//------------------------------// // Baby Steps // Story: Harmony's Wrath // by hahatimeforponies //------------------------------// As Rainbow Dash continued northwards, the sun began to dip in the sky. Not because it was getting late - it wasn't even midday - but because of the time of year. In winter, the sun never rose on some of the areas of the extreme north. Old mare's tales said that this was because they were wicked lands that Celestia punished by not bringing them the sun, but now... she wasn't so sure. The boundary between Equestria and the gryphon lands was never clearly defined in living memory, but it lay somewhere in the coniferous forests far to the north of Canterlot - an hour and a half's hard flight from Ponyville at least. She had always boasted about how pegasi don't feel the cold, but she couldn't deny that she was feeling some of the chill here. The terrain was barren tundra for the most part, flat areas blanketed in snow, with the occasional conifer tree poking out of the white sheet, and as time went on, more and more jagged mountains. She knew she had to be somewhat subtle - ponies weren't the most welcome folks in gryphon territories. She had been to Gilda's nest once before, but that was only very briefly, and they quickly departed to the upper cloud layers - Gilda wouldn't be caught dead bringing a pony home. Against her nature, Rainbow Dash decided to err on the side of caution. She perched on a small peak overlooking the nest, looking down on the hovel built into the side of the cliff. From her brief time inside, she knew it was actually warm and comfortable; the cave was well-kept and well-furnished, though the exterior was rather spartan - a literal nest of twigs for a porch that inhabitants would land on, and a door improvised from brush (there was a sturdier door just behind it). She stood there, balanced like a rooster on a rooftop, waiting. The door was still; the mountainside tranquil. She kept her ears open. If any gryphon besides Gilda saw her, they would see not a visitor, but dinner. After a few still, serene minutes, a tawny body, a white, feathered head, a razor-sharp gold beak and an broad pair of earthy brown wings swooped down, and perched on a rock next to Dash. Neither looked at each other. "So how's Queen Lame-o?" the muscular bundle of feathers started. The pegasus couldn't help but smirk. They hadn't spoken since they fell out last year; she missed the sardonic wit sometimes. Nonetheless, she had a job to do. "The book, Gilda. Is it the real deal?" "All business then? Took you long enough to find it, flip-flop." "Whaddaya mean?" Dash turned her head to look at Gilda, straight-faced. "I planted that thing in that dweeb unicorn's place months ago. 'Bout the same time I met your dumb pony friends." "But is it true?" "If I'm honest, Dash, I don't know. I can't really say I care. Dad just kinda gave me this musty ol' tome and told me who to give it to, and I did that. It might be the super-secret awesome history of the world, or just a fairy tale that a few morons want to be true so badly they just act it out anyway." She sighed, turning to look at the pegasus. "You're not thinkin' of trying to..." She examined Dash's unchanging, stern expression. "... you totally are." She slapped her own forehead. "Well, it would be kinda cool..." Rainbow chuckled a little, gazing up into the sky, gravity momentarily draining from the situation. "Okay then, it's your death wish!" Gilda jeered. This snipe deflated the pegasus' momentary, idle daydream. They sat silent for a minute. The cold wind whistled around the cliff face. A light wind, not harsh enough to drown out the conversation or knock them off balance, but perhaps just enough to raise a flag. A feather from each of their wings fluttered off, and in the wind, they sailed together, briefly dancing around each other, before dropping to the ground separately as that particular gust died off. They both stared down the cliff at the snowy tundra floor below. "Y'know I'd be lying if I said I didn't care about you anymore." "I..." Rainbow Dash sighed and looked up to the horizon. "I know." "I can't really say I'm sorry about treating your friends like dirt. Us... gryphons I mean... we're raised to be cold-blooded like that. But I'm willing to put it behind us if it means we can hang out again." No response, visible or verbal. "Dash?" The pegasus closed her eyes. "Hey! I can't be this uncool for long, quit screwin' around!" Rainbow hesitated, before cracking the most meagre of smiles. "I guess I did kinda miss you." she muttered. Gilda thumped her playfully on the shoulder, and both of them laughed. "Atta girl." The two continued to