Betrothed and Betrayed

by Nightwings81

Chapter 4

The six ponies from Equestria gasped in unison.

“P-prince?” Applejack asked. “As in…son of the king?” She craned her head around to peer at the colt’s cutie mark. It was a small crown resting on the curve of a green leaf.

“Why yes, King Oak Bough is my father.” He crossed a hoof over his chest and smiled at them, tossing his rakish maroon mane out of his eyes. “And to whom do I have the pleasure of speaking? Your accents tell me you are not from Saddellia.”

“You’re right, Your Highness,” Twilight Sparkle said. She lowered her head in a respectful bow. “We’re from Equestria. We’ve been sent by Princess Celestia to speak with your father. My name is Twilight Sparkle, I’m the princess’s student.” She indicated the pale yellow pegasus trying to remain unseen behind her. “This is Fluttershy.”

“I’m Applejack,” the orange pony stated, catching one of the prince’s hooves and shaking it enthusiastically. “And I’m sure pleased to make your acquaintance, Prince Linden.”

Rarity curtsied with an elaborate twirl of her tail. “It is indeed a pleasure, Prince Linden,” she said, fluttering her long eyelashes. “My name is Rarity and—”

“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! And you were stuck up on a big cliff…bet you were scared up there, huh? Were you scared? I heard you screaming, so you must have been scared. But those hyleenas were scary, so I can understand if you were screaming. At first no one believed me when I said I heard you, but then they heard you too and it’s a good thing we came along to help you, cuz if we hadn’t you probably would have been—”

Twilight sidled up to the pink pony and clapped a hoof over her mouth, smiling weakly at the prince.

“Hehe, uh, Pinkie…you can maybe discuss that later. The prince still needs to meet…”

“The fabulous Rainbow Dash,” Prince Linden said, turning to the pony in question. “She has already introduced herself, while she was busy assuring me that she would not drop me out of the sky.” He held out a hoof to the pegasus, who glanced from side to side uncertainly. When Twilight gave a pointed waggle of her eyebrows, she took a step forward and raised her own hoof, only to stumble when her injured leg finally gave out on her.

“Rainbow!” Twilight and Applejack rushed to her side.
“Oh Celestia…you’re hurt! You’re bleeding!”

“When did that happen, Sugarcube?”

Rainbow Dash tried to stand up again, winced in pain, then settled down on the ground with her forelegs folded. “It’s nothing…one of those things just scratched me when—ow! Twilight! What gives?”

Twilight was prodding the wound with her horn, her purple eyes worried. “This is more than just a scratch, Rainbow. This is pretty deep.”

The five mares and the prince gathered around the pegasus, who flattened her ears at the unwanted attention.

“Twilight’s right, Rainbow. That there is a doozy of a cut. You might even need stitches.”

“Really?” Rainbow Dash turned to examine her flank and flinched when Fluttershy gently dabbed away the drying blood.

“Oh, you poor darling,” Rarity cooed. “Is it very painful, dear?

“No, Rarity, it tickles.”

“Really? It tickles! Wow! That is so cool…who knew that hyleena scratches could tickle?”

Eyeing Pinkie Pie confusedly, Prince Linden gently nudged his way between the friends and knelt before Rainbow Dash. “Oh, my lady, this grievous injury is all my fault. If you hadn’t been risking your life to protect mine, you never would have been wounded. You must all come home with me to Royal Oak Palace, where I will have my father’s personal physician tend your injuries. I’m sure my father will want to meet you all anyway, as you have saved the life of his only son and heir.”

“Oh yes, thank you, Prince Linden!” Twilight said. She watched as Rainbow Dash tried to get to her hooves again. Fluttershy and Applejack flanked the blue pony, but even with their help it was obvious that Rainbow would not be able to walk far. The lavender unicorn bit her lip worriedly. “Is it a long way to the palace? I suppose we could make a litter to carry Rainbow and…”

“No one is carrying me anywhere…in case you’ve forgotten, I do still have these!” Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and rose a couple of feet off the ground. She couldn’t keep the pain from showing on her face, but stubbornly managed to remain aloft. “I don’t need to walk.”

“Oh.” Twilight chuckled. “Yeah.”

“Just a second, you!” Applejack jumped up and caught Rainbow Dash’s tail, being uncommonly gentle as she dragged the winged pony back to earth. “You’re not goin’ anywhere, flyin’ or walkin’, until we do somethin’ about that leg. You can flap your wings and pretend it don’t hurt all you want, Rainbow, but you’re still bleedin’ up a storm and we don’t want you gettin’ all weak and sick.”

The pegasus dropped her chin impatiently on her hoof as her friend nosed through her saddlebags for several hoofkerchiefs.

“AJ, I’m fine…it’s nothing.”

“I think it’s a good idea, Rainbow. And we don’t want to leave a trail for anymore of those hyleena things.” Twilight Sparkle looked askance of the prince, who nodded gravely.

“They are right, my lady. Hyleenas track by smell, so we’d best do what we can to prevent more of them finding us.”

Rolling her eyes, Rainbow Dash submitted to having the blood cleaned from her leg and the wound bound with hoofkerchiefs. Though she tried to look bored and impatient, she had to bite her lip several times against the pain. When Twilight used her magic to tie the last knot, she immediately sped into the air, eager to get off the leg. As she hovered above her friends, she noticed the prince staring up at her with a slightly dazed expression. Unnerved, she turned away, her bright eyes falling on the prone hyleenas.

“What about them?” she asked. Two of the beasts had been knocked out, but the other two were still awake and active and had not stopped fighting the ropes around their limbs since they’d been downed. “Are we just gonna leave them here?”

Fluttershy gasped—she had been so concerned with Rainbow Dash that she hadn’t even considered that. “Oh no! We couldn’t do that...they’ll starve…their families will miss them…they…” She quickly plopped Gumdrop in Pinkie’s bushy mane and turned to cautiously approach the hyleenas. They both watched her with ugly yellow eyes, snarling and showing their teeth. The yellow pegasus stopped a few feet from the smaller one and bent down to speak to it—but yipped and darted away when the beast snarled and viciously snapped at her.

