//------------------------------// // Freedom Fields // Story: Blood Red Road // by Dawn-Designs-Art //------------------------------// I’m five year old. It’s a sunny day. I’m on the shore at Silverlake. I’m by myself. A soft breeze lifts my mane an tail. The lake water laps softly. I’m crouched down, pilin up flat stones, all bright white, one on top of th’other. I count as I go. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven!” A shadow falls over me. I look up. It’s Pa. Like he used to be when I was a kid. Before Ma died. Thick black mane, smilin eyes, strong, handsome. “Seven, Pa! Look at that!” He hunkers down beside me. Takes my hoof. “They’re gonna need you, Moon,” he says. “Sun an Penny Rose. There’ll be others too, many others, who will look to you, an you’ll hafta stand alone. Don’t give in to fear. Be strong, like I know you are. An never give up, d’you unnerstand, never. No matter what happens.” I smile at him. “I won’t,” I says. “I ain’t no quitter, Pa.” “That’s my girl,” he says, smilin. Then he’s gone. Jest like that. Disappeared. “Pa!” I jump to my hooves. “Where are you, Pa? Come back! Don’t leave me!” His voice echoes, drifts away, gittin softer an softer. “That’s my girl, my girl, my girl.” “Pa!” I look around, frantic to find him. But he’s gone. Silverlake is now dead an dry. The ground unner my hooves an as far as I can see is parched an cracked. Not even the hardy desert shrubs are alive, leafless and bleached white from the sun. I see my home, it’s burnt out an crumblin to rubble. Darkness. Voices. Angry. Shoutin. I cain’t hear the words though. Then it all stops. A flash of white light. An Epona stands there. Alone. Darkness all around her. There’s only the sound of my heart. Beat, beat, beat. Epona looks over her shoulder, like she sees somethin behind her. She turns back agin. She sees me. She nods. An it all happens slowly. So slow, I can see the blink of her eyelids. I can see her lips move as she takes in a breath. Beat, beat, beat goes my heart. She starts to run towards me. She lifts forelegs high an lifts her face up. She leaps. A flash of white light. An the world smashes into a million pieces. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Arrow! I think she’s awake!” Penny’s voice. There’s a dull throb in my right shoulder. I hear the crackle of a fire. Somepony kneels beside me. Lays a hoof on my forehead. It’s hard but soft, cool. Nice on my warm coat. Slowly I open my eyes. I’m lookin up at rock. I frown. “It’s a cave,” says Arrow. I turn my head to look at him. In the flicker of the firelight, his silver moon eyes glitter. His coat gleams. He’s beautiful. “Welcome back,” he says. I lift my hoof an touch his cheek. It’s warm. Soft. “Arrow,” I says. He goes still. He puts my hoof back down on the blanket. “I’ll git you a drink,” he says an disappears. “Penny?” I says. “I’m here!” She grabs my hoof an kisses it, over an over. “Hey Penny Rose,” I says. “C’mon now, I’m fine.” “I was afeared you’d die,” she says. “You had a fever. You was shoutin out, callin fer Pa.” “Was I? Pen … I was havin the strangest dreams.” Arrow’s back. “Here you go,” he says. He puts his arm around my shoulders an raises me up. I wince. “Sorry,” he says. He holds a cup to my mouth an I drink. It’s bitter an I make a face. “Willow bark,” he says. “It brings down the fever. I brewed it myself.” He makes me drink the cup dry before he lets me stop. My right shoulder’s wrapped tight in a strip of ripped shirt. “How bad is it?” I says. “A lot better’n it was,” he says. “We cleaned you up an put a poultice on to draw out th’infection. That wurm slashed you deep. It needs stitchin, but we had to wait till it’s clean.” “You bin out fer two days,” says Penny. “Two days!” I says. I sit up like a shot an go to shove my blanket away, but Arrow stops me. Presses me back gently so’s I lie down agin. My shoulder throbs. “It cain’t be,” I says. “That means we only got … when’s midsummer eve?” Him an Penny look at each other. “It’s tonight,” she says. “No! What time is it now?” I try to sit up agin an this time Penny stops me. “I gotta git there!” “It’s okay Moon,” saysPenny, “we got time.” “We’re here,” says Arrow. “What …?” I says. “Whaddya mean … we’re here?” “Freedom Fields, “she says. “Moon, we’re at Freedom Fields.” “It’s jest on th’other side of this hill,” says Arrow. He gits up an goes over to the fire. Starts doin somethin, takin pots offa the fire an movin things around, but I cain’t see what. “I don’t unnerstand,” I says, sittin