Rainbow Dash dry-heaved as they left the dungeon and the smell of burning flesh behind and stepped into the hallway once more.
“Art thou well?” Iron Forge looked at her with raised eyebrow when she nodded.
“Yeah, just…glad I didn’t eat breakfast.” The mare’s muzzle scrunched up but some of her color began to return.
“Thou lookest greener than the stripe in thy mane.” Iron Forge hesitantly tapped the mare on her withers.
“I’m okay, just gimme a second…” Rainbow Dash spat at a wall to clear her mouth and took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m good now. Just…didn’t expect it to be that bad. I mean, I saw dead bodies on the way here, but to see literal piles…”
“Sombra was very…thorough in eliminating what he saw as a threat, even when little more than a feral monster.” Iron Forge gave the mare several seconds to finish gathering herself before he began to move forward, the cyan pegasus following close behind when she noticed.
“I don’t get it though. We saw Sombra when he was fighting Shining Armor and Barrier and he was completely crazy. Like…out of his mind, wild beast crazy. Why would he take some of them to the dungeon instead of just leaving them where they were?”
Iron Forge shrugged. “One can only speculate upon what happens in a mind consumed by madness and darkness. If anypony could guess, it would probably be the Captain.”
“Well…we should go outside.” Rainbow Dash offered, shifting topics. “More bodies to…” Dash hesitated in an uncharacteristic manner, “dispose of. Plus we could do with the fresh air.”
Iron Forge nodded almost absently, his gaze drifting downward as he seemed to head towards the palace doors on autopilot.
“Hey,” Rainbow Dash nudged him before he could completely lose himself to his mind. “Watcha thinking about?”
“Change, Lady Dash.” Iron Forge answered.
Rainbow blanched slightly. “Just Rainbow or Dash, kay? Calling me ‘Lady’ makes me seem uptight, like Rarity. I’m not really a fancy mare. I like getting dirty and doing awesome stunts more than stuff like spa trips and frilly dresses.”
“Very well,” Iron Forge acquiesced, paying little heed to the rest of her statement. “I am thinking about change, Rainbow Dash. One-thousand years have passed. Now is as good a time as any to think about those changes. Tell me,” Iron Forge stopped just as the open sky of the Empire came into view, signalling their departure from the Crystal Palace. “What were the years following the Griffin Kingdom’s surrender like?”
“Uh…” Dash shrugged. “I have no clue. I’m definitely not the right pony to ask about egghead stuff like that. That’s more Twilight’s thing. I mean, I can tell you about some of the more recent stuff, but history really isn’t my thing.”
Iron Forge continued his questions, undeterred by the mare’s lack of historical knowledge. “Hast thou heard of Gallopfrey?”
“I…don’t think so?” Her statement came out as more of a question; the term held some familiarity, but she couldn’t place it for the life of her.
“Twas an island town, between Equestria and the Griffin Kingdom. It was where we held the griffins at bay for many a year. The ponies there have an accent quite similar to mine. Or…should. I suppose that may have faded with history as well.”
“Oh!” Rainbow Dash clopped a hoof and smiled. “Now that rings some bells. You’re probably talking about Trottingham. I think I do remember that it used to have a different name.”
Iron Forge nodded. “Mayhaps I’ll pay it a visit when I am free of my duties.” Silence settled between the two as they walked through the Empire, Iron Forge occasionally stopping to stream a gout of fire from his horn onto a body while Rainbow Dash blanched.
“Hast thou ever met a griffin? I’ve only seen a few myself, and never outside of the palace dungeons. The Captain insisted we be familiar with our enemies. I remember when he showed us how to best take one apart…”
Rainbow Dash winced at the tone Iron Forge had used to described taking apart a griffin, but answered regardless. “Yeah, I know this one griffin. Her name’s Gilda.”
Iron Forge frowned almost imperceptibly. “And what wouldst thy assessment of her be?”
“Well, she can be a bit of a jerk…and she steals stuff sometimes, but she’s not too bad I guess. She was my best friend during my time in the Junior Speedsters.”
“Friends?!” Iron Forge’s voice rose several decibels. “How couldst thou be a friend to one of those monsters?!”
“Hey, cool your jets!” Rainbow Dash’s voice rose as well and to Iron Forge’s minor surprise, she didn’t back up or balk in the slightest. “Things are a lot different from your time. The worst stuff Gilda’s done is stealing some apples and maybe being a bit too hot-headed and a jerk sometimes. I’m no history expert so I don’t know how things were between ponies and griffins back in your time, but things are way different now!”
Iron Forge and Rainbow Dash stared hard at each other, until Iron Forge finally broke eye contact and turned his back to the mare with a snort. “That dost not change them from monsters to me. They conquered my hometown, killed my friends and family…” Iron Forge sighed as his anger faded. “I don’t believe I will ever forgive the griffins.”
Rainbow Dash grimaced at the resignation in the stallion’s voice.
“And now, Sombra has taken the one thing I had left…” Iron Forge’s voice cracked. “Thanks to him, I’ve lost even my mum…” Iron Forge closed his eyes tightly as hot tears worked their way out of the corner of his eyes. “She was the only family I had left…”
Ah crap… Rainbow Dash awkwardly stepped forward and pulled the stallion into a hug, patting him on the back when he returned the embrace. “Look, I know things seem like they suck right now, and I guess they do, but there’re tons of ponies who want to help you, y’know? Your squad’ll be there for you, Barrier will be there for you, my friends will all be there if you need us, and so will I.” Rainbow Dash patted his withers again, still awkwardly glancing around for ponies that may be watching the scene.
