//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9 
// Story: Betrothed and Betrayed 
// by Nightwings81 
//------------------------------//

	After the boisterous fun of the faire and the excitement of the tourney, Twilight Sparkle had expected the feast to be as quiet and somber as the great gatherings she had witnessed while living in Canterlot. She couldn’t have been more mistaken. The cavernous dining hall was filled to near bursting with what seemed like all the noble ponies in the kingdom, and they were all talking, laughing, shouting, and even singing, at once. And the high stone ceiling of the room amplified the voices until the din was deafening. 
She and her friends had been honored with seats at the high table with the royals. Fletcher and Tiny, as winners of the tourney, had also earned places of renown beside them. A second table bisected the first like a giant “T” and stretched the full length of the huge room. The remaining guests lined both sides of that table, sitting shoulder to shoulder on smooth, wooden benches. 
Like a frantic army of ants, servants came and went constantly, laboring under trays of spectacular food. Already, the table was nearly groaning under the weight of plates, bowls, tureens, baskets, and platters. There were salads of crisp greens sprinkled with chopped nuts and others of sliced fruits mixed with yogurt. There were baskets of steaming hot, freshly baked bread that filled the air with mouth-watering aromas and platters of both hard cheeses and soft cheeses flavored with herbs. One ornate, silver tray was loaded with a pile of sizzling vegetable skewers while perfect pyramids of pies, both savory and sweet, towered over tureens of creamy pumpkin puree, spicy bean, and refreshingly cool cucumber soups.
Almost overwhelmed by the sheer variety before her, Twilight sipped from a goblet of cold berry cordial and nibbled self-consciously on a pumpkin and leek pastry. She was painfully aware of the curious and open stares many of the guests had been sending her way since she had sat down.
“I wish they’d stop looking at me like that,” she whispered, averting her eyes by lowering her muzzle into her cup. “It wasn’t even that big a spell.”
“Was to them, Sugarcube,” Applejack replied. She was surveying the different dishes before her and let out a frustrated sigh. “Ah really hate these fancy formal dinner things—Ah never known what to eat first.” She finally pulled a crystal bowl filled with lush red roses and dark green leaves closer. “Maybe some of this,” she murmured, biting off a few velvety petals.
“Uh, AJ, I think that’s one of the centerpieces.” Twilight giggled and pushed a plate of daisy and peach salad in front of her friend with her magic. “Here.” She heard a small gasp and blushed when she noticed a periwinkle blue mare whispering to her seat mate behind her hoof.
“Don’t worry about it, Twi,” Applejack said, accepting the salad and munching gratefully on a daisy. “They’re right to be impressed. Your spell really saved the day.” 
Twilight shook her head, still stunned by the turn of events in the arena. High Wind was not among the nobles gathered for the feast, though his treacherous act was a buzzing topic of conversation. She had heard more than one pony suggest that the entire show had been rigged as a way for Twilight to show off her magical prowess, but the purple unicorn had seen the wild look in High Wind’s eyes as he’d struck at Tiny. She shuddered now to think of it.
“And a good thing, too,” Applejack continued, swallowing a mouthful of juicy peach. “Ah think Pinkie woulda leapt right outta the box if you hadn’t stopped that colt when you did.” She glanced around Fluttershy, Rarity, and Fletcher to where Pinkie sat beside Tiny, the two apparently engaged in a pie eating contest. “And Ah believe if Rainbow had flown down there she would have pummeled that pony to a pulp.”
On Twilight’s other side, Rainbow heard her name and briefly lost track of what Linden was saying to her. She was having a difficult time paying attention, and not just because the noise level in the room was painfully distracting. Her mind kept wandering to what had happened during the joust. She couldn’t stop thinking about the colt who had been injured or the way all the rules had been changed at the last minute to amuse the king. What type of peace could they hope to work out with a pony who found pain and blood and backstabbing amusing?
In a corner of the room, the minstrel pony Lightfoot and his pale green partner had been quietly filling in any lulls in conversation with music. The colt was strumming away on his mandolin and singing while the young mare showed her talent with a wooden flute. They had just started a new tune and, lost in thought, Rainbow unconsciously began swaying along. 
Aware of her distraction, Linden suddenly perked up, his blue eyes shining as an idea came to him. 
“My lady, would you do me the honor of a dance?”
“Huh?” Rainbow went still, her whirling thoughts crashing back to the present moment. “A-a dance?” she stammered. Linden bobbed his head eagerly and she rubbed a hoof over her mane. “Aw, gee, I’d love to, Linden, but I don’t really know any Saddellian dances.”
The prince stood up and circled around her, extending a hoof invitingly. “I’m sure our dances aren’t much different from your own. I’ll teach you.” He grinned playfully and winked at her. “And even if they are, a pony as graceful and agile as yourself will learn them quickly enough.”