sit pensively for a little while, with just the serenity of the bleak mountain. The silence was much less awkward, but still uncomfortable. After what seemed like a small eternity, Gilda broke the calm; "Oh, and..." She reached on to her back, pulling something free that was strapped to it. "If you're gonna go doing something stupid, you might want this." She held out a wooden shaft about as long as Rainbow's body, with a curved, sharp bronze blade attached to the head, the point curled sharply around like an eagle's beak. It was polished, but still looked quite old. The pegasus quickly recognised it as Spectra's spear from the story - or something very like it. Dash just stared at it for a moment. "Well come on, are you gonna take it or not? I haven't got all day!" Rainbow shook herself awake and grabbed the shaft in her teeth. When she pulled at it, Gilda was still holding it firmly. When she looked up at the gryphon, gone was the playful mirth of a moment before; she was staring daggers at her. "If you take this, you can't go back on it, Dash." Their eyes remained locked. "Just sayin'." After another moments' hesitation, she tugged at it again, and the gryphon let go with a smirk. "Now get outta here before somebody sees you!" The pegasus nodded dutifully, and took off without another word. Heheh... moron. At Twilight's library, the remaining four friends huddled together by a lantern for warmth - open fires were never left going for long in a room full of books. Twilight had returned by then, but she marched straight into her basement and hadn't come out since. They had tried to stop her when she arrived, but she was in tunnel vision mode - she just disappeared with Spike straight down the hatch, muttering something about bone structures and weight balance. There was little in the way of conversation - they just anxiously awaited Rainbow Dash's return. None of them had anywhere to be in a hurry - the farm didn't need attention in the middle of winter, Mr. and Mrs. Cake had Sugarcube corner covered for the day, dress orders were slow this week, and most of the animals were hibernating - so they saw no real need to trek through the cold to get home. Roughly an hour after Twilight's return, a knock on the balcony window was heard. Before anypony could get up to investigate, it swung open. A tired voice muttered to itself; "Hah, forgot that thing opened that way..." "Rainbow Dash!" The four gasped together. Three of them tripped over each other to stumble upstairs; Fluttershy just floated up gracefully. "What did she say? What did she say?" Pinkie Pie bounced around with anticipation. While the others were still silent, their expressions echoed the query. "Oh, the... Gilda thing?" Rainbow blinked for a moment, and inhaled. It was something she had put out of her mind on the journey home - while she thought she had made peace with the gryphon, part of her was still conflicted. She hesitated before bringing herself back to the subject at hand. "Oh... she wouldn't give me a straight answer, but she did give me... this..." She leaned over shoulder and pulled the spear from a makeshift sling with her teeth. Carefully, still not confident in its use, she brought it around and laid it on the floor. The four ponies watching gazed intently at the distinctive blade. Rainbow continued solemnly; "She wouldn't tell me exactly what I wanted to know, but she said if I was going to do something stupid, I should have this..." She looked up at the others; their expressions were of uneasy contemplation. Dash grabbed the spear again and awkwardly stuffed it back into the sling. Before it was even fully secured in the harness, the basement hatch swung open, and Twilight trotted out. Her eyes were bleary from frantic book work. "Rainbow, you're back!" She barged up the stairs to greet the pegasus, shoving Applejack out of the way. "And you brought... what's this?" She immediately tried to get a look at the weapon strapped to Dash's back. "Gilda gave it to me. Shame she didn't give me many answers with it." "This... this is a gryphon spear!" "... duh." Dash's eyes rolled. "It's all adding up... everything is starting to make sense!" Twilight began to witter to herself, pacing around. "Uh, Twi..." Applejack interrupted. Rarity had to physically stop Twilight with a hoof before she paid attention. "Ah think you might need to fill the rest of us in, we're..." the Earth pony looked around at her visibly baffled friends. "... pretty stumped." Twilight chuckled nervously. "Right... sorry, my mind has been going a mile a minute today. It started earlier this morning, when I went out for a walk. I was thinking about what the story said about hands