The tears were short lived as Iron Forge tried to get his emotions in check and broke away, wiping his eyes with a fetlock. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash. Thou art as kind as they are beautiful.. for a mare, from what I can tell.”
Rainbow Dash tilted her head in slight confusion after the stallion broke away and addressed her.
Iron Forge turned back to the street and started on another corpse as he spoke. “Mayhaps I should think of something to take my mind off of these things…”
Rainbow Dash nodded, even though Forge wasn’t facing her to see it. “Long as you don’t do it all the time. I know it sucks, but there’s a difference between running away from something hard and coming to terms with it…believe me, I know.”
“Worry not, I’ll come to terms with it eventually. Just…not yet. We’ve too much to do.” Iron Forge fell silent until the corpse-fire was self-sustaining. “Tell me, what is this train vehicle that Captain Barrier spoke of?”
“Uh, what’s a good way to explain this…” Rainbow Dash put a hoof to her chin and absentmindedly began to fly several inches off of the ground. “Think of it like a bunch of really big minecarts that are all chained together and pulled by this big engine-machine-thing that runs off of coal. It can hold tons of ponies and cargo and goes pretty fast. Not as fast as yours truly,” Rainbow Dash puffed out her chest slightly. “But it’s still pretty good.”
“A machine you say? I’ve always been fascinated by machinery,” Iron Forge confessed. “Tell me, what other wondrous machines hast this modern era brought forth?”
“Uh, well…oh!” Rainbow Dash touched back down on the ground and struck a hoof to the crystalline pavement. “There are some really cool speed-boats that compete in the Griffin Isles Grand Prix. The race always starts in Trottingham. Every now and then I’ll go and watch it when it’s shown in theatres. You should go and see it some time, it’s great.”
“Hm…I think I’d like that.” He began to stream fire onto another cold body. “Mayhaps I’ll visit Trottingham around the time of this race.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Rainbow Dash choked as the fumes of burning fur and flesh assaulted her nostrils and turned away to dry-heave once more.
“Wait,” Iron Forge continued, woefully unaware of his companion’s predicament. “How wouldst they show a boat race in a theatre?”
Tech seems really slow in Equestria. Go back 1000 years here and you're looking at the Romans for the pinnacle of tech.
I'm also wondering when we'll have a confrontation between the time-lost ponies and modern non-pony species? It's bound to happen eventually, and most likely to those leaving the Crystal Empire.
Fitting for these guys, no?
Out of all of them, I think Iron Forge is going to have the worst issues adjusting considering his past and history with the griffins. But, he's off to a good start, and Rainbow was a good pick for him to partner with here-most of the others wouldn't have been aggressive enough to snap him out of his misery, even if for a short while, and finding out about GIlda might be the first step in him putting aside his hatred for the griffins in this modern age.
Or he's going to snap and go to the Griffin lands/kingdom/whatever it's called and kill as many babies as possible and bathe in their blood before resurrecting Sombra back from the dead to cause as much damage as possible before he's stopped.
One of the two.
7452263
this one for Iron Forge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGKNaIXtBZQ ( Veteran of the psychic wars ) Blue Oyster Cult
7452258 Let's just say Alticron and I have plans regarding the interaction with non-equine species.
7452263 Almost to the T. :3
7452267
I don't think it'll get that far. But It would be nice, and realistic on the authors part to have him get into a scuffle/legal trouble for assaulting/attempting to assault a griffon.
I know people who are marked permanently by the 9/11 attacks and no matter how much you try reasoning with them they hate all muslims.. Perhaps not to the point of attacking one, but if they ever saw one on fire they wouldn't even spit on them to help with the flames. Iron is too damaged by his experiences to ever be okay with griffons. At best I see him eventually just not attacking them but being quite verbal about them sticking to their own country.
7452258 It might seem slow but remember Equestria hasn't fought a war in centuries. The changes from 0-1800 were slow and actually took a step or two backwards with the fall of the Roman Empire.. You really want to consider rapid changes look at 1900-2000 we went from hot air balloons to rockets to the moon sadly some of the rapid development can be traced directly to weapons development
7452778
I'd almost blame Celestia for the lethargic tech advancement. It's so peaceful and everypony is so content that they just don't have the drive to invent-- well, besides spells. However, with no wars or plagues burning down libraries and killing off the smart ones, there's been nothing like the Dark Ages for ponies where tech and knowledge takes a huge step backwards and flounders for a century or two. And Celestia's right there to confiscate the books should something obviously dangerous comes up such as a Dark Magic For Dummies or Time Travel Made Easy; I'm My Own Grandpa.
Pretty sure there's these two on Celestia's bookshelf however...
Persistence of Self; Or Why You May Already Be Dead!
Solipsism and You: I read therefore I think therefore I am
7452948 Yuo covered why there is not quick advances but like many things its a mixed bag. Rapid advancement and millions dead or slow advancement without all the millions dead from war
I really like the slice of life in this chapter and this story over all.
7453041 Of all the cadets chapters this one was the most fun to write, by far.
He took that far better than I thought he would, and always nice to see a comparisonat side to RD
Simple: MAGIC,
7453340 Or Dash meant a movie theatre.
7453749 as I said: MAGIC!
I am quite enjoying these shorter segments. :3
Magic, duh
7453749 Don't tell Forgey that, we haven't had fun with him yet!
7463025 Nah, they fill it with water and race in the theatre in miniature with mice at the controls, like they used to fill the Roman coliseum arena with water and stage boat battles.
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/8e/e0/cf/8ee0cfda1f6ec0491711f8c8b5e55fb8.jpg
7452258 At least they had heated baths, toilets of a sort and plumbing via aquaducts.
Well that really sucks. Because if Forge is gay and his mom was the last of his family then he won't have a child and his family will die out