Buried Deep
She was falling.
Falling through the air.
White puffy clouds whizzed by as she fell, miles zipping by in moments. The elation she’d felt for a half second at the start was quickly replaced by confusion and fear.
The sky turned dark as if in response, the clouds turning an ugly grey.
It felt like an eternity before she hit the ground, but then she finally did.
“W-what…?”
She looked up as a shadow fell over her, a tremendous presence staring down. Aware of her.
Angry at her.
A woman?
A… monster?
The giant reached out for her, yellow-gold eyes tinted icy blue by some unholy power as its lips twisted into a snarl.
“YOUR FAULT…” it roared, and that, as well as an unsettling sense of familiarity was the last thing she knew.
Twilight awoke panting, sitting bolt upright in the space she had been provided at the Sentinel Hill inn.
A nightmare?
She’d been dreaming, and this came as a surprise to her – she’d not had one since being thrown into Azeroth.
None of them had.
That had been strange in itself, and it had taken three weeks since arriving for them to figure it out. It wasn’t the kind of thing you talked about, even between close friends. You might mention an unusual dream that you could recall with specific clarity, but the absence of dreams wasn’t that odd on its own.
But the odds of six individuals experiencing perfect, dreamless sleep for nearly twenty days? Unlikely in the extreme.
She had posited that their separation from Equestria had caused it. Their home was a world where many of the phenomena that this one considered to be natural were instead governed by powerful, physical beings, and she had yet to read of anything the same in Azeroth. There was talk of gods and devils, of beliefs that seemed to grant powers such as the light and shadow, and views held by the various races about how the tides came in, how the sun and moon rose and fell, but no hard, quantified evidence.
True, dreaming was a natural process in Equestria; even during Princess Luna’s corruption and imprisonment as Nightmare Moon, ponies had dreamed, but not with the same guidance she had offered them before, and now offered them again.
It was entirely possible that being removed from it had cut off their ability to dream, too – although now she had reason to suspect that it was only temporary, unless the nightmare had been an outlier of some kind...
…but why now, all of a sudden? What’s changed?
She had no concrete answers, no knowledge she could draw on at the moment to confirm her theory. Maybe I can find something more at the library when we return to Stormwind.
They had treated it as a symptom of their exile, and hadn’t discussed it after that first realisation. Maybe they would need to again.
She looked around the room, clutching her knees to her chest as she tried to calm her breathing. To call it an inn was stretching the truth a little; really it was more of a wooden hut; only one hall, the floor where the six had set out and tucked into their sleeping bags empty save for two tables meant for conversation. They had to leave it for refreshments and ablutions; they were handled in two separate buildings just across the way, not far from the eponymous hill itself.
The spartan accommodations echoed what they had already seen across the plains on their way to Sentinel Hill. Truly, Westfall had fallen on hard times.
Still, she couldn’t complain about shelter from the wind and chill. Rarity had raised a disapproving eyebrow upon first laying sight on the building that she had clearly been expecting to be more luxurious, but even she raised no word against it – it was certainly sturdier than the shack they had stayed in the night before.
It took her a few moments of looking around to realise that the two bags beside her were empty. She squinted around as her eyes slowly adjusted, but Applejack and Rainbow Dash were nowhere to be seen.
The others were still sound asleep, as far as she could tell, chests rising and falling in rhythmic motion with Wilder as the extra shape next to Fluttershy, so she took the utmost care in extracting herself from the warm cocoon, quickly pulled her jacket on, and then crept silently from the room to search for them.
She found them standing on the nearby hill, looking out over the plains to the west. They weren’t really hard to find; she could discern Rainbow’s hair from quite a way away even in the darkness, and it would have been hard to mistake Applejack’s tall, imposing silhouette for anyone else.
The clock on the wall of the inn had showed the time as well past the hour, going on one o’clock. She wondered what was keeping the two ahead out burning the midnight oil.
A guard materialised out of the gloom as she approached the hill, then relaxed as he recognised the woman before him as one of the new arrivals.
“Ma’am.” He saluted her courteously, then pointed up the hill at those she had already seen. “Your friends are over there.”
“Thank you.” She smiled, and he let her pass.
