Equestrian Nights

by Adela

Jewel of the North

It would take two and a half days by hoof back to the Crystal Empire as they followed the wintry expanse of the Arctic trail. The winning prize in Carrara's rucksack only heightened the sense of relief they all felt in turn when they set up their second night’s campsite. It always felt good when the lighter load of spent rations and other supplies was replaced by the bounties of the world. And even better when such a small trinket or gem can buy a mountain of bits upon their arrival in a market. The frigid cold put a dampener on their spirits, but it was temporary if only for the culinary blessings provided by Sunny Side.

He had brought coal to burn, a meagre fire to warm their enclosed shelter, and was already preparing the minutiae of their warm meal. Nothing fancy, but a nomadic lifestyle on the Equestrian Frontier 'nothing fancy' could mean heavenly in general relativity.

Blanched carrots and broccoli, finished in a concentrated vegetable stock broth he kept in a large flask diluted with fresh melted ice from a nearby snow drift. The survival training Sunny displayed gave credence to the idea they were supposedly ex-service. Moreover ... apparently Sunny was a lawpony in Hurricane's Aerial Cavalry. Where else would he learn to do this fieldcraft stuff?

Carrara didn’t complain, despite remembering how Hurricane's soldiers treated Earth pony farmers in the Old Lands. That was a generation ago and since then, Carrara excused in her mind, Hurricane's forces have been a dependable resource in protecting settlers and travellers in Central Equestria today—regardless of the tribe.

That and carrot & broccoli stew beat the endless meals of porridge, or rolled oats straight out of the sack, that she and Iris used to resort to before they soft-enlisted the Pegasus. An entirely austere diet regimen that was cheap, easy, and one that would inevitably be fuel for their fiery tempers the longer the journey took them from the comforts of a warm stable and an easy meal with more than one ingredient. Sunny changed all that.

“Why do you insist on cooking all the time…?” Carrara asked Sunny slaving over the portable grill, her inquisitorial tone as if to underpin the nature of the question being to confirm her suspicions.

“Because I want to see you healthy -- and happy…” The stallion spoke. His tone edged with a sense of angst as if some past trauma.

‘Dead on,’ Carrara thought as to her suspicions, looking over to Iris who hadn’t cotton on to the meaning behind the stallion’s words, or was merely content to warm her hooves by the coals. Apparently the stallion was a diplomat and remembered our first week of them travelling together all too well. Sneaky little devil, but then again this felt like acceptable manipulation of their conduct. If only because, as Celestia as her witness, she didn’t enjoy the squabbles … well, maybe a little.

“You know…?” Iris’ soft voice broke what was a quiet passage of introspection for the older Earth pony mare … their eyes trailing to Iris lost as she watched their meal cook and the red hot coals beneath. A slight pause stifled any other voices before she finished her thoughts, usually the troubling signs of when one pony was going to suggest something somewhat underhanded.

"We could ditch this request, go south. I hear Princess Luna is personally heading up that Canterlot construction project. A lot of my tribe are there also, and I’ve heard there’s some lucrative contracts on offer… particularly concerning some of the caves they found. Why exactly are we going to the Crystal Empire again? Canterlot is a better place to be if we want to see more action… and the rewards of that gem may even be treble that in the right market with the right demand.” Iris finally finished her train of thought.

And there it was, the inevitable. Carrara scoffed, which would’ve generated a barbed response from the unicorn mare if it wasn’t followed by a furrowed brow and Carrara lifting a hoof to her muzzle in contemplation as if it wasn’t such a mad idea. A thousand yard stare as if she seemed to ponder that which lay on the horizon beyond the heavy canvas of their shelter. A reverie broken by the stallion’s protest that quickly pulled her back to reality.