up slightly. “How’d I git here?” “You passed out while you was still on the lake,” says Penny. “Arrow found you. He carried you on his back all the way till he caught up with us. You would of bin dead if it warn’t fer him. Ain’t that right, Arrow?” He grunts. “He wouldn’t let nopony else touch you,” she says. “An we jest kept goin till we got here.” I lie back. “We made it in time,” I whisper. “We made it.” “By the skin of our teeth,” says Arrow. “Where’s everypony else?” I says. “Outside,” he says. “They’re gittin a few things together that might be useful.” “They’re makin arrows,” says Penny. “I need to help,” I says. “You can help in a minute,” says Arrow. “Soon’s I stitch that wound.” “There ain’t time,” I says. “You ain’t got a choice in the matter,” he says. He starts to thread fine catgut through a thin bone needle. Penny Rose says, “You should of seen ’em all run when Arrow asked who was good at stitchin.” “Cowards,” says Arrow. “Every one of ’em.” “Pike said only a fool ’ud dare touch a prickly pear like you,” says Penny. “ Is that what you are, Arrow?” I says. “A fool?” “Seems that way,” he says. “Now, let’s take a look.” He pushes my tunic offa my shoulder an unwinds the bandage. I peer at it. The oak bark poultice done its work. The wound’s ugly but clean. “Yer gonna have a big scar,” says Penny. “You ain’t seen me sew yet,” says Arrow.” I do real neat work.” He holds out a bottle of Pike’s vodka. It’s half full. “Here you go,” he says, “drink it down. It’ll help dull the pain.” “No,” I says. “I’m gonna need a clear head later on.” He lifts one eyebrow. “You sure?” he says. “Go on.” “No,” I says. “I don’t wanna drink.” “Well I sure as hell do,” he says an he takes a long swig. “Jest git on with it, Arrow,” I says. He hands me a cloth. I shove it into my mouth. Penny sits on my legs to stop me kickin. She’s got a flamin torch in her hoof. “Don’t throw me off,” she says. “I’ll work as fast as I can,” says Arrow, “but this is gonna hurt like the devil. You ready?” My heart’s thumpin. I bite down on the cloth hard as I can. I nod quickly. “Gimme a good light, Penny,” he says. “All right, here we go.” Then he commences to stitch me up. Luckily fer me, I pass out as soon as the needle pierces my skin. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~``` I step outside into the early midday sun. I blink after the darkness of the cave an take in a deep breath to clear my foggy head. The air’s cooler’n I’m used to. It smells different. This air smells of fir, sharp an sweet at the same time. The longest day of the year. Midsummer. This is it. “Yer awake,” says Arrow. He’s sittin on a big rock. It’s on the edge of a little clearin to the side of the cave. He finishes tyin the head onto a arrow with his magic an tosses it onto a growin pile. “How’s the shoulder doin?” I roll it around. It’s a bit stiff, but theres no surprise there, an a bit sore where the stitches are, but no bad pain. I guess I got Arrow’s disgustin willow bark brew to thank fer that. “It feels good,” I says. “Thanks.” I look up at the sky. “Any sign of Nero yet?” He shakes his head. “No.” My stummick tightens. I look up at the sky agin, like he might of appeared in the last two seconds. “I had to tell everypony where he is,” says Arrow.” They kept askin.” “He’ll find Feath,” I says. “I know he will. They should be here by now. C’mon, Nero.” I scan the sky. “It’s outta our hooves. Let’s jest git on with it Moon.” “Yeah… yeah. Where is everypony?” “If you look around the corner, you’ll see ‘em,” he says. I step around him, into the clearin, an there they all are. Ash an Epona sit side by side, strippin an smoothin down sticks into arrow shafts. They work fast. Pike an Blade are makin chips of slate into arrowheads an Penny Rose bobs around, fetchin an carryin an generally makin herself useful. It looks like ain’t none of ’em had no sleep fer a while. They look up when they see me, throw a nod or a little smile, but don’t stop what they’re doin. Even Penny keeps at it instead of rushin over to me like she usually would. It’s so heavy in the air you can smell it, almost taste it. The tightness. The urgency. I feel the heat rise in my cheeks. Everypony must think I’m a real shirker, snorin away while they work. “You all right?” says Epona. “Yeah,” I says. “I’ll be okay to shoot.” “Good,” Pike says. “I especk we might be seein a little action later on.” “Gimme somethin to do,” I says. “You can help me tie on arrowheads,” says Arrow. He shifts to make room fer me on his