“Oh! Oh my…they’re so…so…”

“Disgusting?”

“Foul?”

Fluttershy shook her pink-maned head. “Mean,” she murmured.

“They’re loathsome,” Prince Linden spoke up, having finally torn his gaze from Rainbow Dash. His lip curled as he regarded the four beasts. “They really have no redeeming qualities at all—they don’t even care properly for their young.”

“Ah guess we’re gonna have to leave them here,” Applejack said uncertainly, watching the black-splotched hyleena struggle to break her knots. “We can’t let them go now or they’d just attack us again.”

“I never even realized that a pack had moved so far into the kingdom. I don’t know if there are more around, but we should run into the rest of my party eventually and then we will have numbers on our side,” Linden explained. “When we get to the castle I will send some of the soldiers back to deal with these ones properly.”

“Oh, will you have them taken someplace else where they can live peacefully without harming anypony?” Fluttershy asked, unable to be convinced that the hyleenas were all bad.

The prince stared at her, incredulous, but spotted Twilight and Rarity frantically nodding at him from behind the hopeful little pony.

“I will have to discuss that with my father, Miss Fluttershy. It is his kingdom and he does not want the nuisances anywhere near his subjects. They’re highly dangerous.”

“Well…maybe somepony might be able to work with them and reform them.” Fluttershy gave the hyleenas one last, mournful look before turning away to collect her mouse from Pinkie Pie.

Linden looked from her to the beasts, gaping. “Is…is she always like that?” he asked, hearing a soft whoosh of air by his ear. He looked up to find Rainbow Dash flapping beside him and grinning at her friend. She glanced down, her smile widening at his stunned expression.

“Actually…yeah…but you should see her stare down a dragon.”

“Stare down a dragon? My lady, surely you jest?”

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “No. There was this thing with a manticore too…and I heard something about a cockatrice.”

“Fascinating! I would delight in hearing of these tales from you, Lady Rainbow Dash—of course, after your battle wounds have been properly tended. Come, if we start now we should be able to reach my camp and the rest of my party by nightfall.

Abandoning the hyleenas, the Ponyville mares followed the prince, who knew the forested valley and surrounding mountains very well from foalhood rambles. As he led the way, he explained how he had come to be trapped on a cliff with a pack of hyleenas snapping at his heels. He had come out into the forest for some tracking practice, bringing his steward, squire, and several friends. They had found and successfully tracked squirrels, a fox, deer, and even a grumpy badger. Linden’s squire, Fletcher, had started bragging about his prowess, so they had challenged him to test it…by tracking a member of their party.

“I volunteered immediately,” Prince Linden told them. “Fletcher and I have been friends since we were foals, so I know all his quirks and habits and had the best chance of running him a merry chase. He can also tend to be a tad full of himself, so I’ll admit that I wanted to bring him down a peg.

“It was all working out just fine…I had a slight head start and I took great care to make sure it would be especially difficult to follow me. I headed this way because I knew the ground was dry and rocky and I wouldn’t leave hoofprints. This valley also has lots of twists and turns and side trails that I figured to use in laying a false path or two.

“As I said, it was all going just splendid, but then I stumbled upon a pack of hyleenas and, well, you know the rest. I didn’t even have my sword with me because I had wanted to travel light and quiet.”

“Beggin’ your pardon, your Highness, but Ah doubt a sword woulda done you much good against them brutes. Five against one…not very good odds.”

“And it sounds to me like you did a little too well hiding your trail,” Twilight put in. “How long were you up on that cliff?”

“At least an hour…maybe more. I was starting to get a little hoarse.”

“A little horse?” Pinkie bubbled. “But you’re already a little pony!”

The prince raised an eyebrow, but shrugged when Twilight shook her head. “Anyway, it was serendipitous that you heard me when you did. I’m sure that large one with the torn ear was close to reaching me.” He glanced sideways at Rainbow Dash as he spoke. “And it was even more fortunate that you had ponies with you capable of flying faster than eagles…I must say that I have never seen a pony with wings before. And the memory of this first meeting will surely stay with me forever.”

“You’ve never seen a pegasus?” Rainbow Dash was incredulous. “Not even in books or pictures?”

“Oh yes…in histories—I’ve seen several engravings and paintings and there is even a tapestry in the great hall with a winged pony. But until you flew into the clearing today, I had never seen one in real life. And, I must say, my Lady, the historians and artists have not done you justice at all.”

“Yeah, we are pretty awesome,” Rainbow bragged, then realized that the prince was speaking about her specifically and not pegasi as a whole. Normally, she drank up any kind of praise or attention, but the way Linden was staring up at her made her feel oddly uncertain. To cover her confusion, she shifted wing and drifted closer to her friends. Linden’s head swiveled to follow her, but this brought him face to face with a smiling, bright-eyed Twilight Sparkle.

“What about unicorns?” she asked. “We’ve heard that Saddellia is inhabited strictly by earth ponies…but if you had pegasi in the past, then you might have had unicorns.”

“Actually, we have a unicorn at court. Gold Hoof has been my father’s advisor and magician for years now. He can do the most amazing things with magic.”

“Really!” As Princess Celestia’s prized pupil and the Element of Magic, Twilight was always fascinated by the thought of learning new spells. “What kinds of things can he do?”

“Well, I’ve seen him light candles from across a room without a match or torch. And he can move small objects without touching them. During one of our last banquets, he lifted a pumpkin off the table and made it hover in the air for several minutes.”

“That’s it?” Rainbow asked tactlessly. Her friends glared at her, but the prince only looked perplexed.

“It? But it’s extraordinary. No other Saddellian can perform such feats.”