The pegasus smirked and got up from the table. “Guess I can’t argue with that. Show me what you’ve got.” 
They trotted to an open space on the floor before the players and Linden coaxed her to stand facing him. In time to the music, he lifted his right forehoof, tapped the tip against the floor in front of him, then dragged it in a sweeping arc back to his side. He then bowed low to the side, almost brushing his nose against his left fetlock, turned in a circle with a flip of his tail, and finished with a small hop and holding out his left hoof.
Rainbow watched him, her eyebrows raised. When he started again, leading with his right leg, and indicating her left, she mirrored him. Haltingly, she went through the steps, dragging her hoof tip, bowing, turning the circle, and lifting her hoof in the air. When done in unison with Linden, it resulted in their hooves clapping together with a click.
“See?” Linden beamed at her. “Perfect! I knew you could do it. Now the next part.” He stepped to the side, moving his right legs and then his left in unison. Three steps right, another hop, followed by a sweeping step backwards. Another bow, and he moved forward, right hoof held up in the air as he turned a wide circle. When Rainbow attempted the moves a moment later, she found that the last step put their hooves together once again and had them circling in a pony pinwheel. They turned the circuit three times before stopping, their eyes locked. A moment stretched by, the music fading into the background as they stared at one another.
“Um, what comes next?” Rainbow finally asked, blushing a little.
Linden backed away with a chuckle. “Right, uh, well, those are the basic steps. N-now we just put them all together.”
Amidst a few gentle chuckles, they moved back to their starting point and Linden nodded to the musicians. The pair struck up the song again and the prince and the pegasus started dancing. Rainbow concentrated hard at first, aware that the entire hall was watching them, but eventually let herself get swept up in the comfortable rhythm of the song and the fluid steps. Her hooves seemed to move of their own accord, just like her wings did when she was lost in the joy of flying. She bowed, turned, hopped, and spun in circles as the dinner guests began to gently clap their hooves.
“You’re smiling,” Linden murmured, leaning close as they began again. “You haven’t smiled like this since the start of the joust.”
Rainbow blinked, then lowered her head. “Sorry—I didn’t realize I was being so obvious. It…it just wasn’t what I thought it would be. I guess, with the way everypony kept calling them “games” I imagined something more like races or the rodeos AJ does back in Equestria. I didn’t expect ponies to get hurt—I definitely didn’t think they’d be trying to hurt each other.” 
“I’m sorry if it upset you. It wasn’t meant to.”
Rainbow frowned for a moment, then shrugged and flicked her tail nonchalantly. “Hey, you couldn’t have known, right? The rest of the faire was awesome. Pinkie Pie almost joined a juggling troupe and Rarity bought up all the fabric in Saddellia.” She hesitated a few seconds, then added, “I just wish you could have been there.”
Linden’s eyes sparkled. “Me too. It was definitely my intent to be there with you. But the meeting with my father was unavoidable. Still, it did give me a chance to snoop around on my own for a bit before I caught up to you.” 
“Oh yeah? You didn’t see the performance of The Savvy Stallion, did you?”
The music came to a graceful close just as they tapped hooves and turned the final circle. While the guests broke into exuberant applause, Linden gave a sly grin and bowed to Rainbow.
“Not this time. I was more interested in the merchant stalls,” he teased. He reached into the embroidered doublet he wore, pulling a small, velvet pouch from an inner pocket. “I was going to save this for a little later, but now seems as good a time as any.”
A hush fell over the room as the prince opened the pouch and withdrew a sparkling length of diamond encrusted chain ending in an emerald pendant the size of a plum. Linden held it up so the light glistened off the polished facets, sending flashes of brilliant green across Rainbow’s startled face.
“What the…” she gasped, as Rarity gave a loud, excited squeal from the table.
“I had the hardest time picking it out,” Linden told her, fumbling to slip the delicate chain over her head. “I didn’t know what would be your best color because, well, all colors seem to be your best color.” He stepped back and the stone fell to her throat, clinking against the smoky quartz falcon. “I was thinking maybe a ruby at first, but then the merchant said he had seen you earlier and you had liked this one so…” He laughed nervously. “Do you? Like it, I mean?”
“I-it’s beautiful. But, Linden, it’s too much. You didn’t need—”
“I wanted to! And that’s not all. Look, it’s part of a set.” He pulled another piece of jewelry from the little bag, this time a bracelet with a slightly smaller emerald on the face. Instead of a chain, it had a solid band that slipped over a hoof and was held in place with a clasp. Dumbfounded, Rainbow held up her hoof so the prince could put it on.
“I…I don’t know what to say,” she murmured as Rarity squealed again.
Linden smirked. “Oh really? I think that would be a first for you.”
