Tidally Locked

by cleverpun

Two: She Had Wanted a Maverick

“Have any of your, uh, troops, ever been to the Nightscape?” Rarity asked.

Captain Cadenza missed a half-step, but only a trained diplomat could have noticed. “And start a war? No, milady. Nopony under my command has ever been to the Nightscape in an official capacity.”

Rarity smiled to herself. These military types always made it so easy to find the right questions. “And what about in a non-official capacity?”

The captain paused at that. She looked around the hallway, turned discretely to Rarity. “Permission to speak freely, milady?”

“Granted.”

“And there will be no repercussion for what I am about to tell you?”

“Most certainly not.”

“Well, with that in mind, there was one time. A minor incident, not really worth writing up. The cadets in question were not on the clock nor in uniform, so I decided to go easy on them.”

Rarity nodded. “Go on.”

“One of our cadets had heard a rumor about Nightscapist fungale. Never had it, but it’s an ale made from phosphorescent cave mushrooms. Glows bright green, contains a kick, so the stories go.

“The cadet was blabbing about the stuff to their company all day. He would not shut up about it. Finally, one of the other soldiers had enough of them. She said, ‘if this stuff was so great, why not go get some?’

“The cadet said if they were closer to the border, he would. There was some petty name-calling, perhaps some tribalist slurs, I can’t really say for sure. Eventually, the cadet dared Specialist Dash to go get some.”

Rarity nodded again. “And I suppose she followed through?”

Captain Cadenza turned around and continued walking. “That she did. She signed off for leave and everything, so she was on her own time. Went missing for a few days, and when she came back she had a full keg of the stuff with her. I believe she made a respectable profit selling shots of it.” The captain sighed. “Of course, the chislers didn’t save me any.”

“And where is she?”

“Right this way.”

They continued walking, taking a few twists and turns through the barracks. They passed a few soldiers along the way, and Rarity tried her best to salute the ones who saluted her. Or perhaps they saluted the captain, and she was caught in the crossfire.

“Here we are. You may want to step back a bit.” The captain knocked on the door, opened it at a distance, and pushed Rarity back.

The moment the door opened, a grenade clanked onto the floor. Cadenza pulled off her helmet and covered the grenade in a single smooth motion.

A blur streak shot out from behind the door. Cadenza kicked upward, and her hoof nicked the edge of the blur, just enough to skew its flightpath and send it spiraling into the door on the opposite end of the hallway.

“Shut up out there, Dash!” the occupant on the other side of the door shouted.

Rarity clung to the wall, her dress bundled in her hooves, her legs raised awkwardly, like a mouse had just skittered across the floor. Or perhaps something slightly larger and deadlier than a mouse.

A blue pegasus in their off-duty gear sat upside-down against the door. “C’mon, cap! You didn’t even try to hide your hoofsteps coming up the hallway! At least fly over.”

Cadenza ruffled her feathers. “And that was a sloppy tackle, spec. Now get up, we’re on official business today.”

Dash looked over at Rarity, and then spun onto her feet. “Milady.” She saluted.

Rarity finally unwound her body. “At ease,” she muttered. Something about all this struck her as lacking in protocol, but she stood up, tried to do the correct routine. She bowed, though her hindlegs and one foreleg hitched in the middle of the motion. “Dame Rarity of Canterlot, MP.”

“Specialist Rainbow Dash of Cloudsdale.”

“You have quite a unique relationship with your soldiers,” Rarity said.

The captain shrugged. “Blame nepotism.”

Rainbow Dash turned to Cadenza. “So what’m I in for?”

The captain gestured to Rarity. “I’ll let the MP explain things to you. Looks like this one might be above my security clearance.” Cadenza turned to Rarity and saluted. “Milady. I’ll leave you in Specialist Dash’s capable hooves.” She retrieved her helmet, tipped the practice grenade out of it, and kicked Dash on her way past. “Clean that up. And bring me back some fungale this time, you cheapskate.”

Dash raised an eyebrow at that. “Does that mean what I think it means?”

Rarity straightened her collar, smoothed her dress. “If you don’t mind, specialist, I think we should discuss this in private.”

---

Rainbow Dash laughed in a very annoying way. It possessed a shrill, scratchy quality, yet also had a bit of bass to it. Rainbow Dash had been laughing for several minutes now, and so Rarity had become quite familiar with her giggles and guffaws.

“Are you quite finished?”

Rainbow Dash stood up. “So let me get this straight? You have a note from Queen Celestia that we need to deliver to Queen Luna?”

“Yes.”

“The same Queen Luna and Queen Celestia that threw a hissy fit and divided the planet in half a thousand years ago?”

“Well, I don’t know how accurate—”

“And you think that if we bring this note over, the two of them will magically be friends again, and then they’ll make up and create some kind of crazy world that has night and day in the same spot?”

“Well, I wouldn’t put it so crassly, but yes.”

Rainbow Dash leaned on a hoof. “I always thought you diplomatic types were dense, but I guess I was wrong. S’more like dense and naive.” She chuckled. “Maybe with some romance too.”

“I will admit that we cannot accurately predict Queen Luna’s reaction, but isn’t the chance to change the world for the better a worthy goal?”

“How can you be sure it will change for the better? Maybe the hissy fit and dividing things up was for the better, and we’re changing it worse.”

“I cannot believe that conflict ever made the world better, especially on such a large scale.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “So, when are we disembarking?”

“You want to go?” Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Despite all of that debate?”

“Orders are orders. Besides, gives me an excuse to pick up some more fungale on the way. They’ve been watching my leave since the last time.”

“Well, I appreciate your compliance, specialist. Of course, I will make certain that our mission is kept confidential, and that you are well-compensated for the ensuing danger.”

Rainbow Dash snickered. It sounded completely unlike her other laughs, sandy and brusque. It grated in an entirely different way. “Yeah, sure, whatever.”

“You don’t consider this a dangerous assignment?”

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and shrugged again. “I think, when you get right down to it, the Nightscape and our dear Empire aren’t that different. And maybe, most ponies don’t care if you change the world one way or the other.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Rarity hated talking to the soldiery. Their blunt honesty and sarcastic condescension always made her feel ill-informed, even though she knew it to be a facade.

“Maybe you’ll see for yourself on the way.” Rainbow Dash opened one eye, and a smirk curled the corner of her mouth. “But I wonder... If you got your way, made everything...what’s the word... made everything come back together instead of being divided, what’d change? How would you change to adapt to it?”

Rarity paused for a moment. “I suppose that is something that can’t be known until it happens.”

Rainbow Dash closed her eye. “A very diplomatic answer.”

Rarity stood up. “Well, as long as I have your participation, then you are free to believe whatever you want. We shall leave in two days. Tell no one of this mission. I’ll make sure all the paperwork is in order. Pack lightly. We’re going to be walking most of the way, to avoid drawing attention to ourselves.”

“Aye aye, milady.” Rainbow Dash saluted without opening her eyes. “I’ll start building up a stockpile of sleep immediately.”

Rarity left the room, closed the door behind her. She had wanted a maverick.

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

This looks like it's going to be quite a lot of fun indeed. Looking forward to more.

[Shrink Laureate]

I can see Rainbow being the one to sneak into enemy territory for some booze.

It looks like the division is geographical: ponies from Canterlot and Cloudsdale on one side, Everfree on the other, Ponyville in the middle? That means Twilight should also be on the solar side, the Pie family on the dark side, and the Apples in no-mare's-land?

[Cerulean Blue]

That's two of the party, and a third of the way if it ends up being the Six

[ForSpite]

Ah right, Cadenza was originally a pegasus.

This is an interesting AU you've built here.