“But any unicorn can do boring stuff like that!” Pinkie said. “That’s all the easy peasy stuff. Rarity uses her magic to make us all really pretty dresses and she puts on super, spectacular lightshows, and she can find all sorts of diamonds and rubies and sapphires and emeralds and—”

“Yes, Pinkie! Uh, I think his Highness gets your point” Rarity trotted closer to the prince, swishing her spiral tail and smiling coyly. “Kindling lights and moving things are all very basic unicorn skills, your Highness. Most of us have especial talents as well, suited to our particular personalities. Allow me to demonstrate.” She pranced a few feet away and concentrated her magic into her horn. It began to shimmer, then glow. After a moment, she smiled and pointed a hoof towards a large rock where a small patch of ground was pulsing with an echo of the shine on her horn.

“There’s a nice one…Applejack, would you be a dear? The ground is so hard here and I don’t want to chip a hoof.”

Grumbling under her breath, Applejack grudgingly complied and dug at the glowing spot, knocking away dirt, rocks, twigs, and soil with her hooves until she unearthed a fair sized, brilliantly blue topaz.

“Here.” She picked up the gem in her mouth and tossed it to Rarity. “But don’t be thinkin’ you can boss me around like you do Spike.”

Rarity sniffed and presented the stone to the prince, who was suitably impressed. He turned back to Twilight Sparkle.

“And you can do this…trick as well?”

“To a point. Rarity taught me a spell on how to find gems, but that particular talent is hers.”

“So do you have a special talent as well?”

All of the girls but Twilight laughed. She glared at them severely, but they were far too used to her to be bothered by that. Prince Linden smiled weakly, perplexed.

“Did I say something inappropriate?” he asked. “I apologize, but I don’t know anything about Equestrian culture…if I have offended you by asking something rude, I am sincerely sorry, Miss Sparkle.”

“Oh no, Prince Linden. It’s nothing like that.”

“It’s just that our Twilight is not your average, run o’ the mill unicorn, if you catch our drift,” Applejack said, nudging Twilight and winking. “Even in Equestria, she’s considered mighty powerful.”

“Some of her spells are really amazing,” Fluttershy spoke up. “There was this one time she took an apple and turned it into a carriage for us to ride in.”

“Can’t say that the spell with the mice worked out so well,” Rainbow added. She briefly described Twilight’s attempt to turn four white mice into four white horses. “They still had whiskers and squeaked.”

“And then Rarity’s cat chased them away, hehehe! I remember that, Dashie. It was so funny!”

“And then there was the No Food spell she tried on the parasprites.”

“And the Come Alive spell she used durin’ Winter Wrap Up. Whew, that one was a doozy!”

“Ooh! Twilight! You should show him a spell!” Pinkie hopped rapidly in a circle around her friend. “Show him that one where you start in one place and then go Poof! and then end up in another place. That’s my favorite!”

“My teleportation spell? I-I don’t know, Pinkie…I…I…” Twilight’s eyes tried to track her friend, but Pinkie was moving so fast that the unicorn’s eyes started to spin in her head and she looked ill. “Pinkie, please…I…” When Pinkie showed no sign of stopping or even feeling dizzy, Twilight acted out of desperation and squeezed her eyes shut. In the next instant, she was ten feet ahead of them all.

“Yay! Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Pinkie broke into a canter to catch up with her. “I wish I could do that.”

Twilight, who had seen Pinkie appear in the most random of places and also cover vast distances with seemingly no effort whatsoever, groaned and hid her face in her hoof.

“That was brilliant!” Prince Linden and the others soon joined them. The prince’s blue eyes were shining. “Gold Hoof has certainly never done anything like that before. I’m sure he will love to meet you, Miss Sparkle, especially if you are able to teach him some of those tricks.”

“I would be happy to try, your Highness.” Her eyes brightened and her tail began to swish back and forth nervously. “Gosh…I’ve never been a teacher before. I don’t even know where I would begin.”

“You’ll be fine, Twilight,” Rainbow said, batting her eyes innocently. “You’re always telling us what to do.”

“What? I am not! I just try to point out the…” She paused, frowning. “You’re teasing me.”

“Duh.” Rainbow’s smile suddenly faltered as her leg flared with pain. “Ow!”

“Now that don’t sound good, Rainbow. You need a rest?”

“I’m fine, AJ.”

“Ain’t no shame in admitting that you’re hurtin’, Sugarcube. And no reason to hide it cuz Ah can see it written all over your face.”

“I agree with Miss Applejack, my lady. Anypony can see that you’re in pain. Please, come down and rest if that is what you need.”

“I’m fine, really. I just—” Her eyes closed briefly as another wave of pain hit her. When she opened them again, she looked straight at Prince Linden. “How much further till we reach the castle?”

Linden looked troubled. “We’ll not reach it today, Lady Rainbow. Maybe late tomorrow or the next day. My friends and I always come deep into the mountains for our tracking so we won’t be bothered by anypony.”

Rainbow Dash groaned, but flapped her wings harder. “Okay…five more miles. I’ll rest when we’ve gone another five miles. I didn’t get to be the Best Young Flyer in Equestria by stopping every time I hurt myself in practice.”

“It’s true!” Pinkie Pie said to Linden. “I’ve seen her crash into walls and through roofs, and she’s even flown into trees, railroad posts and mountains and she’s never let it stop her.”

“Yes,” Rarity agreed. “Sometimes she’s just too stubborn for her own good.”

“Thanks…” The pegasus surged forward a few yards, then spun gracefully and came back. “See? I can do this, you guys. We’re wasting daylight.”

“Okay, Rainbow. Just promise us you’ll stop to rest when you have to. It’s a deep cut.”

“Sure. I promise.” Rainbow crossed a hoof over her chest, then saluted in midair. “Pony’s honor.”

With the prince and her friends watching her solicitously, Rainbow Dash managed to fly the promised five miles and even a little past before the pain in her leg brought her down for a rest. Fluttershy and Applejack checked and changed her bandages, this time using a silky, patterned scarf given up by Rarity. Staunchly maintaining that she was alright and just conserving her strength, the pegasus settled onto a soft patch of grass. Prince Linden immediately dropped to his knees before her.

“It grieves me to see you like this, Lady Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow Dash managed a laugh. “Not much fun for me either, your Highness.”

“I believe I may have an idea that will make your ordeal easier.”

“Ordeal? It’s just a scratch…give me a few minutes to sit and I’ll be back on my wings in no time.”

