I was certainly coming to regret that I hadn’t invested in a new matchbox, Fluttershy and I sat in a tense silence as we shivered up against one another. The long bout of rain seemed to have come to an end while we travelled during the day, but only as the sun was already beginning to set, so we never got an opportunity to dry off. We had walked all day, barely talking as we did; it was obvious Fluttershy was still annoyed about Pinkie Pie’s white lie. There wasn’t much I could say to comfort her either, I may have trusted that Pinkie knew what she was doing, but I wasn’t exactly happy about it. We travelled north, reaching the junction that would take us to Cragsburg if we turned left, and Olympus if we turned right.
Naturally I had zero intention of going to Cragsburg until the Children of the Earth threat had been dealt with, or at the very least, I was doing something to that end. We reached the base of the Wyvern Heights and began the journey up the mountain trail that led directly to the city, but we didn’t make it far before the cold of the night made it too difficult keep putting one hoof in front of the other. We stripped out of our wet things and draped them over some dryish rocks while I worked my magic on them in an attempt to restore them to how they looked before we reached Brine. Once they were as clean as I could get them, it was rather hard to focus my magic when I was so cold, I left them be and went to huddle up next to Fluttershy.
“Are you alright?” I asked Fluttershy who was staring into space.
“I’m fine,” Fluttershy replied, glancing back down the mountain trail in the direction we had come from. “I’m just wondering if Pinkie Pie still is.”
“You really don’t give her enough credit,” I told her, hoping to lighten the mood. “Maybe Starlight Glimmer rubbed off on you a bit.”
“She did not!” Fluttershy snapped before noticing that I was smirking and trying to hold in my laughter.
She folded in her wings which had sprung out in anger and turned away to hide her embarrassed blush, although I did see the hint of a smile.
“Besides, there was nothing I could have done to convince her otherwise,” I carried on. “Once she has her mind set on something… remind me never to get on her bad side or she’ll hunt me to the ends of the earth.”
“Why is she so determined to find those robed ponies?” Fluttershy asked, directing her gaze to the night sky. “I know they tried to kill her, but lots of things have tried to kill us by now.”
“I think… she’s trying to make amends for straying from her beliefs,” I figured aloud. “She’s told me a few times that staying true to what you believe in is important to her, but when they hired her to kill Arcana… she slipped up.”
“I don’t think I could ever have that same level of conviction,” Fluttershy murmured. “There are so many rules we have to abide by in the Celestial Sisterhood, and I do try my best to follow them, but… the fact that I’m even here outside the Bask is proof enough that I don’t take them as seriously as I maybe should.”
“I think it’s different when they’re the beliefs you’ve built up yourself,” I began. “Than beliefs somepony else has forced upon you, I mean… you’ve been part of the Sisterhood your whole life, it wasn’t something you chose.”
“I… I suppose not,” Fluttershy admitted, quietly contemplating the idea. “I’ve been meaning to ask for a while, you did hear when I told the High Priestess that I had been left at the Bask as a foal, didn’t you?”
“I… did,” I replied, feeling a little guilty that I had eavesdropped on something so personal and acted like it had never happened for so long. “It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it; I know it’s a very personal subject.”
“No, it’s fine,” Fluttershy assured me in a neutral tone. “I never knew how to feel about it anyway, I always thought I should feel sad about being abandoned… but for some reason I never did, I just never could bring myself to feel anything towards the ponies I’d never even known. I couldn’t resent them when I didn’t know the circumstances behind leaving me there, but nor could I miss them when there was literally nothing to miss.”
“Did you ever try to find them?” I asked curiously. “Like, did you ever ask the sisters who took you in if they knew anything?”
“I did, but none of them knew a thing,” Fluttershy explained. “I was just found on the bridge one night, it was too dark for them to have seen who left me, they wouldn’t even have known I was there if I wasn’t crying. Even if I wanted to, I know there’s no way I could ever find them.”
“You mean to say, you don’t want to find them?” I asked tentatively.
“No,” Fluttershy replied in a calm and sure voice. “It might have interesting to know where I came from, to know what sort of life I could have had, perhaps even learn why I can communicate with animals… but none of that mattered enough to me, the Sisterhood became my family, I didn’t need anypony else.”