The blue pegasus snorted laughter and gave him a shove. “Very funny.”
Other ponies were drifting to the floor in pairs to begin dancing, but Rainbow and Linden headed back to the high table instead, where her friends all smiled at her happily. The king and queen watched them as well, Oak Bough nodding, though Bright Song glanced away when Rainbow met her eyes. Once they were back in their seats, Oak Bough leaned around his son to look at the necklace and bracelet.
“Very nice,” he said. “You made a good choice, Linden.”
The prince’s eyes widened at the praise. “Th-thank you, Father,” he stammered, glancing sideways to Rainbow Dash, who was dutifully showing off her new jewelry to the ecstatic and envious Rarity.
Oak Bough sat back and waved a hoof behind him. Goldhoof suddenly appeared from the shadows, dressed in a rich, red doublet that contrasted brightly against his slate gray coat. He stepped to the center of the table, standing between the king and his son, and raised his yellow hoof for silence.
“Ponies of Saddellia!” he announced, his normally quiet voice echoing with surprising volume through the vast chamber. Immediately all conversation halted as attention turned to the unicorn. “Today has been a day to remember—a faire to wander, a fight full of surprises, and a glorious feast. Yet there is one more announcement to add to this already momentous occasion, one of particular importance to our regal king and beloved queen.” The dark gray pony paused for a moment to let a ripple of excited and curious whispering spread through the room. A tiny smile playing on his lips, he glanced to the six mares from Equestria, who all listened attentively.
“A union is to be formed today,” Goldhoof finally continued, his smooth voice stilling the whispers. “A union of two countries brought together by a bond of friendship and family. Today, my good ponies, my good friends, you have the honor to witness the betrothal of marriage between his royal highness, Prince Linden, and Lady Rainbow Dash of Equestria, soon to be Princess of Saddellia!”
“What!” 
Dash and her friends all spoke simultaneously, looking at the king’s advisor with identical expressions of shock and horror, but their shout went unheard, buried beneath a wave of deafening noise as the entire hall burst into applause.
**
“Marriage? Princess? Where in the sweet name of Celestia did you come up with that? I got you off a cliff, we’ve hung out, talked, had a few laughs—how in the hay does that turn into wedding bells and bouquets?”
The banquet was over and the guests had dispersed, but in a comfortable sitting room on the royal floor, Twilight and her friends sat with the royals and looked up at the ceiling, where Rainbow Dash was hovering in such a state of agitation that her wings buzzed loudly. She had been flying back and forth for more than five minutes, forcing them all to follow her like spectators at a tennis match.
Knowing that her friend’s raving wasn’t going to get them anywhere, Twilight nudged Applejack with her hoof and gave a surreptitious tilt of her head in Rainbow’s direction. Applejack stood and jumped straight up, hauling their friend down by her tail. Twilight sighed as the pegasus continued to fume and struggle. This was definitely not what she had been imagining for their meeting with the king. Taking care to keep her voice calm and respectful, she asked, “How was all of this even decided? Nopony mentioned anything to us about marriage.”
Goldhoof’s face was a mask of concerned bewilderment. “You’re upset? I’m not sure I understand—we thought you would be happy.”
“Happy!” Rainbow tried to launch into the air again, but Applejack still had a firm grasp on her tail and Rarity wrapped her hooves around her middle, pressing her wings to her sides. Glaring daggers at her friends, she reluctantly sat down, then scowled at the king’s advisor. “In what way could this make me happy?”
“How could it not?” Oak Bough interjected. “You’re going to be a princess, and later you’ll be a queen. In your own land, you’re just a common weather pony. If it weren’t for us, you wouldn’t even be nobility—now you’re going to be royalty.”
Rainbow’s eyes narrowed dangerously, but Linden stopped whatever she’d been about to say by crossing the floor to put a hoof on her shoulder. His ears drooped and a wave of hurt crossed his face when she shied away from him and actually retreated behind Applejack.
“Why are you so upset?” he asked plaintively. “This is a wonderful opportunity! You’ll have everything you could possibly want—everything you deserve! Both our kingdoms will benefit…and you and I will be able to stay together.”
Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy all whimpered, nearly drawn to tears. Rainbow, however, looked more flustered and uncertain than ever. She took a small step closer to the prince, then hesitated, scraping her hoof across the floor.
“But I have a whole life back home,” she murmured. “I have a house and a job where ponies count on me and friends. I…I have a tortoise! I can’t just leave all of that to play princess.”
“My dear lady, you won’t be playing,” Goldhoof interjected. “You will be a princess. You should be thrilled. This is the sort of chance every filly dreams of.”
“Maybe Rarity did. But me…” Rainbow let her eyes drift to the nearest window and the patch of sky beyond, “I’ve only ever wanted to be one of the Wonderbolts.” She turned back to Linden, wilting at the look of misery on his face. “I’m really sorry.”
