Twilight paused a moment, thinking a little. The setting of the story seemed a little odd, and the way exposition seemed to tag-team with narrative made it feel a little awkward to read aloud, but it at least held together. She looked up, half expecting everypony else to be drifting off. To her pleasant surprise, everypony was alert and attentive, none more so than Rainbow Dash. She chuckled.
"Couldn't find anything more 'fun' to do, then?"
"What? It got interesting!" The pegasus protested. Twilight just smirked and returned to the book.
"I'm sure."
Dawn clung to Spectra for dear life. She was at once terrified, watching the streets and city walls pass below at high speed, and grateful, an arrow whizzing past her head reminding her what a necessity that high speed was. She closed her eyes and held the pegasus' waist firmly, trying to ignore the vertigo. She nearly let go in surprise when she felt something rush below them, far too closely for her liking. Another downward glance showed her the cliff-face and forest below, approaching rapidly. She looked up to see Bolt under visible strain. Not injured that she could see, but definitely struggling to keep pace with a passenger. She gulped and tucked her legs up, preparing for a rough landing. Another arrow flew by, making her squeal. She felt herself slip a little from Bolt's grasp.
Thud.
The impact hurt a bit more than she expected it to, but she didn't hear a snap, and wasn't in too much pain. As she skidded to a halt, she saw Spectra land in front of her, rolling in the dirt. Her wings flapped about chaotically, and she briefly popped into the air again before coming to a stop face down. An arrow was embedded in her arm, just below her shoulder guard. Dawn gasped and struggled to her hooves. She groaned out loud when she tried to walk, but nonetheless soldiered on.
"Bolt! Bolt, are you okay?" She knelt by the pegasus and shoved her.
"Agh!" Spectra growled. "That's not how you treat a wounded soldier!" She pushed herself up, wincing a little from the pain. Without so much as missing a beat, she lifted her arm up and broke the arrow in half, discarding the part she had broken off. "Now run, we're still in range!" She propped herself up on Dawn's shoulder and started to sprint away from the city. Dawn hastily followed suit. Thirty seconds of frantic running - or, for Spectra, fifteen seconds of leisurely flying - took them into a grove of densely leafed trees, and they quickly ducked behind the crest of a hill. Looking back at the city, they could see pegasus guards starting to pursue. "We need to hide."
"Uhm..." Dawn pointed up at the trees, and with a little glow of her horn, opened a hole in the thick foliage.
"Hm. It works." Bolt conceded, and fluttered up to the hollow the unicorn had carved out. Dawn simply levitated up and dropped herself elegantly on a mat of branches and leaves. She pulled the hole closed, and they waited out the search. The impromptu hidey-hole proved rather effective; the thick leaf cover functioned like a one-way window. They could see the guards coming from a mile away through gaps, while the foliage was thick enough to completely hide them from an observer outside in the bright sunlight. The guards traced back and forth for about fifteen minutes, and they held their breath each time they went past. Bolt fought to keep a stoic reserve as the adrenaline wore off; her open wound was starting to really sting. Once they were confident their pursuers had given up for now, after five minutes without being troubled, they began to relax.
"Hold up your arm, let me see the wound." Dawn started, sitting up.
"What? This? It's nothing." Bolt mumbled through gritted teeth. Dawn rolled her eyes and forcibly held the pegasus' arm aloft with her magic, and leaned in closer to inspect the site of the arrow's penetration. Spectra squeaked in protest, but the unicorn ignored her. The arrowhead was still buried inside, but it looked like a fairly clean incision. If only she could just... "AAGH!" Bolt screamed as Dawn took an etherial grip of the flint and yanked it out. Blood began to trickle from the wound and drip down her arm.
"Hold still..." Dawn closed her eyes and sank into deep concentration. Bolt just grimaced and did her best to follow doctor's orders. She could see Dawn's horn and the wound glowing faintly, and felt the strangest feeling in her upper arm; like the muscles were moving themselves, like something was twitching in there. This continued for a moment, until Dawn broke her reserve and panted. "I did the best I could, medical magic is tricky. It's still going to bleed a little, but I should have fixed the worst of the muscle damage. As long as you don't strain it too hard, it should be back to normal in a day or two."
"Thanks, I guess..." the pegasus gave her arm a flex. It definitely felt more capable, but still stung fiercely. Dawn sighed and gazed out the side of the tree, back at the city. "What's wrong? Are they coming back?" Bolt leaned in to get a look too.
"No, it's just... I'm just thinking, what now?" She folded her arms and sat back. "After your little outburst, I can only guess we've been outlawed on the spot, and at the worst possible time."
"Hah, yeah, I guess my uh... my pride got the best of me..." Spectra chuckled nervously. Dawn glared.