“I would feel so much better if you allowed me to help you, especially as you came to this because of me. You see, my lady, I have a friend who is uncommonly large and strong. I propose that I go on ahead to find the rest of my party while you rest here. I will bring my friends back and we will see you safely lifted to the palace.”

“I told you…I’m not riding on any litter like a foal.”

“Oh, this will not be a litter, my lady. I assure you. I think you will have to see for yourself what I mean.”

Rainbow Dash tried to protest, but her friends all agreed with the prince. Outnumbered and outvoted, she grumpily rested her chin on her hoof, tail flipping about impatiently.

In the end, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity went with the prince to find his party, leaving Fluttershy and Applejack with Rainbow Dash. Applejack had wanted to go too, but Linden felt the orange earth pony would be the most capable of protecting the two pegasi if more hyleenas appeared and insisted she stay behind.

“Sheesh! I can still fly even with a bad leg,” Rainbow groused after the prince and three of her friends had galloped off. “No hyleena could reach me up in one of these trees.”

“Oh, Rainbow…Prince Linden just didn’t want you to be lonely,” Fluttershy said gently. She settled down on her friend’s uninjured side and leaned companionably against her. Gumdrop ran out of her abundant pink mane and patted the unhappy pegasus on the hoof.

“Yeah, Sugarcube…he’s just concerned is all.” Applejack sat on her haunches and drew a grid in the dirt with her hoof. “C’mon, tic tac toe—best two outta three and Fluttershy plays the winner.”

**

“I’m glad you know these woods so well, Prince Linden,” Twilight said as she trotted along beside the prince. “We’ve been traveling for days and there have been times when I was almost certain we’d gotten lost because our maps were so vague and the trails were overgrown. You must have a great sense of direction.”

Linden turned to her, smiling playfully and Twilight blushed as she suddenly realized that he was an extremely handsome young pony.

“Actually, Miss Sparkle—you would be able to find the rest of my party on your own. You just have to know what to look for. I marked the trail for Fletcher…I’m a little surprised they haven’t found us yet. I guess I did hide my markers too well, but they’re all around us.”

“Really?” Twilight turned to stare at the surrounding forest, her lavender eyes narrowing as she tried to discern some signs of the prince’s earlier passing. She spotted a leaf on a rock a few yards away and hurried to examine it. Was it possible that it had been placed there deliberately?

“That’s a very pretty leaf, Miss Sparkle…but unfortunately it is not a marker.” Linden turned, seemingly at random, and trotted along his makeshift trail at a brisk trot. Twilight and her friends cantered after him.

“That’s alright, I’m sure I’ll spot one of them eventually. Hmm…” Twilight studied their trail, scrutinizing bush and tree, leaf and rock, twig and log, but each time she hazarded a guess Linden smiled and shook his head, usually taking them in the opposite direction. After thirty minutes of this, Twilight hung her head. “I give up,” she conceded. “I don’t see anything that looks like it’s marking a trail.”

“Ooh! Ooh! I do!” Pinkie Pie suddenly darted ahead of them, bouncing through the forest with a happy giggle. Linden glanced at Twilight and Rarity, surprised, and took the turn Pinkie had just made. They cantered after the hyperactive earth pony until she came to a sudden, screeching halt. “Here you go, Twilight!” she said, grinning from ear to ear.

Linden was laughing. “She’s right. I have one of my markers right here.”

Twilight looked around eagerly, but could find no trace of the marker. As far as she could tell, this patch of forest was exactly the same as every other part of the forest they had already seen. There were trees and rocks, bushes, more rocks, more trees…

“Uh, where is it, Pinkie?”

Pinkie’s eyes widened in amazement and she took in a deep gasp. “Are you really, seriously, honestly, truly saying you don’t see it!” she asked incredulously. “It’s right in front of your little nose!”

“Oh, okay.” Twilight looked around again, sure that there was something obvious she was missing. “Uh…that leaf?” she asked, pointing. Pinkie’s pupils shrank slightly, her face going very still. “No…no, not the leaf, of course. Hehe…I was just teasing. Um, it’s got to be…oh! I know! It’s that tree branch right there! It’s pointing the way!”

She beamed at her friend, but Pinkie Pie only responded by shaking her head. “Nuh uh! C’mon, Twilight. It’s super duper looper easy!”

Twilight groaned. She had long since given up trying to understand Pinkie Pie’s strange senses and abilities, but this one was new and particularly weird.

“I give up. I’m sure you somehow managed to triangulate the angle of the sun versus the shadow of the mountain with the direction of the wind to calculate—”

“Please tell us, Pinkie,” Rarity asked excitedly. “Where is it?”

Pinkie giggled and pointed to an apple-sized rock leaning against a tumbled pile of similarly sized stones. “It’s right here, sillies! Don’t you see? This one is different from all the others!”

Twilight and Rarity edged closer and stared but neither could see how the one stone was any different from the others.

“Pinkie Pie…that rock is exactly the same as the others,” Rarity said, her voice taking on a twinge of impatience.

Twilight started to agree, but bent down for a closer look. As far as she could tell, it was absolutely identical to the others—worn edges, medium grey color, little flecks of red and black from deposits of iron and…she froze, tilting her head, then levitated the rock with her horn and trotted to a patch of sunlight with it. The black flecks sparkled faintly. They were bits of black mica, and were missing from the other rocks in the pile.

She pointed out her findings to Rarity, who was astounded by how minute the differences were. Pinkie Pie beamed and bounced in place.

“I honestly don’t know how she saw it from back there,” Linden confessed. “I found that rock with the mica a mile into my trek and carried it with me as a test for Fletcher. But I fully expected even him to miss it, so…”

All three ponies turned to Pinkie Pie, who responded by bounding away.

“I’m gonna go find another one!”

Twilight, Rarity, and Linden hurried after her, following the trail she traced through the forest. She unerringly found all of the prince’s hidden markers, from the bird’s feather glued with a tiny dollop of mud to the underside of a branch, to the patch of floppy grass that had been flipped over to lie on the wrong side, and even the pebble that had been placed on a lily pad in the center of a large patch of identical lilypads.

