Wings Against the Sun

by sentinel28a

The Gravity of the Situation

Early the next morning—too early, in Luna’s opinion, who wondered, not for the first time, why she was leading this mission—the three ponies set out on a chariot across Flankfurt. Twilight Sparkle wondered aloud why a chariot was necessary, since they could just walk, but Luna grumpily informed her that she would rather fly than walk, which was something Golden Lily could not do and Twilight could not do very well. For her part, Golden Lily said that she was not about to get her freshly-hooficured hooves dirty, and so they rode. Twilight noticed that they were not alone: many of Flankfurt’s citizens chose chariots or wagons, and the road they were on was well-maintained and smooth.

“This is really fascinating!” Twilight exclaimed, nose buried in a guidebook. “Apparently the Flankfurters are attempting to make road-based travel the preferred method of transportation, and so they’ve built these things called ‘pferdbahns.’ It cuts down on hoof-wear and related injuries.”

“Uhm,” replied Luna, who was fighting to stay awake. The hotel served coffee, but it was abominable, and there was not nearly enough sugar. She waved a hoof at Twilight. “Let’s go over the agenda today.”

“Oh…okay.” Twilight set the guidebook down and withdrew a sheet of paper. “This morning we have the reception at the Garden of Butterflies.” Luna yawned, and Twilight wasn’t sure if it was involuntary or commentary. “Then we have the Presentation of Collateral, and tonight, at dusk, the Flankfurt militia are showing their stuff at the Plains of Abraham.”

“Sounds like fun,” Golden Lily put in.

“Let’s just hope they don’t blow us up.” Luna set aside the coffee cup in a holder helpfully included on the chariot. “I think I’ll stand next to the griffins just in case.” Since the chariot was going at a good clip, Luna stuck her head over the raised forward lip of the chariot into the slipstream to try and wake up. Ahead, she spotted four familiar figures standing on an overpass. “Speak of nightmares and they appear. There’s Ironwing.” The griffin emperor’s considerable height and the buffalo’s considerable mass were unmistakable, even at a distance.

“Oh my,” Lily said. “Something as heavy as Dark Storm should not be standing so close to an edge.”

“I don’t think a fall could hurt him much,” Twilight replied.

As if summoned, Dark Storm suddenly leapt from the overpass. It was not that far of a drop, but a landing on all four hooves that would have seriously injured a pony barely registered on the heavy buffalo. He stood squarely in the path of the chariot. Luna reacted quicker than everypony and shouted at the charioteers to keep going, but the four Flankfurt ponies neighed as one and reared up, sliding to a halt in a shower of sparks just short of Dark Storm. The buffalo grinned and snorted, then charged. He went down the middle of the pulling team, destroying the wagon tongue, tack and harness. Facing three tons of enraged bison, the Flankfurters fled as Dark Storm thrashed himself free of debris and drew back for another charge.

“Get clear!” Luna screamed. She was wide awake now. Twilight, showing presence of mind, was already working on the safety harness on the rear of the chariot, but it was a complicated affair. Luna saw Dark Storm’s eyes alight on Golden Lily, and his grin widened, showing he was not here for formal greetings. He began his charge, which would smash through the chariot and flatten them.

Luna had no choice. Her horn glowed with black light. Dark Storm’s charge came to an abrupt stop, bloated, then vanished in a towering cloud of dust and flying soil.

Other chariots had slowed and stopped at the sudden attack. Two Flankfurt guards trotted onto the highway from a side street, having seen the dust cloud. Ironwing thundered at them from above. “Guards! I demand you arrest this insane alicorn!” He stabbed a claw at Luna. “She just disintegrated my porter with a magic spell!”

“I saw it!” exclaimed Whitemane. “The poor buffalo accidentally fell, and Princess Luna killed him!”

The guard turned to Luna. “Is this true?” he asked shakily. He had heard the stories of Nightmare Moon. The other guard hesitantly put a hoof to the lance attached to his armor. By the laws of Flankfurt, both had the legal right to kill Luna on the spot. Neither obviously wanted to try it.