Linden shook his head sadly. “There must be something I can do to change your mind. Now that I know you, I can’t imagine life without you.”
Oak Bough snorted loudly and rolled his eyes. “She doesn’t have to change her mind about anything,” he snapped impatiently. “She doesn’t have a choice in the matter.”
“Huh? I don’t what now?” Rainbow tore her eyes away from Linden and gaped at the king. “What did you say?”
“You do not have the option to refuse the prince’s proposal, my dear,” Goldhoof answered. “Now that the announcement has been publicly made, you will marry Linden and become princess of the realm. It is written in the laws of Saddellia.”
Though her friends were struck speechless, Rarity gave a thin, tittering giggle. “Forgive me, but I must have misunderstood,” she said breathily. “It almost sounded like you just said the prince can choose whatever mare he wants to marry and she cannot refuse him.”
Goldhoof and Oak Bough both began to laugh, causing the elegant unicorn to blush and Rainbow to scowl darkly. 
“Well, that’s what it sounded like to me too,” she said, her voice squeaking in anger. “And I don’t think that’s funny at all. What gives?”
The king continued to guffaw loudly, but Queen Bright Song slid from her seat and hurried to Rainbow’s side to give the younger mare a gentle nuzzle.
“Please, Husband, Goldhoof, the girls are confused and getting upset. Let’s finish this.”
Goldhoof sobered immediately and cleared his throat. “You’re absolutely right, your majesty.” He turned to the girls. “My sincerest apologies. Your comment just struck me as humorous, Miss Rarity. Of course, the law does not state that the prince can choose any mare as his bride.”
Rainbow Dash and her friends relaxed and shared a shaky laugh. 
“Whew!” Applejack exclaimed. “Ain’t that a relief? Cuz for a second there, Ah was sure—”
“No,” Goldhoof continued as though she hadn’t spoken. “The prince is only able to choose from the eligible Saddellian nobility.”
“Oh! Well, that settles it!” Pinkie Pie said brightly. She vanished off her cushioned seat and reappeared instantly beside Rainbow Dash, bonking the blue pony enthusiastically on the head with a hoof. “Dashie’s an Equestrian.”
“On the contrary. Lady Rainbow Dash was awarded into the ranks of Saddellian nobility by the king and queen. By our laws, she is now considered a Saddellian citizen. And she is the holder of the Blue Hills—one of the largest and most prosperous land holdings in the country.” At their looks of bewildered horror, he added, “The titles and holdings were all arranged with the queen and have been documented in the royal annals. My lady, you are an eligible choice for the prince by the laws of Saddellia—and you are bound by those laws as well.”
A wave of dread washed over Rainbow Dash, leaving her feeling like she had just been doused with cold water. She stepped away from the queen in disbelief, suddenly remembering how stunned Star Trillium had been to learn about her gifted land holdings. She hadn’t given it much thought at the time, but now she was stunned to realize just how thoroughly she had been tricked.
“Ah knew it seemed too good to be true,” Applejack said, stamping her hoof bitterly.
“The only reason you gave Rainbow Dash the Blue Hills was so she would qualify for this law,” Fluttershy accused, her normally gentle gaze fiercely locked on Bright Song. The aquamarine pony suddenly had difficulty meeting their eyes. “You planned this from the start.”
“Of course!” Oak Bough snorted. “Why else would we bother giving such a prime piece of land to a foreigner? My subjects now see me as generous to those who do a great service to the crown even though the land will revert back to us through this marriage.”
“No!” Rainbow reared and punched the air with her hooves, snorting out a furious breath through her nose. She looked dangerously close to kicking something and Linden flinched as she turned furious eyes on him. “Were you in on this too? You set me up? How could you?”
The prince shook his head desperately, looking just as stunned. “No…Rainbow, I didn’t…I had no idea! I promise!” Anguished, he whirled on his parents. “You never said anything about any laws or land holdings. This…it’s not supposed to happen like this!”
Bright Song had the decency to look ashamed for her part, but Oak Bough merely shrugged. 
“This is the way it’s done. The best way to ensure a good line for the throne.” He jabbed a hoof at Rainbow Dash. “You should be grateful—we’re giving you a strong, beautiful mare who is young enough to have plenty of foals—”
“Foals!” Rainbow squeaked, her wings flaring in horror. “No, no no! Who said anything about foals?”
“That’s the purpose of a queen,” Oak Bough growled. His own wife gave a little sigh and bit her lip. “It’s her duty to the kingdom to provide an heir to the throne. I, for one, look forward to seeing a string of winged grandcolts added to the royal bloodline.”