“We gave our word to the Royal Gemsmith. Besides, the Crystal Faire preparations is in full swing. They have been most gracious to allow us temporary board in the city and to rebuke her requests would set a bad precedent for our reputation…” He lifted his right hoof and pointed in Iris’ direction, but that tone of his suggested that Carrara was no less a recipient of such critique. “We want ponies coming to us with requests to aid them, not have to seek them out from people who might recognize our untrustworthiness in the end if we pull such stunts as you’re suggesting!” His tone dismissive and scathing. Sunny had a valid point… But Iris was never going to let such a lecture slide.

“Please! -- We could just say we didn’t find what they’re looking for via a messenger. And frankly there’s going to be more work down south, particularly with those affected by the wild weather that has been stirring up... you should know that best as a Pegasus.” She grinned and leaned forward towards the stallion. “I thought that you wanted to help those poor ponies more… didn’t you end up giving half your cut on the last job to that charity drive?” Iris' tone more than a little provocative.

Carrara’s eyes followed as if a protracted rally between the pair. She gulped quietly, because she felt three’s a crowd and inevitably as if an umpire she’d have to declare something out of bounds before it resorted to a fight.

“The problems of the realms is not merely in the south. We can better the ponies in these lands just as much as those maligned by that Chaos Magic…” He retorted, withdrawing his hoof only to thrust it out once again as if to hammer home the point. “Especially if we prove to the Crystal ponies that we are the right ones to be entrusted with such things. Such word travels, and may even find us warm welcome when we do head that way!”

Carrara caught herself nodding, all without even really knowing it at the time. Iris looked like she had more words, but catching a glimpse that two of the party had already made up their minds on the matter she bit her tongue. And in a surprisingly conciliatory huff of exasperation she herself gave a soft nod in general agreement.

“You’re right … sorry. But how many weeks are we going to be here? The Crystal Empire has its libraries, but I feel like the world is passing it by.” Iris said with a soft, disappointed drawl, as if to give expression and weight to the real reasons she wanted to go south. The stallion sighed and looked to Carrara, an awkward silence. Somehow worse when ponies had nothing else to say as opposed to merely squabbling.

“Honestly, I feel the same way…” Carrara added. “The Crystal Empire is starting to feel … homey … and not in a good way.” She explored her feelings, taking time to examine the faces of her companions. Her voice crept back, allowing it some strength once more. “I’m starting to forget what it was like near where we first all met, and I wouldn’t mind a chance of visiting my father at Two Sisters' Lodge beyond if we are going down that way.” She noted in edgeways.

“So after the Faire, southbound…” Iris smiled, her tone sympathetic and that warmth of her face almost sisterly and sincere.

“Southbound…” The stallion said with slightly more conviction.

“Southbound.” As if an answer to a question no one really asked. Carrara chuckled.

Fate didn’t intend for such espirit de corps to last as long as it was welcome, as their meal began to boil over in the kettle pot and drove them to other thoughts. Like those concerning their hunger.

They all began to pour the slightly salty vegetable stew into their wooden bowls, leaving nothing to waste after eating their fill in quiet. Dumping the rest of their meagre coal supplies on the fire and sparing no time to use its warmth to curl up on their bedrolls in the claustrophobic confines of the canvas tent and sleep. By midday tomorrow, they’ll be before the Crystal Palace, and not long afterwards a warm bath.

… and at least the 12 tankards of cider between them.

***

Bitterly cold only 5 hours before, passing through the magical sphere that protected the Crystal Empire from the icy tendrils of arctic wind and snow felt like it had given Carrara’s aging body chilblains, but she wasn’t complaining. She was comforted, if quietly, by watching Iris nicker and gawp excitedly at seeing civilization once more. Their hooves touched down on worked stone roads two hours ago and now the spire and estate of the Crystal Palace as viewed from a distance had grown to remarkable size and dominated their vision. The monolithic structure that deserved a healthy respect as a partly natural wonder of the land.

The further they proceeded, the noisier it got. Shielded wagons pulled by Earth ponies carrying trade goods between chartered trading houses and warehouses got more frequent as orders were likely piling up to continue to feed the demands of paying customers looking for treats and wares. As a farmer during her filly years before and during the Great Blizzard and Migration, she knew she’d see a lot of salt-of-the-Earth ponies. All of them from the neighbouring outskirts farmholds. They were going to be travelling to the city, today.

