Chapter 97 - Dark Skies
His female slave slipped another grape onto his tongue as the pegasi charioteers drove him ever closer to the thunderous structure of the Factory in Cloud 2. Flash Sentry would not mind flying himself to meet up with Soarin and the Empress Commander, but his assigned slaves would not allow it. If he refused their services, they would throw themselves into a fit, and mutilate themselves by plucking the feathers off from their own wings. He had been known to be kind to his slaves. He did not beat them, and he generously allowed them more breaks if they exhaust themselves in their severance to Flash Sentry. He had been warned by the Empress Commander that being too kind to them would disrupt the pegasi social structure. These slaves did not know the concept of freedom. Before they entered into his service, his slaves had been beaten into them that servitude under the Lord Generals was the highest form of worshipping the sky gods.
Inspections bore him, and he displayed it without hesitation through a wide yawn in his sky chariot. Yet he knew well that this inspection was anything but routine. That order came from the Empress Commander herself considering that the earthborn dictator declared open war on Pegasopolis. Flash had been taught that the war had been going for almost a thousand years, but in reality there existed a mutual understanding between both sides that prevented both side from annihilating each other. As it turned out, the previous Emperor and Empress Commanders and Gaean Chancellors were no different from one another. In one way or another they were strong, but they were, in the end, corrupt political schemers. They feared losing their power over the populace. Winning would be a worse fate than losing, because peacetime nullifies their reason for existence, and the citizenry would then call for their removal from their high and lofty positions.
There were no physical records, but pegasi had whispered behind closed doors that the reason for this arrangement was that both sides settled in prolonging a perpetual war, thus throwing their own ponies into the pits of Tartarus with no end in sight. It was a perpetual war laden with fear of the "other" even if in reality they posed no threat in their daily lives. As long as they kept this façade up, civilization would soldier on.
The televised announcement, however, did not sound like fluff. Flash Sentry had seen and felt that cold mare on the screen invading his cloud chambers with weaponized hate and fear. She spread her vile infection to the rest of the pegasi and griffon mercenaries. While at first they trembled before her icy glare, they eventually regained their bloodlust for battle. The citizen-warriors who had been living fat with boredom in their cloudlands rose up from the hibernation of victory and called out for the Empress Commander to answer the challenge. And so she did.
All this led to Flash Sentry arriving on the western docks of the Factory. A whole formation of guards and workers bowed upon his presence, and his slave removed his winter cloak off his shoulders. He trotted on the carpeted walkway to meet with Soarin at the other end. His polished blue steel armor made him look dignified except for one slight blemish on his cheek. Flash even caught an instant whiff of apple pie.
"You're ready for the inspection?" Flash Sentry asked.
"Yeah," said Soarin. A few seconds had passed before he wiped the saucy crumb from his cheek. It was pointless to hide it, but he did so to maintain the appearance of immaculate authority. Then again, Soarin was also a Lord General, and he could already get away with a single vice or many. Flash could sympathize with him. He himself liked to play an electric guitar when off duty, though he was a little miffed that he had to cancel all of his leisurely plans to make room for this mandatory inspection.
Flash looked around for the third of the Empress Commander's triumvirate, and she was nowhere to be found. What a surprise. Lord General Surprise was going to be late again. She should not abuse her longtime friendship with the Commander like this, especially as Gaea was gearing up for war against the pegasi and their allies.
It immediately became too late for Surprise to make her bombastic appearance. A gust of wind blew into the dock, and the recognizable roar of dragons echoed throughout the air. Five dragons hovered down into view, with the Empress Commander riding on top of Crimson Skyfall in his magnificent golden regalia. Despite being clad in head to toe in black dragon armor, the Command landed softly on the carpeted floor. Upon her landing, the extreme heat burned away the cold that lingered in the air. Many ponies struggled to maintain their bow, and the closer she approached Flash and Soarin, the hotter it became.
