//------------------------------//
// Third Lesson- Interlude 
// Story: The Magnificent Six 
// by Paradise Oasis 
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Third Lesson- Interlude

The road to Fort Rainbow Dash was a perilous and treacherous one- filled with dangers, pitfalls, and perils that ranged from goblins to gargoyles. But at the sight of four colts- three of which were wearing soldier armor- gave any would be attackers pause before charging in to attack.

"Hey, Lightning! Betcha can't keep up with me!" Thundercloud called down to his friend, soaring over the three grounded ponies. "My wings are waaay faster than your earth pony hooves!"

"Oh, you're on!" the energetic young colt challenged. "Race ya all the way to Fort Dash!"

The two took off towards the horizon, kicking up a cloud of dust. Not so far behind them, Fireball and Tornado trotted slowly, discussing everything that had happened back in Hoofkaido.

"The new Shogun was very open to my ideas for security and guard placements!" the pleasantly surprised soldier pony said to his friend. "If the elves decide to reign in on their deal, the citadel will be well fortified!"

"I couldn't believe how extensive the collection in their library was!" Tornado replied. "They even had a book on diplomatic relations between Equestria and the horse kingdoms!"

"Horses... I wish those big guys hadn't gone extinct, I'd love to have met one!" Fireball said with a sigh. "I was reading a book on the military conflicts between the Seapony and Merpony tribes throughout the world!"

"Yea, I ran across one text that told about how Twilight Sparkle and the Harmony Bearers once went to the undersea land of Aquastria," Tornado told him, adjusting his glasses. "They were trying to resolve the rivalry between that region's seapony and merpony tribes!"

"Seaponies? I thought they could only live in freshwater!" a confused Fireball responded. "How could they live at the bottom of the ocean?"

"What? Oh no, these weren’t like the Dream Valley sea pony tribe! Aquatican sea horses were a much older and larger species, more closely related to the mermares!" the unicorn scholar explained. "Sea Winkle and her freshwater subjects are a much younger race, splitting off from ponykind about a millennium ago! Much like land horses, those sea ponies went extinct centuries ago!"

"Huh, bet they couldn't sing as nice as our sea ponies, either!" Fireball replied with a chuckle. "I had once sing me to sleep once when I was in a rowboat!"

"No, nor could they control the flow of water, like the Dream Valley sea ponies," Tornado quipped. "You could say their species was all washed up!"

As the two unicorns laughed at the terrible pun, the two ponies ahead of them slowed down, coming to a stop from exhaustion.

"W-wow, you're pretty quick, for an earth pony!" Thundercloud gasped out, coming in for a landing. "I don't know of any other colt who can keep up with me like that!"

"Awww, it's not that hard!" Lightning told him, trying to catch his breath. "I've been running and galloping fast my whole life!"

"Just like you've been galloping after that pretty little Applejack, I take it?" Thundercloud told him with a laugh. "You've been softening her up dude, haven't ya noticed?"

"Yeah, she does seem a bit friendlier to me," Lightning agreed. "But there just seems to be some kind of emotional barrier there, Thunder! She just can't seem to open up to me!"

"Give it some more time, man! You've come this far!" Thundercloud replied, stretching his wings. "Trust me, she'll come around when she's ready!"

"You've had no problem with that Firefly chickadee, I've seen!" the other colt teased him. "You've hit it off with her so well, I think she'd jump on any excuse for a roll in the hay with ya!"

"Hey now, I'm not ready to lifebond yet!" Thundercloud raised his hooves defensively, blushing slightly. "Still, if it were any girl, I’d love for it to be her!"

The two ponies continued talking, trotting along the path through the woods and not paying attention to their surroundings. It wasn't long before the two received the shock of their young lives.

"HALT, PONIES!" a loud voice called out to them. "Hooves in the air, NOW!"

The two colts put their hooves up quickly as four angry-looking mares stepped out to face them. They all had colorfully painted saddles, decorated with flowers and ribbons, that covered up about half their bodies. Blades suddenly pop out of either side of their saddles, facing forward.