"Your 'pride getting the best of you' could have dire consequences for all of Equestria! The Priestess was depending on you to organise her counter attack, and now she wants your head! When the horde gets here, they'll have Canterlot on a silver platter!" Dawn's frustration began to make itself apparent in her tone. Bolt bit her lip for a moment.
"Unless..." Tell me she's not. "Unless we can organise some kind of defence!" She is... "Think about it! If we can get hold of a big enough militia..." Dawn just glazed over as Bolt started to ramble on about her grand scheme. Everypony I talk to today is crazy! I try to point out just how hosed we are because she just had to mouth off to the High Sun Priestess of all ponies, and she's not even fazed! Just how far is her head in the clouds? The pegasus was gesturing tactical maneuvers with her hands while Dawn continued to boggle vacantly. Got to give her credit for the optimism, though. "... and that's how you treat a broken wing. Wait, that wasn't my point..."
"Okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Have I stopped to tell you just how insane your idea is?"
"Have you got a better one?" Bolt folded her arms. Dawn stopped in her tracks; gears whirred in her head as she contemplated the proposition. She was reluctant to admit it, even to herself, but it was the only forthcoming plan, and the only real hope.
"It's... it's..." She hesitated. "It's an extremely long shot, but it just might work..." A smug grin shot across Bolt's face, and Dawn was as quick to continue. "... but we'll need to think it out first. We need to earn the public's trust somewhere, which won't be easy with the Priestess trying to hunt us down."
"How about the south? They only pay attention to Canterlot if it really matters, and if it's between a gryphon invasion and us, I'd say we're not a high priority."
"Pardon me for not being the 'tactical genius' here, but isn't the front the other way?"
"You can try and raise a militia from right under the Priestess' nose if you like, but..."
"Alright, alright."
"We can plan more on the road. Right now, we need to get moving. Ponyville is at least a day's walk, and daytime's a-wastin'." Bolt confirmed that the coast was clear one more time, before shuffling out of the tree. She winced when she moved her arm. Damn, still tender.
Understanding Spectra's decision requires a little grounding in the geography and sociology of Ancient Equestria. The land was traditionally bounded by four geographic features: the Dragon mountains and Everfree Forest to the west and southwest, and the Bridlantic sea and Horsehead mountains to the northeast and east. The Whitetail Wood sits approximately in the middle of this corridor, and it is here that ponies first settled, and founded the city of Canterlot. Over time, the population grew, and ponies began to explore and settle areas outside their homeland. Due to the valley-like nature of the land, there were only two directions they could reasonably move, and this dichotomy defines the cultural makeup of Equestria.
The northern region of Equestria, from the Whitetail Wood up to the coast, is climatically inviting; its mild, oceanic climate is ideal for farming, and settlers quickly took root here. However, this put them in the way of another burgeoning young realm; the gryphon kingdoms. This territory has always been at the southern tip of the gryphons' range, and they would traditionally nest there during the winter, when the tundra to the north became too harsh even for them. As pony settlements in the region grew, there was less room for gryphons to nest, resulting in friction. Over decades, this friction polarised the two races: pony settlements militarised, turning from simple villages to heavily garrisoned fortresses, and gryphon clans increasingly turned to pillaging and piracy, setting up the cycle of marauding hordes.
The southern region stretched from Whitetail Wood to the Everfree Forest, and is marked by an entirely different set of pressures. This inland area lacked competition, and ponies here were free to settle as they pleased; however, the climate was far more extreme. Rain was often scarce, accentuating the heat of summer, and what little water was available froze up entirely in winter. This was the basis of the first real racial separator in pony society. Unicorn magic is affected by the cold, and pegasus flight, which relies heavily on airborne water vapour, was hampered in times of drought. The weather didn't fully handicap their abilities, but these inconveniences were enough to give the more hardworking earth ponies the edge. Most pegasi decided instead to settle in the sky, forming cloud cities such as Cloudsdale; unicorns, lacking that option too, just returned to the heartland and north, leaving the south primarily settled by earth ponies.
This contributed greatly to the attitude of the ponies of the south, and hence to Spectra's logic. The earth ponies of the south often felt that they were made of sterner stuff than unicorns and pegasi, and thought themselves superior when the 'fancy powers' were removed from the equation, as happens in the south. However, this was far from represented in Equestria's class structure - the ruling class of clergy and nobles was almost exclusively unicorns, and the officer and professional classes were usually reserved for pegasi; earth ponies made up the majority of the working class. This unfortunately associated class with race, giving a sectarian edge to class conflicts. Usually, this manifested as a tendency for southern ponies to take decrees from Canterlot with a pinch of salt; though at times it has escalated to riots and threats of secession. Spectra's idea was that this contempt for the law would give them safe haven at the very least, and ideally they could rustle up an army if they could convince enough ponies to look at the bigger picture.