Twilight Sparkle had been friends with Rainbow Dash for over a year, and in that time she had seen the pony kick a dragon in the face and fly straight at a rampaging manticore. When faced with a challenge, Rainbow refused to back down and attacked it head on. Now, she was glaring at the king, her head lowered, her wings raised, one hoof pawing at the ground. 
“Uh, Rainbow…” The unicorn took a tentative step towards her friend, hoping to avoid an international incident, but Rainbow swerved away from her reaching hoof and leapt into the air. Her magenta eyes flickered wildly between her friends, Goldhoof, and the king, and before fastening on Linden. With a strangled cry, she looped around and blasted through the nearby window so fast she tore the curtains off behind her. A streamer of rainbow brightness faded behind her as she escaped into the clouds and vanished from sight.
“Rainbow!” Applejack shouted as Pinkie and Linden both cantered to the window. “What in the hay…? Now where does that pony think she’s goin’?”
“Interesting,” Twilight murmured. “For once Rainbow chose flight over fight.”
“I can’t see her anywhere,” Pinkie told them sadly. She and Linden had their hooves up on the windowsill, both staring into the blue sky. “She’s gone.”
“What!” Oak Bough roared. His face turned scarlet with rage and Bright Song paled. Goldhoof, however, was unperturbed.
“I would not worry, your highness,” he said calmly. “I am quite sure Lady Rainbow Dash will not go very far. All of her friends are still here and she strikes me as far too loyal a pony to leave them behind.”
Twilight narrowed her eyes at his choice of words—did the grey unicorn know about the Elements of Harmony, or had that just been a coincidence?
Either way, his words soothed the king, who looked at the remaining five mares with new interest.
“You’re right, Goldhoof. She’ll be back. She wouldn’t abandon her friends.”
“No, sire. Until then, may I suggest that the girls await her return in the Emerald Rooms? They would be much more comfortable and secure there.”
“Good idea.” Oak Bough clapped a hoof on the floor with a ringing clang. Immediately, the doors opened to admit three of the palace guards. At a word from the king, they positioned themselves around the girls, one stepping to the window to herd Pinkie back to her friends. “Take the Equestrians back to their chambers and keep an eye out for Lady Rainbow Dash,” the king ordered them. “Goldhoof, you will let me know when she returns.”
The grey unicorn bowed obediently and the king trotted from the room. Bright Song hesitated long enough to give them all a sorrowful nod, then hurried after him.
“This way, ladies.” One of the guards jerked his head towards the door, his eyes firm. 
“Don’t worry, my dear.” Goldhoof slipped up to Twilight Sparkle before she could follow her friends out into the hall. “You will still get your official meeting with the king. The planning of a royal wedding takes time.”
Twilight frowned, not liking the tone in the unicorn’s voice. She opened her mouth to speak, but then her gaze drifted to the window, where Prince Linden sat with his hooves still on the sill, a look of pure misery on his handsome face as he continued to search the empty skies. A surge of pity washed over her for the dejected prince, but the guard suddenly moved to block her view.
“This way, miss,” he said sternly, pressing forward so she had no choice but to move back towards her friends. She fell in beside Applejack as the new “escort” led them through the corridors back to their rooms. The three guards were silent and watchful as the girls filed into the Emerald Rooms.
“Oh!” Rarity gasped when the door was shut rather hard behind them. “Of all the nerve! Looks like some ponies need to remember their manners!”
“I can’t believe that just happened!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, flinging herself across one of the chairs and throwing her hooves in the air. “Can you believe that just happened? Prince Linden wants to marry Dashie, our Dashie! He really did fall absolutely, positively head over hooves in love with her!”   		
“Poor Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy sat on her haunches by the chair and lowered her head so her hair fell over her eyes. Gumdrop ran across the floor and hopped up and down between her hooves, chittering and frantically waving his paws. The yellow pony patted him absently. “She looked so confused and upset—and Prince Linden looked crushed.”
“He did, didn’t he? The poor dear.” Rarity joined her with a sigh. “And, you know, I really do believe he was telling the truth when he said he didn’t know about those laws. He looked almost as shocked as Rainbow Dash.”
“They can’t really make Dash stay here and marry him, can they, Twilight?” Pinkie wanted to know. The thought of losing one of her best friends was causing her mane to lose its curl.
“I’m not sure, Pinkie. Nothing like that would ever happen in Equestria, that’s for sure, but things are different here…and they did make Rainbow Dash a lady and gave her land holdings.”
Applejack snorted in contempt. “Tricked her into them is more like it!”
“I agree, it’s not fair, but we’re going to have to play it carefully. We’re still guests here on a mission from Princess Celestia and we still have to work out a treaty with these Saddellians.”
“That’s gonna be a mite difficult when Rainbow comes back and flat out tells the king where he can put his laws,” Applejack drawled. 