Flash had little to no choice but to bow as well. As a soldier of Pegasopolis, he swore obedience to his nation and to the Empress Commander. Harboring doubts was often punishable by imprisonment. Or death.
They told her the flight to Pegasopolis's Cloud 2 was about a day away, and they told her to pack light. She could not understand why Applejack berated her for bringing six trunks for her personal needs. For pony's sake, that was packing light. Usually on weekend camping trips in the Crystal Empire's parks she would bring fourteen or twenty trunks she shared between Sweetie Belle and herself. Applejack could not understand what a lady has to go through on a daily basis.
At least the outburst did not last very long, because Applejack had to tend to other needs at another part of the slave skiff. Everypony was busy preparing themselves whereas Rarity was already prepared for the trails that await her in Pegasopolis. With this downtime, she decided to make do with the room assigned to her and her friends in this dingy aircraft. With Spike's ever generous assistance, he cleaned the floor, per her whims, the walls and ceiling to sparkling perfection.
However, bare metal would not do. She opened her redecorating trunk with a flourish, and with her magic she poured from it shag carpeting on the floor. Then she affixed diamond wallpaper on the hull, draped velvet curtains over the portholes, and hung a portable crystal chandelier in the middle of the cabin.
Ah, much better. The room felt like home, and she reserved some space for her friends to decorate their own area should they have time and materials. The redecorating trunk doubled as a lounging chair, and the Diamond Princess lay back as Spike waddled in with another serving of a strawberry daiquiri. It would taste divine if not for that strange sickening smell that pervaded the air. She sprayed the air once more with her perfumes, but still it was not enough mask the intruding odor. At the very least, the smell did not make her throw up.
Spike had moved most of the trunks back at the cargo hold, but left two of them in the room for later. One of them exploded all of a sudden, and it rained undergarments all over. Rarity did not think it would do that. The skiff's ride in the sky was bumpy, but she had made certain she packed them in securely. It even had a basic magical charm to prevent it from accidentally unlocking after much jostling.
She and Spike would get to cleaning right away if not for them being mildly surprised by the sight of Pinkie Pie arising from out of the undergarment trunk uttering a loud sniff. It was a very queer scene of Pinkie Pie digging her muzzle a little too deeply into Rarity's undergarments. Rarity could understand a pony relishing in the fragrant potpourri she applied to them, but the sight of this felt unsettling.
"Pinkie Pie darling," said Rarity. "Are you… sniffing my underwear?
"Underwear?" replied Pinkie Pie. "I'm not sniffing your underwear under anywhere. In fact, why do ponies in Crystal Empire need underwear? I thought mares over there are allowed to walk around exposing their precious… flowers…"
"What does she mean by that?" Spike asked.
"Eh-heh, Spike, can you be a dear and prepare some tea and crackers for Pinkie and I?" asked Rarity. "We're going to have a long girl talk, so please take your time."
"Oh, I really want to know what you two are talking about."
"I am terribly sorry, Spike, but this is a talk between adult mares. I'm sure Crackle or the other stallions on the Spitfire will relish upon you the details about the birds and the bees when we get back."
"Adults?" asked Pinkie. "I thought it was 'girl talk'. And now we're talking birds and bees?"
With her well-manicured hoof, Rarity nudged Spike to leave quickly, and he did so hesitantly. For better or worse, she got the attention of the pink pony, whom she made more presentable by magicking a piece of undergarment off of her head.
"So, um, Pinkie Pie," said Rarity. "You're not a, um, you know..."
"Know what?" said Pinkie. "Weren't we going to talk about the birds and the bees?"
"It's an expression I tell Sweetie Belle all the time. Didn't your grandmother tell you this sort of thing?"
"Coitus? She told me about that a lot before she died, and I witnessed it a lot when I was at both juvenile hall and at Rock Prison."
"I believe I've heard enough. Sometimes I forget that you were an ex-prisoner, and I sure hope you're not an underwear fetishist."
"I don't think so. Sure, they smell nice, but you can't eat them. Unless it's edible underwear that tastes like chocolate truffle cake. I tried making those, but I can never get it right."
