The fashion of crashin'
“Milord, surely ya want to rest yer wings, Milord!”
Ignoring the panicked cries of the mare tied down in the cart behind him, Sundance went streaking through the sunlight, flying as fast as he dared while loaded down. Oh, he could be going faster, but that would increase the turbulence of the cart a bit and poor Earwax was already getting bounced around far more than he liked. What the cart needed was stabiliser fins, but Sundance wasn’t smart enough to understand how those worked so had no idea how to fashion those himself.
“Milord, I can’t see the ground, yer Lordship!”
If something came swooping out of the clouds and ambushed him, evasive maneuvers would be difficult to accomplish. Earwax was tied in—she had woken up, recovered, and then had steadfastly refused to get in the cart willingly—but he wasn’t comfortable with making her ride any worse than it was. Pulling a cart and a passenger left him far more vulnerable than he liked.
“Milord, might we stop so I can pee?”
Sundance banked, following his sense of direction, and heard a shriek from behind him. Wings pumping, he sighed a bit, it was only a little banking, it wasn’t like he had done a barrel roll or had flown a loop-the-loop. Although he was pretty sure that he could do those things with a cart—if the situation demanded it.
“Milord, what if I fall up and never see the ground again?”
This got his attention and Sundance found himself replying, shouting over the wind, “What do you mean, ‘fall up?’ You can’t fall up!”
“Surely I can, Milord! I am an earth pony! I have left the sacred dirt! What if it don’t want me back and rejects me? I’ve gone to places where I’m not supposed to go! I have sinned against the dirt, Milord! Rejection is real!”
“Preposterous!”
“I don’t know what that means, Milord!”
In response, Sundance laughed, but sadly, he laughed alone, as Earwax found no mirth in the situation. Of course, she was hogtied and strapped down in a cart that was hurtling through the sky at a mile-high altitude, so it might’ve been hard for her to see the humour in the situation. Sundance, being a kind and generous pony, laughed hard enough for the both of them and dove to begin his descent.
Sundance recognised the land beneath him as the rocky, ruined slope. He was certain that some of the tossed-about rocks had to be rubble from some manner of grand structure, perhaps a town, or even a city, or maybe a mighty castle with a city held inside its walls. Having landmarks helped him get his bearings, and he knew which way to go now. Home—yes, it was indeed, home—was north, nestled at the base of the mountains.
Earwax was quiet now, more or less, and Sundance hoped that she was enjoying the view. To the west, off to Sundance’s left, Celestia’s sun was starting to dip down behind the Canterhorn, which meant that darkness was coming sooner rather than later. The easy flight allowed Sundance to think, and he understood why the guard favoured these general issue carts; they were darn-near perfection. Just big enough, easy enough to pull, just small enough, they were practicality perfected. No major changes in their long history, just minor refinements.
All of the other carts that he had pulled had been made of wood; heavy, clunky, made to look good but often had terrible aerodynamics, his every experience with them had been mostly awful. The cart he now pulled allowed him to fly, which was pretty amazing. He thought back to his earlier assessment, and began to wonder if perhaps there was a good reason why stabilisation fins hadn’t been added to the cart for some reason.
It was good to have a good think, but to do that Sundance had to be flying so he could clear his head. While he wasn’t the smartest of ponies, he wasn’t a complete dunce, either. Flying was when he had most of his ideas—and flying dangerously was when he had his best ideas. Taking in the wide open sky around him, Sundance wasn’t sure what to make of it all. The city had challenges for a flier and kept one alert, but wide open skies had a certain appeal as well.
A delightful tailwind came along to assist Sundance while he headed homewards.
Landing was going to be no simple feat, because there were no runways. It was easy enough to remedy, he would have his peasants construct an airstrip and presto! They would have a means to move goods in and out of the barony. But this first landing, and maybe the next few landings, they were going to be of the exciting variety, which were the best type of landing, really.
Approaching the box canyon, Sundance knew right away that something was wrong: the tower atop the spire of rock was missing. He squinted, trying to see better, and could only make out a ruinous mess on the ground down below. The tower had fallen. His tower had fallen. What if he’d been in there? Asleep? The sight chilled his blood and when he shuddered, he wobbled in the air, which caused Earwax to cry out.
It wasn’t just the tower, either, his barony was a mess. Some of the stone cottages had collapsed! It looked as though the storm had hit this place pretty hard. Worry afflicted Sundance, making it difficult to focus on flying, and he knew that if he got too worked up, it would make it difficult to land. Was everypony okay? Were there injuries? Was he going to have to turn around and fly back to Canterlot?
Holding back his worry, Sundance began to look for a place to land.