"Hey, we give up!" Lightning called out submissively. "We mean you no harm!"

"Hey peace ladies! Peace!" Thundercloud told them. "We're not gonna do anything stupid!"

"Don't make any sudden moves, boys!" Diamond Dreams, a yellow mare with a red mane, snorted. "We'd hate to have to shishkebab you!"

The five of them stared at the colts scowling as Fireball and Tornado came trotting up.

"Whoah! Whoah! Ladies, please!" Tornado protested, stepping in between the colts and mares. "What exactly seems to be the problem here?"

"These two fools trespassed onto Fort Rainbow Dash's territory!" Tassels, a turquoise mare with a pink mane, barked. "If they are unable to identify themselves, we will have no choice but to obliterate them!"

"And you, as well!" Brilliant Blossoms, a blue mare with a yellow mane, turning her saddle blades on them. "Speak quickly, or you all die!"

"Hey, I know who you women are!" Fireball exclaimed, pointing at them with his hoof. "You're the Merry-Go-Round ponies! The five elite protectors of Fort Rainbow Dash!"

"Merry-Go-Round ponies?" Thundercloud snickered. "Wow, that's the most-"

"Choose your words carefully, whelp!" Flower Bouquet, a white mare with a green mane snorted, bringing her blade up to his throat. "Or they could be you last!"

"All of you, stand down!" a pink mare with a green mane came trotting out, glaring at the other four until they backed down. "Sorry about that, boys! My soldiers can be a little overzealous, when it comes to defending our homeland!"

The commander wore an even more elaborate saddle than the others, and seemed to carry herself even more regally than all of the others, walking up to Tornado, she saluted him.

"My name is Sunny Bunch, commander of the Carousel brigade!" The mare motioned back towards the other colts. "You are Princess Cadence's party from Hoofkaido, are you not?"

"Why, yes!" the colt nodded. "I'm sorry if we came unannounced! We didn't mean to surprise you and your troops!"

"I am sorry you were treated in such a way!" the mare replied. "We've had several attempts to penetrate our defenses these past few days!"

"You've been attacked?" Lightning asked, surprised. "But who in the world would attack the most well-fortified citadel in Ponyland?"

The mare didn't answer, instead motioning to her soldiers. The four other mares fell in line behind their leader, with the last one motioning for the colts to follow.

"Please follow us, my good colts," Diamond Dreams told them. "Your princess awaits at the castle ahead!"

The two groups trotted on down the path, eventually coming to a large clearing. As they came out of the trees, a magnificent sight stretched out on the vast plain before them.

"Behold, young lads!" Tassels boasted proudly. "Before you stands Fort Rainbow Dash, home to the mightiest warriors in all of Ponyland!"

It was an amazing sight- bright arcades and white-washed marble columns, an architecture style humans would call Greco-Roman. Red tiled roofs covered homes and businesses, and soldiers and guards could be seen patrolling everywhere. A pink, spherical barrier of energy seemed to cover the whole city.

"Wow..." Lightning exclaimed, looking around in awe. "I've never seen anything like this before!"

But as they approached the edge of the city, Flower Bouquet motioned for the colts to stop. "Sorry boys, but you might want to wait for just a moment!"

"Why?" Thundercloud asked, looking around and seeing nothing. "Is something wrong?"

Tassels kicked a rock forward, sending it flying against the barrier... where it was immediately vaporized.

"Yipe!" Fireball whinnied, taking a step back. "That could've been us!"

"We raise the citadels force field whenever Fort Rainbow Dash is threatened!" Diamond Dreams explained. "It's an enchanted gemstone in the citadel's heart, powered up by our unicorn population!"

"Amazing! Simply amazing!" Tornado exclaimed. "But how do you lower the shield?"

"Hold on a sec, gentleman!" Brilliant Blossoms told them, as the five merry go round ponies trotted forward. "We'll take care of this!"

