed it to her and she dribbled it towards the goal with a big smirk on her face. The goalie was a pegasus filly a year older than her named Fluffy Cloud. She had a wild mane of light blue locks that looked like a pile of snakes plopped on her head. Wish was well in the clear to try scoring a goal on her and she kicked the soccer ball with all the strength she could muster, sending it right between Fluffy Cloud and one of the goalposts. But Fluffy Cloud was quick enough to jump in the way, the soccer ball bouncing off her outstretched hooves. “Shoot!” Wish stamped a hoof to the ground. One of the defenders raced forward and brought the ball under his control, swiftly kicking it out past Wish and towards some of his teammates. There weren’t really any set positions, aside from goalie, and pretty much every pony who wanted to ran after the ball. There ended up being a struggle for the ball as a bunch of excited little ponies all tried to kick it at once or bring it under heel, but it was all in good fun. Wish was tired and breathing heavily after about thirty minutes of play but she didn’t want to stop at all. It was still just the middle of the day too. A colt on the other team kicked the ball hard in an attempt to pass it along but Wish practically dove in front of it to steal it and started dribbling back to the other side of the field. It was like she had boundless energy as she darted past the other ponies trying to block her or steal the ball away. She was never really that big into sports or doing stuff like this with other ponies back home, but sometimes you just don’t know what you’re missing. All that cake she had eaten at the castle hadn’t slowed her down one bit either. This time she made it all the way back to the goal again but Red Berry was there standing guard in front of it with Fluffy Cloud still behind him. No way could she kick the ball past the both of them. Instead Wish bit her lip and faked like she was going for a goal but then kicked a pass to her left towards a colt on her team. Both Red Berry and Fluffy Cloud were surprised and couldn’t react in time as Wish’s teammate kicked the ball as hard as he could at the goal. The shot was good and it sailed right past Fluffy and right between the two stick goalposts. “Yeah! Nice shot!” Wish cheered for him. The other kids celebrated and even the ones on the other team had smiles on their faces, just happy to be playing a fun game of soccer again. Fluffy Cloud ran back to get the ball and brought it to right in front of her goal. “Here we go again!” The pegasus filly shouted and drop kicked the soccer ball high into the air. Wish watched it arc and ran to try and be the first pony to recover it. A bunch of others were there all waiting for it to drop too. “Got it, got it!” Wish called out as she tried to push her way to the right spot and get the others out of her way. As soon as the ball fell near she jumped up and headbutted it—directly out of bounds and into the heavy grass just off the field. “Oops… sorry! I’ll go get it!” Wish waved to the others and ran off the field and into the thick grass to retrieve the ball. They were just right off the farmlands she had seen around New Pasture and the ground was pretty wild and unkempt here. It looked like not a lot of groundskeeping had been done lately, which was weird for a farming town. The Inquisitors were watching her go and a few other helpful fillies and colts followed her too. Wish had to push through a thicket of weeds but she came out and saw the soccer ball resting on the ground. But that wasn’t all she saw. “Huh? What… what’s this?” Wish said. Before her was a farm—or at least what used to be a farm. The crops that had once been planted on it were all burned and nothing but ash and scraps remained. She looked out further and saw that a number of other fields and farms had been burned as well, almost half of what she could see right outside of New Pasture. She heard the sound of a pony walking over the brush and turned to see Red Berry. “What happened to your farms?” She asked him. Red Berry shrugged. “We did it ourselves. The farmers and families who worked out here and all. Don’t know why, but it happened almost right after the sky went dark.” “Oh...” Wish frowned and looked up at the dark sky. Just one more wrong thing that had happened when Hoofica became like this. She shook her head, she didn’t want to have to think about that stuff right now. With a smile, she grabbed the ball and started running back to the field with Red Berry and the others. “Come on, let’s play some more!”