rock an I sit beside him. Right away, the heartstone starts to heat up. I shake my head. “What?” he says. “Nuthin,” I says. I take a length of nettlecord, a head an a shaft an git to work. My magic feels clumsy to start with, slow, but after I done a couple I git into the swing of it, makin one after another, while Arrow manages to tie two at a time. Arrow holds up a finished arrow. Sights along it. “Whenever I make a arrow,” he says, “I see it in my mind’s ey … flyin outta the bo … singin through th’air, headin fer the target straight an true.” “I see that too,” I says. Our eyes meet fer a second. We smile. Then we bend our heads to our work an really set to. “Did you know,” he says, “that every time you make somethin, any time you make anythin, a little bit of yer spirit goes into it?” “No,” I says. “I didn’t know that.” “Well, it’s a fact. So … you wanna make sure it’s a good bit of you, not a bad bit.” “I think I used up my last good bit a while back,” I says. “Me too,” he says. He gives me his lopsided grin an my heart turns over. “I’m sorry,” I says. “Fer what?” he says. “Fer always bein so… you know … so—“ “Ungrateful?” he says. “Yeah,” I says. “Ornery?” “I guess so.” “Rude? Pig-headed? Stubborn? Violent?” “I ain’t violent!” “Oh yes, you are. Very violent. But I like that in a mare.” I laugh. “Yer real crazy,” I says. “Well I was fine till I met you,” he says. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When the sun’s high in the midafternoon sky, we break camp an start to gather up our weapons. I soon realise that I don’t know where my bow is, so I ask Blade where it is. “There,” Blade says with a jerk of his head. We’re all used to him by now an pretty much know what he means. Penny still seems to git more outta his one or two words than anypony else though. “He means it’s at the mouth of the cave,” Penny says now. Blade nods in agreement. “I knew what you meant jest fine,” I says. “Thanks, Blade.” He turns bright red an hurries off. “The colt’s soft about you,” says Pike. “An he ain’t th’only one. I’m jest waitin fer you to give me the word, my darlin.” “You know, Pike,” I says, “I think I might be comin round to the idea.” He looks shocked. But only fer a moment. Then he grins. “You wouldn’t be flirtin with me now, would you?” he says. “I dunno,” I says. “Yeah. I think I might be.” “Be still my beatin heart!” he says. “All right,” says Arrow, “break it up. Time to go. We need to git movin.” “You scouted it out, right?” I says. “Completely,” says Pike. “Me, Ash an Epona did it while you was gittin yer beauty sleep.” “What does it look like?” I says. Pike winks at me. “No problem. Piece of cake.” “Piece of cake.” Ash shakes her head. “Wait, what’s the plan?” I says. “You know me,” says Arrow, “I don’t like to be hampered by too much plannin.” “Arrow!” “Keep yer shirt on. I got a couple of ideas to run by you. But we won’t know properly till we see what they’re up to. We might hafta … wing it a bit.” “Wing it!” I says. “This is my brother’s life we’re talkin about, Arrow. I ain’t wingin nuthin. You said you had a plan.” “Uh … I think we’ll head over,” says Pike. “Good idea,” says Ash. They all hurry past us an turn right, disappearin back into the cave. “Why’re they goin back in?” I says. “You said Freedom Fields is on th’other side of the hill.” “It is,” says Arrow. “But there’s a tunnel that cuts through from the back of the cave. A short cut.” He starts to follow ’em. I grab his mane with my magic. “Hang on, Arrow, we ain’t finished here. We need a plan. A proper one. Right now.” He sighs an turns back to me. “I promised you we’d git Sun outta there,” he says, “an I meant it. We will. That’s the main thing, no matter what. You said you trusted me. Do you? Here an now. Do you trust me?” I stare into his eyes. Searchin fer… somethin. Then. I see it. I see him. Suddenly I see him. Not the Arrow of the jokes an the flirtin an the shyin away. The real Arrow. The… truth of him. The stillness at the heart of him. Like calm water. I saw it once before, that first night we lay unner the stars. When I told him about Sun an he promised me we’d find him. An this is the thing. The truth about Arrow’s bin right in front of me all along. I jest wouldn’t let myself believe what I saw. Till now. I laugh. “Gawd help me,” I says, “but I do. I trust you, Arrow.” “Then let’s go,” he says. We turn into the cave. Now I can see there’s a narrow crack at the back. The entrance to the tunnel that leads to th’other side. Arrow lights a torch in the