The five mares moved into position on a large blue and green carousel, which stood just outside the force field. Locking their saddles into place on the merry go round's poles, it looked as if they were the carved horses on the circular ride.

"Alright, ladies!" Sunny Bunch ordered her troops. "To coin a human phrase, let‘s ride!"

The five ponies began trotting in a circle, turning the large carousel, and spinning the giant gears and turbines beneath it. Slowly, the massive energy shield began to lower.

"Wow! They must use this as a security measure, so only the guard mares can grant entrance to the city!" Fireball exclaimed.

"They must also have one inside the city gates, to raise the shield from the inside!" Lightning commented.

As the last of the energy shield vanished, the five mares moved away from the merry go round, and motioned for the colts to go on into the city.

"Continue on to Rainbow Crystal Castle!" Tassels told them. "We will remain here, fulfilling our guard duties to the city!"

Tornado and the others barely made it inside the city's gates before the shield went right back up.

"Huh," a disappointed Fireball sighed. "We didn't even have time to thank them!"

As they looked around at the citadel surrounding them, they were amazed by the forums and villas, which were huddled together at the foot of the Acropolis.

"Look! There's the Ponytheon!" Lightning called out, pointing towards the large columned building standing on the central hill. "It's the largest temple in all of Ponyland!"  

"It once housed a beautiful statue of Princess Celestia," Tornado commented, looking up at the magnificent structure, "until it's conversion to a Zoropothian basilica for Horsemaster worship."

"And over there is the Crystal Rainbow Castle!" Fireball pointed to the large pink palace standing next to the Ponytheon on the Acropolis. "Home to the Fort Rainbow Dash's Margrave, where she rules the whole city from!"

"That building was moved here, stone by stone, from Unicorna before the fall of Equestria," Tornado noted. "It's remarkable how intact the edifice is!"

"Would you all stop acting like tour guides?!?" Thundercloud snorted. "We need to meet up with the Princess and the girls! We're not here to sightsee!"

"What? I should say not!" Tornado agreed. "Let us make our way to the citadel at once!"

The colts trotted past several squads of armored hoplite stallions, who barely paid them any attention, as they went about their marching. They also passed a pony philosopher in the forum who was speaking to several Archons, the noble mares who ruled the city, dressed in all of their finery. And moving through the merchant's districts, they saw several filthy and grimey ponies working at the potter's wheel and sweating over the hot forge of the blacksmith.

"Wow, this place seems really divided between rich and poor!" Tornado noted. "Did you notice those poor laborers back there!"

"And what's with all those soldiers?" Thundercloud asked. "This place must really be as bad as they say!"

“Excuse me, but it's not exactly fair for outsiders to judge us so!" a Pegasus filly about their age flew up to them, looking at them angrily. "You don't understand our customs and culture, so you have no right to judge!"

"You're telling me this wealth gap is cultural?" a dumbfounded Lightning snorted. "How can you even have poverty with no currency?"

"They are not Poor! Fort Rainbow Dash is a highly stratified society, where everyone is assigned their place based on merit!" the turquoise filly with the green mane replied. "Every foal is given an equal education, and each is funneled into the proper profession based on displayed talents!"

"Of course! Guys, I read about this!" Tornado suddenly brightened up. "Those with a guardian bent enter the soldier caste, those who like working with their hooves enter the artisan/craftsmen caste, and those with an intellectual bent enter the politician/philosopher caste!"

"The daughter of a street sweeper can become an Acheron!" the Pegasus with the musical note cutie mark told them. "Pony type or status of birth does not matter! It's not who you are, it's what you can do!"

"Wait a sec... green mane, musical note cutie mark..." Thundercloud's eyes went wide. "You're Medley, aren't you? Firefly told me all about you!"

"You know Firefly?" Medley asked, looking them over. "Then you must be Princess Cadence's guards! She's been waiting for you up at the palace!"

"Then, my dear Medley..." Tornado took a step back, bowing to her. "By all means, please lead the way!"