Word had travelled fast to Sentinel Hill of Hogger’s defeat, even with Westfall’s separation from the rest of the kingdom. While the gnoll lord had concentrated his criminal efforts on the settlements in the Elwynn Forest, the land to the west had not escaped his brutes’ thuggery, and so the six had been treated as heroes by the People’s Militia who guarded the roads, and by the marshal who commanded them, a gruff paladin named Gryan Stoutmantle who did not otherwise seem easily impressed.
They had arrived close to sundown after staying the afternoon at the Saldean farmstead. Farmer Saldean had been good on his promise, and they had left for the south with their bellies full once more – and after Rarity had had a chance to clean the dirty oil off herself with a warm bath.
Stoutmantle had greeted them, promised them a bed and breakfast the next day, and asked to speak with them in the morning regarding something he said was of great importance.
The wind blew harshly over her for a moment as she trod up the curve of the hill, her body breaking out into an involuntary shiver. It wasn’t a cold night by any means, but that didn’t matter when it came to this kind of biting chill.
She caught a snippet of their conversation as she approached, the breeze working in her favour.
“That’s all we c’n do sugarcube. Roll with the bad days’n’enjoy the good ones as they come.”
“Yeah, I know, but…”
“I say just give it more time. Ya got your paladin powers now, right?”
“Yeah… they’re awesome. They don’t make up for my wings, but I think I can cope better now.”
“But I know what you mean. Hard to think about, ain’t it?”
“Always. Do you think… the others feel it too?”
“How could they-?”
They hadn’t seen the mage coming up behind them, so Twilight quickened her step. She didn’t want to eavesdrop accidentally on her friends, nor did she want them to think she had been eavesdropping on purpose.
Applejack noticed her first, and her sudden side-glance flash of recognition caused Rainbow to start around too. “Hey, Twi. Can’t sleep neither, eh?”
“Sup, Twilight?” Rainbow wore an unreadable poker face with a familiar cocky grin splashed in the centre. She had something of a knack for concealing her worries and feelings, retreating behind a façade of coolness. It cracked sometimes, when she was flustered, angry, or really, really scared.
Twilight had half-hoped that the encounter with the ghoul might make her open up to the others, but other than boasting (half-seriously) about her prowess in combat she had been relatively quiet the day before. Restrained, even. So perhaps not.
Or perhaps so, if she was talking to Applejack here. But I can’t jump to any conclusions.
Indeed, what intrigued the mage more was Applejack’s expression. If Rainbow was good at hiding her feelings, then Applejack, the element of honesty, was terrible at it. And now, she looked… guilty?
She realised they were looking at her expectantly and hurried to reply, pushing the impression out of the forefront of her mind. “Hi girls. Yes. I actually… had a nightmare.”
They looked as surprised to hear this as she was. “Really?”
“What was it about?”
“You know…” She struggled to recall it, but it was like trying to repair a fraying blanket by pulling at it; the more she tugged, the more the strands came away, until she was left with nothing. Or at least very little. “…I can’t remember.”
Applejack scratched the back of her head awkwardly. “Then how d’ya know you had a nightmare?”
Twilight shrugged. “I remember waking up with a sweat. And I’ve just got these feelings…”
“Feelings?”
“Yes. I felt fear. But it wasn’t mine, yet… it still felt familiar.”
“That’s comforting.” Rainbow deadpanned.
“Weird that it happened right now, like.” The farmer-turned-warrior looked back out across the plains wistfully. “Maybe it jus’ means we’re gettin’ used to this place.”
“...Yeah.” Rainbow looked a bit sad at this possibility, perhaps another reminder to her of all that they were missing and how little of a plan they had to even get back, so Twilight hastened to change the subject.
“So I’m guessing neither of you had a nightmare too?”
The two shared an awkward glance. “Oh, no, we’re just… talking.”
She was about to press them further but another chill breeze interrupted her, and she rubbed at her covered arms.
“How are you both not cold out here?” she asked instead. Rainbow’s even wearing short sleeves!
They both looked at her strangely, as if the answer was obvious.
“Fields get pretty cold out, y’know, ‘specially if you have to work out at night.”
“I lived in a cloud.”