"Then why were you in my trunk sniffing my underwear?"
"I'm testing to make sure that I'm not a, well, you know…"
"Know what? An underwear fetishist?"
"A lesbimare."
"That's your test? Why do you think so?"
"My sister thinks I'm one. Rarity, do you think my mane and tail look too masculine? Do I say 'dude' a lot? Have I been leering at your sweet plot this entire time? Maybe that's why she has been avoiding me the whole time."
"Honestly, I do not believe Maud avoided you because of that. I have been told that she felt unworthy of seeing you again because she believed she betrayed you and your family. Wait, you've been leering at me this whole time?"
"No, but I am thinking about it."
"You're doing it right now!"
"I can't help it. It's surprisingly nice and supple."
"Look, I am flattered that you admiring my posterior, but I do not believe 'you and me' is going to work. I like you, but I don't like-like you."
"What does that mean? You don't like-like me?"
"What I mean that I see you as a friend. A great friend. A friend whom I treasure very dearly. If you are expecting us to be a romantic couple, I am afraid that is not going to happen."
As the Diamond Princess of the Crystal Empire, Rarity was used to the adoration. It was obvious by the many stallions who asked her hoof to dance in the many balls she attended had been attracted harbored romantic attraction towards her, and many mares expressed utter adoration. Very few confessed their love, but none have went beyond out of respect for the crown. Pinkie Pie did not break down in tears like many hopeful stallions before her, but at the same time she stood staring at Rarity without much of an expression. Surely Rarity turned her down in the most dignified way possible, and she hoped that her dear pink friend had not been hurt.
"Can I kiss you to make sure?" Pinkie asked.
"Absolutely not!"
"It could be fun."
Oh, she knew she should not have sent Spike off. Then again, Pinkie might not have the appropriate inhibitions to restrain her actions before juvenile dragons. It might break his heart if he were to see Pinkie Pie leaning dangerously close to her. She certainly meant well for this fun "experiment", but the Diamond Princess might have to utilize her self-defense training and magic to preserve her sanctity, if not, though she rather not admit it, her virginity.
Then fate saved her once more. The door to the room burst open and in came Twilight Sparkle. Saved by the unicorn. Rarity thank the gods as she wiped the sweat from her brow. Pinkie finally pulled back after sensing some urgency arising from the purple unicorn's furrow.
"Okay everypony," said Twilight. "I really don't want to point hooves again, but somepony is eating more than their share of rations.
"Achoo!"
"You know, at this stage, saying that 'It wasn't me' is going to sound like a tired old cliché of finding a stowaway," said Pinkie. "I'm going to assume that we three girls are not ones who sneezed. Am I right?"
Nopony spoke up. Not again. Rarity had told Sweetie Belle to stay behind at the Rainbow Falls base. She was certain that her petite sister princess would readily follow her orders since Apple Bloom had become bedridden due to that Chancellor's awful speech on the television monitor.
Enough is enough. On top of Pinkie nearly kissing her, Rarity became angry. She leapt off her lounge chair and trotted as calmly as she could to one of the large trunks Spike had brought inside.
"I know you're in there, Sweetie Belle," said Rarity, "and I am disappointed that you have disobeyed me once more. Now on the count of ten, I want to come out of that trunk right this instant little lady. Otherwise, I am going to pull you out myself and give you a good spanking. Scootaloo, I will deal with you later. Ten..."
The trunk rattled. The threat of spanking certainly worked, and Rarity undid the lock in order for her sister and her friend to escape and accept to punishment. The lid swung open, and the trunk showered the Pinkie Pie, Twilight, and Rarity with frilly dresses and wigs. So the room became a mess once more, and Rarity and Twilight used their magic to clear their view so they could see their stowaways. Except the two stowaways became just a single stowaway. Instead of two fillies, a pair of adult mare wings and a rainbow mane popped out.
"If you're gonna do spanking," said Rainbow Dash, "are you gonna use a paddle? A spiked paddle?"