“Well, let’s hope she takes some time to cool down and clear her head,” Rarity murmured, rising to her feet and trotting into the bedchamber. “I know that when I’m feeling upset a long, hot bath with lots of bubbles works wonders for—oh my Celestia!”
At Rarity’s horrified cry, the others rushed to the next room, where a startling sight greeted them. Their saddlebags had all been opened, the contents strewn haphazardly across the floor. Torn clothing and ripped maps were scattered amongst Pinkie’s colorful streamers and the leaves and pebbles Fluttershy had collected during their trip.
“What in tarnation happened in here?” Applejack gasped.
“Oh no!” Pinkie Pie shoved past them into the room, racing from pile to pile of their belongings. “No! This can’t be happening…please tell me they’re not…who would…oh, here they are!” She turned, beaming, and held up a large bag full of rubber balloons. “Whew! We’re okay, everypony. I found them!”
“No! It’s not okay…it’s not okay!” Twilight had found her own saddlebags and was searching frantically through the items around them. Her large eyes had flooded tears when she finally found a polished wooden box lying under a filmy scarf. With a trembling hoof, she turned it over, revealing the broken lock and empty, velvet-lined interior. “Th-they’re g-gone.”
“What’re gone, Sugarcube?” Applejack and Fluttershy came to stand beside her. “Is that what Ah think it is?”
“Did…you bring them with us, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, her gentle gaze locked on the box. Nestled in her mane, Gumdrop hid his face in his paws, his tiny shoulders heaving as he sobbed.
The unicorn dropped to her haunches and nodded miserably. “Princess Celestia gave them to me, in case we needed them as a last resort. I had them hidden in the bottom of my bags. But now…now…”
“What?” Pinkie asked.
Twilight closed the box, showing them the six gems displayed on the top. “The Elements of Harmony—they’ve been stolen!”
**
Rainbow Dash was seeing red as she blasted up and away from the castle as fast her wings could carry her. Already, her muscles burned with the exertion, especially after her stunt show from earlier in the day, but she angrily pushed herself onward, determined to get as many miles between herself and that beast of a king as possible.
“Marriage!” she snarled, the word whipping away on the wind. “Foals! All the ponies in this country are crazy!”
Marriage and foals. How could they possibly think she would be alright with that? Her! Foals? Not a chance! She was way too young to be tied down with a kid and way too focused on her goals—none of which included diaper changes and midnight feedings.
As the sun began to sink towards the horizon and she powered on through the skies, the fresh breeze and familiar joy of flying cleared her head and cooled her anger slightly. Not at the king, of course—she still couldn’t stand him—but Linden’s stunned and hurt face kept coming to mind.
At first, she had been sure that Linden had been a part of the whole plan to trap her. He had to have known all along about the laws of the country and what his parents had intended by giving her the Blue Hills. Hadn’t the title and land been his idea in the first place?
Yet he had seemed just as shocked at Goldhoof’s announcement, just as horrified, and completely bewildered when she had accused him of betrayal. 
Suddenly tired, she looked about until she spotted a small cloud tinged orange and pink from the setting sun, and shifted her flight path. The surface was soft and springy beneath her hooves as she landed and flopped onto her belly, crossing her hooves beneath her chin. “Linden,” she murmured, feeling utterly confused. 
There was no denying that the colt was good looking—but he was clever and really fun to be around as well. He appreciated her flying skills and stunts, and he was also something of a daredevil himself, always going out into the woods and climbing the mountains around the kingdom in search of adventure. Once, he had even scaled a six hundred foot waterfall by climbing the dangerously water-logged walls on the surrounding canyon with nothing but rope and his own four hooves. Now that was impressive, especially for an earth pony.
But that didn’t mean she wanted to marry him. They had known each other for less than two weeks!
She rolled onto her back, spreading her wings over the cloud and kicking her hooves in the air. 
“A princess!” she groaned. “Me!”
Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to picture herself as a princess, but images of Luna and Celestia kept coming to mind. She envisioned herself taller, her rainbow mane and tail long and flowing like they were always caught in the wind. Princess Rainbow Dash—the thought would have been laughable if the king and Goldhoof hadn’t been so deadly serious about it. Didn’t they realize that she had no idea how to be a princess or run a country? But, then again, Oak Bough didn’t seem to know how to run a country either and that wasn’t stopping him. 
The sun continued to sink lower towards the horizon and the brilliant oranges, golds, and fuchsias painted across the sky started to melt into deeper hues of lavender and purple. The sky directly overhead turned indigo as the stars began to show themselves—the same stars that hung over Ponyville.
“I wanna go home,” she said, startling herself with a sudden burst of homesickness. She missed her beautiful cloud home, and Tank’s long, slow smiles, and the library with its collection of Daring Do novels.  She even missed Scootaloo and her crazy little friends. 