“Fair enough.” Twilight admitted, impressed despite herself at their resilience. “I do miss my coat, though…”
“Careful, hon. That guard might hear ya.”
“Even if he can, he’ll just think we’re talking about clothing. Not about… the other thing.” But she lowered her voice a little all the same. Just in case.
They all lapsed into thought. Twilight yawned. She had the urge to leave them be. It was the middle of the night, and she was tired. Exhausted even. It wasn’t like she’d had a good night’s sleep the night before, what with the ghoul attack and everything else. She’d only got out of bed to find her two friends, and they were safe and fine.
Something kept her standing there. Something in her made her plant her feet, lock her gaze and open her mouth.
Something made her say, “What’s wrong, girls?”
They looked at her, confused by the leading question from out of nowhere. “Whad’ya mean?” Applejack pled ignorance.
“Yeah?” Rainbow agreed. “We’re fine.”
“Peachy.”
Twilight shook her head, unconvinced by their tense body language and nervous facial signals. “You’re a terrible liar, Applejack. And you don’t like talking about your feelings, Rainbow Dash, so I can understand your reluctance. But this isn’t going to go away on its own. So.
“What’s wrong, girls?”
Less a question this time. More of a demand. She didn’t like to consider herself the leader of their group of friends, even if others – including her friends themselves – might. But no, she was not about to let them stew on this until it erupted into something ugly.
And truth be told she already had a pretty good idea what the problem was.
Applejack chewed her bottom lip. Rainbow played with her sleeve awkwardly. Neither would meet her eyes.
“It’s about the gnolls, isn’t it?” She pressed.
A single look they shared confirmed her fears, though she couldn’t help but feel a little vindicated at being proved right. Nopony in their right mind could take a life without it affecting them in some way.
“All right, all right.” Rainbow exclaimed, wringing her hands. “We’re not doing too great, okay?”
“We keep seein’ ‘em when we close our eyes, y’know?” Applejack muttered sadly, her stoicism slipping. “They’re jus’ there. Got a little sleep at the garrison, don’t think it had sunk in then. Didn’t sleep much after the ghoul, guess ya might’ve expected that anyway, but tonight...”
“Fighting helps.” Rainbow added. “When we were up against the ghoul, or against those machines, it was like our heads cleared right up. Nothing else mattered, just those moments. And then the rush ends, and it all comes crashing back.”
Twilight was just self-aware enough to catch the moment of recognition she felt at Rainbow mentioning feeling good in combat. Clearly it was little different for the others, and she would have do to some serious self-reflection to avoid going down the same path… She buried it for now, though – her friends weren’t done venting, and they were more important.
“You try to justify it at first.” Applejack went on. “My friends would’a got hurt if I hadn’t done it. It was self-defense.”
“But you keep thinking ‘Really? Couldn’t I have acted just a little different?’
“An’ that’s not all.” Applejack burst out. The floodgates were now open, both metaphorically and literally. “Darn it, Twi, I try to keep my mind off this an’ then all I can’t think of anything but m’family! Granny Smith, Big Mac, poor lil’ Apple Bloom…”
“Sure, you know I miss my wings, but it’s not just them.” Rainbow added miserably. “Scootaloo was really becoming like a sister to me, y’know?”
Twilight let them continue, struck into shocked silence by the way her intervention was developing. This… wasn’t what I was expecting…
“We’re trapped in an alien world with nopony we know, nopony to help us, and no way home! All that crazy stuff we did in Equestria, like with Nightmare Moon, Discord… None of it compares to this!”
Wait…
The sentry below looked up at the sudden spike in noise and was tempted briefly to investigate or perhaps caution those enough, but then decided against it. They were far enough from the living quarters of the settlement to avoid causing harm, and it would mean moving out of his comfortable post shielded from the wind; best to leave them to it.
Above, Applejack suddenly seemed to become more aware of their surroundings, and when she spoke again she made sure to watch her volume.
“What if we never see them again, Twilight?” Quieter, softer, but no calmer. I’ve never seen her so afraid. So terrified. Twilight noted, struck with much the same feeling herself. “What if we really can’t go back?”
Silence fell again as Twilight digested it all. How they felt.
How she felt, too. What she’d been holding in. What she’d been burying herself.