Mid-late autumn was the end of the big harvests, winter wheat harvests specifically, as well as numerous orchards ripe for the picking. Her memories flickered of her being a young filly and helping cart their precious-little grain to the mill, due to the growing cold of the Great Blizzard leaving them with such poor harvests. The Crystal Empire was going to be hungry for that fresh produce. The sweet smell of jam-making shops perfumed the air with a dose of saccharine tempting the tastebuds. All the farming folk and subsidiary industries should be quite busy for one whole moon, and no doubt she knew she was not going to leave this town without some preserves at the markets after she’s had a chance to rest.

Right now, however, Carrara was feeling too reserved and fatigued due to her travels, and knowing the streets were going to be rife with hawkers and more she was not enthused to the prospect of braving the stalls. She just wanted a cosy stable and bath. She looked to Iris as she somehow picked up the pace of her trot into a slow canter, as if Iris was feeding from the social energy rather than simply happy for a soft hay mattress. Celestia’s sake, was it impossible to be that young again? The pain in her hips answered that well enough. Fortunately she kept in shape that the rest of her body did not rebel too much. Iris taking notice of the older mare and paused. She smiled and lowered her head to look her eye-to-eye.

“I’ve been meaning to tell you, Marble. You know they’ve been experimenting with mass transit magical flight? Apparently both here and in Canterlot they’ve already got workshops dedicated to the task of experimenting with a few designs.” She noted softly.

“I’ve told you a million times, ‘airships’ are a fantasy. The energy yield of the fuel required is too high and the power to weight ratio of the rigging, bladders, and finally the hull too low when even using large naphtha burners. And even then, only if the winds are blowing in the right direction and you routinely replace the cloth to avoid heat brittling…” She paused to let those words to sink in. “--It’s aerodynamically unsound for transporting that many ponies or cargo. You’d need to haul so much naphtha in the first place that it would be uneconomical--” She began to list all the problems with the airy-fairy dreams of non-winged flight.

“Who said anything about naphtha?” Iris scowled, furrowing her brow, interjecting into the lecture she was very much not in the mood to hear. As she turns to look at her before speeding off a bit to catch more of the sights.

“Neither wood, coking coal, peat nor—“ She caught up momentarily, her tone downright cantankerous, now. Silenced mid-lecture with Iris’ outburst once again as Carrara moved to intercept.

“Oh, come now! Heating spells are far more efficient, magically loomed silk strands varnished with rubber sap to create lighter air cells than any Earth pony weavers could make with their flax. Timed wind patterns by the Pegasi for routine aerial transit pathways…” As she faced the angered Carrara, but her whimsical interests suddenly diverted in the assorted garbage various stalls we’re fishing for her attention with before darting off to one stall in the distance. The young mare was about to suffer her own dose of rudeness as Carrara kept pace if only to give her a piece of her far more learned mind.

“Oh yes, we’ll just convert all our orchards to grow rubber trees for cloth treatment, and mulberry leaves for silkworms to munch on, just so unicorns can create million-bit boondoggle services few ponies could afford. All to have fanciful air yachts to swan about on!” Carrara steamed. “Clearly the progress ponies everywhere need! Substituting both a food stuff and a fabrication material in one with luxury goods production will solve all our problems!” She continued to fume.

“I thought you’d be all for it … surely you would love to see unicorn magic used to improve the efficiency of your daily grind? We only want to spare a thought to your kind and show you a better, more elegant manner of living.” She said with a characteristic huff. Once more pulling away as the impudent youth challenged not only hersuperiorintellect but her Earth pony pride, and that would not stand.

“Luna help me, we’ll be taking a river barge to Neighagra Falls basin! You know, time tested, proven ships!? With sails and oars!? Just like any sane pony from now till eternity will be using? Is this what all of you are going to be like now you’re no longer spending some of your energies shifting the Sun and the Moon around! Playing mad magicians in that tower-strewn future Canterlot all Celestia-loving-day!?” As Carrara felt a flush of anger coming on, she caught speed to chastise the ridiculous youth at close range.