Angling his primaries just so, Sundance raked through the air and slowed himself, while still keeping some lift in the event that he might have to pull up and abort. His chosen landing site wasn’t ideal; it was uneven, muddy, and sloped, but it was mostly free of large rocks. Mostly. Out of all the places he could technically make a landing, it was his best option. It was a bit short though, with a real rough looking patch at the end. If he failed to stick the landing, he’d be eating rocks for supper.
A healthy pegasus needed his minerals…
Coming in hot, Sundance hoped that the ground was free of chuck holes, gopher burrows, and other hazards, or Earwax wouldn’t be the only one missing a leg. Gritting his teeth, he braced himself, flexed his knees, and tilted his head just so, just as his mother had taught him so that he’d have a better stereoscopic view of what was ahead. The landing site was far too short, he realised, but it was too late and he was coming down. While he could abort, he would still have to try to land here, because there were just too many scattered rocks and the ground was too uneven elsewhere.
Primaries curling like fingers gripping the air, Sundance angled his body a little sideways in his harness to create more drag and slow himself. The ground was maybe two yards away and he corrected himself at the last moment possible, straightening out and getting his legs beneath him at the right angles. The cart hit first and he heard Earwax cry out, but now was not the time to be distracted. She was on cushions so she should be fine.
The impact of the cart jolted his whole body and sent fire burning through his wing joints, but he remained focused on his landing. His hind hooves came down first, hit mud, and were almost sucked in. The cart bounced a few more times and the harness felt as though it was cutting into his skin, but he had to keep performing the complicated dance that would allow him to walk away from this with no broken legs.
When his front legs impacted, it was harsh and he heard squelches as the sharp angles of his hooves sliced through the muddy, clinging soil. Now on the ground, Sundance knew that there would be no taking off, no last second abort, and he was committed to the adventurous landing that may or may not be a crash. Angling his wings so the edges ran straight up and down, he began his furious flapping because he wasn’t in the mood to have rocks for supper.
Bracing his legs, he dug in his hooves as much as he dared, risking a broken leg or four, and could feel the cart shoving him forwards towards the scattered boulders at the end of this far-too-short clear space. Oh, this was going to suck, no doubt about it, and he dropped his rump down low in a desperate, perhaps vain attempt to create more drag. Now, the weight of the cart slammed into the middle of his spine, rather than his sides, and he knew that he had made a mistake when the momentum threatened to cut him in half.
Skidding, sliding, his hooves scraping and bouncing against small, loose stones, Sundance came to a soggy, muddy halt with less than a yard to spare. Wings aching, he held them out in triumph and then spat on the rocks before him in contempt. Earwax was screaming bloody murder, but that was okay, that was fine, everything was fine, and this most certainly wasn’t a crash. Nope. All of Sundance’s stress began to leak out of him, it started with a chuckle, and then became barking laugher that shook his whole body.
The last golden rays of Celestia’s sun somehow reached around the Canterhorn and shone down upon Sundance, illuminating his burnt-orange ochre hide, and through some impossible magic, turned the awkward aftermath of crashing into the mud into a truly majestic sight.
Later, the witnesses of the Sunfire Barony would tell, the Milord’s testicles three sizes did swell.
“Milord… you’ve returned.”
It was a relief to hear Cucumber’s voice and Sundance almost hugged the ancient unicorn. Ponies were starting to gather and Earwig was already in the cart, clinging to her sister and sobbing. Sundance shook a little mud off, kicked some mud from his hooves, and reveled in being alive. Absolutely stoked, Sundance wondered how much strutting he might be able to get away with before the ponies around him were fed up or annoyed.
“I told you I’d be back,” Sundance said to his elderly retainer.
“Sire… not long after you left…” Cucumber seemed to be collecting himself and his rheumy eyes struggled to focus on Sundance. “The storm struck us at full force—”
“And the tower fell?” Sundance glanced in the direction of the ruined remains and then peered at his retainer once more.
“Milord, it was said that if the tower ever fell, it would be the end of our barony. The end of us. It survived the battle, and even when the rest of the keep collapsed, it remained standing. Sire, we took it as an omen… that you had fled… and everything was over… forgive me, Milord.”
Unsure of what was going on exactly, Sundance blinked a few times and tried to get a feel for things. Cucumber was crying, and so were quite a few of the rest of his peasants. Some had gathered around the cart to be near the reunited sisters, and it was then that he realised that Earwax was still hogtied. Something had to be done about that.
“Cucumber, please untie Earwax for me. Thanks.”
“Right away, Sire.” Sniffling, Cucumber shuffled off, his horn glowing with a faint, feeble light, and the crowd parted for him so that he might pass. “Milord, that tower has stood since I was but a colt. When the separatists came, the town was laid to ruins, the outer hold was destroyed, the inner hold was laid to ruin, but we held the enemy here, in this place. The mightiest of unicorns we had stood in the tower, and rained down death upon our advancing enemies, and somehow, the tower held. Even though our barony went into decline, the tower remained.” While he spoke, he loosened the knots that held Earwax and freed her.