Hidden behind the dreams she hadn’t been able to have.
Spike…
Mom… Dad… Shiny… Celestia… Everybody.
Of course she’d missed them all. And she knew the others had missed their families too. But, belatedly, she suddenly realised that it hadn’t been enough to know. She should have been talking to them about it.
Because things fester in the dark without the light to shine on them.
Why couldn’t I see…? Even before, I thought it was about the violence… about this world…
“Oh, girls, I’m so sorry!” she moaned quietly, sinking to her knees and dragging them both down with surprising strength.
“I should have realised how you were feeling. I should have asked you sooner, encouraged you to open up. I should have opened up myself. I’ve been so blind!”
She wasn’t crying herself. It was oddly cathartic, having come to this conclusion. It explained why the two had been so determined to retreat inside over their kills.
Sad that it had so long for her to understand, but…
“Aw, sugarcube.” The warrior’s embarrassment at her friend’s distress distracted her briefly from her sorrow. She returned the hug and snaked her other arm around Rainbow, another glance shared confirming between the two that once again they felt the same. “It’s not your fault. You’re jus’ doin’ the best you can. We can’t ask for more.”
“Yeah. Sorry we kept it bottled up for so long. It was just… so hard to talk about.”
They sat huddled together for a good five minutes more, stone cold silent and uncaring of the wind or the wider world. Reflecting. Understanding. It would have looked a very odd sight to an uncomprehending observer.
“There’s nothing we can’t do together, as friends.” Twilight affirmed eventually, still holding them close. The pain was still there, a pain she, like the others, had so successfully hidden, but she felt better for recognising it now, rather than leaving it in the dark. “We’ll get back somehow. I know it.”
They felt her surety, felt it in the bond they all shared – as the elements, and as friends.
“And about the gnolls?” They stood up as she returned to the opening topic, almost as an afterthought. “I don’t have any answers for you right now. Nothing that will make you feel better. Except maybe this.
“We’ll work through it together. All of us. Don’t forget that."
“We won’t.” Applejack promised, a genuine smile back on her face once again. “Thanks, Twilight. Now go get some rest, hon. We’ll be right behind ya.”
Twilight nodded – “Don’t be long.” - and began to make her way back down the hill towards where she hoped the inn was.
I need to talk to everyone at some point tomorrow. She decided. Together, individually, somehow we’ll have to talk. We can’t go on holding it all inside.
There’s only so far you can bend before you break.
They watched her snake her way back through the darkness to the inn, and stood in silence for a few seconds after she had disappeared.
Applejack spoke first. “Guess we’d better get some rest too. Up early again tomorrow.”
“Mm.”
The blonde warrior went to start down the hill, but Rainbow’s voice kept her where she was. “Hey, AJ?”
“Yeah, partner?”
Lightning fast, Rainbow latched onto the taller girl from the side. “…I know I’m bad at saying it. But thanks.”
Applejack pulled her into a tighter hug, a content smile adorning her features. “You’re welcome, hon. And right back at ya.”
They had breakfast the next day, a casual fair provided by the jolly middle-aged woman named Heather who ran the inn, before heading off to meet the leader of the small town, Marshal Gryan Stoutmantle, in the tower atop the hill.
He was waiting for them as they filed into the main room, looking up from his paperwork and motioning them to sit at the long table with him. They took seats at each side, three apiece, as the marshal sat at the head.
Pinkie Pie dropped a scone out of her pocket and fumbled to pick it up before sitting down - fortunately the marshal was back into his paperwork and did not notice.
Twilight took a moment to examine the marshal more closely, as she hadn’t had the chance during their brief meeting at dusk the day before. He was clearly a military man, easily in his late forties or early fifties, with greying hair but still a possessing a powerful, imposing presence. He wore a full set of silver armour, which, along with the massive hammer laid out on the desk in front of him, marked him out as some kind of warrior. Or paladin, she realised, quickly noting that Rainbow had come to the same conclusion, and was now staring at the man with something approaching rapt admiration.
“Marshal Stoutmantle, thank you for the food and shelter last night. We greatly appreciate it.” She opened.