"Speaking of the Princesses ... you do know that this was their idea to more intimately connect the ponies across the Herdlands? Not only that, but also part of their ideas on how to assist the colonization effort beyond the Edge of the Known?" Iris ribbed the angered Earth pony. Trailing ahead as she quickened her gait, Iris' wither and head held so damn high. Her tune and posture kept aloft as if something so specious as her appeal to authority wouldn't brook any further response.

"As glorious as the Duumvirate are, they themselves are younger than Equestria proper. I'm not about to take their word about what is needed in the Herdlands. Neither am I going to place so much stock in their ideas on how to tame the Frontier! Nothing is going to replace an Earth pony wagon or ship for getting things done! It was ponies like me and others who discovered the White Tail expanse at the dawn of Equestria! Whether now, or a thousand years hence, it will be an Earth pony wagon that forms the first grooves in new trails to be made!" Carrara scoffed, her tone carrying a sharpened edge of boastful pride. Immediately pulling aside the insolent unicorn, making sure she could register her glare from her right flank.

Tit for tat barbed commentary ensued, like exchanged volleys of arrow fire, and the occasional verbal ballista bolt to really cause some emotional bruising.

Iris suddenly chortled, breaking off verbal hostilities, a wicked smile crossing her lips as she spoke, “Bet you’re not thinking about that arthritis you pretend you don’t have?” As she lifted her front left hoof to point at the Royal Gemsmith’s Exchange in the administrative district near the south-west footing of the Grand Crystal Palace. Carrara paused. Did she really move that fast? Did Iris cast a spell? She didn’t see any blue glow of her horn.

“Speaking of flax … while you’re here, buy some flaxseed oil. It works wonders with bones.” Iris chided once more.

“I’ll check it out, thanks.” Carrara said, half-hearted. Feeling foalish and exposed. For the first time in a while she felt stripped of her defences. Unsure of herself, no quips, witticisms or glib remarks availed themselves to help her emotional strength. She just felt weakened. Iris for her part, seeing her demeanour change and hearing her tone sag and quieten, just exhaled softly.

“If you’re wondering, I don’t see an aging mare when I look at you… I see a mare who isalivequite unlike anypony I have ever known.” Iris spoke with surprising warmth. As that predatory smile before had softened with the delivery of the compliment. “And I mean it, flaxseed oil. I use it for an old leg sprain that still gives me grief on occasion. I’ll get you a jar when next I’m at the apothecary.” A parting gift of words, before she trotted off.

Anger afforded Carrara Marble a powerful anaesthetic, apparently. Of course the placebo effect was wearing off, and now she also had to deal with the crushing realization Iris had managed to play her like a fiddle. When did the student become the mistress? Carrara’s ego gave (allowed?) it no further thought beyond the token kindness she offered at the end. A creeping smile etched across her muzzle despite it all, as she pushed open the door into the brightly lit counter-front of the Empire’s Royal Gemsmith Exchange. With renewed confidence that Iris provided her… tired, hip aching … yet she felt good. As she reconciled, if only for a moment, that she were still young in the cosmic scheme of things that she couldn't give description to but believed in all the same.

Sunny was there, beaming as if proud of his labours, and no doubt only helped Carrara feel even better. For that stallion bore a smile that spoke only earnest kindness and happiness, and for as long as they knew eachother it seemed both worthy and true as to its evocation every single time. Offering an exuberant wave as he flitted a foot above the ground he beckoned her over as if to signal the end of his negotiations. Carrara had asked for him to fly ahead to get the paperwork in order given he could get there sooner and she wouldn’t be in the mood to deal with that with an aching rump. Like always he did a bang up job it seemed.