dyin fire, then I help him break it up, spreadin the ash so’s it can cool. “That’s it,” he says, turnin to go. I touch his arm. “Arrow,” I says. “I…” “What?” “I didn’t really thank you fer … takin care of me. Fer fixin me up.” “Don’t mention it.” He starts to go, an I stop him agin. “Arrow!” “Yeah?” “I might not git another chance to say that I… to tell you… how much I appreciate everythin yer doin. Everythin you done. To help git Sun back an… well, everythin. You didn’t hafta but you did an… I am. Grateful, I mean. I always have bin, it’s jest… I guess I ain’t too good at showin it, is all.” “Don’t keep thankin me,” he says. “I don’t deserve it. I ain’t some hero.” He turns an I follow him to the back of the cave. We slip through the narrow crack an pretty much right away it opens into a tunnel that’s high enough to walk upright. My stummick’s all jittery an tight. We ain’t gone more’n a few steps when I says, “Arrow. Wait.” He turns around, all impatient now. “Now what?” “I wanna say somethin to you. I wanna say… I dunno… more. I could bust apart with all I’m feelin inside of me right now. What with fightin off the hellwurms an gittin my shoulder tore open, an how I felt when I woke up an seen you an, now, here I am, bein so close to findin Sun an I dunno what’s gonna happen an—“ Arrow’s lookin at me, frownin. “What’s the matter with you, Moon?” he says. I grab his face an kiss him on the lips.Then I step back. We stare at each other. All the air gits sucked outta the tunnel. The heartstone burns into my skin. The blood pounds in my ears. “Yer timin stinks,” he says. He drops the torch from his magic. He pushes me aginst the wall. Then his mouth is on mine an he’s kissin me like he’s starvin or dyin of thirst or somethin. He kisses my lips, my face, my neck, then back to my lips agin. His lips is smooth an soft. Warm. The smell of him fills me. We’re pressed tight together, chest to chest. His heart thuds aginst mine. A shiver runs over me from the top of my head to the tips of my hooves. I’m hot an cold all at once. The hairs of my coat tingle. My skin’s stretched tight over my bones. A heavy heat settles low in my belly. I never thought kissin ’ud feel like this. I kiss him back. I run my hooves through his mane. I feel the strength of him. I press myself closer. I cain’t seem to git close enough. “Stop,” he says aginst my lips. I don’t. I don’t want to. I cain’t. He grabs both my hooves. “Moon,” he says. “Moon. Stop.” We’re both breathin hard. I’m dizzy. Dazed. “What?” I says. “What? Was I doin it wrong?” “No,” he says, “no, don’t ever think that! That was … oh boy … that was … perfect. It’s jest … this ain’t the time or the place. An you bin through a lot. You ain’t thinkin straight.” “I am,” I says. “I swear I am.” “No… No you ain’t,” he says. “An I ain’t neether. But I bin wantin to kiss you like that from the first moment I seen you. You got no idea much.” I start to say, me too, but he puts a hoof aginst my lips. “Don’t say it,” he says. “It’ll only make things worse.” He kisses me one last time. Quick. Hard. Then he pushes away from me an picks up the torch from the ground with magic. It’s still lit. “C’mon,” he says. “We gotta git movin.” “Jest like that?” I says. “Moon,” he says. “Yer twin brother. He’s waitin fer you.” He heads off. I jest stand there. My lips is tinglin. I can still taste him. I’m glad he called a halt. He’s right, this ain’t the time or place. An him an me both know there never will be the right time an place. Once I’ve got Sun back, that’ll be it. I’ll head to Crosscreek with him an Penny, or maybe somewhere else entirely, and Arrow’ll go off with Pike an Blade an we’ll never see each other agin. We both said what our plans is an that’s what we’re gonna do. But I’m glad we did it. Kissed. It was our only chance. An I’m glad he stopped it when he did. ‘Liar. Liar, liar, liar.’ “Moon!” he yells. “C’mon! Hurry up!” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “It gits lower here,” says Arrow. “Mind yer head.” The torch throws jagged fingers of light up the rough stone walls. We’re makin our way through the tunnel an I reach a hoof out, feelin where the top is. I gotta duck every now an agin so’s I don’t bang my head. It seems to go on an on an on. I’m gittin to the point of thinkin it ain’t never gonna end when I start to see light an it gits brighter an brighter, spillin into the darkness. Then the tunnel ends an we step outside, into the golden sky of a midsummer afternoon. Everypony’s waitin fer us. Penny Rose, Blade, Pike, Ash an Epona. “What took you so long?” says Penny. “We bin here fer ages.” Pke, Ash an Epona look at each other an grin. They look at me an Arrow. “Pretty dark in there,” says Ash. “Did you git lost?” I feel a hot flush crawl up my neck. “It uh … took us longer’n we thought to put out the fire,” says Arrow. “Moon!” says Penny. “Come an see!” She grabs my hoof an pulls me over to the edge of the ridge we’re standin on. The ridge runs all around the edge of the valley, like the rim of a bowl. It’s covered with thick stands of oak an tall pine trees. A wide flat valley lies spread out below us. It’s covered in rows an rows of low bushes covered with shiny dark green leafs. Lots of workers in white tunics move between the rows, bendin, pickin the leaf from the bushes an puttin ’em into sacks on their back. Slaves. Wysteria was one of these once. An Arrow an Pike. It’s a land of plenty. Lush an beautiful. Like Pa told us it used to be back in Wrecker times. Paradise, he called it. When the air was sweet an the earth was good. When they grew so much to eat that they heaped it in mountains an if they needed some they’d jest go with their bucket an fill it up. But this ain’t no Paradise. “There it is,” says Pike. “Freedom Fields.” Ash points. Across the valley, on the far side, a wall of rainbow light shimmers. “An that,” she says, “that’s the King’s Palace.” Arrow pushes somethin into my hoof. “Here,” he says. It’s half of the long-looker that Penny broke back at the Wrecker city. “Arrow fixed it!” she says. “Jest like he said he would!” I put it to my eye. “Be careful!” she says. “It’s awful bright!” Directly opposite where we are, on the far side of the valley, a big house, the biggest I ever seen, sprawls out half-ways between the valley floor an the ridge above it. The walls is completely covered in shimmer discs. As the sun hits ’em, they shoot off rainbows of light. Red, blue, yellow, orange, pink, green, purple. The colors streak out, like shootin stars, sparkin an dancin so bright that black spots appear in front of my eyes. “Ohmigawd, it’s amazin!” I says. “I never seen nuthin like it.” “They’ll be keepin Sun there unner guard,” says Arrow. “Ain’t that right, Pike?” “Yup,” says Pike.” An they’ll be takin good care of him, seein they went to all that trouble to git him.” “D’you really think so?” I says. “You can bet on it,” says Pike. The Palace. I squint at it sidewise. Now I can see it’s got many windows. Tall posts runnin all along the front of it. Two massive front doors made of hammered copper an gold patterns of swirls an leaves an birds an two big cats. Wide steps lead down to a path made of crushed white rock. It winds through a garden to the fields below. I think of Ma with her garden of stones at Silverlake. She would never of dreamed that there might be a garden like this one. There’s a great carved basin with jets of water sprayin from the mouths of sea ponies way up into the sky. There’s colourful flower an vegetable beds laid out in fancy swirling patterns, an a big grove of fruit trees. Lots of ponies movin about. Tonton mainly, in their long black robes and body armor, but some slaves dressed in their white tunics. I see a few Tonton pegasi, and even fewer Tonton unicorns, even a Tonton griffon, there’s mostly earth ponies, an all the slaves are earth ponies, with a scatterin of zebras an donkeys. “See the storage sheds?” says Pike. “Off to the right?” I focus the long-looker on the low storage sheds next to the house. “Got ’em,” I says. “An the irrigation system?” he says. Runnin all across the fields, raised above the bushes on long legs, there’s what looks like troughs with silvery streams of water runnin through ’em. They’re all joined up together. “That’s what you call them troughs?” I says. “Right,” says Arrow. “Keeps the bushes watered with a steady drip. Chaal bushes like it damp but you gotta be careful. Too much water kills ’em off real quick.’em off real quick.” “You don’t say,” I says. “I do say,” he says. “Now that plan you wanted? Gather round everypony. Me an Pike got a couple of ideas.