“Yeah, thanks! It went down a treat!” Pinkie Pie agreed, the scone almost spilling out of her pocket again. It probably wasn’t the most dignified display of gratitude the marshal had ever seen. Twilight supposed she had to be grateful that none of Pinkie’s confetti had seen fit to go off.
Yet.
He looked up at them again, placing his quill into an ink pot and now giving them his full attention. “You are most welcome. We are honoured by the presence of heroes such as you. Westfall as much as Elwynn can only feel relieved at having one less foe to oppose… and your actions have given the people hope, as well, which is something of a rarity in these times. But now we must talk of less positive matters.” He spoke formally, but almost too formally – as if he was trying to decide how to feel about them.
He swept his gaze over the six. “Do you know anything of the organisation going by the name of the Defias Brotherhood?”
Five heads shook. One head nodded. Stoutmantle looked to Twilight.
“I read about them in the Stormwind library.” she explained, then elaborated. “They formed out of the Stonemasons guild, builders who worked to repair Stormwind after the First War. The books said they tried to cheat the city, and were thrown out after causing unrest.
“They came to Westfall, the closest, and have been launching attacks ever since, robbing travellers and caravans that the Stormwind Guard doesn’t have the manpower to protect. The books say they aren’t considered anything more than a small group of bandits now… but we’ve been warned about them before.”
Stoutmantle coughed. “Half accurate, not that I’d expect any better from Stormwind.” Twilight went red, though he hadn’t meant to insult her. His demeanour suddenly seemed gruffer than before, as if he’d been testing the water to see how much they knew – and something in her answer had softened him. She felt calmer still after Fluttershy placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
“Yes, they were the Stonemasons. Yes, they rebuilt Stormwind. Whether they tried to cheat the city or whether the nobles cheated them, well… I don’t know.” A hint of old anger and frustration suddenly glinted in the old paladin’s eyes. “But they came to Westfall because Stormwind abandoned us, which is why I founded the People’s Militia.”
He fixed them with a hard stare, but one borne of concern rather than dislike. “I heard what you did for old farmer Saldean. You’re good folk. Don’t see many like you coming from up north. So that’s why I recommend you pack up and go as soon as you can, before you get caught up in our trouble. Wouldn’t want to see you getting hurt down here.”
That’s the true measure of this man, Twilight registered. He’s strong, but compassionate. He cares for his people – and since we’ve helped them out he cares for us too.
She thought of the Saldeans, living in poverty, destitute, but still holding out hope for the future. She thought of the people she’d seen so far in Sentinel Hill - the guards, the townsfolk – their faces all filled with fear.
Does it always have to come down to violence here?
It reminded her of the battle to reclaim the Crystal Empire, the fight against King Sombra. They’d had to stop him with force, the heart of the empire banishing him with glorious light, although there’d been no goodness left in him to redeem, and certainly no time to search harder for it.
Only… he was a half-magical abomination filled with the hatred of thousands of years. The Defias are human, I’m guessing. Not much different from us. Other than, you know, the dimension-hopping. And we were once ponies, I suppose.
Remembering the Crystal Empire reminded her of Cadence, and Shining Armor, which led her mind to her mother, and father, and Spike, and it took a great effort not to let the flash of memory painfully express itself across her features.
Getting involved like this would be unlikely to lead them any closer to going home. Perhaps it was nothing more than an unnecessary distraction, and they would be best off on all counts by going back to Stormwind.
But what if it was my family out here like this? My friends? Could I leave them then?
And in that moment she made up her mind.
“What if we could solve your problem?”
Stoutmantle looked at Twilight with as much disbelief as each of her friends – maybe more. “You may have defeated the gnoll king, but the Brotherhood numbers in the hundreds. You would need an army… even if you could find them!”
“I’m not talking about fighting them. What if we could convince them to stand down peacefully? What if we could stop the fighting?”
Silence, as he attempted to process her meaning. Incredulity turned quickly to deep thought, and when next he spoke his voice was quieter than before, but far more intense.
“Let me be clear about the Defias. I’ve fought them for years, since they first came to Westfall, and I know what drives them. Some are greedy bandits, thugs through-and-through. But most, and certainly the higher-ups in the organisation, are motivated by something more. By the pain of what they see as Stormwind’s betrayal. By their hatred of the crown, and the government. This pain, this hatred – they’ve been festering for years in the dark. Do they really sound like people you can convince with words?”