“Whoo hoo! This is fun!” Pinkie cried, darting away after pointing out an incredibly faint letter L scratched into a piece of bark partially hidden beneath a bush.

“She’s the best tracker I’ve ever seen!” Prince Linden was shaking his head in amazement as they ran to keep Pinkie in view. “It’s like she isn’t even trying at all. How does she do it?”

Rarity gave a delicate, ladylike shrug. “We’ve never been able to figure it out. It’s just one of the things that makes Pinkie Pinkie.” Smiling prettily, she sidled closer to the prince. “Now, Prince Linden…we haven’t had much of a chance to talk. I would love to hear more about your kingdom. Please, tell me…what are your fashions like?”

Linden was just about to reply when Pinkie Pie shouted, “Hey! I think I see someone!”

She had come to the top of a steep slope and was pointing down into a ravine. Linden, Twilight, and Rarity joined her in looking down at a group of four ponies below. They had heard Pinkie’s shout and moved to the bottom of the slope, their faces tilted up. One, a pale green pony with a darker green mane, lifted a hoof and waved.

“Linden?” His voice drifted upwards faintly. “Is that you?”

“Fletcher!” Linden shouted back. “About time you caught up with me!”

“That’s them? Yay! I win!” Pinkie Pie started bouncing up and down on the edge of the slope until her hoof came down on a loose rock. It slipped out from under her, sending the pink pony rolling down the slope in a spill of soil and tumbling stones.

“Aaahh!”

“Pinkie Pie!” Twilight and Rarity screamed. They both rushed to the edge of the cliff where their friend had vanished and spotted a pink mane sliding downward in a thick cloud of swirling dust. Twilight pointed her horn at Pinkie, intent on using her magic to float her to safety, but at that instant the earth pony rolled up and over a partially buried rock. It acted like a ramp that launched Pinkie into an airborne loop and out of Twilight’s reach. Pinkie Pie screamed again, her legs pinwheeling frantically as gravity took over and plummeted down, down, down…

…and landed with a thump on the back of the largest pony Twilight and Rarity had ever seen. He was easily four feet taller than Applejack’s brother, Big Macintosh, barrel-chested and heavily muscled beneath his plum colored coat. Sitting up on his back, Pinkie Pie looked as small and helpless as a filly.

The huge pony turned his head, his green eyes locking with her blue. Pinkie trembled from the shock of her fall. Her ears lowered as she ducked her head. Her lips quivered.

“Hi there!” An enormous smile replaced the terror on her face and she sprang to her hooves on the pony’s wide back, dancing from side to side in her delight. “I’m Pinkie Pie and that was an amazing catch! I was all like Aaaiih! and you were all Argh! and you swooped in and then I was like thump! but I’m okay now and I’m so excited to meet you!”

Twilight, Rarity, and Prince Linden slid down the slope on their haunches, reaching the bottom just as the giant of a pony burst in deep, bellowing laughter at Pinkie Pie’s rapid fire and acted out dialog.

The Saddellian ponies greeted their prince with friendly, informality, the pale green Fletcher even pounding Linden on the shoulder with his hoof.

“What is this? It’s not bad enough that you set a trail nopony could follow, but you have to show me up by taking time out with the ladies while we’re all slogging through the woods?”

“Wish I could say it was that enjoyable, Fletch…though meeting these ladies was definitely the high point of my day. Allow me to introduce Miss Twilight Sparkle, Miss Rarity…and the one who just took ten years off Tiny’s life is Miss Pinkie Pie.”

“Tiny!” Pinkie Pie put her front hooves on the colt’s neck and leaned over his head to stare at him upside down. She blinked rapidly. “Hahaha, your name is Tiny? That’s so funny because you’re not tiny at all!”

Tiny laughed as he stared up at her. “And it’s a good thing for you that I’m not.”

“You got that right!” Pinkie swayed unsteadily for a moment, then caught her balance as Tiny carried her to the rest of the group.

“We’re glad to see you, your Highness.” An older white pony with a dark blue mane and an ink bottle and quill cutie mark stepped solicitously forward. “We’ve been searching for you for hours—either you are entirely too good at setting false trails or Fletcher has been embellishing his skills greatly. We’ve been lost since your first false trail. Are you well? Did you come to any trouble? Wherever did you meet these lovely maidens so far out here?”

“I’m fine, Aster, thanks to these three and their friends. I did have some trouble, but luckily they came along to assist me.”

Aster looked stricken, his grey eyes blinking rapidly. “Trouble?” he asked in a strained voice. “Wh-what sort of trouble, your Highness?”

“We’ll discuss that as we go. Don’t look so nervous, Aster. I’m fine. Not even a scratch—though the same cannot be said for another beautiful lady who assisted me in my hour of need. She sustained an injury while helping me and we had to leave her and two others behind. I’ve promised her that we would make haste to return, so let me make some quick introductions. Ladies,” Prince Linden turned to the girls. “This is my appointed steward and tutor, Aster. The rakish demon beside him is Fletcher, who seems to have forgotten all he ever learned about proper tracking.”

Fletcher scoffed at this, but dipped a low bow to the girls, waggling his eyebrows at Rarity. Like Prince Linden, he was exceedingly handsome, though in a mischievous sort of way, with a hunter green mane, teal eyes, and a cutie mark of a blue-fletched arrow striking a red and white bullseye.

“Don’t listen to him…nopony in his right mind could follow his trail without getting lost.”

“I did!” Pinkie blurted from where she still sat on Tiny’s back. While Fletcher looked at her incredulously, Linden indicated another of his friends, a dark orange pony with a red mane and a flaming crescent moon as his cutie mark. He appeared a few years older than the prince. “This tall, serious fellow is Nightfire.”

Nightfire lowered himself into a deep, graceful bow. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance, my ladies.”

“Last, but certainly not the least is my bodyguard, Tiny, whom Pinkie Pie has already met. Good catch, by the way, big fellow.”