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The afternoon drags on. Then it’s early evenin. The rainbow shine of the Palace slowly dims as the sun’s power fades. But it’ll be light fer hours still. The longest day of the year. The longest day of my life. There still ain’t no sign of Nero. No Feath. No Free Hawks. I never bin so twitchy. We all take turns watchin what’s goin on down below. But when it ain’t my turn, I cain’t settle. If I flop onto the ground, I jump right up agin. I drive everypony mad by askin ’em how long they think we bin there. I twang my bowstring till Ash barks at me to stop or she’ll strangle me with it. “Nero should of bin back long before now,” I says to Penny. “You said that a million times already,” she says. “Somethin’s happened to him. I know it. It ain’t like him to be away this long.” “You said that a million times too,” she says. “He’s fine. He’s on his way.” “What if somethin happened to Feath and the others?” I says. “She said there was trouble on the western road. What if … I mean, she could of got herself killed? Happens all the time in the Dustlands.” “Feath ain’t dead,” says Penny. “She’ll come, with the others, like she said she would. The Hawks’ll be here, Moon.” “You don’t know that, how could you know that? What if they don’t come? I don’t think they’re even gonna come. We’re gonna hafta do this all on our own. Let’s jest do it right now. C’mon, let’s go and storm the place. Let’s move! What’re we waitin fer?” “Gimme strength!” says Ash, as Pike groans, Blade sighs an Arrow lays back with his eyes closed an hums a little tune. Epona’s on looker duty. “Moon,” she says, “we all agreed that we hafta wait till dark. Ain’t nuthin can happen till then.” Epona. Always calm, always patient. Nuthin like I first thought she was. “Right,” I says, “yeah … wait till dark. I know, I know but … ohmigawd, Epona, I’m gonna go mad with all this waitin around. I just wanna see him. Make sure he’s all right.” “I know you do,” she says. “Be patient, Moon. Wait till it’s dark.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Darkness is gatherin. Purple an black streak the sky. Clouds drift over the midsummer moon. The moon we bin chasin fer so long. “A cloudy night,” says Arrow. “That’s good.” Then. A high pitched noise wails across the valley, cuttin through the air. The workers lift their heads an start to move outta the fields. They all head towards what look like some long bunkhouses in the distance. Now I can see they’re chained together at the ankle, six of ’em all together. “Quittin time fer the Foals of Light,” says Pike. “Can you believe he calls ’em that?” says Arrow. “His Foals of Light. Fond memories, eh Pike?” “No,” he says. The slaves clear outta the fields an head fer bunkhouses o0 to the left. A group of Tonton head fer a big open space in the middle of the fields. Arrow’s on long-looker watch. “Well well,” he says. “At last. This is startin to look innerestin.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Arrow an me crouch on the edge of the ridge. We pass the looker back an forth. We got a clear view of the whole valley, but all the action’s goin on between the Palace an the open space in the middle of the chaal fields. Big wagons pulled by slaves is rollin between there an the Palace. First the Tonton build a big platform in the open space. Then they put together a higher platform at the back of it, with a long set of stairs goin up to it. They bring a massive chair from the Palace an use a pulley an ropes to winch it up to the higher platform. The chair’s golden. With fancy carvin an studded all over with shiny colourful stones. Arrow says, “anypony sittin on that chair would have a fine view of proceedins below.” “D’you think they’re gonna go ahead with the ceremony anyways?” I says. “Even though Pinch is dead?” “It looks that way,” he says. The Tonton wheel in two sets of stairs, one on each side of the big platform. Then they disappear back to the Palace an it all goes quiet fer a bit. Pike, Ash an Epona’s gone off with Penny Rose an Blade. They’re gittin the first bit of our plan unnerway. Me an Arrow got nuthin to do but wait. An wait. An wait some more. It’s that strange time on the longest day of the year when it’s late enough to be dark but there’s still some last streaks of light left in the sky. Dark clouds scud across the sky. The wind’s on the rise. I look up at the moon after which I was named. “Must be a hour or so to midnight,” I says. “Almost midsummer’s eve,” says Arrow. I shiver. Then I say what’s bin growin on me all day. “They ain’t gonna come,” I says. “Are they?” “I don’t think we should count on ’em,” he says. “It’s okay,” I says. “We can do this.” Another wagon’s rollin down the path from the storage sheds to the platform. The Tonton leap down. They start unloadin it an carryin stuff onto the platform. Heavy bags of sand. Armloads of wood. “They don’t look to