“I feel kind of bad for taking you away from them now,” I said with a nervous little laugh.
“Don’t be, it was my choice, remember?” Fluttershy stated. “My reasons for leaving haven’t changed, if anything they’ve been cemented from everything we’ve done together since I left.”
“Well I wouldn’t have made it nearly as far without you,” I admitted, giving her a friendly nuzzle. “So thank you for coming with me.”
“You’re welcome,” Fluttershy responded, returning the gesture.
After that we tried to get some sleep, we would need our energy to reach the top of the mountain trail and arrive at Olympus. When the morning came and we continued our trip up the mountain, we were constantly on the lookout out for whatever inconvenient distraction was about to occur, they were becoming quite predictable by that point. To its credit, it did wait until we were close enough to see Olympus before making its move, just long enough for us to think we were going to go unmolested for an entire day.
Olympus was a magnificent city, one I had never been to personally, but I had seen plenty of pictures and art of it. The city was split into two sections; the lower section was free to access by all, on account of it being made from solid materials. The buildings were mainly constructed from marble, lots of pillars, arches and aqueducts, that last aspect being necessary when the second half of the city was constructed almost exclusively from clouds. The entire city had a very opulent feel, with wide open plazas and giant statues that emanated wealth and power. It used to be that only the most upper-class ponies lived and worked in Olympus, the bankers, the jewellery makers, the armchair generals… emphasis on the term ‘used to be’, I had a funny feeling the Dragoons had changed things up a bit.
Fluttershy and I were just standing there, craning our necks to take in the whole sight of the city as it towered up into the clouds, when they made their appearance. They dived down all around us, six pegasus ponies all dressed in armour very reminiscent of the Rebel soldiers, only their armour was made of silver rather than steel, and they wore deep crimson tunics beneath, the sleeves of which fluttered loosely in the wind. All six ponies had weapons drawn, and all of them were pointed directly at us.
Without a moment's thought, I reached down and drew my own sword, I had no plan of getting into a fight with them, but I wasn’t about to let them think I was weak. I barely had my sword out of its sheath when a multi-coloured blur sped right past me, whipping the sword from my grip. I barely had a second to comprehend what just happened when it sped by a second time from the opposite side and knocked me squarely in the jaw, sending my sprawling to the rocky ground. Fluttershy screamed in horror, rushing to my aid only to stop when the thing zoomed back a third time and stopped over my body.
I looked up, my vision was extremely blotchy, but I was able to make out another armoured pegasus leaning down to examine me. This one had a cyan coat, an untidy, striped tail which was multi-coloured, and wore a silver trojan helmet with a rainbow plume sticking out the top, her rose coloured eyes narrowed as she looked me up and down. I reached up and began massaging my jaw, my own eyes flicking beyond her to see my sword lying discarded several metres away. The cyan pegasus followed my gaze before looking back to me, smirking before tut tutting.
“I wouldn’t advise it,” she mocked in a raspy tone. “But hay, if you think you’re fast enough…”
She stood up and began backing away from me, giving me space to breathe and pick myself up. The pegasus kept backing away until she was twice the distance from both me and the sword, as the sword was to me.
“Be my guest,” she finished, bowing slightly as she gestured her hoof towards my fallen weapon.
I swallowed hard, she had disarmed me and knocked me flat before I had time to think, she was obviously fast enough to beat me to it. Then I couldn’t refuse the challenge, that would be an admittance of defeat, that she was the stronger one. If I was going to make it anywhere in Olympus under the Dragoon rule, I needed to start asserting myself or I wouldn’t get anywhere. Once I was standing up straight, I began glancing between the pegasus and my sword, all eyes were fixed on me.
I burst forward, sprinting as fast as I could for my sword. Naturally I hadn’t covered half the distance before the rainbow blur came speeding in front of me. As she came skidding to a halt between me and my target, she reached back to her waist and drew what looked like a rather plain metal baton, but as she thrust it forward, the rod extended out from both the back and front to form a long spear, the head of which would have pierced right through my eye if I kept running.
“Now what did you really expe…” the pegasus began in a smug tone.