and posture, and I started noticing some things that I just never thought about before, because I thought they were normal. Like, benches. Why do we even have them when we sit on the ground all the time? Or, or just think about the amount of stuff around a normal house that just isn't designed with hooves in mind! Cups, plates, quills, tools... We're all used to using our mouths, but have you ever thought about how awkward it is most of the time? I mean, why do we even have a store like Quills 'n' Sofas when only unicorns can use quills, and nopony sits in a way that would need the back part of a sofa?" The other ponies began to ponder and puzzle over these ideas. "Well, there's Lyra..." Rainbow pointed out. "It does look quite uncomfortable sitting like that though." Rarity answered. Twilight nodded. "My point exactly. These are things designed for a different kind of body shape. And once I was thinking about that, it got me thinking about a few other things that don't make sense. Like Winter! If Winter is something that we ponies set up and take down every year, why do we do it at all? It has no productive reason to exist! Unless it's something that happens anyway, and the tradition of Winter Wrap-Up is just for show! Every Spring, all you're doing is clearing snow and pushing clouds around!" Everypony was hit quite hard by this thought. Winter Wrap-Up was a tradition deeply ingrained into all of them except Twilight, and the idea that it was a lie was tough to swallow. "Just think about the way we're taught to look at the world! We're taught that it's strange and unnatural for animals, plants and the weather to function without pony interference, but that's just what it does in the Everfree Forest. If this is what happens anyway, then all this does is make ponies live in fear of the outside world!" The ponies exchanged shocked glances. "Anyway. The spear just adds to the evidence, but my theory still isn't complete. I still haven't accounted for Luna, the Elements of Harmony or the nature of Cutie Marks, and hard evidence is still pretty scarce." "So... " Applejack gulped. "Yer sayin'..." "Yes. We need to get to Canterlot and cast that spell." "This... this is insanity!" Rarity barked and paced uneasily. Fluttershy was on Twilight's bed, hiding under a pillow. "Ugh, this has to be some kind of nightmare!" She clopped over to the headboard of the bed and started thumping her forehead on it. "Wake up Rarity, wake up!" she screamed. She soon stopped, resting her head on the board, panting. Everypony else stared. "It's... it's not a dream, is it?" "Nope." Applejack shook her head gravely. "Still not sure if ah'm buyin' the whole thing though..." "Well I think that if there's even a chance the story is true, it's worth a shot." Rainbow fluttered between them, floating on her back. "The stakes are too high not to." "Yer just itchin' for adventure, aren'tcha?" Applejack quipped wryly. Rainbow shrugged with a little nonchalant chuckle. "I suppose if I'm ever going to sleep again, I'll have to go along with this..." Rarity sighed, rubbing her head. "If you guys are in, I'm in too!" Pinkie giggled. "It might be fun!" Applejack quirked a brow to her blasé indifference. "Fluttershy? How about you?" Twilight peered over to the bed, and with a faint glow of her horn, lifted the pillow. The pegasus simply quivered and covered her face. "Y-you guys can go on without me..." "Well, you heard her! Let's gHLLK!" Rainbow had started toward the door, only to for Applejack to yank her back by the tail. "We're not just gonna up 'n' leave ya here by yerself. That ain't right." "No, really, it's... it's fine..." Fluttershy retreated behind the bed. Twilight sighed, and tossed the pillow to the side. "Fluttershy... I'm really sorry to have to force something like this on you, but this is something we're all in together. I mean, you said it yourself, that we all had a special connection before we all met. And if what's happened since last night is anything to go by, it's... it's a connection that goes much deeper than any of us thought possible." The pegasus just trembled. "I know this a huge task, and we're all a bit scared, but we're not going alone. We're doing this together, among friends." Twilight smiled. Fluttershy poked her nose up from behind the bed and looked around the room. All of her friends were looking at her, wearing earnest expressions ranging from comforting smiles to genuine concern. With a deep breath and a moment to gather her courage, she pulled herself up from behind her cover. She took another moment to steady herself before announcing in the most assertive tone her soft-spoken mien could muster; "Alright. Let's go."