be carryin no weapons,” I says. “That’s strange. An I thought you said there was dog patrols.” “They obviously ain’t expectin trouble tonight,” says Arrow. “But there’ll be some of ’em armed. At the very least, the King’s bodyguards.” There’s a rustle. It’s Pike an Epona. They’re back. They crouch down beside us. Pike’s grin flashes white in the gloom. “Penny an Blade on their way to the meetin place?” I says. “Yeah,” says Pike. “They got off fine. They’ll wait fer us at the tire dump an hour’s run north of here.” “Yer sure they know what they gotta do?” I says. “I made Penny repeat it three times,” says Epona. “They wait fer us at the dump. They stay outta sight. If we ain’t there by dawn, they take a big loop to the east an make their way to Darktrees. She remembers the way back there, she’s got a good memory, Penny does.” “An Ash?” says Arrow. “She’s at the storage sheds?” “Nearby,” says Epona. “Well outta sight. They won’t have no idea she’s there. She’ll be ready with weapons for us. Can I take a look what’s goin on down there?” I hand her the long-looker. She trains it on the platform. “What’s that they’re puttin in the middle?” Pike says, squintin. “They’re spreadin out a circle of sand in the middle of the big platform,” she says. “Looks like they’re makin a sandpit. An they’re settin up a post in the middle of the circle.” “What, you mean like a fence post?” says Arrow. “Kinda,” she says. “But bigger. Taller. I wonder what that’s fer.” “Let me see,” he says. She hands him the looker. He stares fer a long moment, then lowers it. He looks at me direct when he says, “the post’s about the right size to tie a stallion standin on his hind legs to. An a sandpit’s a useful thing if you wanna make sure a fire don’t spread outta hoof.” The bottom falls outta my stummick. My breath starts to come fast. “No,” I says. “No … they wouldn’t do … Arrow, you don’t think they’d … burn him. They ain’t gonna burn him, are they?” “No,” he says, “they ain’t. We won’t let ’em. They won’t hurt Sun, I promise you Moon.” He takes my hoofs in his, holds ’em tight. Now … listen to me, listen Moon. Are you listenin?” “Yeah,” I says, “yeah, I am Arrow.” “Yer gonna stay calm,” he says. “An yer gonna trust me. Yer gonna trust all of us Moon. Me an Pike an Ash an Epona. Blade an Penny too. We all know what the plan is. This don’t change nuthin. We all know what we gotta do. We’ll go over it now, okay?” “Okay,” I says. “Okay,” he says. “Penny Rose an Blade’s on their way to the meetin point right now. They’re outta harm’s way. Once it’s all clear over at the storage sheds, Ash is gonna git us some weapons ready to go. You an Pike’s gonna snatch Sun. Then we all meet up at the storage sheds an take off. Epona, you say agin what yer job is.” “While Moon an Pike’s gittin Sun back,” Epona says, “you an me is gonna be … creatin a diversion.” “That’s right,” says Arrow. “Hey,” Pike says, pointing a hoof over the ridge. “Looks like this party’s really startin to kick off.” There’s bin the sound of drumbeats driftin up while we bin talkin. The noise grows louder an louder, with more an more drums joinin in. They’re bein played by Tonton in their black robes. Bone flutes start to shrill, played by a group of zebra Tonton. There’s fires lit in big buckets scattered all over the open space. Slaves in white tunics, unchained now, spill outta the bunkhouses an stream across to the open space. Stallions, mares, an even a few colts an fillies. In front of the platform, they start to dance wildly, swayin an spinnin an leapin high in the air over the fire buckets. The growin throb of the loud drumbeats fills the night, the flutes struggling to match the fast paced beat. The Tonton drummers start to chant an the slaves join in. No words. Sounds from deep in their throats. The Tonton sway an twirl, the few griffons and pegasi hovering in the air above the others do flips in the air. The slaves leap an spin an buck an weave. There’s movement around the Palace. Bright torches light the path from the house down to the fields, the light reflectin offa the shimmer disks. Epona’s still got the looker. She holds it to her eyes. “Somethin’s happenin,” she says. Then she sucks in a breath. “Ohmigawd,” she whispers. “Ohmigawd. I don’t believe it.” “What?” I says. “What is it Epona? She shakes her head as she hands me the looker. Her eyes is wide an fearful, as if she’s jest seen a ghost. I train the looker on the Palace an I immediately gasp. There, on the steps to the Palace, stands Ruby Pinch.