Only I hadn’t stopped running, while she was busy mocking me I sank down and allowed my moment to slide me right under her spear, carrying me right behind her. As she spun around, bringing her spear in to attack, I telekinetically pulled my rapier into reach and swung it around to meet her. Her spear and my sword clashed, and the two of us were locked in place, staring at each other eye to eye. The pegasus wasn’t smiling anymore, she didn’t look so cocky after that. While we held our position, I could see her eyes scoping me out a second time, assessing me.
“Enough games you two!” a voice called out.
The pegasus glanced over her shoulder before pulling away from me, her spear retracting as she placed it back in her belt. As I stood up straight, I noticed an eighth and final pegasus walking down towards us, this one wore no helmet, but instead had a flowing cape made from the same crimson silk as their tunics.
“You are supposed to be collecting the toll,” the new stallion reminded the team of armoured pegasi. “You over there, what does the yellow one have on her?”
My head snapped around to see that three of the six pegasi who first surrounded us were standing around Fluttershy, but they all had awkward expressions on their faces and weren’t making any move to search her.
“Um… sir,” one of them began uncomfortably. “She’s a… she’s a sister of the Celestial Sisterhood, I don’t really feel right ro… I mean, collecting a toll from her.”
“Don’t be daft girl!” the officer snapped at the mare, who flinch at the volume of his voice. “Everypony knows sisters aren’t allowed to leave the Bask, this one must be have deserted or, even worse, stole those clothes!”
“She is a sister,” I confirmed confidently, mainly addressing the trio of pegasi who were still not making a move on her. “She was given special permission to leave the Bask, and what is this toll for anyway? No other city requires a toll.”
“For the privilege of entering Olympus of course,” the officer retorted. “Now hurry and search those pair.”
The other three moved towards me, but like their comrades, they didn’t look to eager to search me. I wondered if it was because they thought I was associated with Fluttershy and therefore should be treated with the same respect, or maybe they didn’t want to pick a fight with me after seeing how I handled myself. That second possibility was really just wishful thinking on my part; I knew it was probably the former.
“Look, I’ll make this very simple for you,” I began in a weary tone. “I am carrying a sword, three knives and this cloud walker amulet. My friend is carrying a mace, medicine and food. We have a small sum of money between us, which we are not giving you; this toll is obviously just a shakedown.”
“And what about those pouches around your neck?” the officer asked, walking forward.
I still had my sword drawn and I didn’t hesitate in pointing it directly at him.
“If you try to touch them,” I began in a venomous tone, my eyes flashing with fury. “I will kill you.”
“Must be valuable,” the officer said, smirking. “Soldiers, seize the unicorn this instant for threatening me!”
The three pegasi looked conflicted for a moment before deciding to obey and moving in on me. I tried to resist, but they quickly overpowered and disarmed me. While they held me still, the officer marched the last few metres towards me and took the two pouches from around my neck, the whole time I thrashed about and screamed bloody murder. The officer gave me a swift punch to the stomach to silence me and I dropped to my knees, totally winded. I looked up as he pulled the spyglass from the pouch, looking it over with a frown on his face.
“Doesn’t look that pricey,” he muttered in a disappointed tone.
“It’s valuable to me!” I snapped, angry tears rising to my eyes. “My father gave me those!”
“Ugh, sentimental value,” the officer groaned, quickly taking out the compass to see it was the same. “Absolutely worthless.”
“Then give them back!” I demanded, snarling up at him while trying to hold my tears back.
“You know what?” the officer began, shooting me a sadistic smile. “I might have, but you just had to pull that sword on me.”
“Please!” I begged, still struggling against the pegasi restraining me as my tears started to flow freely down my face.
The officer kept grinning at me, he was loving it. I glanced back to see that while the other three pegasi weren’t holding Fluttershy down, they were making sure she didn’t run to my aid.
“Tell me, which is more valuable to you?” he asked, weighing both objects in his hooves. “Like, if I were to… drop them, which would you miss more?”
“Please…” I sobbed, unable to keep the anger in my voice.
“Well if you won’t answer,” the officer began in a dark tone. “I guess we can just find out…”
And then he launched them, both the spyglass and the compass as far into the air as he could, back down the mountain trail. I screamed with fury as I twisted against my captors, whose grip had weakened considerably. I wasn’t able to free myself, but I was able to see as my two precious items flew further and further before beginning their swift descend to the ground… then there was a flash of colour as both items were whipped out of the air by a speeding blur. My scream caught in my throat as I spun back around to see the cyan pegasus land behind the officer, both items held safely in her possession.