“When it fell,” a feminine voice said, speaking above the dull roar of the gathered crowd, “we thought it was the end of us. We thought we’d have to leave our home. We thought you leaving made it fall. We’re sorry, Milord.”
With a flap, Sundance lept up onto a nearby boulder, struck his most commanding pose, spread his wings, and looked down upon all who had gathered. “I kept my word,” he began while he gestured at Earwax, who was now freed from her bonds and was embraced by her sister. “Listen up, you lot! I kept my word. Earwax lost a leg, but she has not been cast aside, and neither will any of you. The old ways are dead and gone and I suppose the fallen tower could be seen as an omen of that. I am not leaving this place and I plan to bring a few changes. Let Earwax be the proof of that!”
As far as speeches went, it wasn’t much, but the golden rays of the sun were doing their darnedest to illuminate him and make him look as majestic as possible. The gathered ponies gawked at Sundance and for the first time, adoration could be seen in some of their eyes. It wasn’t much, but it was a darn good start. Also for the first time, Sundance appeared as a leader, but it might have been a trick of the sunlight bathing him in brilliant golden light.
Again, the crowd parted, and Sundance saw Earwig approaching. She was crying, her mouth jerked and contorted, and her sides heaved. He was moved to pity by the sight of her, and when she reached the rock, he watched as she kneeled by the rock he stood on. She was bowing, prostrating herself before him, and he lowered his head down, because it felt weird to tower over a pony crawling on their belly before you.
“I brought you your sister back,” Sundance said to the prone mare who was belly-down in the mud. He was mindful of his balance, because if he slipped, then fell off of this rock and landed atop the mare beneath him, it would surely spoil this moment.
“Milord, I’m grateful.” Earwig sounded as though she was choking, but somehow, she continued. “My life for you. I give you my oath, it’s all I have to give, and I’m sorry, but I can’t remember the words, it’s been a long time since I was a filly and I ain’t never given my oath before, not even to the last Milord. But I give my oath to you. All I have, all I am, and all I do, it’s all for you, Milord.”
Lifting his head, Sundance understood the solemnity of the moment, and had nothing smart to say, nor did he dismiss what she had said. Instead, sensing opportunity, he nodded and replied, “I accept your oath, and in return, I give you my pledge of protection and service. You are mine, and I zealously protect what is mine. Now, get up and go be with your sister.”
When Earwig lifted her head, Sundance saw such love and reverence in her eyes, and he understood. At that moment, he had an inkling of what it meant to be like his grandmother. Earwig had given him something precious, something meaningful, the only thing she had of value, and he had given her something significant in return. In a world were it seemed that words meant so little, these words had importance, and he reflected upon this, musing on the meaning of it all.
Standing on his rock, Sundance saw other ponies approaching; as they drew nearer, he grew jittery and anxious, because he knew what was about to happen. Even Cucumber was among their number, and the ponies parted around him to allow the old retainer with rickety knees to pass so that he might be first.
Resplendent in the last fading rays of the sun, Sundance was ready to receive them…
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What Earwax was thinking of??
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Man, that reunion and this moment right here. These are some powerful feels you have crafted.
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Sundance is lucky that there were no patches of the dreaded thorny proposition about, which often conceals the crafty and dangerous Dilemma. It is not uncommon to see a Pre-post-erous caught on the horns of a Dilemma.
This was a great heartwarming chapter! <3
I'd say this is EXACTLY what we need to balance out a lot of the heavyness of some of the more recent chapters from your other stories. A nice fresh breath of air teeming with hope, joy, and glorious promise of a better Tomorrow.
Pretty powerful Kudzu. The feels! I appear to be leaking.
I am glad Sundance used The Words, rather than making up his own.
My favorite chapter so far. It is the end of one story and the beginning of another for the Sunfire Barony.
Remeber to swear an oath to the pilot if you don't want to crash and die. Everyone does it. Trust me, I'm a pilot.
The sun has such wonderful timing.
Looking forward to the next phase of this story, I’m glad the royal
PITAStriplets are getting a part in the weed verse instead of just being brats to their mom, looking forward to see how they growWonderful story!
Sundance, you will be a great leader, may your rule be long.
Seems like a valid concern.
Yikes.
Pegasuses are insane.
so many awesome half stories in this universe. Guessing you got into a binge of writing on them, and then when the fever wore off you bounced to the next. Hopefully this one and so many others either reaches a decent pause point for the act, or a conclusion to be marked as complete.
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This is about to be picked up again. Another story had to be finished first.