"Rainbow Dash?" exclaimed Twilight. "What are you doing here? We assumed you were staying behind at the Rainbow Falls Base. Are you still trying to stop us from going to Pegasopolis?"
"I'm not! Actually, I never got a chance to apologize to you all for trying to keep you from going into Pegasopolis. To make it up to you, I wanna help you gals to steal the Sky Key from the Empress Commander."
"I thought after what Firefly did to you that you didn't want to come back."
"Yeah, I know I'm still afraid to face her one more, but knowing the kind of danger you gals are getting into got my pegasus blood boiling. After thinking about it back at the base, I realized that I can't get over my fears if I don't face them, so stowing away on the slaver skiff is the only chance I have to redeem myself. I realize that if I don't conquer my fear of Firefly, I'll never be able to embrace my adoring fans like I want to. You'll let me join the group, right?"
"Of course you can! In fact, you might help us further with you around. I was planning on making Pinkie the point mare in stealing the Sky Key since she is the fastest pony in our group, but you can be the backup if something else develops."
"Alright! But I have to correct you that Pinkie might be the fastest on land, I'm the fastest in the air. With me and the Pink Wonder working together, that Empress Commander's not gonna know what hit her."
"I'm glad you're with us, Captain."
"Hey, it's just Rainbow Dash. You're the brains of this operation, so I'm gonna defer all the leadership stuff to you. By the way, where's Fluttershy?"
"She is currently in the kitchenette. You can see her if you want to. We have time until we reach Pegasopolis, and I have to readjust our infiltration plans in the navigator's room. Also, I want to apologize to everypony else for almost accusing you for eating more than your fair share of rations."
"Yeah, I guess I have to apologize for eating your gals' food as well."
"That does beg the question, though," said Rarity. "How on earth did you lock yourself in my trunk?"
"I'd explain it, but I might end up boring everypony here except for Twilight. I'm gonna go check up on Fluttershy. Pinkie, Rarity--you two can resume trying to kiss each other."
"Now, see here! Pinkie and I--"
Rainbow Dash had already flew out of the room leaving Rarity to explain to a confused Twilight on what was going to happen before she came in.
Four missing oat bars. That was the conclusion Fluttershy settled upon after she closed the cupboard. Considering that they were about to traverse into enemy territory, she could understand why Twilight would be so concerned. The pegasi of Pegasopolis were reported to be mean. Asking them to spare a bale of hay for her and her friends would be out of the question.
She had butterflies in her stomach ever since they departed from the Rainbow Falls base. Aside from food supply issues, the ride had been uneventful. They could not go too fast because it would make them look suspicious before patrolling pegasi soldiers. They had backup plans should they get pulled over, but Twilight had stressed to the group in one of their meetings that they need to arrive at the Factory with little or no delays as possible.
The counting duties had been completed in the kitchenette. Fluttershy marked down on the clipboard with a note indicating the oat bar deficiency, and left it the way Twilight would have liked it. She left the clipboard on a hook on the wall and exited the kitchenette right as Spike entered. They exchanged brief hellos before they went off on their business, though Fluttershy was a bit curious as to why Spike needed go into the kitchenette after he had just prepared a strawberry daiquiri for Rarity.
The call of nature, however, compelled Fluttershy to focus on heading over to the skiff's only bathroom, and the walk took her to the farthest door on the right closest to the ladder leading to the atmos engines that drove the aero-oars. It was marked vacant, and right as she entered and turned on the lights...
She jumped, and nearly wet herself. There was Rainbow Dash nonchalantly sitting on the toilet right by the bathtub-shower.
"I didn't mean to scare you," said Dash. "I wanted to see you."
"I didn't know you were joining our mission," said Fluttershy.
"I snuck on board. Boy, Fleetfoot and Maud are gonna be mad that I ditched them. Oh well. I left them with precise instructions on their rescue of Spitfire and the evacuation of the Rainbow Falls Base."