Her thoughts were so jumbled that, at first, she dismissed a series of faint tapping sounds as an evening chorus of crickets. Then the wind shifted and her sensitive ears swiveled back, catching a muffled shout among the other sounds. Frowning, she turned over, letting her forehooves dangle off the edge of the cloud, and gasped at what she saw.
The sun had gone down completely, but a pale yellow aura was lighting up the sky about a mile away. The noises were coming from that direction.
“The quarry?” she asked out loud, remembering the cloud of dust they had seen from the hill. Had she really flown so far from the castle? She guessed it was possible—she was a fast flier and she hadn’t been thinking about where she was going.
Well, there was only one way to find out for sure.
She rolled off the cloud and dropped, spreading her wings to catch the air and turning her downward momentum into a smooth glide. Without hesitation, she flapped towards the dim glow and the faint sound of tapping. The night gathered around her, the sky now dark and velvety black. It was Luna’s night off, so there was no moon to brighten the land in silvery illumination. Instead, there were only the sharp pinpricks of the stars and the yellow light of numerous firefly lanterns.
Rainbow had only been flying for a few minutes when she felt a tickle in her throat that made her cough. Her mouth went dry and her eyes felt gritty. When she licked her lips, she tasted dust. A thick sheen of it was filling the air, getting steadily worse as she neared the light and caught sight of a seven story cliff rising above the forest.
Back winging, the pegasus dropped from the sky and landed in a tree nearby. For reasons she couldn’t explain, she felt the urge to remain out of sight, at least until she had investigated a little further.
Hiding in the foliage, she peered through the dust, studying the cliff with an intensity that would have made Twilight proud. Right away, she surmised that the cliff was not natural. It was striped with deep lines and gouges, the gaping front carved like an open, jagged wound that marred the otherwise pristine forest. A dozen stories of rickety wooden scaffolding was bolted to the stone face. Firefly lanterns were hung sporadically from the beams and, between the glowing orbs, scores of ponies sat and chipped away with hammers and chisels.
The longer Rainbow watched, the more confused she became. The ponies worked steadily, with none of the talking, laughing, or banter that accompanied tedious chores back home. Every few minutes, a pony would pause to pry something from the wall and toss it over their shoulder into baskets that were spaced between each pair. When the basket filled, another pony would replace it with an empty one. The work went on and on, becoming so tedious that Rainbow grew bored and started to yawn. Deciding she wasn’t going to learn any more about the situation from where she was sitting, she leapt down from the tree. 
Ducking low, she crept stealthily closer to the quarry, glad that Pinkie Pie wasn’t along to blow her cover. Biting her lip, she slipped from the tree to a boulder, then tiphooved to a broken cart lying discarded on its side. She stopped there and lifted her head to look around. Nopony was calling an alarm—she hadn’t been spotted yet. So far so good.
Her last hiding place was a huge pile of jagged, broken rock to the right of the cliff. From here, she could see ponies pulling carts along a wooden path beneath the scaffolding. The workers above would empty baskets of rock into the cart and, when it was full, the cart pony would trundle it to the pile and dump it before heading back for more. 
She also noticed a large number of the ponies who didn’t work at chipping the stone or sorting and hauling the rocks. Bigger and more muscular, they were more like the guards of Canterlot who protected the princesses, but that was where the comparison ended. These ponies stood at the ends of the scaffolding, leaning insolently on long poles or toying with coiled whips clipped to their barding as they watched the workers. The young pegasus snarled angrily from her hiding place when a cart pony paused to catch his breath, only to yelp when one of the guards cracked his fetlocks with his pole.
“Get back to work! You think those rocks are gonna haul themselves?”
Meekly, the dingy yellow colt nodded and limped away, straining under the weight of his full wagon. When he reached the rock pile, he stopped and stepped away from his harness, then started unloading.  The guard glared at him for a moment longer before turning away, bored.
Now was her chance! Rainbow inched closer to the working colt, taking care to keep low, out of the lantern light.
“Hey!” she whispered harshly. “Psst! Hey you, over here.”
The colt lifted his head at her voice, a large piece of rock in his mouth. Bewildered, he looked around and his amber eyes bulged when he caught sight of her peeking around the bottom of the rock pile.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he said, spitting out the rock. Nervously, he looked over his shoulder, half expecting the guards to come running. “If they catch you shirking work we’re both going to be in tro—” He broke off in confusion, moving closer to get a better look at her. “Wait...I’ve never seen you before. What tier are you on?”
“I’m not on any tier. I’m from Equestria.”
To her surprise, the colt merely bobbed his head. “Me too. So are most of the ponies here.”
“Yeah, but I’m Rainbow Dash! My friends and I are here to help you.”