He continued, so taken aback by her bizarre proposal that he couldn’t help but speak without restraint. “And even if you can, do you think we can be convinced? The Defias have held our realm hostage. They’ve abused, terrorised my – our – citizens, driven them off their land, turned Westfall into a land of ruin… After all that, do you really think that we can forgive them?”
“Have you ever tried?” Fluttershy spoke up quietly, startling Twilight, who had been searching for the words to say the same – only for the element of kindness, perhaps unsurprisingly, to beat her to it.
He didn’t respond for a moment, mulling it over. Again his gaze swept over them, examining, analysing, appraising.
Eventually he spoke again. “You’re not part of my People’s Militia. You’re not Stormwind soldiers. If you think you can talk them down then, well, you’re welcome to try. But let me warn you first. None of the scouts we’ve sent to scout the Deadmines have come back. And these days there are more and more whispers about what the Defias are up to. About what they’re building.”
He looked worried, truly worried for the first time since they’d met, the mask of stoicism cracking ever so slightly. The trouble in the region, the Defias insurgency - it must have been eating him up for a while. His expression still made it clear that he didn’t think that they could possibly succeed, and yet there was something else there now, too.
“The Deadmines are below the abandoned town of Moonbrook to the South-west. If you really want to try, I’ll verify your maps and give you what supplies I can spare.”
“Thank you, marshal. We’ll do the best we can.” Twilight promised, rising from her seat.
There was the slightest twinkle of hope in Gryan Stoutmantle’s eyes were previously there had been none. “Go with the light, Miss Sparkle.”
They rendezvoused outside the inn twenty minutes later, having collected their items from the inn and made arrangements to pick up the extra supplies Stoutmantle had promised in good order. Twenty minutes.
Twenty minutes was all it took for two of the group to end up fighting over something inconsequential.
Applejack had left a bread roll on top of her belongings, a leftover from breakfast she was intending to have later.
Having never tasted bread before, and drawn in by the wonderful aroma of the freshly baked good, Wilder wolfed down the whole thing before his owner could stop him.
Fluttershy had guiltily hustled him away from the scene of the crime, intending to apologise later, but Rainbow’s raucous laughter upon hearing of Applejack’s “loss” convinced the blonde that she was to blame. Cue the stronger of the two chasing the faster around Sentinel Hill like a bizarre re-enactment of their competitive running of the leaves, all to the bemusement of the guards and other locals.
“They certainly seem happier today.” Rarity noted, gazing over at the warrior and the paladin as they bobbed and weaved around the camp, Pinkie cheering them on as if it really were a race and Fluttershy looking sheepish off to the side, keeping Wilder and his bread-encrusted muzzle out of sight. “That’s a relief.”
“You noticed it before too, then?”
“Of course, darling. I have quite the eye for detail, after all.”
But now Rarity commenting on the others reminded Twilight that there was one other that she had intended to talk to about the upward trend for violence she’d noticed in the past few days. She was convinced that the chance of Fluttershy ever firing her crossbow in anger or even on purpose was zero, but Rarity...
“Hey, Rarity, on a similar subject… can I ask you about yesterday? With the golems?”
Rarity was lucky that she had turned away a moment before the question; Twilight did not spot her uncomfortable swallow. “Well…”
“And where did you get those daggers?”
Rarity coughed, embarrassed, now looking back at the mage.
“Well, even a lady can lose her composure at times. And a lady must certainly be able to defend herself, back home as much as here. You must admit that it was a rather shocking set of circumstances.”
Not untrue, though of the six Rarity would probably be the one to react worst to having her hair doused in oil. But there was still more than that. “You looked like you’d fought before.”
“Dear, I don’t have the slightest clue what you’re talking about.” Her friend smiled politely, and the mage found herself compelled to agree with that face, and the sincerity with which she spoke. Not completely deterred, though, she tried a different tack.
“What about the thing you did in Elwynn Forest? An untrained observer might conclude that you went invisible, but you just blended perfectly with the shadows, didn’t you?”