“We’ve already agreed upon the total of daily expenses, and the bounty for timely delivery…” As the young stallion indicated to the sparkling green coated unicorn mare. She smiled and regarded Carrara warmly in those sweet yellow eyes in turn.

“You’ve done us a service, have no doubt. The Guard will be pleased with the products of the materials you brought me today. We needed more enchanted armour and goldshimmer emerald is perfect for barding protection charms. You have the gratitude of the court.” She said with practiced grace before stamping an official writ with the seal of the Crystal Empire’s treasury. A tone of worrying appreciation carried on every syllable, as if they were waiting upon that gemstone's delivery with dire anticipations.

“Happy to serve the good Princess Amore and the Crystal Empire.” Carrara smiled and took the attested writ of the exchequer and placed it into her rucksack, not allowing her curiosity of the Gemsmith's qualms get in the way of the transaction. Whatever problems there were, evidently they were looking to their military to handle it and slim chances that foreigners would be informed of state secrets. ‘3000 bits!’ She screamed in her head. Sunny would, undoubtedly, be more stoked for the cause of helping their security efforts in light of the troubling auspices on the horizon. Regardless, it’s not like both their happiness cannot be found in one, tight,lucrativepackage. Now it was time to spend their good fortunes.

She stepped outside with the stallion in tow. And both had to admire as the noonday sun made the palace glow like a beacon of civilization in the otherwise frozen wastes. She shook her head and gave the stallion a soft nudge with her left flank.

“Come on. I’m tired, I owe you a drink and I want a solid few to make sure as soon as I hit that mattress I’m out. The stalls don’t close till Luna’s open eye hangs highest in the sky. Not only that, but tomorrow is when the big festivities start. Given the main attractions tomorrow, a lot of stores do their best business the day and night prior.” She explained in her 'teacher's voice', her worldly experience bleeding through as the young pony flittered besides her and was absorbing her words.

“Really? Is that the crystal berry feast, Cara? Pie?! Treats?!” He started, excitedly. Carrara smiled and nodded. It was nice to have a pony that actually respected her opinions and knowledge so readily.

“There’s also the joust and Crystalling, but you probably already knew that…” She said with a grin, as the stallion damn near swooned. Every pony had their vices and Sunny was no different. He liked a flutter of coin on games of chance and skill, and the jousts were particularly popular for that given a strong combination of the pair. As a colt, Carrara imagined he might have looked up to those shining mares and stallions as so many colts and fillies do … and he wasn’t so distantly removed from being a colt.

“We can watch the preparation runs later this afternoon, check out the form of some of the knights! You’re not excited? The gasps of the crowd!? The suspense!? Victory and defeat measured in inches and degrees with each blow!? Are you going!?” He beamed, a sweeping aerial ring about her as she chuckled.

“Not especially—Watching armoured mares and stallions brain themselves with blunted lances is not my idea of entertainment. The Crystalling is pretty gorgeous though, as is the crystal berry jam. Just waiting for some fresh-baked scones…” She had to stop, she was making herself hungry. “Aside, we just got in town. Apparently you’ve already had a bath … I haven’t. I wouldn’t want to embarrass you.” It was true, and she felt the need to make the overly keen Pegasus realize that by lifting both her forehooves to show off the accumulated dust of the road. Her armour plates in no less a shape.

“So … the Polished Stone?” He asked, a nervous smile creeping across his features as he tried to pretend as if she hadn’t such a strong olfactory-based argument as she reminded him. Generating little but a sigh and a nod from the mare.

“There is someone I need you to meet with at day's end, however.” Carrara noted to the Pegasus.

Author's Note:

Lexicon

(The Alicorn) Duumvirate

Both the fairly recently crowned Princesses of Equestria, as well as what vassal states , holdings and alliances of which they are a key power or broker of power within.

The Herdlands

The largely tamed and civil places of Equestria. Usually east of the Crystal Empire and Canterlot, and north of the Province of Baltimare.

Lawpony

Judges, 'police' and militia who protect pony farmholds, settler trains and merchant travellers on the Equestrian Frontier.