The colt stared at her, one eyebrow arched, and the pegasus rolled her eyes.
“Did you hear me? Rainbow Dash? Winner of the Best Young Flyer Competition and weather pony extraordinaire?” She raised her wings and grinned broadly, waiting for the recognition.
“I’m…Ramson?”
Rainbow groaned, her ears drooping. “Okay, I guess you haven’t heard of me, strange as that seems. Anyway, Princess Celestia sent me and my friends here to find out what’s going on and to help you get back to your homes. So…” she raised her own eyebrows questioningly. “…what is going on? How did you get here? What are you digging for?”
“I—I was taken from my village,” Ramson told her. “Soldiers came during the night and chained all the younger ponies together. If anypony fought back, they were beaten and their house was burned down. They made us climb over the mountains and brought us h-here.” He broke off and rubbed his eyes with a dirty hoof. “I have no idea what they want us to find—nopony will tell us anything. We dig up a lot of gems and they save those, but I don’t think—did you say Princess Celestia sent you?”
“Yeah…there was a pony who got away and—”
“Hey! No breaks at the pile! You want to feel the whip again? Get back to work!” A guard snapped his whip through the air with a resounding crack and Ramson jumped. Cringing, he hurriedly buried his head in the cart again, tossing chunks of stone onto the pile so emphatically Rainbow had to jump back to avoid getting hit.
“Look, I don’t know…who you are…or how you got here…” he said between throws, “…but you’d better run away…while you can or…you’re gonna end up like us.” He gasped for breath, and fixed her with a curious look. “Did Flax really get away? He, Lilypad, and Sweetwater made a run for it over a month ago. They caught Sweetwater and brought her back only two days later, then put her in the pits. No one knows what happened to the others.”
“I…I’m sorry. I don’t know his name,” Rainbow replied, surprised that she had never thought to ask. “I only know that a colt made it to Canterlot and told the princess that he had been kept as a slave here. She sent me and my friends here to work out a peace treaty with Saddellia but…” She glanced at the whip scars marring the colt’s cutie mark, then let her eyes drift up to the quarry and let out a shudder. “But we never guessed it was like this.” Over Ramson’s shoulder, she caught sight of a guard heading their way and gasped, quickly retreating into the shadows. “Someone’s coming!”
Ramson whirled nervously just as a bulky mare reached the pile. “S-sorry!” he stammered, diving back into the cart to finish his work.
“What’s taking so long here?” the mare asked, her tone slightly bored, but nowhere near as gruff as the other. She leaned forward to check the contents of the cart. “Shouldn’t be so hard to empty a cart.”
“I-I had a m-muscle cramp,” Ramson told her, grabbing the last piece of rock and heaving it over the pile. It crashed hard against the summit, causing a landslide of loose rocks and pebbles to cascade down the other side, raining down on the hiding pegasus and covering her in a coating of reddish dust. One apple-sized chunk struck her squarely between the ears and she yelped in pain. 
“What was that?” the guard asked sharply. Rainbow clapped her forehooves to her mouth and froze, a tear tracing a line down her dirty face.
“Huh? Wh-what? I didn’t hear anything.”
“You sure? I thought I heard…”
Gritting her teeth in a grimace, Rainbow carefully wriggled free of the debris and slinked across the ground on her belly. Her heart began to pound as the sound of hoofbeats approached, walking slowly around the rock pile. Sure that her brightly colored tail would soon be spotted, even in the poor light, she raised her wings, getting ready to fly away at the first shout of alarm. 
“Oh that! It must have been the rocks,” Ramson lied. “Yeah, the rocks fell on the other side and you heard them clattering. It happens all the time. That’s all.”
“Hmm, maybe.” The hoofbeats stopped. “It sure sounded like something else though. Oh well, get back to work now. It’s hot and Schist is sick of getting stuck on the night shift. He’s looking for a reason to cause trouble, so I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t make it easier for him. Go fetch another load and I’ll see if I can find you some liniment to help with the muscle cramps.”
“Y-yes ma’am. I’m sorry. Thank you.” 
Rainbow heard the colt harnessing himself to the wagon again, and then the clattering of the wheels over the wooden walkway as he trotted back to the cliff. Breathing a sigh of relief, she took advantage of the noise to leap into the air. Spreading her wings, she dashed away from the quarry, speeding back to the castle to tell her friends what she had learned. She did not spare a glance behind her, or she would have seen a large lime green mare trotting to the back of the rock pile and looking around suspiciously.
Not finding anything but tumbled rock, the mare shrugged after a moment and turned to leave, but stopped short when her eyes lit on something on the ground. Stepping forward, she scratched at the dirt with a hoof, turning over several chunks of rock to reveal a single, sky blue feather.