“'Tis not true,” Luna answered with an exasperated sigh. She pointed at the chariot team, huddled in a corner on the side of the road. “While Emperor Ironwing’s porter was ‘accidentally’ demolishing our chariot and nearly killing the pulling team…well, he seemed in some distress. I attempted to calm him with a spell.”

“A spell?” the guard asked.

“Yes. I thought if he could not move, then maybe he would calm down. So I increased his weight.” Luna looked sheepish. “It seems that I was panicking some myself, and accidentally increased his mass, ah, thirty times his normal weight. His abrupt departure straight down made it seem as if I, well, vaporized him.” Twilight stared at Luna with wide eyes—not because Luna was lying about being panicked, because she abruptly remembered that Luna’s ability to raise the moon also gave her control over gravity.

The guard looked at Luna, then at the hole in the road. Dark Storm, Twilight mused to herself, might have survived being forced into the ground; he was likely only a few hundred feet below the surface. One thing was for sure: if he had survived, Dark Storm was not going anywhere for a long time. The guard came to some sort of decision. “Well…I guess you haven’t done anything wrong, Your Highness. I mean, if I had a panicked buffalo coming at me, I’d be frightened too.” His expression showed that he was not quite convinced, but was not going to press the point. Being caught between the former Nightmare Moon and the Emperor of Griffins was too much like being caught between two handfuls of high explosives.

“Like Miss Whitemane said, it was all an accident,” Luna helpfully added. Golden Lily flagged down another chariot. “We shall be at the Garden of Butterflies. If your superior needs a report, they can find us there.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.” The guard blew out a relieved breath.

As she climbed aboard the other chariot, Luna looked up at Ironwing. “Emperor, may I suggest you see if there are any diamond dogs in Flankfurt? They could dig out your porter quite quickly.” She nodded in a show of utterly synthetic friendliness as the chariot moved away. To her surprise, Ironwing seemed to be smiling.

It was not Luna’s imagination. Ironwing chuckled lightly and motioned for his two remaining retinue to follow him. “Was it wise to move so quickly?” Daggerclaw asked.

“Silence,” Ironwing rasped. “I do not discuss strategy with underlings.”

“Underlings?” Daggerclaw said, miffed, though he kept his voice low. “We are handpicked members of your assassin’s guild! We are not riffraff, my lord.”

Ironwing stopped and turned on them. His smile was gone. “To me, you are. I would have one Princess Luna over three hundred of you. Either of you.” Whitemane’s tail lashed in anger, but she wisely said nothing. Crossing the Griffin Emperor was not conducive to long life and happiness. Ironwing shook his head and resumed walking. “Dark Storm was a fool. He jumped without my order. I laugh because of Luna’s rather inventive excuse for doing away with him.”

Whitemane took another tack. “Forgive my impertience, lord, but…you respect Princess Luna?”

“And you do not?” Ironwing laughed. “I should think being exiled from Equestria would teach you respect for the Alicorn Princesses. Celestia does not suffer fools. Perhaps I should not as well."

Author's Note:

A little shorter this time, with some action. There will be more action in future chapters, but this is mostly diplomacy. As Celestia said, however, that doesn't make it any less dangerous.

Please leave a review if you like the story...that way I know I'm doing it right! (Or wrong, as the case may be.)

Comments

[terrycloth]

Yeah, I noticed the immediate execution for 'injuring with magic' and not for 'injuring by being a big-ass buffalo'. Seems like a pretty big loophole.

[VBA]

I... Think that there is something wrong with this chapter pacing, the action happened so quickly and it was so sudden, that it almost reached light-speed. Next time, you should make the transition to action more swift, maybe explain the surroundings so that we can form a mental picture.

The explanation of Luna's gravity powers came out of nowhere, it was a good concept, but the way you give the explanation was too sudden.

However it is still a good story, so i will keep on reading.