“It’s so sad, isn’t it,” Fletcher quipped. “The girls are always falling for the ponies with brawn and not the brains.”

“Then what is your excuse?” Tiny drawled. “You have neither. Linden…you said you met three more ladies?”

“Yes,” Twilight spoke up. “Our friend Rainbow Dash is hurt and needs medical treatment. She tried flying all this way, but couldn’t make it. We had to leave her with Applejack and Fluttershy a few hours ago…they’re waiting for us to come back. Linden said you could help her, Tiny.”

“Yeah…a big, strong pony like you could carry itty bitty Dashie with no problem at all,” Pinkie Pie said, patting Tiny’s mane companionably.

“Yes, we’d better hurry back. It’s going to start getting dark soon and I don’t want to leave them alone any longer than we must.” Linden’s face grew gravely serious. “There was a pack of hyleenas in the woods.”

This got their attention. Even Fletcher stopped grinning at Rarity long enough to look at Linden, his green eyes horrified.

“Hyleenas? Really? How many?”

“Just one pack. Five total. They took me completely by surprise and—no, Aster, I’m fine. They didn’t even touch me…but they pinned me up on a cliff and probably would have gotten to me if Rainbow Dash hadn’t come along. She fought them all by herself, even took out three of them for a time, then got me off the cliff once her friends showed up to help.”

“Wait.” Nightfire was shaking his head in confusion. “You’re saying one pony…one girl pony…fought a pack of hyleenas on her own and survived?”

“Well, I don’t see what her being a girl has to do with it,” Twilight interjected a little coolly. “But she was doing a great job on her own by the time we got there, even though she did get hurt.” Turning to the prince, she added, “Please, Prince Linden, we need to get back to her and the others.”

“Right! C’mon, lads, the lady Rainbow Dash awaits!” Linden reared, spinning around on his back hooves, and cantered down the ravine to where it tapered and merged into a gentler slope. Muttering under his breath, Aster followed, keeping pace with Twilight Sparkle, while Fletcher paced himself to match Rarity. Tiny set off after them all, though with his size he needed no more than a fast trot to keep up and Pinkie Pie held on for the ride, whooping happily

Nightfire blinked confusedly, then sprang into a gallop, exclaiming, “Wait a minute…did you say fly?”

**

Rainbow Dash stared hard at the checkerboard of twigs before her, contemplating the leaf and rock pieces for a long time before finally shifting one rock forward a space. She held her hoof on the piece for a moment, examining her move from all angles, then sat back with a smile. “There!” she announced to her opponent.

Gumdrop finished the berry he’d been eating and cleaned his whiskers, then jumped onto the board, grabbed a leaf in his mouth, and leapt Rainbow’s piece. Raising his tiny arms triumphantly over his head, he pointed at the stone and stared at Rainbow Dash until she dutifully moved the game piece to the small pile the mouse had accumulated. Only three of her pebbles remained on the makeshift board and the tiny mouse was looking annoyingly smug.

“Yeah, yeah…laugh it up…until you see that’s you’ve fallen right into my trap!” Rainbow picked up one of the last pebbles delicately in her teeth and, grinning wickedly, bounced it rapidly around the board, capturing all but one of Gumdrop’s leaves. The mouse’s whiskers drooped in shock, his bravado crashing down as the pony also landed her piece in one of the eighth squares.

“King me!” She laughed. “Didn’t see that one coming, did you?”

Gumdrop pouted for a few seconds, then shrugged and kicked the leaf aside before holding out a miniscule paw to shake.

“Yeah, good game…and thanks for staying up with me.” Rainbow glanced sideways at Applejack and Fluttershy, who were sprawled side by side and sound asleep. They had remained awake for the first few hours, but the long day of travel and the fight with the hyleenas had coupled with the heat to create a fierce desire to nap. Fluttershy had given in first, but Applejack had been quick to follow.

Rainbow Dash was also tired, but the pain in her leg kept her from drifting off—something she refused to admit to her friends. Gumdrop, however, had boundless energy and cheerfully kept her company for the last long, lonely hours.

Now, as the sun began to dip low in the sky, Rainbow Dash sat up and gathered the “game pieces” together into two neat piles.

“I guess we should probably get a fire going,” she told Gumdrop. “It’s too hot for one if you ask me, but I don’t know if I like the idea of sitting in the dark with things like those hyleenas around.” She turned her head to glare at the bandage on her flank. “Stupid leg—if this hadn’t happened we’d probably all be there by now.”

Gumdrop squeaked and raced into the underbrush, coming back a few seconds later with a small twig. Dropping it by Rainbow’s hoof, he ran back to collect a mouthful of dried grasses.

Rainbow Dash laughed as the little pile of kindling accumulated in front of her. “Hehe, thanks for the help, little guy, but at this rate we won’t get a fire started until morning. Let me help you.” Gritting her teeth, she climbed to her hooves and limped into the trees in search of suitable tinder. Finding a likely branch, she grabbed it in her teeth and flapped her wings, flying low and dragging it backwards across the ground.

The scraping, rustling sound woke Applejack, who sat up and yawned widely. Catching sight of Rainbow Dash struggling with the branch, she rolled her eyes.

“Rainbow Dash, just what in the hay do you think you’re doin’?”

“Getting wood to start a fire, what does it look like I’m doing?” Rainbow replied, her voice muffled by the branch.

Applejack stood up and shook from nose to tail. “Whoo! Guess Ah must have dozed off there for a few minutes.” She trotted up to Rainbow and gently but firmly tugged on her tail until the pegasus landed. “Ah don’t know why you didn’t just wake me up to help,” she stated, pulling the branch towards to their resting spot. “You shouldn’t be doin’ stuff like this with your leg.”

“I was doing fine. I wasn’t even on my leg. And…and it hardly hurts at all anymore.”

Applejack glanced at her and raised an eyebrow. “Sure,” she drawled, turning back to the branch. “Now you just lie back down and let me handle this, Sugarcube.”

Rainbow mockingly mouthed Applejack’s words behind her back, then stilled and swiveled her ears forward.