Rarity nodded sagely, as if she had been expecting this one. “Have you ever seen me walk amongst a gathering of the elite, Twilight?”
Well, there was that one time…
“When you went around the gala with Prince-?”
“Let us not mention that buffoon!” Rarity hushed Twilight quickly, panicked indignation in her voice, deep crimson flushing her cheeks. “Since then, I should have added. That experience taught me a great deal about high society. I would not be a savvy businesspony if I did not take note of the lessons fate throws my way. And the lesson I learned in that case was about finding out certain information. That itself was not a lesson, to determine the tastes and interests of one’s clientele is one of the basics of business, and one I had already known for a long time.”
“But to do that amongst the rich and the powerful, as one must to be anypony in Canterlot, I had to learn the value of being discrete. I know you sometimes lambast my flair for the dramatic…”
Twilight shrugged, but didn’t deny it.
“…but it is one thing to be the centre of attention when you can guarantee it will pay off, and another entirely to make a fool of oneself. So I had been honing my skills to be discrete when I needed to. To observe, covert, unseen and unknown, in the search for an advantage over my competitors – such as they were. And it would seem that doing so has paid off in an unexpected way now that we are here.”
The mage pondered this. True; it was quite reasonable to conclude that Rainbow’s agility and Applejack’s endurance as ponies had factored into their abilities as humans. Why wouldn’t Rarity’s skills be any different?
“I suppose you’re right.” she said at last, then adopted a reconciliatory tone, worried that she had upset her friend. “Sorry for prying, Rarity. It’s just…”
“Quite understandable, dear.” Rarity said breezily, starting to walk over to the others. Fluttershy had finally cracked and had run up to the runners to beg forgiveness for Wilder; Applejack was taking it with some red-faced embarrassment as she scolded the wolf herself, while Rainbow, far from being offended at being wrongfully accused, was only laughing harder. “We’re all a little thrown by these events. One can’t blame you for being cautious.”
“By the way, you might want to reassure the others on how this relates to our objectives. We trust you, of course, and I’m sure you’re about to explain your plan to us in greater detail, but I must admit not being absolutely clear on the connection myself...”
Twilight frowned, thrown off by the sudden change in topic. “Yes, of course.” She’d been expecting some uncertainty, and knew exactly how she would reason the diversion already. “I think we need to have a good long chat before we depart anyway. All of us together.”
“Well, then.” Her friend smiled pleasantly. “Let’s re-join the others.”
Twilight nodded, and fell in step with her friend, but couldn’t shake the feeling that the matter was far from resolved.
Impossible as it was – Rarity’s my friend, for Celestia’s sake! - she had the slightest niggling, just about small enough to ignore, that she’d been played like a fiddle.
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Deadmines are below Moonbrook.
Oh boy they are going to try and talk the Brotherhood to stand down....... yup I have a feeling that things are going to go south fast. Also I hope the main 6 get to go to Pandaria, that would be awesome xD
I rather liked AJ's and RD's talk with Twilight. Nice to see they're not just "okay" with what they've done. Sadly, I fear it's not the last time any of them will have to take lives while on Azeroth. It's not a peaceful world, after all. They may have to take the lives with their run-ins with the Defias.
6682774 The Defias were used by Onyxia and Edwin VanCleef was once a honest man, perhaps there is still hope.......
6682122 Fixed, thanks!
6682774 If I can keep the story going that long, I'd certainly like for them to get to Pandaria eventually. They've gotta get through Northrend and the Cataclysm first though! ;)
6683064 Twilight certainly thinks so, and we'll soon see whether or not she's right...
6710986 More on that soon. ;)
6682841 Thanks! I was a little concerned that the talk would come off a little forced, so it's reassuring to hear otherwise.
Next chapter's about half done, will be ready for your viewing pleasure no later than Friday. Thanks for your support, everyone!
Sorry all, I fell behind schedule slightly and chapter 12 isn't quite ready yet. It's written, but requires editing. It should be with you sometime tomorrow morning. Apologies again.
6682841
What do you mean, 'sadly?' Every motherfucker they put in the dirt was either some wild beast or some dick-head. Killing them isn't sad, nor is it murder. It was sorta, kinda, a necessity given the context.