“Soldier! What is the meaning of this?!” the officer demanded, storming up to her.
“Can it!” the pegasus snapped back. “I’m sick of watching you bully these ponies. All you had to do was take their money and we could have gone home, no fuss, but you just had to been an asshole and act like you were bigger than them.”
“I am bigger than them!” the officer retorted, his face turning purple with anger. “I’m bigger than all of you! Or have you forgotten your place soldier?”
“I haven’t forgotten anything,” the pegasus replied calmly. “I just haven’t taken my place yet…”
And without a moment s warning, she pivoted one-eighty degrees on the spot before rearing up on only one leg, her other foreleg still clutching my items safely to her chest. Using her flapping wings to provide balance, she kicked out with both her hind legs, striking the officer directly in the face. His head snapped back and his body crumpled into an unconscious heap… at least, I hoped it was unconscious, I could still remember my first kill occurring slightly similarly.
The pegasus dropped back down to her hooves, stepping around the body without paying him a second glance on her way over to me.
“Let her go,” she instructed calmly.
The three pegasi obeyed without a moment’s hesitation, all stepping back from me, looking rather sheepish. The cyan pegasus walked right up to me and reached out, offering me back my items.
“Here,” she muttered dryly.
I saved any questions that were burning in my mind until after I had snatched them back and retrieved the fallen pouches. Only once I was sure they were safe and secure around my neck once more did I turn to face the pegasus.
“Why did you help me?” I asked, slightly suspicious.
“I hated that guy,” she replied simply, but I kept watching her until she elaborated. “And it wasn’t fair, you put up a good fight, you didn’t deserve that kind of treatment.”
“So do you still expect me to pay a toll?” I questioned.
“Nah,” she replied, waving it off. “Like you said, it was only ever a shakedown, and I’m no thief.”
“What about my friend?” I added, nodding over to Fluttershy. “You’re won’t take anything from her? Because you aren’t fighting her either.”
“Hey, I’m not about to risk getting sent to Tartarus or wherever it is you go for assaulting a sister,” the pegasus replied, raising her hooves defensively.
All the other pegasi nodded and muttered in agreement.
“So you won’t stop us from going into Olympus?” I asked finally.
“Of course not, come on in,” she invited, making her way up the final slope to the city gates. “Fall in soldiers; we aren’t robbing newcomers anymore, not while I’m in charge.”
The other pegasi followed without question, actually looking quite happy at the change of leadership. When the pegasus reached the officer’s body, she reached down and removed his cape. She didn’t wear it; she simply draped it over her shoulder like a trophy and carried on.
“Are you just leaving him?” I called out; indicating the officer who I confirmed was only unconscious.
“He can walk himself to the infirmary when he wakes up,” the pegasus called back.
“And if he doesn’t wake up?” I asked as Fluttershy and I trotted to catch up with her.
“Then he should never have become a Dragoon,” she replied in a cold voice.
We walked with her and the small team of pegasi who were chatting among themselves until we reached the gate. Olympus didn’t have much of a city wall since the mountain ranges served that purpose, although there was one small stretch of wall across the width of the mountain trail which bore the great gates that led into the city. The pegasus reached up and removed her helmet, revealing a shoulder length mane that was the same unkempt style as her tail, possessing the same six rainbow colours. She shook her head slightly to throw her mane from her eyes before tilting her head up and letting out a short, sharp whistle.
“Open the gate!” she shouted up.
“Fly up!” a voice shouted back down.
“Come down here and make me!” she retorted, although she was grinning as she did.
I could hear somepony chuckling from the top of the wall as they set about opening the gate. While we waited, the pegasus turned to look at Fluttershy and I again.
“You know, that really was a good fight you put up,” she complimented before donning a smug smirk. “Of course I was going easy on you, but still very impressive. What are your names again?”
“I’m Rarity,” I replied pleasantly enough. “And my friend is Fluttershy, or Sister Fluttershy if you don’t want to be sent to Tartarus.”
The pegasus laughed at that, giving me a knock in the ribs with her hoof.
“Good one,” she said as her laughter died down. “Well, I’m Rainbow Dash, pleased to meet you.”