“Hey, AJ, hold still for a second—do you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Applejack asked, her own voice now muffled. “I don’t hear nothin’, Rainbow.”

“Not if you keep talking like that! Shh! Listen!”

The sound she had heard soon resolved itself into the thudding of approaching hooves. Applejack grinned and spat out the branch.

“Sounds like a bunch of ponies headin’ our way! Bout time they got back.”

“They must have found Prince Linden’s friends—that’s too many hoofbeats for four ponies.” Rainbow bent down and caught Gumdrop’s tail in her mouth, picking up the mouse and flipping him over her head into her mane. “Better get off the ground, little guy. Wouldn’t want you to get stepped on.”

“C’mon, Sugarcube…up and at ‘em. We got company.” Applejack nudged Fluttershy, who rolled over and opened her eyes.

“Oh, did I fall asleep?”

“You and AJ both,” Rainbow informed her. “About three hours ago.”

“Oh, Rainbow Dash, I’m so sorry. Here we were supposed to keep you company and look out for any bad, mean, toothy things and make sure your leg is okay and we—what’s that sound?”

“Twi and the others returnin’ with the prince’s friends.”

Fluttershy got to her hooves, suddenly looking as shy as her name. She ducked her head low and looked at them from beneath her thick hair. “I sure hope they’re nice and friendly like the prince and—oh! Where’s Gumdrop?”

The others chose that moment to arrive, Twilight and Rarity cantering straight to their friends and nuzzling them in greeting. Four strange ponies stepped into the hollow, staring curiously while nudging one another and whispering. A tall, thin orange pony let out a snorting breath and muttered, “Will you look at that…they really do have wings!”

“Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy! Look! We found them all! Actually, I found them all.” Pinkie Pie was standing on the back and a simply enormous pony, her bushy tail swishing back and forth. “And wait till you hear how I found them!”

“Please, everyone…if you could just be…” Fluttershy hurried forward, her teal eyes searching the ground frantically.

“Lady Rainbow Dash…” Prince Linden approached the pegasus and dipped a slight bow. “We returned as quickly as we could. I trust your rest was safe and uneventful”

“Uh, yeah, I guess…I won three straight games of checkers against a mouse, but—”

“Mouse? Yes, please, where is the mouse?”

“Whew! We did a straight gallop almost all the way back here,” Twilight said and wiped sweat from her brow. “We wanted to make it back before dark and I was starting to worry.”

“Stop!” Fluttershy’s cry rang through the forest, echoing off the surrounding mountains and sending a nearby roosting bird into loud, frantic flight. All conversation came to a halt as every eye turned to the panicking yellow pegasus. “I’m sorry, everypony…but please stop talking and moving around. I need to find Gumdrop before somepony steps on him and—”

“Oh Fluttershy!” Rainbow sang. “Look over here.”

Fluttershy turned and gasped to see Gumdrop waving at her from between Rainbow’s ears. With a happy squeal, she flew to her friend and held out a hoof so the mouse could run to her.

“Whoa! She really is flying!” The pale green pony standing beside Linden stared at her, his mouth dropping open. Rarity, who was standing close to the colt, pursed her lips in a pout.

“Well, y’all, looks like you found us alright. What do you say we build ourselves a nice fire before it gets too dark down here and then get down to the introductions?”

“We’ll do that,” the green pony said, thumping his orange friend with a hoof. “Come on, Tiny—you can carry more than both of us put together.”

“Aw, see you soon, Tiny.” Pinkie hopped off the giant pony’s back and the three colts vanished into the darkening woods.

“How’s your leg, Rainbow?” Twilight wanted to know.

“Fine.” Rainbow twisted her neck around and wrinkled her nose at the bandage. “A little sore, but nothing I can’t stand.”

“Would you mind if I took a look, my lady?” The older, white pony stepped forward at a look from Linden. “My name is Aster. I’m a steward in the royal household, but I also have some rudimentary knowledge of the healing arts and herbal remedies. You were bitten by one of the hyleenas?”

“Not bitten. Just scratched.”

“Even a scratch can be serious. Hyleenas are filthy creatures. We wouldn’t want the wound to become infected.”

Applejack and Pinkie Pie broke Rainbow’s branch into smaller pieces and, with Linden’s help, made a fire pit. Using her magic, Twilight sparked a flame on the kindling Gumdrop had collected and soon had the wood crackling and burning brightly. With its light, Aster examined Rainbow’s wound and declared it clean enough, though he suggested they get to the palace as quickly as possible so she could be properly treated by the royal physician.

“His Highness says you faced off five hyleenas all by yourself, my Lady.”

“Yeah, sort of.”

“Five hyleenas against one little pony—my dear, you’re either very brave…or very foolish.”

“Do we have to pick just one, because I would say she’s definitely a little of both,” Rarity quipped, though she winked at Rainbow Dash.

“Yes…she’s definitely brave,” Prince Linden murmured, staring at the pegasus with shining eyes.

Aster glanced at his prince, a look of mild alarm in his eyes, but didn’t get a chance to respond before the colts boisterously returned with enough wood to keep the fire going strong all night. They then shared out supplies from their own saddlebags, which was a bonus for the girls since their food had all but run out and they had been relying on forage.

With dinner underway, introductions were passed around and Fletcher, obviously the most forward of all Linden’s friends, loudly called for Linden’s tale of woe. The prince happily complied, describing his frantic gallop from the hyleenas through the forest until he had reached the cliff and then his desperate scrabble up the rocks to the ledge where he had been unable to go any higher. With amazing skill towards the dramatic, he went on to tell how he had feared for his life, until a stunning vision of blue had appeared like a miracle to save him. He described the fearless kick to a hyleena’s jaw, the rainbow tornado that had lifted one clear off the ground, and the rock-throwing.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes! The hyleenas were in complete chaos. They didn’t know which way to turn and they were running about yipping and doing that chilling laugh of theirs, and there’s this little pony flying over them and flinging rocks and insults like she was born doing it!”