"But why were you sitting on the toilet in the dark?"
"I was... thinking about things... and thinking about how I should approach you. Boy, did we surprise ourselves. Did you need to go?"
"No, I was, um, going to wash my hooves."
"So I guess you're scared about goin' to your homeland. Man, you were lucky to have been born outside of Pegasopoilis. Not to say that you're weak by any means. Not a whole lotta ponies survive after getting their Heaven's Insignia, but like earth ponies, we keep churning more and more out for bloody skirmishes and whatnot."
"I am scared, but I believe Twilight's plan and having you around will give me the courage to help you girls. I know I have to be brave not just for you, but also for Thunderlane's sake."
"Oh. I didn't realize that you had a special somepony."
"Um, no. Thunderlane is one of the prisoners we captured in that snowfield where you first met us. I volunteered to bring food to him and the others. The three officers in one cell kept on calling me names, like 'Klutzershy' and such. Their three subordinates were a lot nicer, and I felt that they could be released and help us fight off against Gaea and Pegasopolis.
"Bulk Biceps and Raindrops seem very happy to be captured. Thunderlane, on the other hoof was very sad for some reason. When I told him that I was going to Pegasopolis, he started talking more. He told me that he had a little brother that he left behind at his homeland, and that he wanted me to rescue him from that awful nation. Dash, I know we're supposed to retrieve the Element of Creation from Pegasopolis, but do you think we can rescue Thunderlane's brother if we find him?"
"Why don't you ask Twilight?"
"I didn't want to. She laid out a detailed plan on how we should steal the Sky Key and get into the Sky Castle. I know that is very important, but I also didn't want to disappoint Thunderlane."
"So, are you two an item?"
"An item as in...?"
"So you're not romantically involved with the Thunderlane guy, right? Oh, thank heavens. I mean, I'm just lookin' out for your well-being. You lived in the Everfree Forest for a long time, and you probably don't have a lotta experience with romance and stuff. Say, just as friends for now, do you think you and I can go on a date? Not romantically, of course. I think it would be a great idea to get used to talkin' with another pegasus one on one."
"Oh, I don't think that's a good idea."
"Don't worry. I'm not gonna bite you. Or hug you. Or kiss you. I can't do any of things without going into a nervous breakdown. But we can have lots of fun without touching each other. There's a big world out there that I wanna show you, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it 'cause there's going to be a lot of animals you haven't seen before."
"If it makes you happy, then I suppose I'll accept your offer."
"Can I join you two in the date as well?" Pinkie asked.
Pinkie's sudden appearance from the bathtub-shower scared the living daylights out of the two pegasi. It was a miracle Fluttershy held herself together when the shower curtains slid open to reveal the pink party pony.
"That's cool," said Rainbow Dash, "but I thought you'd want to go out with Rarity alone together."
"I don't think she's that type of mare, but that's okay. We're still friends, and she just asked me to plan her sister's upcoming birthday party."
"What were you doing in that shower? Were you spying on us?"
"I just got here, silly. I came to tell you that Twilight and Rarity wanted you back in the room. They've come up with a cool disguise for you for our tactical stealth mission into Pegasopolis. Plus, Spike and Twilight created more tele-orbs for us to use."
"Cool! Flutterbabe, we'll talk more. I gotta see what they have planned for my awesome disguise."
Both the pink earth pony and the blue pegasus left the bathroom, giving Fluttershy a little more room to do her business. Finally for some peace. However, she sat feeling a little nervous about this "date" she agreed with. All Twilight ever taught her was that it was a special occasion where a mare and a stallion had set up if they were very interested in each other. Granny Smith did not teach her this back at the Everfree Forest, and her animal friends were obviously not experts in pony courtship. She did not want to disappoint Rainbow Dash. After all, she rescued her from the Wonderbolts Northern Blizzard Division in that snowstorm. Yet she did not have the heart to tell her about her true genesis.
The fact that the sickening smell pervading this slave skiff did not make her feel better here.