Rainbow laughed and covered her eyes with a hoof. “Oh Celestia, I didn’t think you heard that…oops, sorry…that grey one really got me mad. And I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do once I ran out of rocks. Those things were so stubborn—they just wouldn’t take the hint. So it was a good thing everyone else showed up when they did. How’d you like Applejack’s fancy ropework? Or Twilight jumping over that hyleena like a steeplechase racer? Wasn’t as awesome as my twister, but still,” she beamed at her friends, “pretty cool.”

“Oh, well, I’m sorry, my lady, but I didn’t see any of that.”

“You didn’t? Oh, wait…that was when you had your eyes squeezed shut, wasn’t it?”

Fletcher laughed and Rarity nudged Rainbow sharply.

“Ow! What?”

“Be nice, Rainbow Dash! I’m sure it wasn’t like that…I’m sure the prince was just distracted.”

“No, it was exactly like that,” Rainbow and the prince said in perfect unison. They glanced at one another in surprise and laughed.

“I’m not ashamed to admit it,” Linden said, glaring at Fletcher. “I was petrified while I was up on that cliff, and this brave lady had to go to rather extreme measures to bring me to my senses.”

“Uh, yeah, if you consider dragging you backwards and dropping into midair rather extreme.”

Fletcher guffawed, rolling over onto his back and kicking his legs in the air. Nightfire was struggling to bite his lip against his snickers, but was quickly losing the battle while watching the green colt. Tiny tried to do the same, but Fletcher’s laughter was infectious to Pinkie Pie and her giggles broke the giant pony’s resolve.

“Yes, Fletch…it’s utterly hilarious now,” Linden said dryly. “But I can assure you that, in the moment, being hauled off a solid rock and held high in the air over a slathering pack of hyleenas was not in the least bit enjoyable.”

“Hahahaha! Oh, I wish I had been there to see your face!”

Fletcher’s laughter was beginning to grate on Rainbow Dash, who understood what the prince was saying and felt sorry for him—even she had been afraid of those things.

“I can do you one better, Fletcher,” she announced loudly. “Tomorrow, after the sun is up, I’ll take you up for a flight so you can get an idea of what the prince saw—we were only, oh, about forty or fifty feet high.”

The green colt’s laughter broke in a startled snort and he immediately rolled over, his eyes filled with alarm. “Uh…well…no, that’s…um, that’s alright.”

“Are you sure, Fletch?” Linden pressed, grinning wickedly.

Rainbow tapped a hoof on the ground and fluttered her eyelashes with exaggerated innocence. “I promise I won’t let you fall.”

“Th-that’s very nice, Lady Rainbow Dash…but I think I’d rather keep my hooves on the ground.” Looking abashed, he added to Linden, “Sorry.”

Despite his mocking, Rainbow and her friends found that they immediately liked Fletcher. He was loud and boisterous—even more so than Rainbow Dash—and very aware of how handsome he was. He had told that his father was a duke who held vast amounts of land in Saddellia, but chose to live in the palace as a member of the royal council. Because of this, Fletcher had grown up at court with Linden and they had been best of friends since foalhood. His cutie mark professed his skill in archery which, he was quick to brag, was the best in the kingdom.

Nightfire was the son of another high ranking lord in Saddellia, but had only come to court two years prior when his parents had sent him to the palace to further his studies. An avid history enthusiast, he had been desperate to prevail himself upon the royal library, but had become firm friends with the prince as well. He was quiet and thoughtful, his large eyes seeming to notice everything, and had no qualms in asking the two unicorns and two pegasi about their differences, and possible evolution, from earth ponies.

Tiny was huge, but possessed a gentle nature and a dry wit. Jokes came easily to him, and he had already formed a fast friendship with Pinkie Pie. Of the colts, he had the lowest ranking, coming from a long line of squire ponies that had risen to the ranks of lords in Saddellia. He, like Fletcher, had been raised at Linden’s side, but with the intention of becoming the prince’s loyal bodyguard and protector. His great size had lent him an insatiable appetite, and as a result he had learned how to cook for himself. He had even made dinner for the entire camp—cooking travel supplies and woodland forage over an open fire and somehow creating a gourmet feast.

Despite their noble births, the colts were delighted to meet ponies from Equestria, and showed fascination rather than condescension when the girls described their everyday lives and jobs back in Ponyville.

Linden’s steward, however, found their presence in the Saddleback’s suspicious and, once dinner was complete and Fletcher soundly put in his place, the white pony cleared his throat and pointedly asked, “So, why exactly would a student, a seamstress, a farmer, a weather pony, a baker, and an animal caregiver travel all this way from Ponyville?” As he spoke, listing their professions in the simplest manner possible, he faced each young mare in turn. His brows were raised in question, but the expression in his face was clearly accusing.

Linden had already asked this of the girls during their first trek together and Twilight had honestly informed him that Princess Celestia had sent them to treat with the king in hopes of opening trade routes. Through gentle questions, they had learned that Linden was ignorant of the raids and slave-taking and so had left out that part of their story. The look in Aster’s eyes, however, told Twilight and her friends that the steward probably knew more about Saddellian affairs than his young prince.

“We’ve been sent here as a…uh…I guess you could say a diplomatic envoy from our princess,” Twilight answered cautiously. “We’re requesting a meeting with King Oak Bough to discuss possible trading between our countries.”

Aster let out a breath in a snort. “Yes, but surely your princess would have other envoys…ones who are properly trained to the task? Why would she send six obviously—how can I put this politely—green girls?”

“Aster!” Linden admonished.

“It is a simple question, my prince. It just seems a little odd to me that—”

“Personally, I find them far more pleasant than some stuffy, old ambassador,” Fletcher muttered, casting a sly, sideways glance at Rarity.

“Their reasons for coming to Saddellia are of no matter to me, Aster. My Lady Rainbow Dash was there to save my life because she was chosen to be part of this envoy. She did this at great risk to herself, therefore, she and her friends are all welcome to the palace as my personal guests, with all the privileges expected of such.”

Aster and Linden stared at one another for a long moment, then the steward lowered his eyes.

“Of course, your Highness. Whatever you wish. And I am sure your father will welcome them all with open arms.”